This autumn half term break we checked another European country off our list. People sure gave us some interesting reactions, some blank stares, some faces of bewilderment and some hard looks that said "are you crazy?" when we identified our half term break destination. Yep. Romania. Our main objective was the beautiful castle-filled region of Transylvania, aka home to Dracula. But first we had to grab a peek at the country's capital, Bucharest. We just had two nights and one full day for the city, but that was truly enough. Bucharest is interesting enough, but I will admit it's probably my least favourite European capital. Nevertheless we had a great day of exploring.
Arriving our first night
Heading down Calea Victorei
Athenee Palace, once home to the KGB
Piata Revolutiei
The balcony was the scene of Ceausescu's infamous last speech in December 1989, after which he escaped via helicopter from the roof.
Pasajul Vilacros
Old Town wanderings . . .
The grand Palace of the Parliament, world's second largest administrative building. It is indeed massive! We were able to take a tour inside the palace. It is a grand structure, still in use today, but from what we saw it did appear to be a bit of an empty shell. Lots of grand space, largely underused. And I saw evidence that it struggles to maintain itself. Only half of the lights were on in any given room, clearly a very expensive structure to run.
View off the balcony of the Parliament Palace
More strolling through the historic core . . .
Capped off by a fabulous Romanian meal at this beautiful restaurant
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