The Savage Traveler: Gateway to the Black Sea-#2: Bucharest, Romania and Embarkation

Sat. June 6--Bucharest, Romania and Embarkation: We rose early to enjoy the massive buffet breakfast at the hotel and then boarded buses for a city tour of Bucharest. With Iliva (a male, perhaps a form of Oliver?) as our guide we passed many large, iconic structures from the Communist years between 1946 and 1991. They were uniformly drab and industrial looking but are now being transformed and re-purposed for the new Romania. Most impressive was the huge, looming Peoples Palace, formerly the Communist Headquarters and now the House of Parliament. It sits up on top of a rise and can be seen from far away in every direction. There are also many park-like boulevards and green spaces. The Metro system and most of the river are underground and there is lots of construction and reconstruction going on. A visit to the "Old Town" gave us a chance to walk around on the (reconstructed) cobblestone streets, learning more of the history and politics of the city first mentioned in writing in 1460. There is much to learn about the truth and legend of such leaders as Vlad the Impaler (aka Count Dracula), his grandfather who taught him so much, and later, the Russian Communists and the dictator, Ceausescu, who was executed along with his wife, when Romania was finally liberated. The group wandered around about half of the designated Old Town visiting two Romanian Orthodox churches and several original national bank buildings that have all been bought out by international banks. In one spot there is a large area covered with glass revealing old underground brick works which they think were a wine cellar centuries ago.

Peoples Palace

Guy fixing an old fashioned cedar shake roof on downtown building

Close-up of the roofer

Bucharest "Old Town" map

First Romanian Orthodox Church in Old Town

Interior of the first church we visited

Second Romanian Orthodox Church in Old Town
This one has a nunnery with 6 nuns still living there and caring for the building and grounds.

Back on the bus we traveled a few miles away to the National Village Museum. 76 original buildings, mostly houses, have been moved and reconstructed as a "village" along one of 7 man-made lakes near the largest city park. After entering the park as a group we were free to explore on our own, enjoying the many different styles of homes from as many as three hundred years ago. There were half underground homes, and white-washed Russian homes with brightly painted trim in cobalt blues and reds, and several mills for gold mining, saws, and grinding. We only had time for about half the village but really enjoyed the signs in front of each describing them and usually giving a picture of the people in traditional costumes. The buses then took us to a restaurant on the other side of the lake where we were fed a typical Romanian lunch of cabbage rolls and sauerkraut, while a group performed music and dances in traditional costume.

Thatched roof Common Building with crafts in the yard

Marv outside a "Half buried" House

My favorites were the Russian houses with bright trim

We were all stuffed when we got back on the bus to drive nearly three hours to Constanta(pronounced Constanza), the port city where Vantage Waterways' River Splendor awaited us. We drove through flat farmland very much like Illinois, broken occasionally by a village or town where two towers would often rise above the rest; one would be the Romanian Orthodox Church and the other the granary. Many people nodded off as the miles slid by until we got to the 4th largest port in Europe, also the largest on the Black Sea. Our luggage awaited us in our State Room #338. Ours was the very last room on the port side of the very long ship, on the same level as the Compass Rose restaurant. It has twin beds put together to form a Queen-size bed but each with its own twin size bedding. The outside wall is nearly all window with a sliding part that opens about a third of the way and a French balcony, which is a railing that runs alongside but not a landing on which to step out. The bathroom is a little bit bigger than the one we had on our Amawaterways cruise last year. Following a welcome talk where we met several of the crew members, including the Captain, the Hotel Manager, the Concierge and the Cruise Director, we had the first of many fabulous dinners. Being among the last to enter the dining room, we couldn't find four places together so Marv and I got to know Liz and Frank from New Jersey and, most importantly, Phyl and Sim from California. Phyl is a retired school psychologist and Sim is a (mostly) retired Math teacher and we really hit it off with them. By the end of dinner it was clear we would be spending a lot of pleasant time with them.