Tuesday, 13 May 2008, Bucharest

Another sleeper compartment, another restaurant car. The sleeper car was nicer than the Hungarian one although poor Phil on the upper bunk could not get the safety net in place and slept very near the wall all night. The restaurant offered just two alternatives: chicken or pork. Both were juicy and came grilled with some cheesy chips and a salad with ripest tomatoes ever! The red wine was a bit sweet to my taste but a robust Romanian produce. Hungary in the evening sun was very flat but so it was supposed to be.

The first task in Bucharest was to find a cash machine. Which was best done just on the other side of the road. The one inside the building was devoid of money. However, the city was busier and more eastern than Budapest, which had been in hibernation due to Pentacost bank holiday (supposedly – at least everything was closed on Monday in Budapest). Many Roma were around the station with their women having colourful long skirts.

We were once again allowed to check-in early – although this may have something to do with not working of the air conditioning. Otherwise the Unique Hotel is spotless in a residential quarter off Placa Romana in the north. We had a quick look at the centre to see the People’s palace and the old city. The historical museum was closed – against the information we had. They would be partly open (lapidarium and some gold finds) tomorrow but our train has contradictory departure times so we head to the train station tomorrow early.

Also the last remaining traditional restaurant-hostel had become even more last. There was heavy building work going and it apparently turns out to be one more parador-style luxury hotel. Luckily, the Festival 39 was still where it was supposed to and we had an early lunch/brunch. My salad was huge!

Bucharest looks very interesting and reminds me of my first visit to Athens in early 1990s before the huge renovation works in the Plaka district. However, the potholes were not that bad and the road works were done in a slightly more modern way. The number of pot holes is astonishing. The whole centre is like the southern part of Via Vigne Nuove. Nevertheless, there is old charm and new achievements with a lot of sadness of the opportunities missed during the destructive Ceaucescu years. The People’s palace is huge but did not evoke any will of visiting it. What was lost to create such a monstrocity! You look at the Secession style buildings or the few remaining early modern churches and you can see what once was there.