The trip from Pensacola to Bucharest was long but uneventful. Arrived in Bucharest on time and a driver was waiting for me. Traffic at 4.30pm was bad and it took and hour and a half to go 17km. The hotel, Radisson Blu, was much nicer than I expected.
Friday Dec 6, 2024
Friday was my first full day in Bucharest for exploring the city. I had marked many sights on my map application on my phone, 46 in Bucharest alone. The weather was dreary all day – raining on and off and chilly. But that didn’t stop me.
Dec 6 is the Feast Day for St. Nicholas. It is both a spiritual holiday as well as day of small gift giving to the children. bigger presents on Christmas. In the morning, I went looking for churches named for St. Nicholas and found several having services. I didn’t even realize that the “White Church” that I could see from my hotel window was also named for St. Nicholas. I walked down the main road when I noticed a church located across the street from Revolution Square. I could hear music on the outside speakers at Crețulescu Church. I went in for a while – the music was so beautiful with a woman cantor. This red brick building was badly damaged during the 1980 Revolution that took down the Communist Dictatorship.
Continuing my walk, I dodged the rain drops as I meandered towards the Old Town where I found Biserica “Sfântul Nicolae”. The small church was full, most people were standing – inside the church, in the Narthex and on the front porch. I stood in the Narthex watching as people came in and out. Almost everyone had a piece of paper in their hand. They purchased a handful of candles and then walked up near the altar and came back without their candles. They stayed for a few minutes and then left again. I decided to light a few candles and walked up to the front of the church but didn’t see the typical place with sand to place a candle – a priest must have seen me from inside and came and took my candles. I later learned that because of fire threats, all lit candles are placed in a tin box outside where the candles are surrounded by water. And I also figured out that the pieces of paper were to write down names of loved ones for the priest to read during a special blessing at the end of the service. lighting a candle is a symbol of
A popular destination for tourists to Bucharest is the Old Town. This area was established in the 15th century by Vlad Tempe and eventually became the place to live for the Romanian elite in their plush residences. Now those buildings house museums, banks and many restaurants and bars catering to the tourists and the streets are mostly pedestrianized. The Old Town was lucky to survive the mass destruction of the city’s architectural heritage by the communist dictator, Ceucescu, when he razed 20,000 homes and 70 churches to build this ridiculous Parliament Palace.
The National Museum of Romanian History is located on edge of Old Town in a beautiful building constructed at end of 19th century to house the postal service. There is an interesting exhibit tracing the regions early history during the Roman and Greek times through the Byzantine and Ottoman empires with many stone relics. In the middle of this exhibit is oddly a copy of Trajan’s column in Rome. I did not think the exhibits on the modern history of Romania was well done. I had expected a bit of a timeline showing the country’s history from ancient times to modern but what I found was a collection of random exhibits rather than a cohesive history. There was a display focused on the unification of Romania territories after WWI – Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldovia and another on the countries relation with Poland in 20th century. And they have a cute exhibit on children’s toys.
Every guidebook I read, said eat at the famous Caru’ cu bere restaurant where I had made a reservation in the basement. The name translates to Beer Cart. In 1879, there was a brewery “La Carul cu bere” at this location and then an inn run by three brothers from Transylvania. Beer was brought to the pub in horse-drawn carts, thus the name. The building inside and out is very historic and it is difficult to get a table during busy lunch time. The restaurant offered a fasting (non meat) menu as well as traditional Romanian dishes. I tried a beet salad which was excellent. Their website advertised a three course “lunch special” for 35 lei ($7 USD) but the server did not offer me that menu as a choice – I guess they know the tourists might not ask.
Visited Stavropoleos Monastery which is right in the middle of the Old Town. It’s a small dark church built in 1724 with stone and wood carvings and many painted frescos.
I walked the “instagrammable” Macca Villacrosse Passage, which is a covered passageway built in the 19th century to connect the main road with the National Bank. It’s covered in yellow glass. I’m sure on a pretty night when the bars and restaurants are open it would be a sight but it was nothing special especially on a gloomy weekday.
I had a lovely cultural evening at the Roman Atheneum, a late 19th century neo-classical concert hall. I had bought tickets for a symphony (concert simfonic) featuring director Gergely Madaras and violin soloist Daniel Hope. I got a lovelyseat on 4th row for only $35. It’s a beautiful venue with a reception hall on main level, bathrooms in basement and concert hall on upper level, a lot of stairs. I loved watching the conductor, he had so much enthusiasm and was always smiling. Before the concert I had dinner at the Lova Wine Bar, simple dinner of a pasta dish and glass of wine. I was seated in a room by myself which was weird. I chose this place because it was close to the concert venu.
Looking back over my travel books, there are many more museums that I missed in Bucharest.
Dec 7, 2024
Saturday was another rainy cold day in Bucharest. I left the hotel at 10.40am and thought I would pop into the “White Church” that I can see from the window of my hotel room. I didn’t realize it’s also named for St. Nicholas. It’s official name is Biserica Sf Nicolae and is one of the oldest churches in Bucharest, first established in 1700. The first building was destroyed in an earthquake and the current building erected in 1827. As I approached the church, I could hear music and realized they were having a service. I went in and stayed through the entire service. It was just beautiful – they had a full choir, four priests and probably 30-40 maybe 50 people total. Of course the entire service was in Romanian which I can’t understand but I was able to follow most of the service since it’s pretty much the same as ours. I couldn’t figure out why for communion only one lady ran up with her candle to communion and nobody else went. Apparently the Romanians don’t take communion every week like we do.
