Bucharest (București — population 1.8 million in the city, 2.3 million in the metro — the capital of Romania and the largest city in southeastern Europe outside of Istanbul) is a city of violent contrasts: the Belle Époque boulevards and fin-de-siècle palaces that earned the city the name "Little Paris" in the 1900s and 1930s, when Romanian aristocrats had their palaces built by French architects and the Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue) was lined with the most fashionable shops and cafés in the region, exist beside the megalomaniac brutalism of Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist reconstruction: the Palace of Parliament (Palatul Parlamentului — the second-largest administrative building in the world by floor area, after the Pentagon: 3.77 million sq ft, 1,100 rooms, 12 stories above ground and 8 underground, built by 700 architects and 20,000 workers continuously from 1983 to 1989, unfinished at Ceaușescu's execution), for which an entire historic neighborhood (Uranus — 7 sq km, 40,000 residents forcibly relocated) was demolished. The result of this history is a city of extreme urban contrasts that no other European capital matches: the Orthodox churches of the 18th century hidden between modernist blocks, the Art Nouveau houses beside parking lots that were once neighborhoods, and the finest bohemian bar scene in Eastern Europe emerging in the ruins and interstitial spaces of the communist city. Bucharest's Floreasca and Dorobanți neighborhoods have become among the most sophisticated dining scenes in Europe, and the city's energy — driven by a large young population and a start-up culture — makes it one of the most surprising and rewarding European capitals to visit.
Palatul Parlamentului (the Palace of Parliament — the most extreme example of communist megalomaniacal architecture in the world: the building that Nicolae Ceaușescu began constructing in 1983 after returning from a state visit to North Korea (Kim Il-sung's Juche architecture apparently inspired him to outdo it): the statistics are extraordinary — 3.77 million sq ft of floor space (the second-largest building on Earth after the Pentagon), 1,100 rooms (only 400 in use by the Romanian parliament), 900 balconies, 12 stories above ground and 8 stories underground (including a nuclear bunker), 1 million cubic meters of marble (all Romanian), 700,000 tonnes of steel, 200,000 cubic meters of crystal: the entire output of the Romanian marble quarries and crystal factories was diverted to this building for 6 years. The guided tour (mandatory): the colossal chandeliers, the carpets woven specifically for each room (each requiring 6 months to make), and the Unification Hall (the primary legislative chamber, 100m × 60m with a 30m vaulted ceiling).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCalea Victoriei (the oldest and most important street in Bucharest — the "Victory Avenue": the 3km stretch of the main Bucharest commercial boulevard from the Piața Națiunilor Unite to the Piața Victoriei: the Belle Époque palaces and fin-de-siècle buildings that give Bucharest its "Little Paris" nickname — the Romanian aristocracy who studied in Paris in the 1880s–1920s and returned to build Bucharest in the Parisian mode (the CEC Palace (1900) — the ornate savings bank with the dome inspired by the Panthéon, the Cantacuzino Palace (now the Enescu National Museum), the Atheneum (the most beautiful concert hall in Romania, 1888 — the Romanian Athenaeum, the home of the George Enescu Philharmonic), and the many ornate apartment buildings with the French ironwork balconies).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCentrul Vechi (the Old Center of Bucharest — the medieval historic district around the Old Princely Court (Curtea Veche: the 15th-century court of Vlad III Drăculea (Vlad the Impaler — the Wallachian prince who was the historical model for Bram Stoker's Dracula, ruling from Bucharest in 1459–1462 and 1476–1477)): the district combines the most concentrated archaeological remains of medieval Bucharest (the ruins of the old princely palace, the Gothic well from the 16th century, the Manuc's Inn (Hanul lui Manuc: the 1808 Ottoman caravanserai, the most important commercial hotel in 19th-century Bucharest)) with the most intense bohemian bar scene in Eastern Europe (the bars and clubs in converted palace basements, in alleyways and in rooftop terraces: the terrace bars of Bucharest Old Town are the most vibrant and affordable in any Eastern European capital).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCaru cu Bere (Stavropoleos 5 — the most beautiful restaurant interior in Bucharest (the Art Nouveau beer hall built in 1879: the stained glass, the carved wooden columns, the painted ceramic tiles and the ornate vaulted ceiling of the main hall — one of the finest Art Nouveau interiors in Eastern Europe) and the most important traditional Romanian dishes: the mici (the small Romanian grilled sausages — the "mici" (literally "small ones"): the skinless, spiced minced meat rolls (beef, pork and lamb, seasoned with garlic, pepper, coriander, thyme and baking soda (which contributes to the characteristic texture)) grilled over charcoal and served with mustard and fresh bread — the most beloved Romanian street food and pub food, consumed with Romanian beer (Ursus, Timișoreana, Ciuc)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBran Castle (Castelul Bran — 170km northwest of Bucharest, in the Carpathian Mountains at the Transylvanian border (the border between Wallachia, where Vlad III Drăculea ruled, and Transylvania, the province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire): the 14th-century mountain fortress built by the Teutonic Knights (1212, rebuilt 1377) that was used briefly by Vlad the Impaler and became the model for Bram Stoker's Dracula castle (though Stoker never visited Romania — he based his description on illustrations and the geography of Transylvania). The castle (privately owned by the heirs of Queen Marie of Romania until 2009, now a museum): the turrets, the narrow spiral staircases, the torture chamber and the panoramic view of the Carpathian mountain pass. The drive through the Carpathians (the Prahova Valley): the most scenic mountain road in Romania.