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            BUCHAREST TRAVEL GUIDE

Bucharest is Romania's capital and largest city, as well as the most important
industrial and commercial center of the country. With 2 million inhabitants in the city
proper and more than 2.4 million in the urban area, it is also one of the largest cities
in Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is the primary entry point into Romania. It typically elicits a wide spectrum
of opinions on the part of tourists; it is usually a matter of personal taste whether
visitors like it or not. Some adore it and enjoy its unique charm, while others feel
uncomfortable around the gray Communist-era buildings and lack of charm or
tourist attractions. Despite this, Bucharest offers some excellent attractions, and has
in recent years cultivated a sophisticated, trendy, and modern sensibility that many
have come to expect from a European capital.

Bucharest has, like most of Romania, a temperate-continental climate with hot
summers and cold winters. This region of Romania gets all four seasons, although
spring is brief and falls mainly in April. The average high daily temperature in
summer is about 28ºC and in winter about 0ºC. It can get really hot and dry during
the summer (40ºC) and really cold during the winter (-20ºC). Best time to visit is April
through June, September through October and early December.

By European standards, Bucharest is not an old city, its existence first being referred
to by scholars as late as 1459. Since then it has gone through a variety of changes,
becoming the state capital of Romania in 1862 and steadily consolidating its
position as the centre of the Romanian mass media, culture and arts. Its eclectic
architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, Communist-era and modern. In the
period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the
sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of the "Paris of the East" or
"Little Paris" (Micul Paris). Although many buildings and districts in the historic centre
were damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes and Nicolae Ceausescu's
program of systematization, many survived. In recent years, the city has been
experiencing an economic and cultural boom

Bucharest's history alternated periods of development and decline from the early
settlements of the Antiquity and until its consolidation as capital of Romania late in
the 19th century.

First mentioned as "the Citadel of Bucuresti" in 1459, it became a residence of the
Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler. The Old Princely Court (Curtea Veche) was
built by Mircea Ciobanul, and during following rules, Bucharest was established as
the summer residence of the court, competing with Târgoviste for the status of
capital after an increase in the importance of southern Muntenia brought about by the
demands of the suzerain power, the Ottoman Empire.



               GENERAL INFORMATION


Country                       Romania
County                        Municipality of Bucharest
Founded                    1459 (first official record)
Area                            228 km²
Elevation                    60 - 90 m (197–295 ft)



                      PLACE TO VISIT


The Palace of the Parliament - is the home of the Romanian Parliament
in Bucharest, Romania. It was designed and almost finished by the Ceausescu
regime as the seat of political and administrative power. Its initial official name was
People's House (Casa Poporului), a name still used by many Romanians.

Arcul de Triumf  - is a triumphal arch located in the northern part of Bucharest,
on the Kiseleff Road. The first, wooden, triumphal arch was built hurriedly, after
Romania gained its independence (1878), so that the victorious troops could march
under it. Another temporary arch was built on the same site, in 1922, after World War
I, which was demolished in 1935 to make way for the current triumphal arch, which
was inaugurated in September 1936. The current arch has a height of 27 meters
and was built after the plans of the architect Petre Antonescu. It has as foundation a
25 x 11.50 meters rectangle. The sculptures with which the facades are decorated
were created by famous Romanian sculptors such as Ion Jalea and Dimitrie
Paciurea.

Memorial of Rebirth - is a memorial in Bucharest, Romania that
commemorates the struggles and victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989,
which overthrew Communism. The memorial complex was inaugurated in August
2005 in Revolution Square, where Romania's Communist-era dictator, Nicolae
Ceausescu, was publicly overthrown in December 1989. The memorial, designed by
Alexandru Ghildus, features as its centrepiece a 25-metre-high marble pillar
reaching up to the sky, upon which a metal "crown" is placed. The pillar is
surrounded by a 600 m² plaza covered by marble and granite.

Romanian Athenaeum - is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest,
Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate,
domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George
Enescu" Philarmonic and of the George Enescu annual international music festival.

