Few visitors to Romania come to Snagov Monastery. Fewer still have ever heard of it, in spite of its connection to the life (actually the death) of Count Dracula, the country’s most famous native. Technically, as a fictional character – and a vampire, Dracula didn’t live OR die. But his real-life counterpart, Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler), did end up at Snagov, maybe. Vlad the Impaler followed a ... Read Full Article
Walks in Northern Bucharest: Stately Villas and Monuments
Northern Bucharest offers pleasant walks along stately avenues where you can see pre-war mansions, well-tended parks, and interesting monuments and museums. Providing a reprieve from the towering apartment blocks typical of the Romanian capital, it is the city’s wealthiest area, home to several embassies, upmarket hotels and business facilities.You start getting a taste of a ... Read Full Article
Downtown Bucharest: a Stroll Down Historic Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei, a major street running north-south in downtown Bucharest, has many bookstores, hotels, and fashion stores. This elegant, tree-lined, meandering street is a quieter walk than the thundering thoroughfare of Magheru-Balcescu-Bratianu.At number 141, on the right-as you walk south, is a gorgeous mansion built in 1905, housing a museum dedicated to the composer George Enescu. It is ... Read Full Article
Downtown Bucharest: Walking Down to the Cathedral
Bucharest, Romania's capital and home to two million people, is both dense and expansive, both run-down and grandiose. This flat city, baking hot in summer and icy-cold in winter, offers striking sights and plentiful evidence of both a fascinating past and a dynamic present.At the heart of Bucharest's sweeping downtown area is a broad, noisy and straight road that runs north to south, changing ... Read Full Article