București, Gateway to Transylvania

București! This city did not disappoint. I loved it!

Landing at Henri Coandă Airport at 10:45 PM got us to Gara de Nord station around 11:30 PM. If you know Gara de Nord, you know. And if you don’t, I’ll just say it’s not Bucharest’s finest. If you judged the city by this entry point, you’d be way off 😅 It was very transient, it reeked of urine, and it had an interesting night crowd. Olivia was the only child in sight.

But we had booked an apartment about a four-minute walk from the station, so it served its purpose: off the train and into our accommodation quickly. To my surprise, the apartment was way better than I’d anticipated, especially being right next to such a sketchy station. I’d been sold by the photos and the listing, but it was even better than that! Tall ceilings, nicely decorated, comfy beds and a lovely kitchen. We fell asleep that night ready to start a new adventure in a new country, our gateway to Transylvania.

Day 1 in Romania! I wanted a nice breakfast, and Olivia wanted to find a park with a playground. So we took a Bolt to the edge of the old city, where we had breakfast at Perl. The restaurant was very modern, but the vibe was old-school Seattle, Capitol Hill pre-2012. After our delicious breakfast and my first iced tea in over a week (also the iced tea that later gave me a new business idea 💡), we were ready to walk around and explore.

I found Cișmigiu Gardens, a popular park, on Google Maps, and we headed that way. I said out loud more than once how intriguing this place was! Between the architecture, the people, the vibe and everything else, I found it fascinating, thought-provoking and totally wonderful.

We found the park and immediately came across a small “lake” with canoes and paddle boats. Olivia was like, let’s go on them! I was less enthusiastic and tried to get out of it by telling her we’d come back later. She wasn’t having that, though, so we rented a canoe, and I rowed us around for the next 30 minutes. Once I got the hang of it, she and I easily agreed that this was one of the best things we’d ever done together. It was perfect!

After some jungle gym time and a little more walking, we headed home in another Bolt. This driver laughed at where we were staying and told us we should have chosen a nicer part of the city. I listened to what he had to say, but I’m actually quite fond of seedy neighborhoods. They always feel the most real to me, like everyone’s just doing their own thing. On our walks we passed people playing cards on the side of the street, and it felt like stepping back into the ’90s. So I smiled and returned to our apartment perfectly content with its location.

After resting for a few hours, we walked to the highly rated Nicky’s Pizzeria. After our amazing pizza, we found what would become our new favorite Romanian grocery store, Mega Image. I read later that this was the best-rated location in all of Bucharest, another check mark for our neighborhood choice.

We’d chosen not to stay in the Old Town, but I knew we couldn’t miss it, so we took another Bolt. No cars are allowed inside, so we were dropped off right at its edge. It was the weekend, and the cobblestone streets were bustling. We stopped to listen to a busker playing “Hallelujah” on the violin, a beautiful welcome.

I had looked up two places I definitely wanted to see. First was Curtea Veche, the Old Princely Court, once the seat of Vlad the Impaler. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open at the time, so we walked on to the place I was personally most excited about: Stavropoleos, an Orthodox monastery church from 1724.

As soon as we came upon it, I was blown away. We walked through the gates, and there were only a few other people in the garden. The front door of the church was slightly open, and I wanted to see if we could go inside. As soon as we stepped in, a nun sitting there tried to shoo me out, but then she saw Olivia peek around me, said okay, and let us in. She quietly said “no camera” and pointed us to the wall at the side.

We stood there and listened to five nuns sing the most beautiful hymn I have ever heard. My eyes welled up with tears, I had goosebumps, and I just could not believe we were in there at that moment. It was truly special, and something I will never forget. We stood there for about 10 minutes before quietly slipping out. I didn’t know it yet, but this would be the first of many churches we’d stumble across on this trip that touched me very deeply.

We stood there and listened to five nuns sing the most beautiful hymn I have ever heard.

Olivia was not as moved as I was, and she was like, since you got your church experience, I really want sushi. So I found her a nice sushi place in town, and we had her requested sushi dinner. After dinner, we still had energy, so we decided to make the 30-minute walk back to our apartment. It was getting dark, and there were about two questionable spots where I wondered, was this the best call? But honestly, I felt very safe, and by the time we got home, we both agreed we’d enjoyed the walk.

The next morning, we had a short list of things we wanted to do before boarding the train to Brașov. I was loving this city’s breakfast vibe, so we found another trendy breakfast spot. It also happened to be a cookie shop, so I indulged in a very nice pistachio cookie. Olivia informed me that she doesn’t like sugar for breakfast, so the cookie was all for me 😅

Next, I wanted to head back to the monastery from the night before, because I hadn’t been able to take photos and I really wanted some of its beautiful ceiling.

And since I got a second church visit, Olivia wanted a second trip to the park, so we walked there next. It was Monday morning, so the park was almost empty, and the boats from the day before were tightly packed away. We wandered slowly through the park, she got some playground time, and then we headed back to our apartment to grab our things and walk to Gara de Nord to catch our train to Brașov.

I rate Bucharest a 9/10. I really enjoyed this city, and I can totally see myself returning someday. A perfect entry point to Transylvania.