We’ve arrived at Day 5 of our Eastern Balkan trip. It’s a Sunday, but not a ‘sun’ day – that bright warm disk normally seen in the sky is very much conspicuous by its absence today behind the thick moody clouds.
Life often has a funny way of surprising you. When my sister posted a photo on Instagram of Braşov on Friday, she got a message from a friend to say that she had been there the day before. It turns out we’ve been following her itinerary inadvertently for a few days! They’ve arranged to meet up for breakfast in the centre of Bucharest at 9:30am.
We say goodbye to the chickens (we’re staying next door to some kind of poultry farm) and head to the car to drive into the city. The traffic is as compliant as ever – it feels like our three morning drives into Bucharest have all followed the same pattern: 1. leave with plenty of time to spare, 2. get stuck in heavier than expected traffic, and 3. arrive with seconds to spare, sprinting to our meeting point.
Sophie and Al jump out of the car when we get somewhere near the city centre, and Mum, Dad and I head to our usual parking spot beside University Square. We’re not joining the others, so will find somewhere nice and cosy for breakfast ourselves.
Meandering through the old town, we find ourselves retracing steps from our walking tour earlier in the week – first at the church of Saint Anthony, then the old court, then Lipscani Street. Not by choice might I add, there really isn’t much to the old town that we haven’t seen yet!
As we arrive at the CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, a flock of cyclists (sorry I’m not sure what the correct collective is) whizz past. The roads are all closed for traffic with fences lining the road. It seems that today the Turul României (Tour of Romania) cycling race is in town. A lot of the competitors are doing a recce around the course ahead of the final stage: a 100 km sprint stage in a circuit around the city.
We don’t seem to be getting anywhere on our quest for brekkie though. I propose we try going back to the Macca Vilacrosse Passage – I was sure there were some cafe type places when we went through there with the walking tour. Evidently not – just bars (and none of them actually open). Ah sod it!
The fork shaped passageway leads us back out onto the Calea Victoriei, where a restaurant across the street is a most welcome sight. It’s named after the two essential ingredients of a sandwich – ‘Bread and Butter!’
We walk inside, and I’m sure I can hear a Northern Irish accent faintly in the background. I investigate further, and who should I spot but my very sister nattering away in one of the restaurant’s little arched alcoves. As chance would have it, we’ve both independently arrived at the same restaurant in Bucharest. I swear we didn’t know she was there!
The restaurant itself was a bit of a disappointment. For a cooked (savoury) breakfast, it would have been great, but I was fancying something sweet, and the options were limited to… well… bread and butter. Funny that! The accompanying marmalade wasn’t enough to save it!
After breakfast, Sophie’s friend and her family made their farewells, and our lot headed off to take in a few more significant spots in the city. We’re heading south to Bulgaria tomorrow, and while we’re planning to return for our last night, I’ve learnt through experience, it’s better not to leave some things to chance.
Why do you only ever spot all the nice coffee shops and patisseries after you need them? Fate can be oh so cruel!
Just off the Calea Victoriei, is the Pasajul Victoriei – Bucharest’s answer to Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, or Lisbon’s Pink Street. It’s got a few umbrellas hanging above the passageway – nothing exciting, but amid the dreary grey skies and inspiring Communist era architecture, it’s as good as were going to get for a bit of colour, so stop for a quick group photo. Also good to know if the rain starts falling, we know where to grab a brolly!
After our quick photo op, we set sail for the Romanian Parliament building. It shouldn’t be hard to spot – at 240 metres long, 270 metres wide and 84 metres tall, it’s the largest administrative building in the world by volume, and the second largest by area (behind only the pentagon). That said, I’m finding it awfully difficult to spot! 🤦🏻
Coming from the Calea Victoriei, we cross a canal / river and encounter a myriad of communist era flat blocks. It’s really nice hearing sounds wafting from the churches meeting as we walk past. At one such spot, we make out the tune of ‘Nearer My God to Thee playing’. This was the song they played as the Titanic was sinking.