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePeles Castle (Sinaia, 125km from Bucharest — the summer residence of the Romanian royal family (King Carol I of Romania, 1881 — the German prince of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family placed on the Romanian throne in 1866): the most magnificent royal palace in Eastern Europe: the Bavarian Renaissance Revival style (the German timber-frame architecture applied to a Romanian mountain forest setting), the 160 rooms decorated in different European styles (the Moorish Hall, the Florentine Hall, the Turkish Hall, the French Hall — each a complete decorative program in the relevant period style), and the most important collection of armor and weapons in Romania. The Peles Museum (the public museum within the castle) shows the working life of the Romanian royal court.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSinaia Monastery (Mânăstirea Sinaia — the Orthodox monastery founded in 1695 by Mihail Cantacuzino (a Wallachian noble who named the monastery after the Sinai Peninsula, where he had made a pilgrimage): the most important monastery in the Carpathian region, built in the Wallachian Brâncovenesc style (the distinctive Romanian architectural style of the Brâncoveanu era: the combination of Byzantine, Ottoman and Renaissance decorative elements — the characteristic carved stone porticoes with the trefoil arches and the elaborate decorative stone lace)): the monastery contains the relics of Saint John Cassian (the 4th-century monk who translated the Desert Fathers' teachings for the Western Church). The monastery is walking distance from Peles Castle.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHerăstrău Park (Parcul Herăstrău — the 187-hectare park in northern Bucharest, centered on the Herăstrău Lake (the artificial lake created in 1936 by draining the marshy Colentina River): the most pleasant outdoor space in Bucharest: the tree-lined paths, the boats on the lake, the outdoor cafés and restaurants along the lakeside, and the location of the National Village Museum (inside the park). The Expirat bar (the most beloved outdoor venue in Herăstrău: the lakeside terrace bar with the live music and the young Bucharest social scene) and the floating restaurants and bars at the northern end of the park.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMuzeul Satului (the National Village Museum — the open-air ethnographic museum in Herăstrău Park (Șoseaua Kiseleff 28): 300 original rural buildings (the farmhouses, the mills, the churches, the barns and the water mills from all regions of Romania, dismantled and reassembled on the lakeside site): the most important collection of Romanian vernacular architecture in the world. The specific buildings: the wooden churches of Maramureș (the tall wooden spires of the northern Romanian Orthodox tradition — structures of extraordinary woodcarving skill), the reed-thatched houses of the Danube Delta (the Dobrogea delta architecture: the wattle-and-daub walls and the massive reed-thatched roofs), and the Transylvanian painted wooden gates (the most elaborate domestic entrance portals in Europe: each gate a complete carved narrative of the farm family's life).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFloreasca (the upscale northern neighborhood of Bucharest around the Floreasca Lake: the neighborhood with the highest concentration of Bucharest's most ambitious restaurants, the specialty coffee shops and the cocktail bars that represent the post-communist cultural renewal of the Romanian capital). The Bucharest café culture (the Romanian cafea (coffee) culture: the Romanian espresso tradition (the most Italian-influenced in Eastern Europe, a legacy of the strong cultural ties between Romania and Italy (the shared Latin-derived language), the specialty coffee roasters established after 2010)), and the Bucharest cocktail scene (the craft cocktail bars in the Floreasca neighborhood are among the best-value sophisticated cocktail experiences in Europe).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSarmale (the Romanian stuffed cabbage rolls — the most important traditional dish in Romanian cuisine: the wine leaves or pickled cabbage leaves (frunze de varză murată — the pickled whole cabbage leaves from the barrel, not fresh cabbage) stuffed with a mixture of minced pork, rice, onion, dill and thyme, then slow-cooked in a clay pot with smoked pork (the afumătură — smoked pork ribs or smoked pork belly) and tomato sauce for 4–6 hours: served with the mămăligă (the Romanian cornmeal porridge — the polenta equivalent, the most important Romanian staple food, coarser-ground and less salted than Italian polenta) and the smântână (the sour cream — the thick Romanian sour cream that accompanies virtually every traditional dish). Lacrimi și Sfinți (Strada Johann Strauss 2, Floreasca): the most creative traditional Romanian restaurant in Bucharest.
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