SPECIAL LUXURY TOUR – October 2007
Limited Availability – Make Your Reservation Now!

Join us in celebration of the 133rd anniversary of Queen Marie’s birth on
A Luxury Tour Commemorating the Life and Legacy of
Queen Marie of Romania

Beginning and ending in Bucharest

11 Days / 10 Nights in 3-5 star accommodations - 10 breakfasts/9 lunches/5 dinners

Early reservations are recommended as participation is limited to 24 participants.
2798 euro/person double occupancy
600 euro single supplement
Includes: ground transport, accommodations, meals as listed above and admission fees

Eighty years ago Queen Marie toured America and said, “In no monarchy have I been more royally and more solemnly received nor had more colossal receptions as in America, in every single place.
I thank you, great America, for the love you showed me, for the eagerness with which you received me, took me up in your hearts from one side of your country to the other.”

Granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England and granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Marie Windsor Hohenzollern (1875-1938) became a legend, a myth and a symbol in her own lifetime. (Find her picture on the cover of Time Magazine August 4, 1924.) She became Princess of Romania through her marriage to Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, crown prince of Romania on 29 December, 1892. She became Queen of Romania, her adopted country, on 11 October, 1914. She died in Pelisor at Sinaia late in the afternoon on the 18th of July, 1938.

Romania is an example of the "Old World" which is fast disappearing. People live in three centuries simultaneously, watching television captured by a satellite dish after riding home in their horse-drawn cart from work in the fields while conversing with a friend on their cell phone. It is a country that has everything –fortified medieval towns; mountains populated by bears, boars, and wolves; castles complete with vampire legends; fascinating ethnographic museums; traditional culture; architectural heritage; spectacular scenery and hospitable people. It is also an inspiration and location for many Hollywood films. But truth is stranger than fiction. Romania's unique geographic location, a passageway between the orient and the occident, offered an opportunity for historically divergent cultures to meet and merge to foster new ideas spawning creative thought which has continued to influence current intellectual activity and institutions in today's highly complex and diverse world.

“Queen Marie” will accompany our group on the tour, recalling her experiences and emotions, as you visit many of the most important homes and palaces she knew and loved.

We begin our adventure in Bucharest with a welcoming dinner hosted by “Queen Marie”. During the next ten days we will tour Cotroceni Palace (Marie’s royal palace and current presidential residence) and visit several mansions/palaces including Mogosoaia and Stirbei Palace and Ceausescu’s monstrous “House of the People”. We will visit Curtea de Arges (Marie’s final resting place along with other members of the royal family), investigate Alba Iulia and the “Church of the Coronation” in the Alba Carolina Citadel, and wander through the magical “living” citadel of Sighisoara. We will also see Bran Castle, (Marie’s fairytale retreat) and drive through the mountains to Sinaia, summer home to the Royal Family where we celebrate the 133rd anniversary of Marie’s birth, tour Peles (a Disney-esque 19th century concoction) and Pelisor (Marie’s Art Nouveau rebellion). We also spend some time at the Black Sea from Mamaia to Balcic to visit Marie’s retreat with spectacular gardens, now located in Bulgaria.

For additional information contact Edward Litchfield litchfield@clicknet.ro
www.see-romania.com - www.corbet-transair.ro

Make Your Reservation Now!