Things to do in Bucharest
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Caru cu Bere
Bucharest's oldest beer hall plays home to serious Gothic style and an irresistible atmosphere, although it was closed for renovation when we visited. Check to see its new state - it's likely they'll bring back the Roma bands, but revive the sour service.
reviewed
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Trattoria Il Calcio
Run by 'Romania's George Best' (football legend Gino Lorgucescu), this pasta/pizza place looks Tuscan, if not for the framed Futbol journals from the 1960s on the walls. The food's great, with hearty meals and good salads. It gets busy at lunch.
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Don Taco
Romania's only 'Mexican' restaurant (um, half the menu sticks with Romanian fare) does an inventive but pretty good take on burritos, enchiladas and carnitas (stewed pork).
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Fire Club
This is a big red-brick room with student groups crouched on stools around small tables, bottles of Tuborg in hand. Rock and punk shows are staged in the basement.
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Grand Cafe Galleron
A block east of Piaţa Revoluţiei, this stylish cafe has indoor nooks and outdoor seats for ice-cream, sandwiches, drinks and all-day breakfast.
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Club A
Run by students, this club is a classic and beloved by all who go there. Indie pop/rock tunes play until very late Friday and Saturday nights.
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Twice
DJs and amateur stripping are part of the hip-to-hip youth dancing to two beats in two rooms. Prepare to sweat.
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National Art Museum
Housed in the Royal Palace, the massive, three-part National Art Museum - all signed in English - could take, along with Piaţa Revoluţii and lunch, the bulk of a day. Start at the north door with the Gallery of Romanian Art, a three-floor survey of Romania's art from several hundred icons and jaw-dropping carved wood altars saved from communist-destroyed churches - all laid out on funky purple and crimson walls.
The country's oil masters - from the impasto stokes of Gheorghe Petrascu to Nicolae Grigorescu's arrestingly frank portraits of Roma and peasant folk - are on the top floor. Walking through the chronological collection, note the phase out/in of 'Eastern' Turk-s…
reviewed
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Palace of Parliament
Facing B-dul Unirii is the impossible-to-miss Palace of Parliament, the world's second-largest building (after the US Pentagon) and Ceauşescu's most infamous creation. Built in 1984 (and still 10% unfinished), the building's 12 storeys and 3100 rooms covers 330,000 sq metres - an estimated around €3.3 billion project.
Rushed, but interesting, 45 minutes tours go every half-hour or so and lead into a handful of marble rooms - still hired out for conferences - finishing at the balcony Nicolae didn't live long enough to speak from. The whopping €9.60 photography or video fee is widely ignored. Facing from B-dul Unirii, the entrance is around to the right (a 12-minute walk…
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Ghencea Civil Cemetery
About 3km west of the Palace of Parliament, Ghencea Civil Cemetery has two infamous inhabitants: Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena (dubbed the 'Romanian Eva Perón'). The pair were secretly buried here - and notably not at Belu Cemetery, the city's most reputable resting place - on 30 December 1989, in hastily prepared graves. Both lie before the small chapel that faces the entry.
Nicolae lies in row I-35, to the left of the path. No stone tomb adorns his earth grave, dug into a pathway, but two crosses mark his grave. One is a stone cross with a red star, the other is a black steel cross which is inscribed with his name, date of birth and death (26 January 1918-24 De…
reviewed
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Jewish History Museum
Once a thriving part of Romania, the Jewish community in the capital dates from the 16th century, when merchants and traders settled here. In 1941 800,000 Jews lived in Romania; today the number is less than 10,000. In Lucian Boia's book Romania he lamented the Jewish exodus from Romania after WWII as losing 'part of the Romanian soul'. There was reason to leave - as many as 400,000 Jews were killed in Romania during the war.
Several sites keep this part of Romanian history in the public memory. Housed in the beautiful former Tailor's synagogue, the well-arranged Jewish History Museum bears testimony to the city's once-thriving Jewish life. Exhibits - in English and Roman…
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Dâmboviţa River
All great cities have their rivers, and Bucharest slips in its quest for greatness thanks to the way it's treated the miserly Dâmboviţa River. Centuries ago, when Bucharest first took its steps, the river rushed through woods on this relatively hilly part of the plain. Mosquitoes loved the river though, and brought malaria to a growing population; sewage seemed drawn to it too, and the flood-prone river grew more and more contaminated.
