Bucharest, Romania

On Tuesday, we disembarked the cruise ship after breakfast and rode by bus to Bucharest, which took about 3 1/2 hours. Our ship had docked a little further away than planned due to low water levels of the Danube, which partly accounts for the long drive. The other reason for the long drive was very heavy traffic, which apparently is common in Bucharest. Our tour guide, Huana, told us that Bucharest is the 6th largest crowded city in the world.

Romania is one of the largest countries in Europe by size. The population is 21 million. The language spoken here is Romanian and they use the same alphabet as us, rather than the cyrillic alphabet like Bulgaria. Romania is the only Latin country in southeast Europe, and is surrounded by Slavic countries (except for Hungary). Since Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal are also Latin, the Romanian language is very similar to those languages, especially Italian. The main religion is Orthodox.

Romania is a former Communist country, ruled by  Nicolae Ceausescu for 24 years. One of the main areas of Romania is Transylvania (of Dracula fame). Huana told us that Prince Vlad the Impaler invented the story of Dracula and vampires being prevalent in Transylvania to make it undesirable for the Ottomans.

Huana told us that people in Romania take voting very seriously. She said that they have such a powerful social conscience that they even vote after they die.

Our first stop was at a restaurant in Bucharest for lunch, again accompanied by local dancers, singers, and musicians. I was amused when Huana referred to the soft drinks as "soft soda."


After lunch we visited the Bucharest Village Museum, an open air museum where traditional peasant homes were on display. 


We then walked around the touristy "Old Town" part of Bucharest, where we visited an Orthodox church, and then had free time to shop for souvenirs. 


On the way to our hotel, we passed by "The House of the People", which supposedly is a symbol of Bucharest. When Ceausescu was the Communist ruler of Romania, he had 9000 homes demolished, and the people displaced, to build this house for himself. (Apparently he was the most equal person in Romania during Communist rule.)  The house is complete with an underground bunker large enough to hold many tanks.


There is a balcony in front of the house. Huana told us that the only person to ever speak from this balcony was Michael Jackson. He had performed a concert once in Bucharest, and from the balcony, he boldly said "Good morning, Budapest!" The people of Bucharest were not amused. 

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