Blogs from Bucharest, Muntenia, Romania, Europe
Début de nos aventures à Bucarest, en Roumanie (Véro)
Published: April 10th 2012Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest
April 10th 2012
C'est avec une grande fatigue que nous sommes arrivés à Bucarest, en Roumanie. (Contrairement à Nellie, qui s'est endormie dès que l'avion a décollé d'Ottawa, et jusqu'à ce que nous atterissions à Londres - un gros 6h!). Il y avait même quelqu'un qui nous attendait à l'aéroport de Bucarest pour nous emmener à notre appartement. Alors tout s'est bien passé et on a pu s'installer facilement dans notre super appartement :) C'est grand et c'est très tranquille... et c'est exactement ce qu'on avait besoin pour se remettre sur pied! Est-ce que c'est joli Bucarest? Disons que ça dépend dans quel coin on est. J'ai bien aimé le quartier historique avec ses rues piétonières en pierres :) Il y avait plein de restaurants avec de belles terrasses, des petites boutiques, une rue avec plein de magasins de ... read more
March 16th 2012
The hotel was so little. It only had 4 rooms. We had this bread that was so good with cinammon. We went to a park with old houses and played house. We ate in the hunting room of Dracula's Restaurant. - Sofia It was time to leave the medieval towns of Transylvania and Dracula and get back to Bucharest to catch our flight the next day. As we had not spent anytime in the city on our arrival, daddy thought it would be a good idea to get there early to have at least 1/2 day in the capital. So after a few hour drive from Hotel Dracula in Capatatenii near Dracula's real castle, we arrived in Bucharest. We stayed at a very cute hostel/Bed and Breakfast called Vila Gabriela in Otopeni less than 2 km ... read more
January 25th 2012
Whether his intention was to enhance his own personal glory, or the glory of the party, or perish the thought even the glory of the Romanian people; Ceausescu left the capital city of Romania a far different place than it was before he came to power. Bucharest was at the centre of his grand obsession to outdo the French, with it's main boulevard built slightly larger than the Champs D'Elysees, and the Arch of Triumph also larger than the famous Paris attraction. The sheer scale of the work recently undertaken in Bucharest may never be matched in Europe, and could only have occurred under a communist dictator. Sixty thousand houses were flattened and their tenants evicted to clear the land for the Palace of Parliament, with matching architecture in the new buildings lining the three kilometre ... read more
A Quick Stop In Bucharest
Published: January 25th 2012Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest » Centru Civic
January 19th 2012
We arrived in Bucharest via the train from Brasov, and followed our instructions from the metro to our hostel. We decided to stay out of the city centre this time due to the protesting. We stayed in an old soviet block building area of the city. We have seen these areas in many of the eastern European cities we have been to but never stayed in one, its amazing at how large they are and how many people they stuff in there. The best part was trying to find our hostel as they all look exactly the same and are numbered in a confusing manner, for example our hostel was building EB302A-C. We found it, caught the tiny creaky elevator up and later found out that we were only 50kgs off the maximum weight. (Mikaela would ... read more
December 25th 2011
Bucharest, Romania has cheap flights leaving Istanbul Friday after work and returning Sunday evening. That’s just about the only criteria I have for weekend trips. I have never been to Romania before and really didn’t know much about it, but when another teacher told me that there was a deal on airfare and several others were going there for the Christmas weekend, I jumped on board. Istanbul has two great airports with flights all over the world. I live and work on the Asian side of Istanbul, so I keep an eye on cheap flights from the Sabiha Gökçen airport. Now that I feel like I’ve seen most of the sights in the city, I’m looking for ways to see more of the region. There is no Christmas vacation in Turkey since it’s a Muslim country, ... read more
October 14th 2011
Bucharest....Not my favorite place I have been too. Its not bad or anything just not my favorite. I think this place is a diamond in the rough because It has so much potential to be a really great tourist spot but it just has so much construction going on. Started the walk off through a really nice park though and it did set a good mood. First walked to the tourist office to get a good map of the city so I wouldn't get lost with all the construction going on. Headed to the Stavropoleos Church next to the plaza where the president Nicolae Ceausescu gave his last speech trying to calm the people down before the revolution but that didn't go well and him and his wife had to be rescued by a helicopter and ... read more
September 28th 2011
Alrighty, I’ve had some complaints that nobody knows what’s been going on with my adventures this side of the world. Sounds like it’s time for a short update on what I have been getting up to, where I’ve been and what kinds of animals I’ve killed. I stopped blogging just before travelling, because hooking yourself to the duties of a computer-article just gets tedious. This is especially true when you’re on a farm and working from 7am – 9pm every day. I signed myself to WWOOF for a month in Romania. WWOOF stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms also known as "Willing Workers On Organic Farms”. The second question immediately asked is, “Why Romania?” Well, I figured it was a country I would never have visited otherwise, it was totally random and it gave me ... read more
September 17th 2011
We were up at 7 for our last morning in our own personal "People's Palace", packed up, enjoyed breakfast and one last bit of free wifi ... and we were on the road by 9:30 It's a short walk (less than one mile) to the train station, so I argued against a cab. Carrie (she of the heaviest suitcase) said she would only walk if I would trade suitcases with her. We got our exercise for the morning, three of us carting heavy suitcases down Strada Aurel Vlaicu. Leslie was in the lead, with her light duffel bag :) We got to the train station with plenty of time; bought our tickets (now that we are about to leave the country, my Romanian is getting better), and managed to get seats all together. We proceeded to ... read more
September 10th 2011
Three of us departed from Dulles at 8:45pm on Sept 9th ... flew through Heathrow, and arrived in Bucharest at 4:45pm Romanian time. We had very smooth flights; I slept many hours, and arrived feeling very refreshed. We got through customs easily and quickly, and Carrie and I were checked into our hotel by 5:30, with a 7 hour time difference. Door to door from Rob's house to the hotel was 17 hours. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel InterContinental was very pretty, past parks, bike lanes, and many picturesque buildings. We drove down Bucharest's version of Champs-Élysées - complete with an Arc de Triomphe built after World War I. Our hotel is rather fancy, especially for the price. Every room has a balcony, all with great views. Our rooms are on the ... read more
the best of Bucuresti
Published: November 27th 2011Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest » Centru Civic
August 26th 2011
Then – Bucharest. We made our way, gingerly, down the fantastically bad Romanian road system, marvelling at the only length of motorway in the country. A decent part of the road this, and it really didn’t go anywhere. We had decided to live it up a little in Bucharest after a few months of camping – we booked a pretty flash room at the NH Hotel Bucharest. A bathroom, aircon and telly – it even had tea and coffee making facilities. Fighting through the Bucharest traffic was easier than I had anticipated. Or perhaps I had simply grown used to the peculiarities of Romanian driving. Romanians, I had discovered, were really pretty ordinary drivers. Sure, they made it a matter of pride that they can pass on a blind corner, or aiming straight at the Tatra ... read more