Towards the end of the service the four priests with a lectern moved to the back of the church where a lot of people were standing and did a special service maybe one for Saint Nicholas. Then they blessed all the food and wine and bread that the parishioners had brought and finally the service was over by 12:30. I’m really glad I popped in there. It felt very spiritual and I said a few extra prayers.
My next stop was the National Museum of Art which is just down the street from the Radisson Blu hotel. It’s housed in what was the Royal Palace until 1947 when the monarchy was dismantled by the communists. The galleries are spras out through many buildings that are not connected. The artwork was interesting but the building architecture was really more interesting at least in the first part. The exhibits are spread out in four different buildings. The first was European art – old Italian, German, and French masters. There was an Oriental art building which I skipped and finally ended up in the Romanian Art galleries. One floor is all ecclesiastical art.
Made my way to the Old Town with a very cheap shared ride (Bolt). It was still raining and cold and my destination was the famous bookstore – Carturesti Carusel. I love bookstores and this is a special one – fun, bright and colourful with six levels of all new books, gifts, toys. The store was very crowded and many people taking pictures. I did find an English Lonely planet book on Romania and Bulgaria. Headed up to the coffee shop on the top floor to read my book and continue my planning.
I have been trying to hit all the highlights and recommended things to do in Bucharest so after the bookstore I walked around the Old Town looking for the Manuc Inn (Hanul lui Manuc) which is a maybe two hundred year-old establishment with a restaurant. For an early dinner, I was seated in a hallway that overlooked a courtyard. I had a bowl of red lentil soup, an eggplant dip and a glass of red wine. Check.
Another taxi back to the hotel to chill before heading down to meet the Gate1 tour group and our tour director. I’m the only single traveler as it’s mostly couples and two or three groups of women traveling together. It was interesting that the majority of the people on this trip have been on 10 or more prior Gate1 trips – this my third. There were not many independent travelers in the group. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Romania and not having to do any planning except where I’m going to have dinner and what I’m going to buy at the Christmas markets.
Our tour guide is Iuliana, a 40 something former school teacher with a sense of humour. She turned out to be the most excellent guide for this trip.
Sunday Dec 8, 2024
The Gate 1 tour begins. We began the morning with a walking tour of nearby sights with a local guide. Our guides gave good explanations throughout the day about the modern history of Romania, monarchy, reunification after WW1, communism, dictatorship and revolution in 1989. We were unable to visit the inside of the Palace of Parliament because of election concerns, so we visited the concert hall where I had gone the night before. The guide explained the decor inside that I had missed on my visit – particularly a mural depicting the history of Romania that wrapped around the entire circumference of the performance hall.
They loaded us up on a big bus to see the various neighborhoods. We drove by the Parliament Palace which is an atrocity. Many old buildings, neighborhoods, and churches were demolished to build these huge ugly buildings. The dictator created unbearable living conditions so he could sell the country’s resources including electricity to fund his megalomaniac projects. The project was unfinished when dictator died and many are still empty. What a waste of a poor country’s resources.
Near the palace is another massive construction project – this one a huge church – the National Cathedral of Romania, also known as The People’s Salvation Cathedral. This facility will be the Patriarchal cathedral for the Romanian Orthodox church – a project of that church’s patriarch. It will be the tallest, heaviest and largest Orthodox cathedral in the work. From the road, I thought it looked ridiculous but the idea of such a church has been discussed in Romania since the war of independence from the Ottoman empire in 1878.
Our organized tour finished up by lunchtime, giving people time to explore on their own. I found a cute little Italian restaurant that was beautifully decorated with Christmas décor. Rooster soup was good as was a glass of red wine. Waiter recommended a squid risotto. It was a black rice. I enjoyed watching all the local families enjoying their Sunday lunch.
Our evening tour was a visit to Spring Palace. Nicolae Ceausescu and his family lived in the mansion from 1965 until 1989, when his 24-year dictatorship came to a dramatic end. After a brief revolution in Dec 1989, Nicolae and his wife Elena were arrested and executed by a military firing squad three days later after a 1 hour trial. The garish lavish home of dictator’s home, designed to mimic the winter palace in Russia, with a mid century twist. While the people of Romania faced daily power cut, food rationing and limited heating in the winter, the family enjoyed a private theatre, an indoor swimming pool and an indoor garden. Each family member had their own suite with private bathroom and a sitting room. The decor of the entire house was over the top – garish and oppulent. The swimming pool was hardly used because the family was afraid of water.
Nowadays, the former residence operates as a museum offering guided tours which aim to narrate the private lives of the Ceausescu family.
Instead of going to the evening Christmas markets, I went to a holiday concert back at The White Church. I was able to secure a seat in wooden pews along the wall. The church was packed and some people were standing outside watching on a screen there. The music was beautiful and was streamed live on Facebook. Fast forward to about 25 or 30 minute mark to see the concert. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/fkgw1e3Dsj7SEkek/. Heard from others that the markets were very crowded.