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Lynn and I are back from an extraordinary week in Bucharest, Romania, quite the strangest and exciting city we have visited so far. No fishing of course, but I thought some of you may be interested in a city most will have never thought of as a holiday destination.
It is only 27 years since the Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad after a popular uprising in Timisoara and Bucharest, inspired by the revolutions in other Eastern Bloc countries. Ceausescu was one of the most brutal dictators in Europe and it is incredible to think that a man who left school at 11 years old, went on to run the country for 22 years with an iron fist. His influence is still seen all over Bucharest, none more so than the Palace and Boulevard he built in the centre of Bucharest, bulldozing thousands of homes, 2 hospitals , 4 ancient churches and countless other important buildings. The Palace has 1400 rooms, is the 2nd largest building in the world behind the Pentagon and he had it built for him and his family to live in! Ironically he didn't get to live there, as he was executed before its completion. It now houses the Romanian Parliament and all the civil service and has 4000 people working there daily. We took a guided trip round the building - Adults £5, Cameras £6?!
The economy in Romania is pretty stagnant, which is bad for them, but lucky for people from countries like ours (at least until Brexit kicks in that is!).
It is not a city you can just turn up to and see the sights, you need to do a bit of homework which we did, but at times it was still not enough!
We got lost on numerous occasions and as English is not widely spoken, it can be challenging! We spent a day hopping on and off the open top bus tour, which was great. However of the 6 buses we used that day, only one had the audio system working and you couldn't count the stops, say if you want to get off at the 8th stop on the tour, as the bus drives past a stop if there is no one waiting! Stops are not well sign posted. We knew the bus started at Piazza Uniri, so we got the underground to there, only to find it was gigantic and we had no idea where the bus left. Fortunately I found a waiter in Starbucks who spoke English. He said "You see that park in the middle of the Piazza? It's on the other side of that - 20 minutes later and another visit to a bistro, we found it!
We also took a day trip to Transylvania to visit Peles Castle, Dracula's Castle and the historic town of Brasov. This was a brilliant trip, the guide was amazing and she helped us immensely with questions about Bucharest. She had a Masters degree and wanted to become a geography teacher, but the pay for the first 3 years was only 167 Euros a month, so she is a tour guide as it pays better!
The old town in the city, while not as big as say Budapest, it still has amazing buildings, cafes and restaurants to die for, which puts our food to shame.
The cost of living in Bucharest is so cheap for us. Here are a few examples : Our apartment cost £143 for 7 nights. Return flights were £85, including a case in the hold and airport transfers to and from our apartment. A 2 course meal for two with 2 pints, 2 glasses of wine, starter, main and coffees was around £20 for both of us, not each! A 25 minute taxi ride across town was £3. A ten journey ticket on the metro was £4 and cigarettes under £3 a packet!
This was not the apartment we booked, but Wizz changed the flight times and therefor our apartment was also changed, but we weren't complaining!
A wonderful holiday and now looking for the next city in Eastern Europe we can visit.
It is only 27 years since the Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad after a popular uprising in Timisoara and Bucharest, inspired by the revolutions in other Eastern Bloc countries. Ceausescu was one of the most brutal dictators in Europe and it is incredible to think that a man who left school at 11 years old, went on to run the country for 22 years with an iron fist. His influence is still seen all over Bucharest, none more so than the Palace and Boulevard he built in the centre of Bucharest, bulldozing thousands of homes, 2 hospitals , 4 ancient churches and countless other important buildings. The Palace has 1400 rooms, is the 2nd largest building in the world behind the Pentagon and he had it built for him and his family to live in! Ironically he didn't get to live there, as he was executed before its completion. It now houses the Romanian Parliament and all the civil service and has 4000 people working there daily. We took a guided trip round the building - Adults £5, Cameras £6?!
The economy in Romania is pretty stagnant, which is bad for them, but lucky for people from countries like ours (at least until Brexit kicks in that is!).
It is not a city you can just turn up to and see the sights, you need to do a bit of homework which we did, but at times it was still not enough!
We got lost on numerous occasions and as English is not widely spoken, it can be challenging! We spent a day hopping on and off the open top bus tour, which was great. However of the 6 buses we used that day, only one had the audio system working and you couldn't count the stops, say if you want to get off at the 8th stop on the tour, as the bus drives past a stop if there is no one waiting! Stops are not well sign posted. We knew the bus started at Piazza Uniri, so we got the underground to there, only to find it was gigantic and we had no idea where the bus left. Fortunately I found a waiter in Starbucks who spoke English. He said "You see that park in the middle of the Piazza? It's on the other side of that - 20 minutes later and another visit to a bistro, we found it!
We also took a day trip to Transylvania to visit Peles Castle, Dracula's Castle and the historic town of Brasov. This was a brilliant trip, the guide was amazing and she helped us immensely with questions about Bucharest. She had a Masters degree and wanted to become a geography teacher, but the pay for the first 3 years was only 167 Euros a month, so she is a tour guide as it pays better!
The old town in the city, while not as big as say Budapest, it still has amazing buildings, cafes and restaurants to die for, which puts our food to shame.
The cost of living in Bucharest is so cheap for us. Here are a few examples : Our apartment cost £143 for 7 nights. Return flights were £85, including a case in the hold and airport transfers to and from our apartment. A 2 course meal for two with 2 pints, 2 glasses of wine, starter, main and coffees was around £20 for both of us, not each! A 25 minute taxi ride across town was £3. A ten journey ticket on the metro was £4 and cigarettes under £3 a packet!
This was not the apartment we booked, but Wizz changed the flight times and therefor our apartment was also changed, but we weren't complaining!
A wonderful holiday and now looking for the next city in Eastern Europe we can visit.
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