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Category: Bucharest

Bucharest Trip – Day 3 : Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre

My hotel for the first two nights of my stay in Bucharest was the Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre. The others, quite sensibly, managed to stay in the same place for the entire week, but I was on a mission to complete the 6,000 points offer from Accor which involved staying at three hotels for two nights each. Which meant that I stayed here for two nights, then moved to another hotel in the city, then came back again. It’s sub-optimal in many ways, but I like getting Accor points. Incidentally, I’ve been inundated with requests for the return of my Accor blog (well, I had one person asking if I was still doing it) and I’m actively working on that.

The hotel has a modern design and some considerable thought has been put into it. My check-in process was handled by a staff member who was on the phone to a customer the entire time which wasn’t entirely ideal, but I appreciated the efficiency of the operation. The welcome went as expected and I was given a room on the fourth floor. There are low and high tables for those wanting to get a drink, get some work done or meet up with others, with a separate restaurant area at the rear.

For anyone interested (goodness knows who) this is the menu in the hotel’s restaurant.

I didn’t like this room at first sight. I didn’t mind the concrete ceiling and that element of minimalism, but I like having a desk. But, more on that in a moment.

Matters improved considerably when I discovered my welcome gift of cakes and a juice in the fridge. I was becoming rapidly more forgiving. I sent this photo to the group WhatsApp and Bev claimed she thought I had a coffin in the room. She was just jealous that she didn’t have a coffin shaped table in her room I think, she’s quite dark like that. But, of course, I didn’t say anything.

And then I discovered a fold-up desk, so I felt just a little guilty for jumping to conclusions. A few years ago, I was on a panel which discussed the new room design and I mentioned the importance of a desk, even if it just folded up. I’m not saying that they paid any attention to me, as ultimately most people don’t, but they have made a sensible decision here. The other table (on the right of the above photo) is also of an adjustable height, so can be used as a standing desk or a bedside table.

Steve was staying at the hotel, so we had breakfast together on the mornings that I was actually staying there. I don’t much go for hot options at breakfast, so I was suitably surprised and delighted by the cold meats selection. And olives, I like olives. And that red paste, I’m not sure exactly what was in it, added to the proceedings.

The selection from the following morning.

There’s plate one and I did try, despite my previous comment about the hot food, a few of the hot sausages. I wasn’t that engaged with them, so I didn’t repeat that exercise.

Here’s the hot food selection, which doesn’t really inform my two loyal readers as they can’t see what’s in them. There was a choice of, I think, eggs, fatty bacon and sausages. I make regular comments about how bacon should be cooked, including for those who read through my Norwich Market posts. I have agreed, and I am unanimous in this, that bacon should be served crispy and slightly burnt. The Americans know how to do this.

The cereals selection and there was also a juice station with five different juices, served alongside large glasses. This is most unusual, as usually hotels offer little tiny glasses for orange juice which requires me to take around four of them to the table.

Some of the breads and pastries, with a separate doughnut selection which I really quite enjoyed.

And biscuits.

And here’s another plate. I think everyone gets the idea of what I liked….

Anyway, I liked this hotel and my room had a pleasant view. There were no noise disturbances in the hotel either internally or externally and I enjoyed my Ursus Black welcome drink. Steve had a problem with his coffees not being topped up to which he was told that this wasn’t something that reception could do anything about and he had to speak to house-keeping before 18:00. This feels an entirely sub-optimal situation, there’s no reason why the hotel couldn’t have spare coffees behind reception, but there we go, I fortunately didn’t experience any issues.

I’d merrily stay here again and I liked how modern the hotel was, something which Ibis Styles often gets right. The service was friendly, the room was clean and I felt that I received good value for money. I paid £110 for these two nights, including breakfast, but the Accor offer means that the rate was effectively £70 for the two nights. The hotel is very well reviewed and seemed to be at near full occupancy during the time I stayed here, with it being around a twenty minute walk from the city centre.

November 19, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Pardon

Apologies for the latest little hiatus in posting, it’s been a busy weekend. But, back to the Bucharest trip for my two loyal readers. Four of us decided to go onto Pardon, a craft beer bar a short walk from the Italian that we had visited. It wasn’t the busiest bar in the city and it also seems to go by the name of the ‘Happy Pub’ to add some slight confusion to proceedings.

I liked the beer list, although unfortunately several of the beers were unavailable. I felt that bar owner’s pain, he was really keen to offer me something and I was equally determined to find something that I’d like that was in stock.

There’s a bottles list as well, I was impressed at the efforts they were making in having a range of different beer styles.

Some form of sport was being shown behind the bar and I liked the decor here.

I went for the Mad Otter from Mad Lads Brewing Co which was a clean, juicy and hazy NEIPA that didn’t disappoint. I had a quick try of the Sencha from Hop Hooligans which was a herbal beer that I quite liked, but lots more about this brewery in future posts.

Steve started to negotiate his way to ordering a drink as well.

Free snacks were provided to us beer drinkers which was a lovely gesture.

