Known for its beautiful, tree-lined boulevards, world-class museums, an emerging dining and music scene and astonishing range of architecture, Bucharest – Romania’s largest city and capital, is today a bustling metropolis with a reputation for the high life, which in the 1900s earned its nickname of ‘Little Paris.’ Located midway between the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea, in southeastern Romania, Bucharest, the city attracts visitors with its abundant greenery and the myriad of attractions, the best known of which we’ll introduce in today’s post.
The Palace of Parliament
Built during the ‘golden age’ (in 1984) by order of president Cearusescu, Romania’s famous dictator, the majestic Palace of Parliament is a 12-storey building covering 330,000 square meters, which is claimed to be the second largest administrative building in the world after the US Pentagon. Both the exterior and interior of the palace are truly majestic and display the true wealth of Romania: stone, marble and wood from the Romanian mountains and forests.
The main attractions of Bucharest’s Palace of Parliament are its one-hundred-meter-long lobby, decorated with amazing chandeliers (there are 4,500 thousand of them the largest of which weighs 1.5 tons), and its 1,100 opulent rooms (around half of them are used as offices), which can be viewed by guided tour only. The 45-minute tour takes you through ten of the most impressive, most representative or simply the hugest of the halls, including the extraordinary, glass-ceilinged Sala Unirii (Unification Hall), and the dazzling Alexandru loan Cuza room, with a balcony, featuring breathtaking views of the city.
Cismigiu Gardens
A true haven of lawns, trees, flowers and lakes, Cismigio Gardens is the biggest public garden in the heart of Bucharest and one of the most popular tourist attractions that never fails to amaze with its charm and beauty. First designed and laid out in 1845 by the German landscape architect Carl Meyer, the garden was reconstructed many times and now looks like a German/Austrian stylish public garden of 1800s. Originally, the space was a fishing pond, also used as a vineyard that produced local wine.
The walkways of the garden are simply amazing, featuring greenery and numerous statues. Centered around a large lake, the garden even on the hottest day offers numerous shady places for people to rest. Many locals come here to play chess or other board games, while visitors can also hire a boat and enjoy the lake, have a drink or meal in one of the garden’s many restaurants or cafes, or else take a look to many beautiful flowers spread all over the park. It’s worth mentioning that more than 30,000 trees and plants were brought in from the Romanian mountains to be planted on the 17-hectares garden.
Dmitri Gusti National Village Museum
Unanimously deemed by foreign tourists a sight not to be missed out in Bucharest, the National Village Museum is rated as one of the best museums in the country. Founded in 1936, as a result of intense and constant researches by Dimitrie Gusti, the museum aims to present visitors the reality of village life. The open-air museum is located on the periphery of Herastrau Park and features several dozen buildings relocated from rural Romania. The museum covers over 100,000 square meters and contains 272 authentic peasant farms and houses from all over Romania. As an interesting historical reference, the museum was, chronologically speaking, the third outdoor museum ever created in Europe.
Romanian Atheneum
Bucharest’s most prestigious concert hall and one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, the exclusive Romanian Athenaeum (Ateneul Roman) stands as a national monument to the arts. Built almost entirely out of donated funds from the public, and inaugurated in 1888, the building is a stunning fusion of classical architecture and the French flare for ornamentation, boasting inside superior acoustics. It is 41 meters high and is surrounded by a park. The Romanian Athenaeum is host to George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and is also where the annual annual George Enescu music festival is held.