Having only spent 3 days in Romania we weren't sure whether we'd get enough of a flavour, especially as we were in two cities. How wrong we were!
Arriving into Bucharest felt a bit grim. We followed the directions given from the hostel and ended up walking through half built roads with graffitti everywhere.Turns out we just made up our own directions and ended up in the right place anyway through sheer luck!
The hostel was a small friendly place run by a lovely couple who gave us a run down of the city. As we arrived really early we didn't have a bed yet so we headed off the explore.
There were a couple of walks marked out on the map that were really handy to get an initial idea of the city, we walked about 4km that morning and got a lovely introduction to the city. It is definitely a capital and there was plenty to see, including the 2nd largest building in the world (second to the Pentagon). There is the obligatory old town that seems to be a staple in many European cities that comprise of cobbled streets, arty shops and in winter Christmas markets and hot wine.
We visited the Romanian Museum of History, which was undergoing renovations (turns out since 2002!). We were still charged full price just for 1 room. We saw a Roman column that had been deconstructed for the exhibit. The base was easily the size of a room, and had 2 small blue doors in the side that were uncannily like the TARDIS! Round the column height was the story of how the Romans had come and defeated the local people, the Tamans (I think they were called). It was 130 scenes long and really interesting but we did expect more from a museum that size.
However, the Romanian museum people were soon redeemed when we visited a "Peasant museum" down the road. It was a beautiful glimpse into local life in the past. There were lots of demonstations of how life was like, including drying corn on the cob in the sun, milling flour with a huge windmill and how to process sheeps wool into yarn. It was really interesting, and on reflection afterwards it was made even more interesting as we'd seen these techniques still being used in Nepal and India, not looking like they were going to get relegated to the past any time soon...Within this museum was a whole house! It was made of wood and rebuilt into one room with holes in the walls to allow people to look in and see the scenes laid out for us.
After a whirlwind tour of Bucharest full of museums and walking we hopped on a train to Brasov, the main hub for access to Transylvania into easily the best hostel we've stayed at so far. You got a free beer per person per night! it was just a shame we were only there for one night...
Turns out that Monday is the day everything is closed in Romania so we weren't able to visit any of the exciting Transylvanian sights, such as Dracula's Castle and the like. Instead we took it as a nice day off, walked the length and bredth of the town and played in a childrens park.
After this taster into Romanian cities we are both itching to go back and explore even more!
We visited the Romanian Museum of History, which was undergoing renovations (turns out since 2002!). We were still charged full price just for 1 room. We saw a Roman column that had been deconstructed for the exhibit. The base was easily the size of a room, and had 2 small blue doors in the side that were uncannily like the TARDIS! Round the column height was the story of how the Romans had come and defeated the local people, the Tamans (I think they were called). It was 130 scenes long and really interesting but we did expect more from a museum that size.
However, the Romanian museum people were soon redeemed when we visited a "Peasant museum" down the road. It was a beautiful glimpse into local life in the past. There were lots of demonstations of how life was like, including drying corn on the cob in the sun, milling flour with a huge windmill and how to process sheeps wool into yarn. It was really interesting, and on reflection afterwards it was made even more interesting as we'd seen these techniques still being used in Nepal and India, not looking like they were going to get relegated to the past any time soon...Within this museum was a whole house! It was made of wood and rebuilt into one room with holes in the walls to allow people to look in and see the scenes laid out for us.
After a whirlwind tour of Bucharest full of museums and walking we hopped on a train to Brasov, the main hub for access to Transylvania into easily the best hostel we've stayed at so far. You got a free beer per person per night! it was just a shame we were only there for one night...
Turns out that Monday is the day everything is closed in Romania so we weren't able to visit any of the exciting Transylvanian sights, such as Dracula's Castle and the like. Instead we took it as a nice day off, walked the length and bredth of the town and played in a childrens park.
After this taster into Romanian cities we are both itching to go back and explore even more!
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| More offal! Yes that is a whole liver! |
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| We're not sure what Martyn's Christmas Market stall sells, but it appears to be invisible... |
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| Our hostel had the right priorities |
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| An egg vending machine! |
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| A traditional Romanian dessert of two ring doughnuts topped with little doughnut balls and covered in jam and yoghurt. Tasty! |
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