Rosie and The Operator have arrived in Bucharest the starting point of our 12 days in Romania and the halfway point of our 24 Day self driving holiday around Eastern Europe where we have already visited Slovakia, Budapest and Vienna.
Bucharest is a new destination to us and the city itself has a population of 2.4 million people. Bucharest is huge and sprawling, it literally stretches for miles, 87 to be precise (226 square kms) somewhere in there is our apartment and we are off to find it.
Rosie is surprised at how green the city is! Driving into town from the airport we were following the edge of the huge tree draped King Michael I Park formally known as the Herastrau, nearly all the way. It was Sunday and busy with families out strolling in the sunshine and a lot of vehicles on the road going home after a day out. Passing under the gigantic Arch of Triumph we know we are nearly at out destination.
The instructions to our apartment were concise, we were self-checking in with the aid of a key lock box attached to the wall apartment and a code texted to us so we could access it. The key to the apartment door was inside the box. The apartment looked a little grim from the outside…never judge a book by its cover. It was modern and beautiful inside! Rosie was that excited it WAS nice…she forgot to take photos!
First up though, we needed to park the car. This seems easy, a big gravel, open air public car park was across the road from the apartment bordering the Dambovita River that runs through the city looking a little like a drainage canal and marks the edge of the Old Town.
We drove in and the fluro jacketed car park attendant waved us into a spot. We got out of the car and asked him how much for two nights parking…40 euros…hmmm, that seems a bit steep here in Romania Rosie thought and shook her head, the attendants English wasn’t the best but his wife wandered over holding a baby and hers was better…she did a deal for 30euros and we were happy with that.
The Operator handed over the notes.
Walking away with our bags Rosie said, oops, we didn’t get a receipt. We had better get one in case there is a new guy on when we leave. We walked back and asked the guy who is now holding the baby, for a receipt, tomorrow he said and waived his hand….no,no said Rosie, now please.
Tomorrow, tomorrow he kept saying…Rosie then looked down and saw the bottle of Vodka in the babys pram…alarm bells rung…I think we have just been scammed Rosie said to The Operator. Get our money back!
Rosie saw red as she scanned the carpark for the lady who was already wandering over to the bottle store across the road.
The Operator bailed up the guy, snotty baby and all and threatened to call the police. Rosie was yelling at The Lady, she looked over, saw the kerfuffle and reluctantly came back. We demanded the return of the money, she shrugged, what money? Denying all knowledge! Really! A fired up Rosie said she would call the police and got out her phone with no service on it. The money was very reluctantly handed back. We were not going to leave our car there with those two lurking around and exited the car park looking for a spot on the street…which we found forty minutes later after circling the block at least 67 times.
Up in our apartment that overlooked the carpark…they were still working their hustle…everyone else knew their scam and ignored them…we later found out it was free parking anyway on a Sunday. Lol.
Rosie is itching to get out and about and see the sights of Bucharest, but first, here is a little background. Bucharest was first established as a city in the 15th Century and mentioned in 1459 in a document issued by the court of Prince Vlad the Impaler, everyone knows him, the Romanian Prince who allegedly inspired the creation of the world-renowned character of Dracula.
Romanian Flag
It wasn’t until 1862 that Bucharest became the capitol of Romania and, in the period between the two world wars the cities elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of ‘Little Paris’.
Romania has a rocky and complicated history of flip flopping sides during the World Wars. Since then, it hasn’t been rosy either, the country has mainly been governed by Communist Military Dictators up until 1989 when the last, Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed by the people and executed.
The currency of Romania is the Romanian Leu.
The area of Bucharest that Rosie and The Operator are staying in is only a small part of the original Old Town that managed to survive the dictator Ceausescu’s 1980s razing of one fifth of the city to build his vision of a new Socialist Capital. Today, after spending decades as a slum, alot of what was left of the Old Town has been reinvigorated and renovated.
From our apartment building, 6 stories up we can see the top of The Palace of Parliament, the most contentious building built in Bucharest still to this day and the ultimate show of disregard by Ceausescu who built this incredibly opulent building, while the Romanian population lived in poverty paying for it.
