Travel guide from Ana-Maria

Travel tips from Ana-Maria:

FOOD: I often eat at Divan Turkish restaurant in the Old City, because they have authentic cuisine from the South Eastern Turkey. Not too far is Charme, on Smardan Street, with a good international menu, excellent soups and salads and a great Aperol Spritz. Negresco deserves a try for the interesting interior and the wine list. 5Elements is the best chinese restaurant in the city, near Gradina Icoanei, and it worth a try even if it’s quite expensive. For summer nights I choose Piccolo Mondo terrace, on Clucerului street. They have delicious Lebanese food.

DAY: Bucharest has beautiful parks and public gardens, I enjoy walking in Cismigiu or Herastrau. Outside the city I like Mogosoaia castle, with its beautiful garden and spectacular surroundings.

NIGHT: Bruno in the Old City is a good wine bar, with a huge menu. You must make reservations because the place is quite small.

SHOPPING: While in Bucharest I use the shopping malls (we have plenty of them and probably we’ll have more). I enjoy buying books at Carturesti and wondering around the peasants's markets with no purpose at all, just to admire the beautiful fruits and vegetables. I recommend Obor Market for this activity, even for buying stuff ☺.

CULTURE: My favorite beautiful place in Bucharest is Stavropoleos Monastery in the Old City. It’s a 300 years old small church. They have the only authentic group of Psaltic Music in Romania and one of the few in the entire world. MNAC deserves a trip, even though it’s not among the best contemporary museum in the world. The location is interesting and the terrace where you can drink a coffee, a great place. MNAR has a good European painting collection; even if the space is not well illuminated and not very friendly. For a cheap meal at their cafeteria and a Romanian authentic experience try MTR. The permanent expositions are great. Village Museum is fit for summer days and some of the houses there are an example of the finest craftsmanship. Other places: The Collections of Art Museum, Cotroceni Museum, Carturesti, ARK- Bursa Marfurilor.

BUCHAREST DISCOVERY: Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest’s Pere Lachaise. The dead people of Bucharest speak very accurate about the still living ones.

Take a walk in Armeneasca, Rosetti, Mantuleasa, Carol I Blvd area, there are a lot of interesting houses to see. Enter the small churches; some of them are very old, with impressive frescos on their walls. I personally enjoy “taking trips” to the working class neighborhoods, Militari, Pantelimon, Colentina, where the communist architecture is very visible.

Also a thrilling experience is going to Dragonul Rosu, a huge Chinese bazaar near Bucharest, crowdy and colorful, where you can buy good Chinese food and ingredients.

Other places: Flower Market in Rahova.