Rather fittingly (for reasons you will soon discover), the imposing Parliament building appears in full view.
When it opened in 1997, it was called the ‘House of the Republic’, and it’s another fine example of ridiculous frivolousness from Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Before I go further, what on earth was he thinking??? Several years later, and Bucharest was hit by a catastrophic earthquake. Ceaușescu did what any other leader would have done in the same situation – remodelled the city on Pyongyang, inspired by North Korea’s communist architecture!
This plan was known as Project Bucharest (which incidentally could also be the motto of Booking.com). The ‘House’ was intended to be (probably successfully) the focal point of the city, and soon became known as the Casa Poporului (People’s Palace). It’s thought that up to 3,000 people died during its construction – a further example of how expendable the Romanian people were considered in furthering Ceaușescu’s egotistical fantasies.
Inside, the opulence is next level. Every room is much bigger than it needs to be, extensively lined with marble and very ornate. It’s estimated that the cost (adjusted for current inflation) is somewhere in the region of €3 billion.
The expense of this Palace did not go down well with the people here, and its construction ultimately played a large role in the downfall of Nicolae Ceaușescu and communism in Romania. It’s somewhat beautifully ironic then, that it’s now used to house the nation’s democratic parliament.
I’m not sure how one would go about weighing a building like this, but if you could, you would discover that it’s the heaviest building in the world. One of those useless bits of trivia that someone no doubt has gone to a lot of trouble to find out! The weight means that it’s sinking 6mm every year.
The surprises don’t stop there – Ceaușescu was so paranoid of a nuclear war, that he had 20 km of tunnels and bunkers designed into the foundations. Who knows, maybe the whole place will come crashing down one day, if it continues to sink.
While the parliament still meets here, and some of the space is taken up by a few museums, at any given time around 70% of the building is empty. Tours inside are available by appointment. Needless to say, I haven’t arranged one, and I think my family’s interest is waning fast as I launch into the history of this grand construction.
We retreat up Union Boulevard, passing a makeshift metal fence, behind which a clear-up operation is well underway. It turns out that the day before, 20,000 people gathered on this very road around a continuous 5.05 km long table to break the Guinness World Record for the longest table made of recycled materials. It was a fundraiser for the local hospital.
We head back to our car, and prepare to drive 20 minutes or so, to a really exciting modern attraction! On our way, we drive around Romania’s answer to the Arc de Triomphe – the Arcul de Triumf.
Not too far away from here, the House of the Free Press appears at the end of a tree lined French-style boulevard. This house – clearly modelled after the Palace of the Parliament, once housed the Scînteia newspaper, and is officially the tallest building in the city – the large television antenna on top a big contributing factor!
The Romanians love a good roundabout (I’d argue they haven’t quite mastered using them yet, but that’s a tad harsh). We turn onto another traffic circle, and watch in horror as a nun driving a beaten up Dacia turns the opposite way onto the roundabout, facing similarly horrified oncoming drivers. All was well, she caught up with us a bit further down the road! I’m pleased to say, ‘nun’ were hurt! 😂
We’re going to Therme Bucharest – the largest wellness centre in Europe. There are dedicated state of the art swimming pools, water amusements, saunas, spas and massage facilities. It’s an impressive complex for sure, but not cheap. It’s about €20 for just basic entry for a few hours – anything on top of the swimming pools will drive that price up considerably.
We arrive into the building, and are told that (those who haven’t already brought one) must get a towel and pair of flip flops. We’re given a wristband which controls entry into each of the zones, and acts as a tab for any food / drinks or add ons – we’ll settle up our bills at the end. The turnstiles lead us almost directly into the changing area, and the smells are taking me back to school trips to Bangor Leisure Centre (and not in a good way). I hate the water, I’m not a good swimmer and I actively avoid swimming pools and the sea like the plague. That said, I’ve come armed with a crossword book and novel to pass the time!
