Second day: 11 April 2018 : Bucharest in Romania

Our tour started with some kinks and we soon found that we were to be dogged by mishaps the whole day.

Our first kink was when the 4 of us got left by the tour guide and we had to find our own way to board the connecting flight from Istanbul to Bucharest ... we read “Budapest” and went to wrong gate... ran all the way back to correct gate in the nick of time !!! Phew!! Imagine if we had gone to Budapest in Hungary instead of Bucharest in Romania!

In Bucharest we started our tour with the  village open air  Museum which has replica houses of how Romanians lived life many many years ago. 

At the Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum, a top tourist sight in Bucharest featuring an open air museum in the Herastrau Park that showcases traditional Romanian Village life.

Wooden traditional door





 Orthodox churches

Beautiful tree lined lakes

Underground houses which had constant temperature

Going down to the Underground houses

We couldn’t get enough of the lovely grounds

Dolls in traditional costumes in Souvenir shops

Then we went to the Revolution Square


It’s actually snack right in the middle of busy thoroughfare

Palace of Parliament ..grandiose huge sprawling building on a hill 

Walked along cobblestoned roads to our heritage restaurant

The Caru’ cu bere for lunch

Loved the gothic interior!

Hmmm heavy lunch!

After lunch our tour was basically over for the day so we went shopping



Dinner was at Oblesse, the governor’s house

It’s housed in a grand old building which used to be Governer’s or something

So nice!!

Our private table for two

Our next mishap was when the bus broke down ( it had an accident earlier) and we resorted to many taxis to get us to hotel!

Some taxi drivers got nasty and we had to get off because they wouldn’t bring us to the broken dorm bus and the hotel.

Waiting patiently by the roadside with all our luggage! 

Our bus which had an accident while we were having lunch then broke down while we were having dinner!


Took us more than an hour for all of us to get to our hotel to call it a night!! Exhausting as we had only a fitful night’s sleep on the plane!

Count Dracula’s Castle

Grounds at entrance to Bran Castle 


Wow .. the forbidding facade of the awesome Dracula Castle

Its real name is Bran Castle 

Going up is arduous but made bearable with paved cobblestones 

Everybody took photos on the steps leading up to the castle and we had to share pic space with others! 

Lots of nice views of the turrets from the many windows 

Bran Castle looking eerie in this pic from Pokemon go! 

Secret steps leading to 3rd floor 

More Instagrammable views from lookout windows

Lots of nooks and niches too 

Some rooms are furnished to give you a glimpse of how people live their life in a castle ... without electricity and running water! 

Leading back to medieval times! 

Even had torture chambers! 

And spiral staircases 

And an elevated courtyard

 View of the outside 

After exploring every room, we are out

So lucky we are able to enter every floor and every room to discover  the castle’s mysterious and spooky past 


Architectural wonder and feat... and no, I did not run into any vampire nor did I meet Count Dracula. 

Caru’ cu bere Lunch in Bucharest, Romania

In Bucharest today 11 April 2018 (second day of our tour..first day was spent traveling for 10 hours) we were brought to the heritage restaurant Caru’ Cu bere!! 

This restaurant is more than a hundred years old and I was excited to see diners dining al fresco and hoped that we would get to be seated outside too to enjoy the cool weather. 





Wow!! A good lunch crowd and it was to get even busier soon 


Mr and my tour mate at the road leading to Caru’ ca bere. I do so loved the paved road, so antiquated !! 




Waiters and waitresses outside. 


This is what Vanessa the tour guide had for us : chicken soup with chives.


Main course was chicken breast with rice 

Dessert : rum infused cake 

Was thoroughly fascinated by the gothic interior, adding to the heritage feel of the place. 

Malaysians loved their smart phones while Romanians do not use phones while eating. 


Entering and exiting through revolving doors brings you back to nostalgic inducing past!! 

Do visit Caru’ cu bere when you are in Bucharest for a unique dining experience !!! 

From wiki: 

“The Caru' cu Bere (aka Carul cu Bere; "the beer wagon") is a bar and restaurant on Stavropoleos Street in the Lipscani district of Bucharest, Romania, opened in 1879^[1] and moved to the current location, a gothic revival building designed by Austrian architect Siegfrid Kofczinsky, in 1899. It is noted for its distinctive art nouveau interior decoration.”