BUCHAREST SIGHTSEEING (day1)
The Village Museum: An open-air museum, where there are around 50 cottages, farmsteads, churches, water-mills, workshops, and roadside crosses from all over the country.
Herastrau Park : The biggest park&lake from Bucharest .
„Casa Scanteii”: An impressive edifice standing somehow menacingly at the entrance to the capital, it was designed in a Stalinist style after the similar Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw-Poland.
The Triumph Arch: Inspired by the Triumph Arch of Paris, he is the symbol of Romania ’s Great War for Unification (1916-1918).
The Revolution Square: The square where the 89s Revolution started. You can see the former Communist Party Central Committee building - from where Nicolae Ceausescu held his last public speech, the Hilton Hotel - the old „Athenée Palace Hotel”, and the National Library building.
The Romanian Athenaeum: Possibly the finest building in the city, with its sublime baroque cupola, is today the seat of the Romania Philharmonic George Enescu.
National Art Museum : The country’s largest and most impressive art collection is housed inside the splendid former Royal Palace , first built in 1812. You can find a wide variety of works of Romania ’s greatest painters & sculptors and also a fine collection of Old European Masters.
The University Square: The place of Bucharest University, Architecture Faculty, National Theatre, Intercontinental Hotel and others statues and monuments.
National History Museum : The beautiful and neo-classical building house exhibition that tells in details about the country’s history over the past two million or so years. Plenty of jewellery, weapons, maps, skeletons and tools it is worth seeing.
Bucharest Old Town : The oldest district of the capital didn’t lives now his best period, but is a part of Bucharest history. The targets are: St.Gheorghe Church, Km 0 Square-the Romanian’s Greenwich, Lipscani Street-ancient commercial street of Bucharest, Covaci Street-antiquity gallery street, Russian Church, B.N.R., “Cercul Militar” &C.E.C. buildings, Victoria’s Gallery, The Old Royal Court, the ancient Stavropoleos Church, “Hanul lui Manuc”- the ancient Inn in Bucharest.
Price: 50 EUR (8-10 hours) (for 1 or 2 persons).
Guide, driver and all tickets included.
BUCHAREST SIGHTSEEING (day2)
Cotroceni Museum : Built in the 19 th century for Queen Mary (1891-1893), the palace has also played host to the Ceausescu. You will like the tour of Romanian Royal family’s collections. In between, the whims and inspirations of Queen Marie betray a prolific and charming vision of occidental art.
Palace of Parliament : What is Romania ’s most famous building, known as „Casa Poporului” or People’s Palace, was built during the darkest days of the Ceausescu regime. Originally designed to house almost all the organs of the communist state, it plays today host to the Romanian Parliament, few state authorities and a modern well equipped conference & exhibition center. You will see plenty of grand staircases, marble-plated halls and conference rooms, while you’ll also have the chance to go on the balcony, which offers a defining view on Bucharest .
Bucharest New Downtown: Known as Civic Centre, it was made by destruction of an entire district of the capital in the name of socialism during the latest years of Ceausescu regime. It was finished after the 1989 Revolution. During the last years, have appeared a lot of glass and steel office buildings.
The Patriarchal Cathedral: Set a top one of the city’s few hills, known as Mitripolia, the Patriarchal Cathedral has been the centerpiece of the Romanian orthodox religion since the 17th century.
Peasant Museum : M ost of the people think that the Peasant Museum is the best museum in Bucharest and one of the best in the country. Well laid out halls and presented exhibits tell you all you need to know about the diverse and fascinating history of life around the country over the past few centuries. If you like what you see, and you will, you can visit the excellent museum shop.
Price: 50 EUR (8-10 hours) (for 1 or 2 persons).
Guide, driver and all tickets included.
If you feel like seeing something else, choose your destination.
We also offer you: Shopping tour and advice, Bucharest sightseeing by night.
BUCHAREST TRAVEL GUIDE
Bucharest is the capital of Romania, located in S-SE of the country, and, with his 2 millions inhabitants, ranks third in the region after Athens and Istanbul.
The climate is one of extremes, with hot summers (July average temperature: 25) and cold winters (January average: -3). Rainfall is low and comes mainly in spring and autumn.
The town was first mentioned in 1459 as the residence of the ruler of Walachia, Vlad Tepes, but settlement has an older history going back to the 14th century and more. The founding of Bucharest is traditionally described to a peasant named Bucur. Between 17th and 19th centuries it was the capital of Walachia and in 1862 it became the capital of Romania.
The rural town was replaced beginning in the 1860s by an elegant capital with French-inspired architecture and cultural life that caused it to be known as “Little Paris”. During the last two centuries it became the principal administrative, economic, scientific and cultural center of the country.
