Bucharest Romania - the unexpected jem

I absolutely adore the city of Bucharest after only 2 days.

My experience here has been amazing thanks to the hostel staff, friends and Romanian food and architecture.

To be honest coming into Romania I did not expect much. I always had this notion that Romania was a third world ish country in Europe - how wrong I was. Romania is a modern city just like any other you would find in France or Germany. The exception being the place is not touristic at all! I mean that in the best way possible! Touring around the city it had a calm feeling and any attractions you went to were sparse with people and really gave you a feel that the whole city is here for you to enjoy!

The city's architecture is another marvel. The building are majestic in this Gothic style that is hard to put into words. Especially the Opera house and the library. Plus Romania boast the largest building in Europe and the second largest in the world. It is really massive! The communist party originally built it for the party. Today less than 30% of it is occupied and a tour of the place covers less than 5% of the grounds in 2 hours. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to check out the Palace on the inside but I will definitely be making another trip back here.

As for the opera house it has the cheapest tickets in Europe with seats starting from just 5 euros! Again with such a short stay I was not able to check out an opera. All the seats were sold out. I did have a chance to go inside and the interior is just stunning.

Even though it feels like any other big European city in the urban planning. The best draw of Romania has to be the price. I thought Istanbul was cheap, but Romania is even cheaper! I ate at the fanciest of restaurants and the bill came to less than 10 euros for a 3 course meal! Speaking of which the food is just amazing!

I got some really great recommendations from my hostel staff and tried everything from Pelosci to Salemanco. I don't think the spelling is right but trust me they are amazing. Photos below.

Finally as with any city I fallen in love with the people is what matters most. I met so many interesting and made many new friends at my hostel. Hsing Zhang a Taiwanese PHD graduate from Stanford can speak 24 languages. Natalia American girl from United states traveling in Europe for 4 month. Brian a 50 something old traveling junkie from Dublin. Roxanna the hostel staff who had a great sense of humour and Lidia and Irma two Spanish girls who are doing Erasmus in France. There are so many stories involving these people to put down in words. But the world is quite small and I'm sure I will run into them again somewhere down the road again.

Now I am waiting or my airplane to go back to France and go to Dijon for my final destination before heading back to Guebwiller.

Soup amazing!

Cabbage with meat inside and Polenta. Didn't like the Polenta but the other thing is amazing!

Salemenko, fried donuts with jam and sour cream. Way too heavy haha but pretty good. All 3 dishes together costed less than 10 euros!

Most of the streets in Bucharest are like this, clean and neat! Not at all what I was expecting!

Lamb chop dish for 12 Euros! 

The weirdest statue I have ever seen

They have their own take on classic French patisserie 

Look at the amazing architecture! 

Me with my walking tour group

Library such amazing architechture

Pelosci with cabbage stew ! So good!

Inside of the opera house, it was very extravagent and elegant, best of all no tourists except me and 3 other people! 

Me with Hsing Zhang who can speak 24 languages

Hsing Zhang, Irma, Lidia, Ruxana, Natalia and me. Great people I met at the hostel. Hsing Zhang, Natalia and Ruxanna signe up to be my first hostel guests in Canada when I open my hostel haha!

Me outside the opera house!

Peace from Bucharest.

P.s. almost forgot but we saw the president of Bucharest haha. Photos to follow.

Another piece of good news turns out there was no one else on the airplane who could speak English and/or wanted the responsibility of sitting next to the emergency exits. I was the last one on the plane and the stewardess asked if I spoke English and seated me alone in the emergency exit row! Score more leg room and space!

Look at this space! the other people are crammed in together in the other rows while me and this other guy have the whole row to ourselves and extra leg room just cause we speak English!