Travel guide from Ioana

Travel tips from Ioana:

FOOD: The vegetarian restaurant Omra has a beautiful quiet terrace. In winter things are a bit more difficult in Bucharest: everybody smokes! Beca’s Kitchen on Eminescu St. is perfect for a night out.

DAY: A non-smoking environment is very important for me. I can’t understand why Bucharest cannot be smoke free like London or Amsterdam. So if I go for coffee and cake, I choose Origo, Camera din Față or Van Gogh upstairs, in the non-smoking area. Humanitas Cismigiu is another option. The most difficult part in trying to avoid cigarette smoke is at work - at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Even though it is against the law to smoke in there, everybody still does.

NIGHT: I am not a going out at night person, so I can’t help you here.

SHOPPING: I prefer open-air markets. And the flea markets like Vitan, where one can find very interesting objects, even sculptures.

CULTURE: 

Exhibitions at Aiurart.  Atelier 030202, run by Mihai Zgondoiu is having a vivid schedule.

Monuments like Arca lui Noe - Noah's Ark  and Pisica Divan by Virgil Scripcariu are a great and exciting intervention in Bucharest. Holocaust monument by Peter Jacobi, Crucea secolului - Century Cross by Paul Neagu are meant for recalling and remembering the past.

ROMANIAN MOVIES, BANDS, ARTISTS ETC.: 

Maria Popistașu was fabulous in Marți, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas) and I loved the script by Alex Baciu, Radu Muntean and Răzvan Rădulescu. I carefully follow Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, as they exhibit or perform around the world.

BUCHAREST DISCOVERY:

I bike around Cișmigiu area and next to it there is Intrarea Temișana, which has several interesting houses. The entire area around Luigi Cazzavillan Park is definitely worth a trip.