Bucharest, November 4. - 6. 2022

Our Bucharest weekend was actually a part of our Jordan trip. On our way back from Jordan, we had the possibility of staying a long weekend in Bucharest before going home. Although a part of another trip, I still felt that Bucharest deserved a separate post in this blog. 

We arrived at Bucharest Otopeni airport on Friday (November 4th) around noon. The airport was a total chaos - we were lining up for the passport control, but there seemed to be no correct queues - many people were not respecting the queues and there were just too many people for a pretty small area. The trouble did not end there - once we passed the passport control, we still waited for our luggage for almost an hour so it was nearly 2 pm when we finally left the airport. Bolt (the same as Uber) cars were easy and inexpensive way to get around in Bucharest. The almost hour-long trip from the airport to city center costed us 17 euros with Bolt.

We wished to stay in the old town and within walking distance of most sights, so we had chosen the Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Old Town hotel for our stay. We were really happy with the choice - the hotel was clean, new and modern and the breakfast was really good with lots of choices (also plant based). Just after we had checked ourselves in at the hotel, we went for a little walk around the old town - just to get a bite to eat and exchange some local currency. The currency in Romania is called leu and one euro was worth around 4.9 leu. We were also lucky with the weather - it was unusually mild for the beginning of November. While walking, we looked at the menus of several restaurants to have an idea for where to have dinner and were pleasantly surprised of how affordable the prices were. The old town was lively on Friday night with lots of people in outdoor terraces of the bars and restaurants, street artists, many groups of young foreign people coming to spend a cheap party weekend in Bucharest. We finally chose a restaurant called Bazaar - after eating Middle-Eastern food for the whole Jordan trip, we were all craving for pasta. The food was not that special but the bill of around 40 euros for four people was a pleasant surprise.

The double room in Hilton Old Town hotel

Discovering Bucharest Old Town

The building just opposite of our hotel

For the next day we had planned to visit the Therme Bucuresti, a huge indoor (and in summer also outdoor) water park and spa. It is situated not far from the Bucharest airport, so it took about an hour to get there by Bolt taxi. There were three areas in the complex and the kids and under 14 were only allowed at the water park area called Galaxy. The Galaxy area had lots of slides, a couple of saunas and jacuzzis and an indoor/outdoor pool. The most of the spa and relaxation activities (like different saunas) were at the Elysium area. The entrance fee to enter all the areas was about 27 euros per adult. As we aimed to get there in the morning around 10 (it opened at 9), it was still not too crowded when we got in but it got absolutely packed (being Saturday) when we left in the afternoon. I would definitely recommend visiting during the weekdays to avoid the crowds.

 The "Hollywood Sauna" - a cinema-sauna showing nature documentaries

We wanted to try some traditional Romanian cuisine for dinner and decided to go to eat at Vatra - it serves a traditional Romanian food (that is very meat-heavy, complicated to find plant-based options), the waiters wear national costumes and it was pretty highly rated in Google. It totally lived up to expectations, we were very happy with the whole meal. 

Traditional stuffed cabbage leaves

 After dinner walk in the old town

We still had the whole day of Sunday to spend in the Romanian capital, as our flight was leaving at 9 pm. We had a nice walk in the morning, admiring the beautiful buildings and visiting an old Orthodox church and decided to go and try to visit the Parliament Palace - the second biggest parliament building in the world and also the heaviest building in the world. It is only possible to enter the building as a part of a guided tour. We had not reserved anything, but thought that maybe in November the groups are not as full as in summer, for example. We got there around 12 noon and were proposed an English speaking tour for 2pm, what we, of course, took. 

 

A beautiful old Orthodox church

The parliament building was very impressive, both outside and inside. The guided tour was so worth it, we got to know lots of interesting facts about the opulent palace of Nicolae Ceaușescu - that his aim was to build it using only Romanian materials, the stories of different rooms, when the palace was actually finished etc. 

 

 

Although our trip to Romania was very brief and we only managed to visit the capital, we really liked this not-so-well-known European country. Of course, Romania is so much more than Bucharest and I hope that one day we could have a chance to return and see more of it.