This is a really quick blog of our amazing three nights in Bucharest.

You can scroll through and enjoy this with photos.

So how did we get here?

We left Veliko Tarnovo before noon after exploring the cute town.

We then headed in ‘pea soup thick fog’ to Ruse. We had hoped to explore this cute city and the River Danube, but the fog was so bad we couldn’t, which was sad as we had heard great things. So we parked the car for all of about the equivalent of $1 an hour and took a walk through the city center square.  It was freezing cold, and a little wet, so needless to say town felt very empty.

By 2 p.m. we decided to head to the border – which I didn’t realize is right on the edge of this town.

I changed my money and then lined up to cross the Friendship Bridge.  Little did I know we needed Bulgarian money to pay the toll, but as we had a few Euro, they accepted that – whew!

We sat in traffic on this bridge for all of about 2 hours. I’m surprised they haven’t come up with a better system.  It seems the trucks and semi-trailers block it up. The police come and then hold up a section and let it pass on the other side, and then do the same again for the oncoming vehicles. So it is a long slow process.

The Romanian border side was OK, but the officer came and took our passports, and TOOK my vehicle documents and walked off.  He indicated for me to wait in the car. Two times I went to go to the office where others lined up, but he held up his hand for me to go back to the car.  This had me worried.  In the end, I walked over to the office and waited, and found the man who was processing the information for my vehicle.  I think in hindsight the officer was trying to have me not wait out in the cold and leave the car, but it had me worried.

When we arrived at our pre-organised accommodation, we found we were not able to stay. It was dark and we had to walk the streets to find a place. I eventually went into a coffee shop and the lady pointed us to two places.  So we ended up in a Guest House, but that was OK as it was off-season and we had a huge room all to ourselves and at a great price.  They had a camera out the front to watch the car too, and we would walk into the city.

The architecture in Bucharest is stunning.  Explorason loved it and made several comments, which surprised me.

We loved the old buildings as we headed toward University Square.

We took a 1-hour walk each way to the Cultural Village Museum (which ended up being closed) and on the way we passed many stunning buildings,  like the one below.

I love this school too (photo below).

This is an old park clock. All around seems to exude an interesting history.

We enjoyed the historical Old town and visited it three times in total.

And it was in the historical old town we found a hidden treasure – probably one of the most amazing restaurants I have been to.

‘Caru’ cu Bere’ is a regal old distillery or brewery that is now a restaurant. Slim hostesses and waitresses, and fit hosts and waiters seem to run about like ants.  Part may be to do with the massive menu at very reasonable prices.

I think the decor is what really makes this restaurant special.

There is carved wood. Ornately painted walls. Stenciled ceilings. Lead-light and stained glass windows and even roof panels – and more.

It was so warm, we had to strip off our layers of clothing, so this lunch went on and on once we relaxed.

In fact, it was dark when we came out.  We had eaten to capacity and then went to one of the Bucharest Christmas Markets.

Our last night saw us on the hunt for a restaurant again. We never found the one recommended, but we did find a church.

We went in and really relaxed as the music was so soothing.  Explorason sat and talked with me about the nativity scene.  It was good to remember the real reason for Christmas, and that Christ came to the earth – Christmas.  We left with thankful hearts, and a reality check that it is not all about gifts and festivity, it is about the celebration of Jesus’ birth at this time of year. Just after we left we saw a man with one leg.  This really made us think of how blessed our life is, and our worries are nothing compared with others.

So we decided to head back to our favorite new restaurant.

It looks expensive, but I would pay more for a pub meal back in Australia.

The funny thing is, we were offered exactly the same table as our last visit.

It was Saturday night and little did we know they have a dance show.  The place filled with music, and when they finished dancing, they then went and invited others to dance.  The place was swinging.  It was like reliving life 100 years ago.

As we watched from the balcony, we realized how this place would become a special memory for us.

In the end, the staff all came out and marched around the room.  I am sure there were about 50 waiters etc.  It really is a massive place, and they race about the whole time.  This place is pumping!

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