Welcome to Bucharest, Romania (#16) Part 1

We decided to take a Grand Circle Cruise starting from Bucharest, Romania. We arrived 5 days before the cruise met and 2 days before we boarded our MS River Aria. You can track us here.

Our first day we took a walking tour with a local to learn Romanian history.

We visited the Orthodox Church Stavropoleos, over 300 years old. There are currently 7 nuns residing here.

Much of Romania in the working class neighborhoods are suffering from some decay of buildings that need renovated or being rebuilt.

We saw many beautiful building that were in various stages of disrepair.

Our second day we did an all day bus tour to Bram Castle and Peles Castle. The scenery was beautiful.

We stopped in the town of Brasov. This town was settled by German Saxons in in the 1100's.

Laura climbed the mountain in Braslov while Ted continued to eat. He's a small dot in this picture.

This is a closeup of what he looked like.

Peles castle was built by the first imported Germanic king of Romania (King Carol I) who started rule in 1866.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele%C8%99_Castle

This ceiling was made with an electrical motor to open for ventilation.

Exterior of Peles Castle

We ate dinner at a neighborhood restaurant with great food and lots of local families.

We found a really nice laundromat. There was a grocery store next door for soap, and you could pay with a credit card.

What we learned about Romania.

• Romanian lands and property were taken from the citizens in 1947.

• The citizens essentially starved for the 1980s as the dictator exported all the goods and starved the citizens. The dictator's wife thought the citizens could live on 600 calories a day. Food was rationed and information was limited.

• Romania had a big violent revolution in 1989 when over 1200 citizens were killed in the first 4 days.

• Romania's dictator Nicolae and wife Elena Ceausescu from were executed on the television after 35 years of rule

• Life in Romania became better after entering the EU in 2003 and 2007.

• Decendents are trying to regain ownership to properties. Those contested are deteriorating.

• Properties that are not deemed safe enough to withstand a 6.5 earthquake have a red dot placed on the front.

• Graffiti is allowed and encouraged as an expression of freedom.

Stay: 3 Nights Private Stay

Pros: Interesting walking around the city. It is an eclectic collection of centuries of architecture and culture. The app Bolt (like Uber) is easy to use to get around

Cons: Very big, lots of walking, lots of cars, watch for falling debris from buildings.

Rating Private Stay: 2 stars