Bucharest to Budapest Trip Report
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As I’ve mentioned a few times we went to Eastern Europe in early July. We started on our own in Bucharest and then joined a Viking River Cruise down the Danube. I posted photos on Instagram/Facebook so I know a lot of you have probably seen some or all of this. I’m going to make posts for each day or couple of days so I’ll keep coming back with replies to add to it. Feel free to ignore!
Day 1 Bucharest, Romania
As is our general habit when we travel, we didn’t schedule anything for our first day in the city. We got checked into our hotel, Marmorosch Budapest, which was in a fabulous location between Old Town and the area with museums and historical points of interest. The major cross street is closed on weekends to cars and there are many restaurants with patios as well as some street performers. We wandered around, popped into a restaurant and had my first of MANY lemonades. It’s a popular drink in all of Eastern Europe, apparently, and most places make it themselves and offer different flavours. Bucharest had the best of all the places we visited (and it was consistently excellent in Bucharest everywhere I tried it). We also popped into a board game store, which is a standard stop for us when we travel!
The CEC Palace in Old Town
The Potato (Actually called the Memorial of Rebirth, commemorating the struggles and victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Locals call it variations on “potato” though.)
I couldn’t leave the game store without buying something.
Pomegranate Lemonade! -
Day 2 Brasov, Romania
We got up super early to catch a train to Brasov for a day trip. I love travelling by train, but this wasn’t my favourite. We booked first class tickets as they were relatively cheap. I’m glad we did, as it meant there was air conditioning in the train car and we had our own assigned seats in a car that wasn’t packed. When we got on the train, we had a hard time figuring out which car we were supposed to be on and a “helpful” man showed us where we should be. Turns out that he was looking for money. We ended up paying him a small amount to make him go away. He was just the first of five or six different people who wandered the train trying to hustle people with various strategies. The 3 hour ride was very uncomfortable (the train seats were like commuter rail seats - hard plastic with a thin fabric cover). We had heard that train travel was the best way to get around Romania because traffic is terrible - which is true! But the trains are not as comfortable as you’d find in Western Europe. First world problems for sure, but this is all relevant to the rest of the day. We made it to Brasov and then got a Bolt out to Bran Castle.
Bran Castle is why we ended up in Bucharest to begin with. Rob really wanted to go to Transylvania. The area is absolutely beautiful and well worth the journey. Bran Castle is ridiculously crowded and they have definitely capitalized on the Dracula mythology! But it was exactly what we expected it would be and the castle was very cool so we were happy.
Allllll the cheezy souvenir shops with Dracula things
My favourite part was the tile around all of the fireplaces and ovens. Each room had a different tile design but always blue and white.
We paid a bit extra to see the implements of torture in the castle. Seeing the “Violin of Disgrace” lead to many jokes about me being a “quarrelsome woman” over the remainder of the trip.
We headed back to Brasov, which was a gorgeous small city. We wandered the cobblestones streets, had a mediocre burger (the restaurant we hoped to go to was packed and we were starving) but excellent lemonade.
It was about 38°C (100°F) so after a walk around checking out the Black Church and the old city gates, we were exhausted and hot. By this point we had been on the go for almost 10 hours, but it was still four hours until our planned departure via the horrible train back to Bucharest. We made the decision to call a Bolt instead and, while it was spendy for the 3.5 hour drive back to Bucharest, it was worth every penny. Our driver was awesome! There is just one highway going to Bucharest, so traffic is notoriously bad and apparently this journey by car can take up to 7 hours (rather than just under 3 on the train). But our driver took us on back roads through the mountains, which was faster and also an absolutely beautiful drive! I’m so glad we made the decision we did! We were back in Bucharest having drinks (more lemonade!) on a patio before our train would have even left Brasov.
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Day 3 Bucharest, Romania
We made a last minute decision to book a private tour to the medieval Snagov Monastery. Our guide, Radu, was FANTASTIC. On the drive to the Monastery, which is on a small island, I head a noise over the sound of the car and air conditioning. When we got out of the car I realized it was cicadas. I have grown up hearing them my entire life but they were louder than I have ever experienced. I did a decibel reading at one point and it was over 70!
The Monastery was established in 1408 and was at one time a centre of Orthodox spirituality. Only the church, bell tower, and a fountain are still standing. Vlad Tepes may be buried here, though as the body they found in the forest where he was killed was headless, no one ever knew for sure. The entire inside of the church is painted with idols and scenes from the Bible. It was absolutely incredible to see.
