Bucharest & Dracula

This is another one of these holidays that we had booked in 2020, for my birthday to be precise. It's only now, April 2024, that we managed to rebook and make our way to the Capital, Bucharest and the mountains and countryside of Transylvania.

It was the usual deal, British Airways via London using a companion voucher and Avios to upgrade to business class; I'm pretty sure the flights cost us £2. The flight to London was early, and it was absolutely beautiful coming into London; we had fabulous views of the city. 

We arrived in Romania late afternoon, and had a taxi waiting to take us to the hotel. I had booked The Mansion Boutique Hotel, a 4 star hotel in the centre of the pedestrian district; we had to be let off by the side of the cobbled streets but thankfully it was only a 2 minute walk.

Check-in was great, we got a glass of fizz each and taken to our room which was called "Zen". We actually didn't have too long, so unpacked quickly and made our way out of the hotel to Abels Wine Bar, again a 2 minute walk away. It was quite a strange little place, but the wine tasting was fabulous! I had found this on TripAdvisor and decided to book directly via WhatsApp, I'm so glad we did. We even enjoyed a few more glasses after the tasting and really warmed to Abel! 

After an early morning, and plenty of wine, we headed back to the hotel for a good sleep.

We woke up feeling reasonably good, and went to breakfast in the hotel. It wasn't particularly special but it was included in the price and was enough to keep us going. Normal service was resumed as we set off on a walking tour of the city; I always find it a good starting point to get your bearings and get a few recommendations from a local. We passed by the Memorial of Rebirth, which commemorated the struggle and victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which overthrew Communism and the oldest church in Bucharest (Saint Anthony). There were lots of other places, but i don't want to spoil it for you!

The tour was of the historical centre and didn't take in the Parliament, so I had booked a separate guided tour. It was around a 20 minute walk from the final stop of the walking tour, but we had plenty of time.

Or so we thought.

Turns out there is only one entrance, which happened to be around the other side of the building. To put this into context, the building is the third largest administrative building in the world, and this does not include the walled gardens surrounding it! We had already walked miles, and we were getting grumpier as time went on. We eventually found the entrance and a lot of extremely confused tourists, thankfully we weren't the only ones. I was still not convinced that we were in the correct place, but we headed inside. We were lined up against a wall and then were finally called for the tour; we had to show identification and go through security before we were let in, and as you can imagine this took a while. But, in the end the tour was worth it. We learned lots of interesting facts and the chamber was beautiful and worth seeing; my favourite fact from the tour is that the building is sinking 6mm every year due to its weight!

After the tour, we headed back toward the centre. It was pouring rain and we were soaked, and we couldn't be bothered wandering too far from the hotel. Now its not my usual haunt, but Kilkenny Irish bar was across the road and the beer (and nachos) was inviting! 

We went back to the hotel to dry off a little before deciding on dinner. The walking tour guide recommended Caru' cu bere, a local restaurant which has been serving its own beer for 140 years. We thought we would have dinner there, but it was absolutely heaving, so sat outside under the umbrellas in the rain just so we could try their beer. Maybe we were unlucky, but I wasn't the biggest fan. 

We waited for a break in the rain and ran back to our hotel which had an Italian restaurant attached. We both had pizza which was delicious and exactly what we needed.

The next day we were up crazy early as we set off to find Dracula in Transylvania; the first stop we visited was Peles Castle, it was incredibly beautiful and well worth a visit. I could have happily lived there. 

We even stopped in the café for a latte and cake, it was incredibly tasty.

The tour also stopped in Brasov, where we had some free time to explore and get some lunch. The tour guide recommended a lunch spot called La Ceaun, and we happily obliged. I didn't much like the weather in the mountains as we had rain, sleet and snow, but it didn't dampen our spirits; I did have to buy a scarf though, it was freezing! The Transylvanian soup also helped, plus it was absolutely delicious! We also decided to have Papanasi with sour cream and jam for dessert, it sounds terrible, but it was amazing.

Our next stop was Bran Castle, or Dracula's Castle; I'd read some reports that the castle was just a tourist hotspot, and it was to some extent, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Plus we bought a copy of the book from the giftshop! 

It had been a long day, and we were happy to be back in Bucharest after a long drive, so what better to do than go to the pub! We started off in the Oktoberfest pub, the beer was good but the service was terrible! We decided to go back to Abel's wine bar and have some more wine and another meat and cheese platter, it was absolutely heaving but there was one table table left. Thankfully he remembered us and recommended a few different wines for us to try. Iain also tried some Romanian whisky for a nightcap!

It was a reasonably late night, but we didn't have to get up early as we had a food tour booked the following day, you can really learn a lot about a country and culture from food. We started off with a Luca pretzel, while sitting on the steps of the National Theatre Museum. 

We walked past some interesting sites as we made our way to the first restaurant where we got to try traditional peasant food and regional dishes like artisan cheeses, cured means and Țuică, Romania's national drink.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to the biggest market in Budapest, here we had some free time to explore and in our case, find the most amazing wine shop. It was a one-man band with a few tables, but basically every wall and shelf was covered in boxes of wine. We sat down and were instantly joined by a few other people on the tour. The wine was good, we definitely made the right choice! We did notice something quite odd, there was a bunch of locals and they were basically spritzing their red wine, apparently its normal. As we tried to pay, the owner was having none of it, he was just happy that we enjoyed the wine. We decided to do a little collection and give it to him nonetheless.

