wearied mind.[12]

Sinaia presents many attractions for the tourist. Nestling on the slopes
of hills at the junction of three valleys, and immediately surrounded by
mountains which vary in height from 3,000 to 8,000 or 9,000 feet above
the sea-level, and are easily accessible to an ordinary mountaineer, it
consists of a fine old monastery, the temporary residence of the Court,
two good old-fashioned hotels, and a large number of pretty villas, the
property of wealthy landed proprietors, officials, and merchants of
Bucarest. There is a casino, or reading-room, and small concert hall, a
beautiful bathing establishment, and a garden in which a military band
discourses lively and lovely music every evening within hearing of the
guests whilst they are at dinner under verandahs in front of the hotels.
The monastery is situated upon a high hill approached from the valley
below by sloping walks and drives, and it consists of two large
curtilages surrounded by low dwellings, which were formerly (and are
still to some extent) occupied by monks, and now serve as the residences
of the Court and its attendants. The two curtilages are really one
divided across the centre, and in each division is a small Byzantine
church, in which the service of the Orthodox Greek faith is conducted.
At the further extremity of the convent are the apartments of the King
and Queen, and it is hardly necessary to add that everything is done to
render this old building suitable for the abode of royalty.[13] At the
side of the monastery is a verdant plateau, from which there is a
beautiful view, and whereon the peasantry, as well as many officers and
ladies of the Court, may be seen, usually on Sunday afternoon, dancing
the national dances of the country, and more particularly the national
dance, the 'Hora,' of which some account will be given hereafter. Behind
the monastery a small valley penetrates into the mountains. This valley
is, in reality, an extensive wood, containing some magnificent forest
trees and replete with ferns and wild flowers, whilst through the centre
of it a river rushes headlong, forming, as it descends, three beautiful
cascades, the last or highest being surmounted by a towering rock, to
ascend which, alone, is a good morning's healthful enjoyment. Behind
this rock rise the Carpathian peaks, Caraiman, Verful, &c., and from the
summits of these, which may be reached in two or three hours, it is said
that on a clear day the distant Bal