We also visited the Mogosoaia Palace. Originally constructed around 1700, it was used in the 1920s and 30s as a meeting place for high society and politicians. During the communist regime the interior was stripped and most of the art disappeared. The exterior of the palace is stunning, but the interior is mostly empty with a small art gallery and museum.
After our tour, we headed into Old Town to visit Caru’ cu bere, which is an absolutely stunning restaurant/bar. On the advice of Radu, we had a drink but didn’t eat there, as he said the food is mediocre and overpriced.
Yes, the heat was a major topic of conversation and my Instagram stories the entire time!
After Caru’cu bere, we visited Carturesti Carusel, which is one of the most beautiful bookstores I have ever seen! It was originally a bank headquarters and then a general store. It eventually fell into disrepair but was purchased and repaired by the book chain Carturesti in 2015. They had delicious iced latte and we bought a small ink drawing by a local artist as a souvenir.
After the book store, we headed to Hanu’lui Manuc for traditional Romanian food for lunch. We had mici, a casingless garlicky sausage and the best fresh pita I have ever tasted.
In the evening we had dinner at the Museum of Communism after closing. This was one of the top three experiences of our entire trip! It is a small, private museum, created because, according to the guide, the government still does not want to accurately tell the story of what happened during communism. It is made of four rooms that are set up like an apartment would have been in 1970/80s communist Bucharest. An interesting thing the guide told us, which a thinly veiled dig at current events: In 1965, concerned about low birth fathers, abortion and contraception were outlawed. There were also mandatory pregnancy tests, taxes on childlessness, etc. Illegal abortions became the norm and large numbers of children were put into orphanages. This led to a homelessness crises for children and teens in the 1990s when orphanages were closed after the revolution. (Our guide the following day shared that she was part of the “unwanted generation” of the 1970s and 80s. While her parents kept her, she has a strained relationship with them as she was not a wanted child.)
Our guide shared the history of Communism in Romania while showing us artifacts from the 1980s. School books all had Ceausescu’s picture in the front and many of the stories in the readers were about how to be a better Communist supporter. You needed a license to have a typewriter, and each key stroke was recorded in your registration so they could figure out who had written anti-government messages.
After the tour of the museum, we sat down to a dinner in the “dining room”, using 1980s dishes and eating traditional foods. My favourite were two different eggplant dips, a white bean dip, and the stuffed cabbage. We tried Palinca, a fruit brandy (our first of MANY shots of this stuff…they gave us a shot of it on every tour we went on in every country in Eastern Europe). I loved this tour so much and would recommend it to anyone visiting Bucharest!
After the Museum of Communism dinner, we had reservations at The Vault for a drink. This was the bar in our hotel and it was inside the original bank vault safety deposit box room. The keys hang in the boxes and, when you look inside, there are often notes from previous customers. The drinks were, as expected, ridiculously expensive. However, they were both AMAZING so at least the high cost got us a good drink along with the photos for Instagram!
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Day 4: Bucharest Romania
We started the day with a food tour! We started the tour on the steps of the National Theatre with a pretzel from a shop that is popular with locals. Our guide, Michaela, focused on the history and architecture of the city. We had seen these red circles on buildings all over Bucharest. She shared that the 1977 earthquake damaged many buildings which were never repaired. In the late 1990s they assessed buildings and the ones with the red circle are a Class 1 seismic risk, which means they are at a high risk to collapse during an earthquake. The entire block across from our hotel had a red circle on each building. There are around 350 of these buildings in Bucharest. Repair of buildings is left up to private residents and businesses. Unfortunately, repairs are costly and there is a lack of workers who have the skills needed to properly restore historical buildings.
We stopped at a traditional Romanian restaurant called Teresa Florilor. we had beer, Polinca (of course!), eggplant dips, and cheeses. Then, we walked to Obor Market. There we tasted local honey and our guide bought cherries and raspberries to have with our lunch. We had freshly grilled Mici which was AMAZING. It was definitely better than what we had the previous day! We also had a dessert - basically a fried flat dough similar to a doughnut or, if you are familiar with the Canadian treat, a beaver tail.
Polinca!
