We planned to visit Bucharest a month ago, it was good then, but things changed as our travel date was near. COVID situation is getting worse and out of control, city imposed curfew, shutting down bar/club and many other facilities. Should we cancel the trip, should we travel somewhere else? At the end we decided to keep the plan as is, let's do a trip to get bored. We don't have to look for fun and busy itinerary all the time, it will be different experience, after all travel is all about experience.
We flew out from Boston (BOS), USA. After a year and half through COVID, I have seen life coming back at the airport. We flew few times from here in past year and half, the airport was dead. Restaurants/shops were not open, now people started to fly again, things are getting towards normal, it's a good sign we are moving towards normal again.
We were flying on Swiss Air. I like the airline, service and Zurich Airport for transit is something enjoyable. When we arrived Bucharest, airport was almost empty, it took us a minute to go through immigration. For vaccinated people, Romania does not require covid test prior to travel, we did it anyway. I read some reviews and forums on TripAdvisor before our trip, and planned to avoid taxi (scam). It is better and easy to use Uber or Bolt here. I started using Uber. We self checked in to our beautiful 2 bedroom Airbnb apartment at the heart of the Old Town. Things looking pretty good so far. We enjoyed early dinner at NOA ( https://noarestoclub.ro ). Two margaritas and prime rib put me in a long sleep after 16 hours on flight. Unusual for our typical trip, but we slept for long 13 hours.
Day 01: Yes we walked around the Old Town, took some photos, tried some Turkish lunch.
We started our evening with a local friend, Diana. We got connected via Showaround.com used this app whenever we needed to know someone local and enjoy the city with a local friend.As of today, we have traveled 82 countries. I wish I have seen this 10 years ago, but I missed the opportunity. Just recently, I started to think building a community around the world to assist tourism. Community called Travel with "Circle of Trust", I will be working on it. Diana was asked to be part of the circle. Amazing person, lots of experience behind, and now we call her our friendAnyway, if you are in Bucharest, you would be visiting Herastrau Park for walk and enjoy food or nightlife. We selected It Cucina ( https://itcucina.ro ) for our night. It was wonderful with live Romanian music. Place was packed, but only for few hours. Curfew starts at 10:00 pm, restaurants close at 9:00pm.
Day 02: We have traveled through almost all Europe, East and West. If I am given one opportunity to travel one country in entire Europe, it would be one of few East European. After traveling through Romania, I have made my mind. My three favorite East European countries are Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia. Of Course Bucharest in Romania is a beautiful city, but it can't compete with other three I just listed, period.
On our second day here, we again walked the city. The heaviest building (weight by concrete) and the second largest administrative building in the world, Bucharest Parliament Building. The Palace of the Parliament, known as the Republic's House. The building has almost 4 million square ft. floor area. Just to put it in a perspective, I work for one of 5 U.S. military academy that has little over a million square ft. floor area combining 30 buildings for the entire facility. Bucharest Parliament Building 4 million square ft. is a picture of communism and what a dictator was capable to dream before his own people. Anyway, I am not here for history, it's lunch time, let's find some authentic Romanian restaurant. We stopped at Caru'cu Bere ( carucubere.com ) restaurant and it feels like Romania here.
If you are in Bucharest Old Town, suggest you check Carturesti Carusel ( carturesti.ro ), a beautiful book store. It will make you to feel like reading again, if you are like me. Or at least, it will definitely invite you to touch few, we loved spending some time here.
Our evening was at Face Club ( faceclubbucharest.com ), it was ok but noting to be WOW!
Will leave it here for now. We have few more days here, nothing planned, we are just going with the flow.
Day 03: LIFe is an unstoppable force.
It’s everywhere in this universe. Perhaps not like us, but they are there without a doubt. We are not alone, just isolated. Somewhere life may had connected with each other, we are just not lucky enough (yet) to have them as neighbors.
Let’s forget about universe, yes the universe is big and life here has to go on.
We had our breakfast at Grand Café Van Gogh, just because of it’s name the place was packed. We walked through Bucharest streets, lively city and took some photos around. Afternoon, we had our COVID test, it cost about $50 USD per person, results ready in 6 hours ( testare-covid.com ). Then we headed to a beautiful waterfront restaurant -Biutiful by the Lake ( https://biutiful.ro/biutiful-by-the-lake/ ) Atmosphere was awesome, food was beyond our expectations. Simply loved it.
City has few casinos, I had to try my luck although I know am always lucky no matter what. Here, government imposed an entry fee (50 Ron pp), but casino would ask you cash so they don’t have to pay government, system is corrupted and that’s how things are in this part of the world.https://theplatinumcasino.ro
At the end of the night I am not a complete loser, we had our dinner at Freddo ( Freddo.ro )located in Old Town. Here I had my Guilty Pleasure (drink w/ absinthe). Looks like will sleep well tonight, and that’s how our day went by in lively beautiful Bucharest.
Day 04: Today I had "Sex at the Castel", a drink offered at Excalibur Medical Restaurant (https://www.restaurantexcalibur.ro ). All day basically we did nothing, just sitting around. Remember Winnie The Pooh, I love Pooh. Once he said -
"People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing everyday"
What and extraordinary saying, and like Pooh, I did nothing all day.
Yes, we had our lunch and dinner at two extraordinary restaurants -Excalibur and Nomad Skybar ( https://www.nomadskybar.ro ). Loved both. Food/drink, service and vibe at it's best. Bucharest, of course the city is bit rusty, and that's what the city is al about. But the friendly people and life around makes the city lively, english is widely spoken, city is safe and one must experience Bucharest on his/her own to feel ex Mighty Soviet.
beautiful