After getting changed, I throw my bag and clothes into the dedicated locker, then venture out into the main arena.
It’s a visually impressive place – the big glass roof and palm trees give it a bit of a greenhouse vibe. If you take the humidity, pools and wet half-naked punters out of the equations, it reminds me a bit of the Sky Gardens in London.
With it being the last Sunday of the school holidays, it’s very busy, and we struggle to find a bed inside, so move to the outdoor pool area where there is plenty of availability of loungers. The rest of the family jump in and grab drinks at the bar, while I settle in for the long haul on a bed.
Later, we head up to the first floor, where my mum and dad try out the saunas. I decide my outdoor Baltic sauna experience in Helsinki doesn’t need to be repeated and give it a pass!
The main restaurant is pretty good – there are screens for ordering food, and plenty of options at that. From burgers and pizzas, to salads and pasta dishes, it’s hard to settle on just one thing when you’re hungry, but I go for a chicken curry and Greek salad. It’s pretty good!
With time limited, we return back to the main pool area for one last quick splash before we – the family splashing into the indoor pool, and me splashing into the 2GB data addon I’ve just bought on my phone (needless to say this lasted all of an hour).
Ok that’s enough of that – time to go! When getting changed again to go home, I’m very concerned that I appear to have lost a sock. I leave the very uncomfortable flip flops on for the walk back to the car, and we settle up our bills on the way out. Yeh that was an expensive day out for not really doing anything! Oh well!
Heading home from Therme, we need to stop at a supermarket to grab some groceries for a dinner in. I argue that it makes most sense to return to the Lidl in Snagov we went to on the first night, but selfishly it’s only because I quite want to swing by Snagov Monastery.
It’s a bit of a drive through the sticks to get there, and the main road in takes us through what can only be described as a gypsy village. Officially this isn’t the case, only around 0.5% of the towns residents are ethnically Romani, but there are still some similarities: horse and carts, close knit communities with kids playing in the streets, mums and grannies sitting watching them in their dressing gowns, basic housing etc… To be honest it’s not that different to back home!
The monastery sits on a wee island in Snagov lake. We pull up basically in the middle of the estate and head towards the bridge that will take us across. The sun is starting to set at this point, and there’s some activity on the water in the form of waterskiing. The sights, smells and sounds bring me right back to the Fermanagh lakelands at home – a place I have some very fond memories indeed!
Back to Snagov, and the signs warn us of the guard dog. I’m more concerned about the groundskeeper who is said to be very pushy towards unpaying visitors. I don’t have any cash with me, and I don’t think the others in the family are really in the mood either. All I need is a couple of pictures up close, and we can head on our merry way!
Lo and behold, just as we get within eyeshot, a lady appears watering some plants. She shouts over in Romanian, and (rather predictably), none of us have a clue what she’s saying – but I can read it straight from her soul. “You must give me money, tourists!”
Snagov Monastery is said to be the final burial place of Vlad the Impaler (the real life Dracula). Good to see the spirit of sucking visitors dry is alive and well! The religious settlement was first founded in the 14th century, and uncovered again following excavations in the 1930s. The building looks more recent than that though – Google puts it at around 500 years old, but I refuse to believe that this modern looking brickwork is that old. It’s maybe just been very well restored?
The path back to the car takes us past a goat and ostrich. I mean, ostriches really are weird creatures aren’t they? Basically a giant feathered coconut for a body with human style legs and a pipe cleaner for a head. It’s just so fascinating the way its neck contorts back within itself, and I’m entranced observing this creature up close!
Nobody is able to prove if Vlad came to Snagov Monastery, let alone was buried here. It’s likely just a local myth, but it is a bit of a talking point and brings some lovely closure to our discovery of Vlad the Impaler’s story, and also our time here in Romania.
Tomorrow morning, we’re heading into Bulgaria, so this is goodbye from Romania for the last time! I can’t wait to see what surprises Bulgaria has in store for us!
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