That afternoon we checked out of our hotel and moved over to the hotel that Viking had put us up in for the night, the Marriot Bucharest Grand Hotel. It was a fantastic hotel in not a great location, but we were just there for the night. We grabbed a (delicious!) dinner in the Italian restaurant on site.
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Day 5: Bucharest Romania
We took a tour of the Palace of Parliament in the morning. The building is the heaviest in the world, weighing over 4 million tones, and it’s the third largest administrative building in the world. It was ordered to be built by Ceausescu, but wasn’t finished until 1997. 70% of the building remains empty.
The current government is, according to every local we talked to, full of corruption. This was a universal sentiment across all of Eastern Europe, at least according to those we talked to.
Our time in Bucharest was fascinating! But after the tour we boarded a coach bus to drive us the three hours to meet our ship, the Viking Vidar.
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Day 6: Pleven, Bulgaria
Because of low water levels, we boarded the ship down the river from our planned boarding location. So instead of visiting Ruse, Bulgarian as stated in the itinerary, we ended up in Pleven. We went to a museum that houses the Plevin Panorama, which depicts the liberation of Pleven in 1877 after five centuries of Ottoman rule.
Every town in Bulgaria has a sign like this with the name of the town in both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.We also visited an Eastern Orthodox Church. Our guide here was really interesting and explained who each of the icons in the church was. The Orthodox churches that we visited did not have anywhere to sit, which is supposed to symbolize attentiveness, reverence, and participation.
Day 7: Belogradchik, Bulgaria
We visited the Belogradchik Fortress and hiked the Belogradchik rocks. It was quite a strenuous outing. One of the women on our ship fell and broke her ankle, requiring surgery. It was beautiful though!
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Day 8: Scenic Sailing through the Iron Gate, Golubac Serbia
We sailed down the Danube through the Iron Gate. Absolutely stunning scenery. The valley in this section was dammed to provide power in Eastern Europe. Many towns and villages in the valley were relocated - about 17,000 people - and the settlements were submerged under the Danube.
We saw the rock sculpture of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia. He fought against the Romans to preserve independence of the country that would now be in Romania. The sculpture was carved over ten years from 1994-2004.
After our scenic sailing, we hiked through Derdap National Park in Serbia to view the Danube at the Iron Gates from above. Stunning views, for sure, but a very hot hike in the 36°C (97°F) heat!
After the hike, we stopped at Kapitan Misin Breg. This village has a small restaurant, and an open air gallery with art by Zivorad Stefanovic (in the green shirt), who welcomed us to the compound. We had more palinka here!
We then visited the Golubac fortress. Built during the 14th century, it successfully repelled over 120 attacks, but changed hands repeatedly, passing between Turks, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Serbs, and Austrians. It is now in Serbia and is a popular tourist attraction. Our ship docked at the fortress.
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Day 9: Belgrade, Serbia
Have I mentioned it was hot the whole time? This was one of the cooler days, at 33°C/92°F. We visited the Belgrade fortress and it was my least favourite tour of the whole trip.
The Church of Saint Sava was lovely, but our tour guide was terrible so we just ignored her and wandered around on our own!
In the afternoon, we took a short walk around Belgrade. I took lots of photos of the mosaic mural on the wall of the zoo.
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Day 10: Osijek, Croatia
We docked in Vukovar Croatia then took a drive to Aljmas, Croatia to visit the home of a local and hear about life in Croatia during the war of Independence (1991-1995). I wasn’t sure what to expect with this tour but it was fascinating! Like many of the other guides on our tours throughout Eastern Europe, the woman whose home we visited talked about the corruption in the current government.
We then went to the church in Osijek and heard a talented singer.
Finally, we walked around the old town of Osijek and our guide told us about the war for Independence. There are still many ruined buildings and bullet holes in the buildings - even those in current use - around the town.
Our guide shared that two years ago a stork nested on a statue in the main square. The mayor of Osijek ordered the next removed because it can damage the statue. This year, the stork returned but built its nest on the roof of the mayor’s office!
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Day 11: Kalocsa, Hungary
We visited a show of horsemanship near Kalocsa, which was amazing! The horses were obviously well cared for and the show was so much fun. We had more Palinka, obviously.
We visited the Kalocsa Cathedral and listened to an excellent organ concert. The organ was played by Franz Liszt several times!
Kalocsa is one of the main paprika producers in Hungary, so look for the name when you buy paprika!