After our wine experience, we went to meet the others as it was time for mici, otherwise known as Romanian kebabs. As you can see from queue, this is one of the best spots to get mici in Budapest. I had a beer to wash it down before we headed to the patisserie for Gogoși, a Wallachian doughnut. It was delicious and perfect for getting rid of the fattiness after the kebab; I could have eaten two!

After the food tour, we decided to walk back to our hotel and find a couple of bars to visit. Bucharest is known for its rooftop bars so I had made a reservation at Nomad for drinks and a late dinner. The bar was very modern and had a young trendy crowd, we clearly didn't fit in. We were seated by the bar area at a high table and had to ask to be moved, they seemed reluctant but gave in. The cocktails were really good but the food was average to say the least. We didn't stay too much longer, and I'm pretty sure we didn't leave a tip as the service was also terrible.

After wandering around the old town, it was like Magaluf, we opted to head back toward the hotel. We did go to a bar called the Arcade Cafe which had some live music but it wasn't particularly good. We had one drink and decided to go back to the Kilkenny Irish bar; the music was good and it was relatively quiet which suited us. 

We decided to have a long lie on our last day and started with a late breakfast in the old town. It took us ages to find a place I wanted to eat at, I was determined to have pancakes, so its fair to say Iain had the patience of a saint! We ended up at OPIA Bucharest, breakfast was lovely and we sat outside in the sun which was even better.

After a slightly disappointing rooftop bar experience, we decided to try another one in the city. This was just a 5 minute walk from our breakfast spot so we headed on over to Linea Closer to the Moon. It was quite an interesting place with good music and amazing cocktails. I particularly liked the "Bee Mimosa" and "Smash my Bitch Up."

It was still early so we decided to go for a wander. One of the main streets, Victory Street, is closed off on the weekend, so we wandered up the middle of the road. One of the tour guides recommended La Romana Gelateria and said it was the best place for gelato in Bucharest; he wasn't wrong! In fact, I would go as far as to say it was the best gelato I have even had!

After being full of ice-cream, it was time to find a bar for a drink. We came across a strange little place on the main street called Nativ Bar, it served great Aperol Spritz so we stayed there for a few drinks and some people-watching.

I had been to the places I wanted to go, now it was Iain's turn. We had passed Ground Zero Beer taproom a few times, so we  were determined to go in. There were some interesting beer names, which can be seen from the below picture. Iain went with a flight whereas I just had a pint; he was delighted!

It was getting on a bit so we thought we better have some food; I really wanted something hearty as it was still cold. We ended up at Bucharest Garden, it was on the outskirts of the pedestrian but it was still really busy. We enjoyed dinner, but we didn't hang around too long as Saturday night was looking even crazier than Friday night. Anytime, it was time to pack and get ready for our flight home the next day.

Therme is a famous spa and wellness centre in Bucharest, its not too far from the airport, so we decided to go there on the way home. We checked out of the hotel and asked for a taxi to the spa, but unfortunately, all the roads were closed so we thought we would walk towards Hilton Garden Inn where we had been picked up for the group tour to Transylvania. I asked reception if they could help us out, they happily obliged. We got into a Mercedes and the taxi driver got underway even though I was asking how much it was going to cost, he kept saying it was a premium car and wanted to charge us almost three times the amount it should have been. Iain and I asked him to pull up and we got out, and walked back to the hotel. The black Mercedes was sitting outside, but as soon as he saw we went back in, he took off.  I went in and explained to reception what had happened, they were mad and assured us they would put us in a trustworthy taxi. The next one was fine, although he couldn't understand a word of English and we kept trying to press him for a price. It was metered, but we didn't really trust him after our last experience. Both of us had our phones out, tracking the trip as we headed out to Therme, thankfully this person was reliable and charged us the meter reading - we were delighted and relieved.

We left our luggage in the left luggage room, and headed off to get changed. You get a band to wear around your wrist and that has a chip in it which gets scanned for anything you buy including alcoholic drinks, food or treatments and this also works as the key to your locker. We had paid for the 3 hour ticket for The Palm and Elysium in advance, but we really didn't know what to expect. We started off in the outdoor pool, followed by a visit to all of the different saunas (the Hollywood one was the best with David Attenborough narrating a wildlife film), the mineral pools and a shot on the hydromassage beds. We only had a half hour left and finished off in the outdoor pool with a few drinks, it was bliss! I really wish we could have stayed longer...

We showered, changed and gathered belongings. On exit, you just scan the wristband and they tell you how much to pay; it only cost us £37 which was a steal. We headed toward the bus stop as the bus was due to leave for the airport, what a great service!

Unfortunately, it was time to go home but we had another adventure and some fantastic memories to add to the list. This was the Bucharest lounge, pizza, chicken balls and a variety of other yellow food, Iain was in heaven. Our flight back to London was delayed, and as we had to run from T3 to T5, it was a bit of a rush to get to our connecting flight, we eventually made it, along with our luggage, which was definitely a nice surprise!