Bucharest

Friday 25 to Monday 28 May 2012

Flying into Bucharest – I could see layers of clouds, this looks like a grey visit!

Sure enough, the first night we took the hotel’s advice and went to an authentic restaurant across the road.  Then the heaven’s opened.  We are getting used to Eastern European thunderstorms, and finding places to eat or drink to keep out of the rain.

Next day we risked upstairs on the hop on hop off bus to get a layout of the city. Triumphant arch, beautiful old buildings, most in good repair and the insidiously huge and ugly Parliament of the People, built by Ceausescu and nearly finished prior to his trial and execution in December 1989.

We enjoyed Romanian food, especially at Caru’cu bere, a famous beer house, which was full and vibrant.  The 15 minute wait for a table turned into an hour or more.  It was thanks to a delightful Algerian lady “Hayet” who offered to share her table with us that we got to eat at all.

Highlight of Bucharest, at Steph’s suggestion, was the Ethnographic Museum where a massive variety of houses, farm buildings and churches from all over the country are displayed.  Most of these buildings are wooden, some with straw roofs, so unless these original houses are displayed and maintained in a complex like this, their style and peculiarities would be lost.  It is a great exhibition.