In the communist period, utilitarian apartment blocks of no particular aesthetic distinction were built around the downtown. The north part of the city remains as a residential area with an impressive development now. Through the entire city, during the last years, have appeared a lot of glass and steel office buildings.
Bucharest remains a pleasant city: a city of parks and lakes with amusement boats, with a lot of green spaces, with many coffee houses on the pavements and good restaurants. Also it is famous for its very intensive night life. Romanian people are Latin and the Romanians love life.
After a period of relative isolation, imposed by the communist regime, the capital is now trying to remake its ties to the large European cities and to show that Bucharest is a European cultural centre, a city looking forward, dynamic and attractive due to its beauty and values.
Enjoy a Tour of Bucharest, through a city of architecture contrasts, a city of fascinating museums, a city of theatres and concerts, a city of good antique shops and art galleries. See the objectives below…..
 
 
 
The prices in Bucharest are very reasonable and the atmosphere is hospitable.
If you are looking for something, you can go to blooming shopping centers, fashion shops from Victoriei Avenue and Magheru Bvd, excellent pubs and restaurants, or good casinos.
Clubbing is one of the best choices for those evenings when you run out of ideas on how to spend a few hours in a good atmosphere, having a drink and listening to music.
Tourism Objectives in Bucharest
National Art Museum: The country’s largest and most impressive art collection is housed inside the splendid former Royal Palace, first built in 1812 as private home by the wealthy trader Dinicu Golescu. When his sons went bankrupt some years later, they were forced to sell the building to the state, which carried out huge modifications, adding a number of new wings. It became a Royal Residence in 1859, when it became the sight of the court of the prince of the united principalities Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Although slightly remodeled in 1930s, the building we see today is more or less the original. It would be impossible to describe the wide variety of works on show, but the rest assured that all of Romania’s greatest painters and sculptors are well represented including Theodor Aman, Constantin Brancusi, Gheorghe Patrascu, Nicolae Grigorescu and Gheorghe Tattarescu. The museum also plays host to a fine collection of Old European Masters.
National History Museum: The beautiful and neo-classical exterior hides a museum that urgently needs restoration and revitalization. Once inside, you’ll find exhibits that go into details about the country’s history over the past two million or so years. There are a plenty of skeletons, jewellery, weapons and tools to see. There are also ancient imports from Greece and Rome placed in context by exhibitions on the empires that crafted them, and separate halls are devoted to the revolutions of 1821 and 1848. The best exhibits are downstairs: a part of the National Treasure and the Lapidaruim, a plaster cast of Trajan’s Column (perhaps the world’s first cartoon history).
Village Museum: One of the world's most interesting ethnographical parks in open air, this museum was founded by Royal Decree in 1936 and it illustrates the perpetual spring of surprising originality. The house and house holding samples gathered from all regions of the country are exhibited according to ethnographical areas. It covers around 15 hectares on Lake Herastrau shores, in north of the city. You’ll find there around 50 cottages, farmsteads, churches, water-mills, workshops, and roadside crosses from all over the country. There is a good gift shop, too.
  
Peasant Museum: Most of the people think that the Peasant Museum is the best museum in Bucharest and one of the best in the country. Well laid out halls and presented exhibits tell you all you need to know about the diverse and fascinating history of life around the country over the past few centuries. Voted the European Museum of the Year in 1996, you will be coming across a couple of wooden churches from the northern Maramures Province, hand painted Easter Eggs, terracotta pottery, old icons and clothing. April sees the opening of two more permanent exhibitions that dig deeper into the country’s rural culture. Talks are also held in Romanian, on various related topics that take place on the first three Saturdays of each month. If you like what you see (and you will), then go to the excellent museum shop.
Cotroceni Palace Museum: Built in the 19th century for Queen Mary (1891-1893), the palace has also played host to the Ceausescu’s (although they didn’t live here, they did use it frequently for posh functions). The building’s court keeps the ruins of a church which Ceausescu had demolished because he thought it spoilt the view. You will like the tour of Romanian royal family’s collections. At the end of the tour you see the inscription sitting over the door of the ruin cursing the head of whoever dared to destroy it. In between, the whims and inspirations of Queen Marie betray a prolific, charming executor of rather banal art.
Military National Museum: Not the most popular of museums, but it certainly scores high in terms of curiosity. The most interesting sections includes the military hardware (a few missiles, helicopters and tanks scattered around what seems to be the car park) as well as a display that focuses on the army’s role during the revolution which includes some bloody and harrowing exhibits. Recommended is the Soyuz-40 Capsule in which Romanian astronaut Dumitru Prunariu conquered space in May 1981.