The natural twists and turns of the river were canalised between 1880 and 1883 and was later enhanced with concrete.
In the 1970s, Ceauşescu's destructive gaze fell on the river - perhaps the USSR's canal-building history steered it - and …
reviewed
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Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral
Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral sits south of Piaţa Unirii, atop Patriarchy Hill. It's the majestic centre of the Romanian Orthodox faith. During the 15th century a small wooden church surrounded by vineyards stood on the hill. The cathedral consecrated the metropolitan centre of Wallachia in 1868, and was built in 1656-58 by Wallachian prince Şerban Basarab.
None of the original interior paintings or icons remains, bar a single icon (1665) depicting Constantin and Helen, the cathedral's patron saints. The present-day frescoes were painted by Dimitrie Belizarie in 1923. To the west is a small chapel, linked by a balcony to the Patriarchal Palace, the south wings of which…
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Press House
At its northern end, Şos Kiseleff splays out into Piaţa Presei Libere, which is dominated by the giant Press House, a 1956 Stalinist wedding-cake of a structure. It gave a clear message to the citizens of Bucharest - Big Brother is watching you! A potent symbol of the powerful communist regime, until 1990 the house was called the 'House of the Sparks' (Casa Scânteii); behind closed doors it was known as the 'House of Lies'. It's still home to the city's hacks.
You can see the imprint on the tower where the hammer and sickle once were. In front of the building is an artful Intersection of Europe sculpture (Interşectie cu Europe), showing two rods entering a cone from di…
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Romanian Athenaeum
This exquisite circular building is the majestic heart of Romania's classical music tradition. The Romanian Athenaeum hosts prestigious concerts and should not be missed. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco inside the Big Hall on the first floor and the dome is 41m high. A huge appeal dubbed 'Give a Penny for the Athenaeum' saved it from disaster after the original patron's funds dried up.
The peristyle is adorned with mosaics of five Romanian rulers, including Moldavian prince Vasile Lupu (r 1512-21), Wallachian Matei Basarab (r 1632-54) and King Carol I (r 1881-1914). Built in 1888, George Enescu made his debut here in 1898, followed five ye…
reviewed
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History & Art Museum
Housed in a neo-Gothic palace built in the 1830s to host fancy balls, the History & Art Museum, facing Piaţa Universităţii, is a lovely spot with an interesting collection of old artefacts, photos and costumes. A few pieces pre-date the Bronze Era, and some documents hail from the days when Romanians wrote in Cyrillic. Designed by two Austrian architects, the neo-Gothic palace was built in 1832-34 for the Şuţu family, notorious for their high-society parties.
One document upstairs is the first known chronicle of the city (1459), and was issued by the moustached Vlad Ţepeş. A giant Venetian mirror on the stairway reflects a mirrored clock (eternally reading 2.15 these…
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Old Princely Court
Bucharest's historic heart - on and off historic Calea Victoriei - sprang up around the Old Princely Court in the 15th century. The battered remains of this court reveal little; you can peer through the fence to the statues of Vlad Ţepeş.
Artisans and traders whose occupations are still reflected in street names like Str Covaci (trough-makers street) and Str Şelari (saddle-makers street) settled in this area in the 14th century, but it was not until the reigning prince of Wallachia, Vlad Ţepeş, fortified the settlement and built a Prince's Palace (Palatul Voievodal) that it flourished as a commercial centre. At the end of the 18th century, heavily damaged by earthquakes…
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National Museum of Contemporary Art
In the back of the Palace of Parliament is the superb National Museum of Contemporary Art, which opened in 2004. A fully changing four-floor space, with double all-glass elevators built onto the outside of the building, it features eclectic European artists' installation and video art and is easily one of Eastern Europe's most provocative spaces. Past exhibits included collapsed walls lined with large claustrophobic images of Ceauşescu and the communist era. There's a top-floor open-air cafe.