Village Museum – an original open air museum created in 1934, it currently
has around 300 traditional buildings (including churches, workshops, mills etc.)
plus furniture, pottery, clothing gathered from villages in every region of the country in
an effort to showcase the traditional way of life of the Romanians. Occasionally hosts
folkloric and traditional crafts festivals

Museum of the Romanian Peasant – also dedicated to the traditional
way of life, it focuses mainly on traditional interior decoration, tools, clothing and
artifacts. Again, it sometimes hosts folkloric and traditional crafts festivals. In 1996, it
won the European Museum of the Year Award

Art Museum - located in the building of the former Royal Palace, has collections
of ancient, modern and contemporary Romanian art as well as exhibitions of rare
European art dating as early as the 14th century

National Museum of Contemporary Art - Recently opened inside a
converted wing of the Palace of the Parliament, in what had been the private
apartments of Ceausescu, the museum features fresh exhibitions from Romania's
burgeoning art scene.

Curtea Veche Museum – the ruins of the crown palace of the Wallachian
princes, some parts dating as early as the 16th century. It’s around an earlier
fortification located in this same place that Bucharest began to develop.

National History Museum - located in a neoclassical late 19th century
building, has exhibits documenting the evolution of society on Romania’s territory
from the Paleolithic until today, a replica of Trajan’s Column in Rome and a very
interesting numismatics collection.

Old Center - Fortunately a part of the city's historical heart escaped Ceausescu's
demolition frenzy. The area (stretching approximatively between the Dâmbovita river
to the south, Calea Victoriei to the west, Calea Mosilor to the east and Regina
Elisabeta boulevard to the north) today contains an assortment of middle 19th
century buildings, ruins of the Wallachian princes' medieval court, churches, narrow
cobblestoned streets which keep the names of the ancient guilds that resided on
them, bank headquarters, a few hotels, clubs, restaurants and shops. So far too little
has been done for the preservation and reconditioning of many historical buildings
and streets there, but the area is now in a rehabilitation project set to be finished
after 2012.

Plumbuita Monastery – built in the last half of the 16th century, it once
housed the first printing house in the region (1582); today has a religious objects
museum and a large park


                   HOW TO REACH


By air - Bucharest has reasonable connections with most European capitals and
with the largest cities in Romania, but it can be difficult to find a direct flight to
Bucharest from outside of Europe. Starting June 2007, Delta Air Lines  will open a
direct service between Bucharest and New York city (JFK airport). Discount air
companies have been operating flights to Bucharest since 2004, but it was only in
late 2006 - early 2007 that the number of such flights seriously began to grow, so at
this point there are low-costs flights (Blue Air or Skyeurope) to various destinations
in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey and
Austria.

By bus - There are bus connections between Bucharest and large cities in
Europe (especially in Southern Europe) and also to many large and medium sized
cities throughout Romania. Bucharest has several bus terminals: Baneasa (for
northern bound routes), Obor (east), Filaret (south), Alexandriei (south-west), Militari
(west), and Grivita (north-west).

By train - Bucharest is linked through direct daily trains to all neighboring
countries’ capitals (Belgrade, Budapest, Chisinau, Kiev, Sofia), as well as to Wien,
Venice, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Moscow and of course to main cities in all of
Romania’s 41 counties. All international trains and most long distance internal
trains arrive at Gara de Nord (Northern) station, located quite near of the city center,
to which it is linked by subway and several buses, trolley, and tramway lines. Some
trains to and from the Black Sea Coast use either Gara de Est-Obor (Eastern)
station, or Baneasa station. The other three smaller stations (Basarab, Progresul
and Republica) are used exclusively for local and regional trains.

By car - The city’s entrances from the north (the E15 road coming from Brasov),
west (the A1 highway from Pitesti), east (the A2 (Sun) highway from Constanta),
south (the E20 road from Giurgiu) and the avenues in the city center are very
crowded, especially at rush hours. Inside the city there are few parking spaces and
some of the secondary streets are in bad condition.