“Grigore Antipa” Museum of Natural History: This fascinating museum has recently expended and opened up areas to house some newly discovered curiosities. Full of stuffed animals looking a little startled and even a mammoth and some interesting rocks (or at least as interesting as rocks can be). The fist floor deals with sea life and has few examples of whales, dolphins and seals. Elsewhere you’ll come across a beautiful butterfly collection as well as a few cheeky monkeys and stuffed birds. You can currently enjoy an exhibition of living reptiles.
BUILDINGS WITH A HISTORY & CURIOSITIES:
Palace of Parliament: What is Romania’s most famous building, known as „Casa Poporului” or People’s Palace, was built during the darkest days of the Ceausescu regime. This is the third building in the world with his 2.55billion m3 (the first is at Cape Canaveral-Florida: 3.67b m3, the second is the Quetzalcoatl Piramyd-Mexico:3.3b m3). Standing 84m above ground level on 12 floors, the building has long been shrouded in mystery, rumor and hyperbole. Originally designed to house almost all the organs of the communist state, it today plays host to the Romanian Parliament, only few state institutions and a modern well equipped conference & exhibition center. You will see plenty of great staircases, marble-plated halls and conference rooms, while you will also have the chance to go on the balcony, which offers a defining view on Bucharest. This building hold some records: 1 billion m3 of marble (pink from Ruschita and beige from Moneasa), 0.9 billion m3 of wood in furniture and wainscoting, over 2800 crystal chandeliers (the biggest is 5t weight), the biggest carpet (1200 m2), all sourced from Romania. The largest room, the Unification Hall (2200 m2), has a sliding ceiling wide enough for a helicopter, should the need arise. The hall’s 14 ton carpets were woven on the premises with machines designed specifically in this purpose. 3500 tons of crystal was used for the building’s chandeliers, few of which have ever been fully lit. The heftiest is that in the small parliament hall, which weighs three tons and make use of over 7000 bulbs. After the 1989 revolution there were plans to blow the building up, but the cost of explosives proved prohibitive. Instead, the building was adapted to house the Romanian Parliament as well as conference and exhibitions centre. A part of the building, however, remains unused.
The Civic Centre: Of all the atrocities committed on Romanian territory in the name of socialism, few rank as monstrous as the destructions of an entire district of the capital to make the Civic Centre. The Uranus Street was completely razed to the ground, as were most of the streets running from it. The centerpiece of the Civic Centre, People’s House (Palace of Parliament today) stands on the site of the Republic sports stadium, a wonderful art-deco construction based on Rome’s Olympic stadium. Churches, houses, hospitals and even a monastery also had to make way for People’s House, and for 5km long Unirii Bvd., which stand today as little more then monuments to madness. The western end of Unirii Bvd. has become a ghost town, while the People’s House itself survives as the site of the Romanian Parliament, and us rather worryingly the city’s most popular attraction.
 
“Casa Scanteii”-“Casa Presei Libere”: An impressive building standing somehow menacingly at the entrance to the capital,
in stalinist style,
it was designed by architect Horia Manciu and completed in 1956, one year after the strikingly similar Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw-Poland. Originally housing almost of the capital’s printing presses and newsrooms, it today carries out much the same function, with the addition of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the southern wing.
The Triumph Arch: Raised in 1922 to commemorate Romania’s Great War for Unification, the original construction was on wood, replaced by the present. Petru Antonescu designed the present structure in 1935, inspired by the Triumph Arch of Paris. Standing 25m high, the arch has a staircase that allows visitors to climb to the terrace on the top of the monument. The sculptures that decorate the monument were created by leading artists of the day, including Ion Jalea, Constantin Medrea and Constantin Baraschi.
The Romanian Athenaeum: Possibly the finest building in the city, with its sublime baroque cupola, it proudly stands at the flux of the city’s busiest public square, competing with the Athenée Palace Hilton Hotel, the Royal Palace and the old National Library for attention. The work of French architect Albert Galleron, who also designed the National Bank of Romania, the building was inaugurated on 26 February1888, and was built almost entirely with money donated by ordinary citizens of the capital, when a campaign called “Give a penny for the Athenaeum” rescued the project from folly after the originals patrons ran out of funds. Today the seat of the Romania Philharmonic George Enescu, the auditorium can seat 1000 spectators comfortably, and is renowned worldwide for its outstanding acoustics. Great masters, soloists and conductors of 20’s century, had magnificently shows here: Erich Kleiber, Sergiu Celibidache, Ionel Perlea, Herbert von Karajan, Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein, Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhin.
