KeithWhat a lovely break, the weather was great, surprisingly warm for February, the accommodation (One 88 apartments) was adequate, and in a good location.
Overall Bucharest is a great city to visit, with plenty to see and do, there are many places of interest, museums, monuments, historical buildings, etc, however nothing I would say that you can cross off your bucket list.
The people are generally very helpful, and friendly, and the city is very cosmopolitan, however despite there being a lot of tourists and other cultures here, Bucharest remains very Romanian, and outside of the main tourist areas very little English is spoken.
If you are a walker, I would imagine that there is plenty you can cover on foot, however the public transport seems very good here and most of the attractions can be accessed via the bus, metro or tram routes.
As there were 4 of us, it was more economical to use the bolt and Uber taxis, with the average journey costing 16-18 RON (door to door), and public transport 3-5 RON each, making it a no brainer for us.
Just over 2 hours flying time from Paphos, arriving at 17.00 on Friday evening, they have uber and bolt here, which is incredibly easy and very reasonably priced, a 30 minute ride from airport to accommodation 75 RON approximately €15, if you download the bolt/uber app, and register a card, payment is taken automatically.
The first evening we found a local bar called QP, on arrival (20.00) nearly all the tables were reserved, this seems to be the case in many local bars in Bucharest on the weekend, a good selection of beers, wines and spirits.
Saturday 24th February
After a light breakfast in the cafe/bakery attached to the apartment block, again we used the bolt app, to book a ride to the palace of parliament, a spectacular building, fairly modern in construction, built over 13 years 1984-97 by a team of over 700 architects, very grand set in its own grounds in what appears to be a civic office area.
if you enjoy buildings and architecture, definitely keep your eyes open, the styles are very diverse, with many different influences, obviously showing through, but all sitting amongst each other.
Another bolt ride, and we found ourselves at the beginning of Lipscani street, here you can spend hours wandering the cobbled streets, that spider web, to the left and right of the main drag, filled with bars, restaurants and souvenir shops, definitely worth a few hours, to explore, or just sit and people watch.
If your lucky as we were you might even catch some local street entertainment
We sat at a very nice cafe called Nobis and did exactly that……..
Lipscani street, is obviously the place to go for afternoon or evening entertainment, food and drink and appears to have something for everyone’s taste.
Choice of shopping malls in Bucharest, if retail therapy is your thing.
Sunday 25th
Some places close on a Sunday, so again double check before you go, or book in advance to make sure.
Found a little gem of a place, ” Garlic pub” not at all a pub, but a lovely little local restaurant, service, food and atmosphere were all excellent. Would easily go back to this place, if your in the area we would highly recommend it.
Monday 26th
This is a huge water park that caters for everyone, there are 3 different areas, pools and price options, adults only, children’s area, indoor/outdoor all heated, pool bar area.
3 restaurants, a range of saunas with different temperature and humidity options, a steam room, mineral pools, water slides, it literally does cater for everyone.