This is the world’s second largest administrative building (after the Pentagon) that boasts over 3000 rooms and covers 330,000 square meters. It is built from steel and marble and was ironically called The Peoples House by its ‘visionary’ Ceausescu who also used it as his families residence and as the seat of his government.
To build it he demolished churches, factories, shops, parks and entire neighborhoods in Old Town Bucharest leaving the people and communities to fend for and relocate themselves. More than 20,000 people worked on the construction and 700 architects worked on the Palace over a span of 13 years whilst the poor of the city, and the country looked on in disgust.
It certainly is McMassive alright! It took so long to walk along the front of it! It is valued at 3 Billion Euros making it the most expensive admin building in the world and out of its 3000 rooms…only about 750 are used today. Thinking about the poor state of the nation and seeing this mind-blowingly enormously expensive vanity project of one man is quite shocking and sickening.
Aerial View showing the true size of The Palace of Parliament in Bucharest – photo from the internet
Bucharest Old Town has many faces, the area is a mix of renovated buildings with the majority being quite run down and, in some cases still abandoned, boarded and ruined. The grey stonework is chipped, guttering sags and carbon blackens the stone….but the buildings are still glorious! This area is on the rise…give it another 5 years and buy now predicts Rosie!
Other buildings are straight out of the Soviet Area and awesome in their design and decrepitude.
Then you come to the small neat grid of ‘Little Paris’ where the buildings are so big, detailed and elaborate, with much majesty in one area, all, once again in various states of repair.
The streets of the Old Town are narrow and what adds to the awesome feel and vibe is the multitude of cafes and bars spilling their colourful terraces out onto the street under these incredible buildings. Rosie is going to love exploring here and doing a bit of people watching.
Even with a buzzing atmosphere and plenty of people filling the terraces of the Old Town the added beauty of this town was that it never seemed too busy or overrun with people. At all of the tourist spots Rosie wanted to visit her and The Operator were mostly the only ones there. So, so good! Lets get cracking and have a look around this old town and believe me you wouldn’t believe that everything is just mere steps away from the other.
Rosie and The Operator always seem to start their day with a visit to a church, so we cannot break tradition here. The Stavropoleos Church – The City of The Cross, is a tiny, tiny church but wow does it pack a punch on the awesome meter!
In 1724 a Greek monk built this church and a monastery within the precincts of his Inn and Hostelry which was ingeniously, economically sustained by the income from the Inn.
The inn and the monasteries annexes were demolished in the 19th century and pretty much all that remains of the original complex is the church itself. Walking up to the sculpted columns on the tiny wee balcony and looking up at the faded wall paintings you were blown away just gazing at the complexity of the weathered exterior artwork.
Inside, the church was tiny and so hot with no air flow at all, there was no seating area, just a small rectangle vestibule that lead into a round room of worship where the walls were painted completely black with gleaming golden accented paintings solemnly staring from the surface
The front of the church where the small lecterns were was just stunning and looking up into the small dome high above your head was incredible. Rosie has never been inside a church so small and remarkable. Sorry folks, Rosie’s photos do not do it justice.
Around the back of the church under the shade of the trees were fragments of intricately carved headstones from yesteryear, it was a very peaceful and reflective place.
The Pasajul Macca-Villacrosse looks impressive when you stand in front of the building…but, when you step inside, it is an elegant fork shaped merging of two passages built in 1843 that takes your breath away.
The passage roof is covered in yellow glass and forms an elegant arcade that houses restaurants and cafes. It is listed as one of the sights to see in the old town purely because of the beautiful aesthetic of the covered alleyways. You can see why this City was dubbed Little Paris back in its heyday.
Pretty much next door to Rosie and The Operators apartment is The CEC Palace – The Palace of the Romanian Savings Bank…..these banking branches we have seen all over Romania and this is their head office, a Palace!
Amazing or what! This building was built in 1896 in the ‘most authentic French Baroque’ style possible under the directions of a prominent French architect. The building is enormous and commanding in its beautiful design, it was hard to get a good photo of it because of its size.
On the side street opposite, the multi storied, glass high rise reflects the grime encrusted beauty in its modern mirror like walls.