The National Theatre: A building in two parts, the original National Theatre was built between 1967 and 1970, to the designs of 3 Romanian architects: Horia Maicu, Romeo Belea and Nicolae Cucu. Originally styled to the honor of the architecture of the Moldova famous monasteries, it was unfortunately ruined in 1984-85 when the concrete casing that now stands gloomily in the shadow of the InterContinental Hotel was placed over the earlier structure.
National Bank of Romania (BNR): It stands on the site of one of the most famous buildings in Romania, “Hanul Serban Voda”, which from 1678 to 1883 was the home of various things, from a pub to an inn and to a girl’s dormitory. After two fires gutted the building, however, the land was leveled, and in 1883 work began on the BNR, completed to the designs of French architects Cassien Bernard and Albert Galleron in 1885. Built in a French neo-classical style, the building show a front with Corinthians columns and an enormous central hall.
Cercul Militar (CCA): Standing guard, imposingly, on Calea Victoriei, at the head of Kogalniceanu Bvd., Cercul Militar (CCA) was built in 1912 on the site of the former Sarindar Monastery (the name of which is preserved in the name of the fountain directly in front of the building). This neo-classical masterpiece, designed by Romanian architect Dimitrie Maimaroiu, was built to host the social, cultural and educational needs of the Romanian Army. Banquets and regimental balls are still hosted in the main function rooms.
CEC: The home of National Savings Bank is one of the most fabulous facades in the city: the enormous arch that houses the entrance, with its Corinthian columns, is a highlight of any architectural tour of the city. Built during the last decade of the nineteenth century, to the designs of the French architect Paul Gottreau, the building is also less impressive on the inside.
Bucharest Old Town: The oldest district of the capital didn’t lives now his best period, but is a part of Bucharest history. The most important objectives are: Sf.Gheorghe Church, Km 0 Square-the Romanian’s Greenwich, Lipscani Street-ancient commercial street of Bucharest, Covaci Street-antique shops street, Russian Church, BNR,CCA&CEC buildings, Victoria’s Gallery, “Hanul cu Tei”, The Old Princely Court, the ancient Stavropoleos Church, “Hanul lui Manuc” inn).
The Old Princely Court: This area can be identified with the medieval history of Bucharest, though continuity of human life in this part of the town dates back to the 10th and 4th centuries, as attested by archaeological findings. In the absence of old drawings, scale models or engravings, and having at hand few and incomplete documents drawn by medieval Romanian chroniclers, or by foreign travelers, Romanian specialists find it difficult to reconstitute the plans of the princely residence.
Hanul lui Manuc Inn: Manuc's Inn represents one of Bucharest's historical buildings. It was build in 1808, by the Armenian trader-Emanuel Marzaian (Manuc Bey). Here in 1812 was signed the peace treaty known as Bucharest’s Peace that put end to the numerous Russian-Ottoman wars. Today, Manuc's Inn functions as a hotel-restaurant, wine cellar and on the main floor there can be find numerous stores. HanManuc
Kilometer 0: The statue marks Romanian’s Greenwich - the spot from where all the distances to other Romanian cities are measured. Note that there are also distances to Cernauti (part of Ukraine today) as well as to Chisinau and Tighina(part of the Republic of Moldova), but this cities was part of Great Romania between the two great world wars.
The Patriarchal Cathedral: Set a top one of the city’s few hills, known as Mitripolia, the Patriarchal Cathedral has been the centerpiece of the Romanian orthodox faith since the seventeenth century. Built between 1654 and 1658, to a design based on Curtea de Arges Monastery near Pitesti, it was Walachia Metropolitan seat from 16th century and it has undergone a number of facelifts, but the overwhelming majority of the cathedral’s structure is the original.
The Revolution Square: It was here, at around midday on 21 December 1989, that the Ceausescu regime began to crumble. A white marble triangle, with the inscription “Glory to our martyrs, points to the low balcony above the entrance of the former Communist Party Central Committee building, from were Nicolae Ceausescu held his last public speech. After initial protests here which forced Ceausescu to abandon the speech, the crowd was fired upon and dispersed, only to regroup in University Square.
The University Square: The place of Bucharest University, Architecture Faculty, National Theatre, InterContinental Hotel and few statues of Romanian historical personalities. Few stone crosses on the traffic island in the middle of Balcescu Bvd. pay homage to those killed during the revolution, while a black cross at no.18 marks the spot where the first victim of the revolution fell in Bucharest. The revolutionaries had gathered here after the earlier protests at Central Committee building from the Revolution Square further along the road.
Cismigiu Garden: Cismigiu Garden, located in the downtown, is the oldest park in Bucharest. The fitting out works on a pool’s place had begun in 1847 under Wiener landscape gardener Carl F.W.Meyer leadership, and it was inaugurated in 1854.
Herastrau Park: The biggest park & lake from Bucharest.
Botanycal Garden.
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