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Day 12: Hungary, Budapest
We sailed into Budapest in the early morning. We got up early so we could see the city as we arrived. We left our ship and transferred to our hotel, Hilton Budapest, which is in the castle district. While the location seemed amazing (and the views were excellent!) we would never stay on the Buda side again. There isn’t a lot to do other than look at the beautiful buildings. I mean, it’s amazing, but the Pest side is where people actually live and it was so much more fun!
Just a few restaurants but not much else and everything is overpriced. We did have an excellent lunch at 21 Magyar Vendeglo. I had the chicken paprikash with dumplings and it was delightful.
We hung out at Fisherman’s Bastion until dusk so I could take photos of the Hungarian Parliament Buildings.
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Day 13: Hungary, Budapest
Our last day in Budapest and my favourite tour! Attila from Budapest Flow Walking Tours was engaging, knowledgeable about both history and art, and provided context for each of the Mihály Kolodko mini statues we visited. My only regret is that we didn't have time to take his Street Art tour as well. Next time!
These mini statues are not commissioned works, but are put up without permission all around Budapest (there are also some in other Hungarian cities). While there are 35 or so mini statues, Attila chose a handful to visit based on location and how relevant they would be to travellers.
The dead squirrel is behind the Columbo statue!
The newest statue (the drone) appeared about a month ago! Each statue has meaning, often relevant to its placement in the city.
My favourite was the axe.
A right-wing politician was angry about the original sculpture (a Russian hat, which the artist placed to criticize Russian influence in Hungary), so he destroyed the statue with an axe and threw it into the Danube. Kolodko replaced the missing sculpture with a new one: an axe.
Later, a new Russian hat statue with frog legs appeared on the bank of the Danube. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see that one though Attila shared a photo of it as he told the story.
We also went on a food tour of District VII in the evening. The food was delicious and our guide was lovely. We had AMAZING Celery cream soup from Bors GasztroBar, popped into one of the original ruins bars for some photos and had langos (fried bread covered in sour cream and cheese) at Gozsdu Langos Bistro along with Dreher Beer. We went to Szek for a traditional pork stew with dumplings (Porkolt with Nokedli - delicious!) and, of course, more palinka. Then we had a delicious chocolate layer cake for dessert called Somloi and sweet white wine at a place called Color Bar.
We did get to peek inside of the lobby of the Opera House. We wanted to take a tour but ran out of time. Next time!
That’s it! We had an amazing trip! I would totally go back to Budapest any time, and I’ll be interested to visit Bucharest in maybe ten years and see how it has changed!
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@dolmansaxlil wow, looks like a wonderful trip!! Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful photos and descriptions!
Also I've never heard of Pomegranate Lemonade but now I want to try it!
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@dolmansaxlil - What a wonderful trip!! Thank you so much for taking the time to post your travelogue here; I know it takes time to organize and post it all. It's so very much appreciated by this non-traveler. I feel like I just went on vacation. But without the the heat
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What a wonderful travelogue and such great pictures!
Thanks for posting it!
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Thanks, everyone!
@wtg Food tours are our go-to in every city we are in for more than 24 hours! Next summer in Italy we will be doing food tours in Rome, Florence, and Bologna. The best ones offer both information about the food and the culture so they are the perfect way to get acquainted with a city! We were exhausted when we got home! But we flew in late Friday night so Rob had Saturday and Sunday to be lazy at home before heading back to work. I’m on summer holidays so I spent lots of time doing a lot of nothing the week after we got home!
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Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. I have long wished to visit both Budapest and Romania. Both my mother's parents were from Budapest --my great-great grandfather opened the very first photography studio there--and there are many fine and commercial photographers still on that side of the family.
My Hungarian grandmother was a fantastic cook, and judging from your report, many of her specialties were on your foodie tour.
I have been wondering about going on a Viking river tour. I was interested to learn that you stayed in hotels and not on the ship part of the time. Would you tell us more about your experience with Viking? Do you recommend them?
My main concern is having to stick to a strict itinerary.
I was amazed to hear about the pomegranate lemonade. I am drinking one right now. It's my favorite drink, and I make it myself. I thought I had invented it!
My father's mother was born in Romania and left for America when she was 12. One day, my father watched amazed as I mixed up my own lemonade. He wondered aloud if such things were genetic as his mother had drunk the same concoction every day when he was growing up.
