The first time in this city, Mandy was sick. The second time she got her first case of bed bugs. We could only hope that the third time in Romania’s capital would be a charm. And it was! But, perhaps that was just uh…Christmas? When we went to Bucharest in December 2022, we had spent Christmases in the States, Sri Lanka, Mexico and Colombia, and nothing…absolutely nothing had ever compared with Jack Frost biting your nose during Christmases in EuroLand.
Where we Stayed: Cloud 9 Hostel
We chose to stay at Cloud 9 Hostel found on Booking.com for $22/night in a private lofted room. The hostel itself was quite small, so we had our own space, as well as full access to the kitchen. It was also well-located within a 15-minute walk to all the sites of Old Town. No bed bugs this time for sure!
Christmas in Bucharest
In the capital of Romania, nestled amongst the cozy colossal parliament of the second heaviest (ha!) building in the world, we found the usual suspects like the aromatic fragrance of mulled wine and sugar permeating the air, in addition to the scent of various hunks of meat. We found the usual Christmas music, but this time the pop-centric English variety which made Mandy wiggle. We found a $5 sky wheel. We found tranquil locals with tranquil children. We found everyone we encountered, including little babushkas, speaking the USB of languages (English.) We found what looked like partially edible PlayDo. And some super edible Cannoli which far exceeded what we had in Italy.
And piping hot vin fiert was even cheaper, and possibly stronger, in Bucharest than in Constanta at 10 Lei ($2!) Mmmm…
A traditional Romanian market food stand consisted of an assortment of meats and potatoes with meat, soup with meat, or beans with meat (for the vegetarians.)🤣 That said, we did have a very difficult time finding anything to eat at the market that wasn’t loaded with sugar or…meaty. After walking the loop, we settled on a quite delicious chicken gyro since it was either that…or cookies. Romania is not exactly an easy country to be a vegetarian, or even a pescatarian, in.
The Palace of the Parliament building encases the Christmas market like a sausage as well. It is said to be the world’s largest and heaviest administrative building built by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1984. If you’re wondering how the weight of a building is calculated, it’s based on 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze, a million square feet of marble, 3500 tonnes of crystal and 900,000 square metres of wood. Even though it was called “The Palace of the People” it basically bankrupted the country by eating up 40% of the country’s GDP for years and displacing 40,000 locals.
The Michelin Guide gives the interior of the building a lively description: vast carpets, 1200 rooms the size of a football field and chandeliers like stars.
According to Lonely Planet, when the building was lit in the 80s, in four hours it consumed as much electricity as the city of Bucharest in a single day.
At least thousands of angry Romanians pillaged and looted the palace when communism fell in 1989 and Ceausescu and his spouse were shot in the public square. 😁
After this, they didn’t know what to do with it and thought of destroying it. Except that demolishing it would cost too much. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump wanted to make it the world’s largest casino, but the offer was turned down. It is still being used for congressional activities and only 7% is open to the public. (viacapitale).
On that note, back in happier times, we included a selection of Romanian Christmas cookies. We tried the irresistible red at right called “Caise,” which means apricot. Other than being super moist and sweet, they definitely weren’t apricot-ty.
Our dream circa 1985.
Piles of piles of yummy-looking fudginess. By the way, all this was so cheap as well! We don’t think it will be like this in our final Christmas destination! 🤔
And what is this?! Modeling clay? PlayDo? Candy evidently. Well, at least we know it’s not made with Yellow No. 5.
So many families!
And have we mentioned…so much meat?! 🤣
At least you can work it off on the rink! We thought about it…does that count?!
We looked for a full-size cannoli everywhere in Italy, and we finally found one in Romania. Greg’s first. It was utterly divine. And yes, it was Oreo flavored. And cost a whopping 24 Lei or $5.17. Every morsel was worth it.
A little gingerbread church and some half eaten donuts for the kiddies. Gross.
And if you hadn’t had your Oreo fill, you could also get them in bubble waffle form. Fortunately, we had! 🤣
Exploring Bucharest
Although it was our third time in Romania’s capital, it was the first time we’d had the opportunity to explore it together. While there are many remnants from the Iron Curtain Days, this city is far more elegant and stimulating than we ever gave it credit for. In fact, most guidebooks and people that come here say, “it’s worth a day or quick overnight,” which is unfortunately the attitude we had previously adopted, but we’re glad we gave it more of a chance this time.
