Itinerary

1. Bucharest Tour

   Get picked up by your Bucharest guide/driver from your accommodation and head out for the tour:

   • Visit the Palace of Parliament: Known as the House of the People (in communist times), which is the second-largest building in the world. It was constructed at the end of the 1980s, together with the grand boulevards in the downtown area. For its construction, 21 churches, 40.000 houses, and 1 stadium were demolished. The inside is worthy of a 19th-century palace, all the rooms being marble-plated, with silk tapestries and 2800 chandeliers. The best building in the world made entirely using Romanian workforce and materials.

   • Explore the Village Museum: Showing traditional Romanian households from centuries ago, it is the second-largest outdoor museum of Europe. Each individual house comes from a different area of Romania, making this museum special, as the visitors get a good perspective of Romania, while still not leaving Bucharest.

   • Stop by the Patriarchal Church: As the main church of the country, one can say it is the equivalent of the Vatican for the Catholic Church. The 400-year-old church shows great frescoes of the Judgment Day on its front wall, while the inside has gold decoration worthy of the most important church of the country. Next to it is also the splendid building of the old parliament of Romania. 

   • Between these landmarks, you will see the beautiful Victory Avenue, the oldest boulevard of the city. In the center stop to hear about Revolution Square, the place from where Ceausescu held his famous last speech. The memorial and nearby buildings still bear the scars of the bullets fired in December 1989.

   • Also drive alongside the Dambovita River, heading to the Military Academy, where the communist made bas-relief will show the strong propaganda of those days.

   • As an optional, you can also have the chance to visit: The Old Princely Court - established by prince Vlad the Impaler (world known as Dracula) and, close to it, the old commercial area, named Lipscani.

   • View the Kretzulescu Church – a monument synthesizing in its architecture, the art of the Brancoveanu epoch. It was built in 1720-1722, through the care of great Chancellor Iordache Kretzulescu and his wife, Safta (one of the daughters of Constantin Brancoveanu). The interior wall painting was realized (1859-1860) by Gheorghe Tattarescu. Erected between 1857 and 1869, according to the plans of the architect Al. Orascu, who was helped in decorating the exterior by Karl Storck. In this massive construction, there functions the oldest institution of university education in Bucharest.

   • Gaze upon the Romanian Athenaeum – one of the most representative buildings of the capital, erected in 1886-1888 following the plans of the French architect Albert Galleron. The necessary sums for the erection of the building were raised by public subscription. The exterior architecture represents a combination of styles: neo-classic, baroque, ionic, etc. avenue.

   • See the Arch of Triumph – inaugurated on 1st December 1936, glorifies the bravery of the Romanian soldiers who fought in the First World War, celebrating at the same time the 1918 Union of Romanian provinces. Designed by the architect Petre Antonescu, the monument is 27 m high. Bucuresti-Arcul-2

   • Witness the National Art Museum – located in the building of the former Royal Palace. After more than 10 years of restoration to the extensive treasure painted by Rembrandt, Veneziano, Monet, Sisley, El Greco, Breughel, and Rubens. During the Romania Revolution in December 1989, 448 works of art were destroyed or went missing and another 716 were damaged.

   Then, return to your accommodation in Bucharest.