The Palace of the National Bank of Romania….there is a theme starting to happen here….was built on 1884. It too is an imposing building with lavish motifs on the exterior.
Manucs Inn is one of the few original city Inns that has been kept in its original form from the day it was built. The Inn is named after a wealthy Armenian Merchant who built it in the 1790s.
The inn was quite avant guard for the day as it was the first in the city to have beautiful porches supported with wooden columns which hold the beautiful triple arches that surround the courtyard.
The Inn, which takes up a whole small city block originally had 15 bolted cellars, 23 shops, 2 large parlors, 10 storage rooms, servants quarters, kitchens and rooms which could house up to 500 guests! Today it is still a hotel, albeit a more boutique one with a lovely café in the courtyard.
Believe it or not, this quite modern looking church of St Anthony, is actually the oldest church in Bucharest maintained to its original form. Well, kind of….there has always been a church on this site since the 15th century but, over the centuries it has had a few exterior face lifts. The latest being in 1928 during the ‘general restorations’ of the time but it has always been done up keeping to the original form and footprint.
As per the previous church, it was dark, the walls blackened and luminous, shining, golden halos circled the somber heads of the painted saints. This church also had a small area around the back of it for prayer candles.
The Carturesti Carusel is one of the most beautiful bookstores in Europe. It sits within a 19th century building that has been fully restored to its former glory.
The light is just glowing and reflects warmly and beautifully off the delicate white woodwork within. The bookstore rises over six floors and you stand in the open middle gallery and just stare skyward, taking in the spiral staircases and the amazing skylight overhead.
The grey building at the end of the street looks stunning and amazingly ornate from a distance! It houses a Craft/Flea/Secondhand Market and the closer you get to it the more run down and dilapidated the building becomes in the general way that half of the buildings are in this city.
The building itself is still incredible despite the grimy, chipped and collapsing facade. As soon as you step inside, onto the creaking floorboards you look up and see the water damage on the high ornate ceilings and follow the waterfalls of stain down the beige walls. Its so sad seeing how elegant this building once was and what it has been allowed to become.
It was an amazing space, and Rosie fell in love with the unloved majestic building. It was so great to be able to be inside it and see what it is like. Unfortunately, there were signs everywhere telling us not to take photos. Romanians do not smile much. They have not had a lot to smile about over the ages and definitely do not appreciate having photos taken of or around them. You know Rosie, she took a few sneakies.
Caru cu Bere translates to The Beer Wagon…and why not, its about that time for beer o’clock. This establishment is one of the most beautiful, historical and popular places to visit in Bucharest so off we went!
The Beer Wagon opened as a brewery in 1879 and was family run down through the generations until 1949 when the Communist State nationalized it and took over the business. When the Communists were overthrown in 1989 the heirs of the family began efforts to regain ownership. In 1999 Caru cu Bere was returned to them and extensive renovations were carried out and are still being done to this day.
What a triumph fighting for what was once taken from you, Rosie pondered over a stein of the most excellent house lager brewed onsite by the victorious family. The bar and restaurant were heaving with dozens more seated on the full terrace. They say that 2500 people are seated here a day and Rosie would not dispute that, everybody that comes to Bucharest visits this place to wonder at the amazing décor, history and sample their beer and try a renowned pig knuckle.
Rosie and The Operator were more than happy to wander the streets picking different spots to sit street side with a beverage or two, people watching, enjoying the sunshine, ambiance and views.
We could have gone further afield during our time in the city and visited the giant, beautiful parks or national memorials, but it was so relaxing wandering around the Old Town, stopping in at a point of interest then stopping for a coffee and repeating with a beer or a wine tossed in for good measure that we never did venture out any further. There was no need.
So, if you are wanting somewhere safe and different to go and visit, and do not want a hectic schedule of sights to see. You just want a relaxing low key, slow paced long weekend with an endless supply of entertainment and international eating options, all on a budget a lot lower than other European Capitol Cities. Bucharest is for you. Rosie recommends going before the rest of the World discovers it.
Tomorrow we are driving into Transylvania….in the heart of Romania, to visit the beautiful Old Town of Sibiu. Rosie’s plans on getting there were thwarted due to bad planning…and The Operator, was very disappointed.