With its grand boulevards, Old Town, and little bits of hidden treasure, it feels a bit like Vienna, mashed with Ukraine and a slice of Paris. In fact, in the early 1900s, it was deemed “Little Paris.” It has opulent architecture, curious passageways, an abundance of trendy bars and restaurants, and Orthodox churches with magnificently canvased domes. In short, it’s ripe for exploration. Of course, this stunning regal building has to be deemed a palace…of “deposits and consignments” that is. Sexy.
What food trucks look like in Romania…this one is flipping pancakes.
The former Stock Exchange Palace (yes, a running theme?) and Chamber of Commerce from 1900.
And when in Romania, one must eat…pizza. They have the best pizza we’ve had, maybe anywhere in the world, and at Latin Pizza they allowed you to mix and match your slices and pay by the kilo. We selected four varieties: margarita, vegan pesto, vegan potato with truffle sauce and vegan cheese, and loaded vegetarian. It was $12 for all this and it was more than enough to serve as Linner and stuff us past bedtime!
We stumbled upon Saint Spyridon, the Old Church (that’s actually the name 🤣) on our walk to the Christmas market and decided to enter on a whim. Spontaneity paid off in the astounding imagery, but we weren’t so sure why Jesus (?) was holding a melting head of himself (?) under a cake dome. 🤔
It’s a beaut, Clark! In all seriousness, it was. Especially the tile mosaics.
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, which was even more elaborate.
A grand boulevard leading up to the Palace of the Parliament.
What appears to be a Greek God wheeling around Old Town!
Caru’cu Bere (The Beer Wagon) is a restaurant many tourists head to in Bucharest, but apparently, a lot of locals go as well which says a lot about its authenticity. It has been around for 130 years and is still a symbol of Bucharest’s old town. Famous names like The Rolling Stones, Naruhito, the Prince of Japan and Edward Kennedy have been guests in the paste. (Business website)
We popped our head in to see if we could grab a beer but apparently, a reservation was needed at least three days prior to get in. We still got to sneak a peek at its radiant Neo-Gothic interior. Also, Mandy quickly whirled up the spiral wooden staircase to snap a quick aerial photo. Why didn’t we make reservations?! Grrr!
If you truly want a slice of old Bucharest, visit the 19th Century horseshoe-shaped Macca Villacrosse Passageway. This was one of the most beautiful corridors we’ve seen in a while and our favorite hidden gem of Bucharest. We walked through it early in the morning and got to enjoy it completely empty. Although in the past it was filled with shops, today it is mostly pubs and restaurants.
It was quite surprising to see the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church mixed in with more traditional orthodox churches. Particularly with its gold bling, it looked like it was straight out of Russia.
The Museum of the National Bank of Romania. Uh. That sounds just too overly electrifying for us.
Um. Wow. That’s a lot going on there.
The Romanian National Military Club in French Neoclassical Style is also known as the Officer’s Circle…Palace. Shocking.
It’s a bit dark and gloomy these days so how about a pick-me-up? Bucharest’s official Umbrella Street, or Pasajul Victoriei (Victoria Passage) has turned a once kind of gritty street into a cherry lollipop kind of lane mostly for Instagrammers. (And people trying to escape the rain.)
Another residential passageway lies one street over and is a bit dark. No, we didn’t get jumped and still felt perfectly safe.
Bar district. Accurately named. 🤣
The Carturesti Carusel, which means the Carousel of Light, is an immaculate bookstore comprising of 6 stories, over 10,000 books, and lots of gadgets and toys for people who don’t read anymore.
Stumbling into a World War II Set
Unfortunately they didn’t cast us as extras, but we did also get to step back in time by stumbling into a World War II movie set while in Bucharest. We couldn’t believe the level of detail on every vehicle, every actor, and in every storefront. Even the smoke being blown in our faces was accurate to the time. 
We hope to figure out what they were filming one day, but are guessing it’s an American film, as we heard a LOT of American English being spoken! Also, based on the Polish signage and mixing of Hebrew script, we guessed they were trying to recreate a scene from a Polish Jewish Quarter. So incredible!