The entry is from the southwestern side of the building - a 20-minute walk from the palace-tour entry! The best way to the palace is walking from Piaţa Unirii (and its metro station…
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Museum of the Romanian Peasant
The Museum of the Romanian Peasant is so good you may want to hug it. Chosen as Europe's best museum in 1996, this museum makes the best of little money. Hand-made cards (in English) personalise exhibits, such as a full 19th-century home upstairs, a heartbreakingly sweet room devoted to grandmas, and 'hidden' rooms that you're ushered to via hand-scrawled directions. Access a gift shop from the back side of the museum.
Don't miss the (rare) communism exhibit downstairs, with Lenin busts, portraits of Romanian leader Gheorghiu-Dej, and heart-rending accounts of those who objected to collectivisation (in Romanian only). An 18th-century Transylvanian church is in the backlot…
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Central Committee of the Communist Party
The scene of Ceauşescu's infamous last speech was on the balcony of the former Central Committee of the Communist Party building on 21 December 1989. Amid cries of 'Down with Ceauşescu!' he escaped (briefly) by helicopter from the roof. Meanwhile, the crowds were riddled with bullets, and many died.
On the front façade next to the entrance is a plaque dedicated to the 'young and courageous people' who 'drove out the dictator', thus 'giving the Romanian people back their freedom and dignity'. A statue of a man, broken but put back together again, dominates the small green area in front. The building now houses the Senate.
reviewed
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Piaţa Universităţii
Some of the fiercest fighting during the 1989 Revolution took place at Piaţa Universităţii. Journalists watched tanks roll over Romanian freedom fighters and soldiers shoot into crowds of protestors from their viewpoint inside Hotel Inter-Continental. Scour the area and you'll find bullet marks in buildings and 10 stone crosses commemorating those killed. Piaţa Universităţii (sometimes called 'Piaţa Tiananmen') is the hub of Bucharest's intellectual and political life.
The main university building, built in 1856-68 and inaugurated in 1869, is on the northwestern corner.
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Triumphal Arch
About half way up Şos Kiseleff, the 11m Triumphal Arch, based on Paris' namesake monument, was built in 1935 to commemorate the reunification of Romania in 1918. Sites of WWI battles are inscribed inside the arch, while King Ferdinand and Queen Marie feature on its southern façade. Previously a shoddy makeshift monument had been made in 1922 (just before King Ferdinand's triumphant entry into the city).
The arch was so ludicrous that composer George Enescu wrote to the city mayor, demanding to know when a 'real' triumphal arch would be erected. Its viewing platform is now closed to the public.
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Carol I Park
About 1km southwest from Piaţa Unirii, Carol I Park may have been inaugurated in 1906, but the eternal flame burning for an unknown soldier, and 20m black-granite mausoleum - and a heavy military presence who ask you not to photograph it - make it feel more of the communist era. The mausoleum, topped with five arches made of red Swedish granite, was put up in memory of the 'Heroes for the Struggle for the People's and the Homeland's Liberty for Socialism'. That's pretty communist. Enter the park from the north at Piaţa Libertăţii or from the south along Calea Şerban Vodă.
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Belu Cemetery
Just south of the Martyr-Heroes of the December 1989 Revolution Cemetery is Belu Cemetery, the city's most prestigious cemetery, which houses the tombs of many notable Romanian writers. Space has gotten so tight, people are recycling spots from past family members; in other areas, sidewalks are filling with new grave sites! A map inside the gate points out locations. Many Romanians pay respects to national poet Mihai Eminescu (1850-89) and comic playwright and humorist Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912), who only have a bloke named Traian Savalescu between them; go to Figura 9 (to the right after you enter).
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National Military Museum
Only 10 minutes by foot from the train station, the interesting pinky-peach National Military Museum doubles nicely as a Romanian history museum, with its chronological rundown at how the country defended itself. Out front are heroic busts (including one of Vlad Ţepeş), while in the museum entrance note the 1988 communist mural that eerily celebrates the Palace of Parliament (a year before the revolution).
In the back is a superb hangar with Aurel Vlaicu's historic 1911 plane and cosmonaut uniforms. The army's backlash of the 1989 Revolution (unsurprisingly) gets little play.
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