Despite the freezing cold, we enjoyed our excursion, the driver arrived to pick us up a few minutes early, everything went to plan and we learnt a lot from our very knowledgeable and friendly guide. The places themselves were less established than perhaps we expected - as we went in December we were the only groups visiting each site and no doubt we'd have spent more time enjoying the views during our visit if we'd visited in summer rather than during -7 temperatures!

First we saw a beautiful palace in a peaceful country setting away from the Bucharest chaos. It was built by a remarkable man and is filled with furniture, paintings and things from that era, but has a very sad history. Then two very old monasteries at lakes further out in the countryside - amazing places with incredible iconography and carved woodwork. It was a great half-day trip.

Interesting excursion into countryside outside Bucharest. Beautiful monastery on island in lake. Terrific palace visit in unique architectural style. Both guide, Roxana and driver ALEX were excellent with very good English