Bucharest

Technically our holiday had already started in Bucharest, but it was just a visit to the airport, to collected the rental and head north. Now, two days later we brought the car back to Bucharest spent a day and a half exploring this city too.

We did arrive on the Saturday, but it may have been somebody's birthday, so no sightseeing occurred. We saved that for the hangover which has become a strangely repeating tactic of ours.

So, there we were, the day after the night before, we marched out the back of the hotel. On the agenda for day one was the Palace of Parliament followed by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then a wander around Bucharest Old Town.

The Monday we were planning to visit the Choral Temple and St George Church in the Jewish Quarter then relocate to our Intrepid hotel and finish with a quick visit to the Arcul de Triumf.

So, off we walked, holding our weary heads, towards the Palace of Parliament. First spot was Constitution Square, a big open area space, which I imagine just fills with tourist buses during high season.

We walked around the whole perimeter of the palace, and though there were walking tours through the interior, we had other plans on our half day hangover walking tour. On the north side entrance there was an impromptu art show and Bauhaus exhibition.

As we walked to the rear of the Palace, past the State Building, we started to get a glimpse of the impressive National Cathedral. It looks like it has been under construction for quite some time, so long that the google photos don't even match the building we saw. With all the continued construction we had to walk all the we past the site to get a decent shot.

Walking on the south side perimeter we ended up spending some time walking along the walled parked surrounded by a non chronological timeline of Romania's history. We also walked past the University of Romania.

Once done we hooked a right and walked through the back streets all the way to to Carol Park arriving at the North end, by the Zodiac Fountain.

As soon as we walked up the central avenue of Carol Park we saw the monument at the opposite end, towering over the park at the top of a massive set of stairs.

Carol Park itself was actually wonderful, a designer pond in the middle, flanked by woodland are and smooth concrete paths winding up and down the area, interspersed with adults and children riding around on go-karts.

As the sun started to set and our bellies were full of ice cream that we so obviously deserved, we walked back towards the Old Town and had a wander about in that area.

The old town area is already completely pedestrianized, but on Sundays they close the adjoining streets to traffic, creating an even larger pedestrian only zone. I remember they tried this in Regional WA once and the local almost rioted having to walk and extra 50m to their supermarket.

We walked over to Palace of the Deposits and Consignments and watched the influencers perform for their music videos out front, luckily I still managed to get a good photo.

On our final day in Bucharest, in fact the day we were due to meet up with our Intrepid Travel Group, we had a last minute round of inspiration to visit the Jewish Quarter and then head up to the northside to quickly view the Arc de Triomphe. So, we checked out of our room, left the luggage at reception and started walking East.

Just before we walked out of the Old Town boundaries we decided to pop into the Church of The Old Court, it has the title of being the oldest church preserved in Bucharest, which in fact was built atop another church!

After this entry fee free visit to the church we crossed the main road(by going underneath it) and walked towards the Jewish Quarter. We arrived at the Choral Temple the only two lost looking tourists and then it finally happened...there was an entry fee, it had to be paid in cash, and it had to be paid in exact cash. My nightmare. So off we wandered to the ATM, grabbed the cash and walked back hoping we'd have it all spent by the end of the day, it wasn't too expensive, and really it was worth the effort.

We weren't the only ones there and the money went straight to the guide who was giving detailed talks at the front. He really talked. It was all good info, but he really talked a lot. Once he was done we were allowed to walk pretty much anywhere, including the upper levels.

It wasn't until we left, that we realised how heavy a police presence there was, maybe because of us, maybe because of current conflicts...

Two more spots and then Bucharest was done. The next was The New "Saint George" Church just a few minutes walk heading north. Not much to say about this one, except the pictures really show off the decor of this place. It was pretty incredible.

The outside was just smothered in colour, but unfortunately the walls were covered in an unsightly perspex protector, so we went inside and it was dark and the photos don't do the place any justice...

Afterwards we walked back towards our hotel in old town, deviated to the Crepes & Steak restaurant, quite possibly the best combination of foods ever invented and then back to the hotel where we collected our luggage and jumped into an Uber to the next hotel.

On a side note, I have spend many days editing and writing this post on just one city and really I regret not splitting it up into days or features, but I'm unwilling to turn back. Just one bit left!

So a couple days before, when we travelled into the city, we caught the express bus and by design of course it passed the Arcul de Triumf and the adjacent city park but gave us very little time to take it all in. So, our last bit of exploration on the afternoon of our travel meeting, we walked up there, at full speed to avoid the incoming rain storm.

With a little time to spare we walked through the extremely non-symmetrical park, and then called it a day, and convened in our hotel, the strategically placed, train station adjacent MyContinental Bucuresti Gara de Nord.

That was longer than intended. Lesson learned.