I liked this venue, although they probably need a better system of updating what drinks they have available. The service was though friendly, the atmosphere was inviting and the surroundings were comfortable. With that late night expedition completed, Steve and I (who are completely selfless) decided that we’d walk Susanna and Bev back to their hotels (well, hotel in Susanna’s case, Bev seemed to spend most of the time rummaging around the cupboards of the set-up she was at which she said wasn’t a hotel). From what I can work out, the former Happy bar has been rebranded as Pardon, but much of the on-line information such as Untappd hasn’t been changed.

November 19, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Trattoria Don Vito

Earlier on during the day, I sent the group a list of five food venues that we could visit in the evening and Bev was the keenest on this one, so we all agreed to visit for an Italian meal for the evening. The venue is positively reviewed on-line and seems popular with tourists and locals. Incidentally in terms of timing, this was all actually a few days ago, but, as usual with these things, I’ve got behind writing everything up. I’m now back in the UK and I’ll catch up soon enough.

It doesn’t take long to establish what sort of theming the restaurant is going for. This reminds me of when we visited a restaurant in Visegrad and Gordon managed to have an argument with the kitchen, with them sending a different and much smaller steak back when he mentioned it was undercooked. He still tells that story now with a mix of pride and anger. Mostly anger actually.

There was a friendly welcome at the door although we were asked if we wanted to sit in the smoking or non-smoking section, which felt quite a throwback. And here’s the menu.

The beer was the Azuga Nefiltrata Weissbier from Ursus, which was better than I expected, a credible wheat beer which had a slightly artificial edge, but there was a decent flavour and notes of banana.

Steve, Bev and I all decided we’d have to head straight for the main courses without delay, although Susanna and Thim then ordered a starter. Fortunately, the restaurant were very aware of the situation and mentioned they’d get the main courses out straight away for everyone as they had finished their starter. They actually served our meals whilst Susanna and Thim were still on their starter, but that compromise worked for me. Bev grumbled that she didn’t get free Parmesan, but she ended up being relatively complimentary about her meal.

The diavola pizza which met my expectations in terms of taste, temperature and presentation. It was also reasonably priced and suitably filling. The atmosphere in the restaurant was laid-back and not too loud, with the service being attentive and polite.

Some of the paper money on display near the entrance.

And a collection of old phones which is a reminder of how technology has changed in a relatively short period. All told, this was a well-run restaurant and the menu was extensive with pasta, pizza, steak and seafood dishes to choose from. Bev muttered about the service and how she wasn’t going to leave a tip, but she relented when everyone else did. No-one said anything of course as we’re too polite….. With that, it was time to pop for a beer.

November 17, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Zaganu

I hadn’t realised until Google told me, but I’ve visited this venue before in February 2020. It took me a couple of minutes to remember that visit, but I recalled that last time it was much quieter and the upstairs was closed off. The venue has a good reputation judging from the on-line reviews and it’s owned by the brewer Zaganu. It’s also open plan and feels modern and on-trend, as is visible from this photo that I took from upstairs.

I mentioned last time that I was just a little surprised to receive table service, and that’s still a little unusual for Bucharest (although by no means unique). Whatever works for them, but I just wanted to get a drink at the bar and pay, but we were offered a choice of seating upstairs and downstairs with table service. We went upstairs and weren’t entirely sure of the ordering process as there didn’t seem to be staff about, so we headed back down to order at the bar. The service was polite, but this bar visiting process of ours did seem to interrupt their ordering flow and I’m not sure they were entirely surprised and delighted by our group. However, the staff were friendly and were trying their best to assist, and we did prevent other members of our group making the same mistake when they entered. Also, I liked their lights which were constructed from beer bottles.

I only had one beer here, the Hefeweizen which is brewed by Zaganu and this was a decent wheat beer, slightly chewy and with a pleasant aftertaste. I don’t see much of this brewery’s beers in other locations and the last time I had a beer by them was in February 2020 when I had previously visited here. The brewer seems to have a solid reputation and I noticed after the visit that they’re listed on Untappd.

I was intrigued about the food options for later in the week, but when I went to look at the menu they took it away (I’m sure by mistake), but here are some of the special offers they have.

I’m an advocate of high seating, but some of the tables here felt mismatched in terms of the chairs that were located by them. For Bev, she was struggling to see over the table. The atmosphere in the venue was convivial and inviting, with only limited empty tables available.

However, it made it easier to take photos down the table.

Anyway, I enjoyed my repeat visit here, with the service being friendly and the venue being clean. It’s fair to say that I did get a bit muddled up with the ordering process on this occasion, but they worked around our accidental breach of protocol. There was a decent choice of beer on draft and in bottles, with a range of different styles being offered. The prices were reasonable for the location and I’d happily recommend a visit here to others.

November 15, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Martin Luther and Jean Calvin Sculpture

This sculpture in Sala Palatului Park seemed intriguing, it was put here on 4 May 2022 to commemorate the lives of Martin Luther and Jean Calvin. This made me ponder the history of Protestantism in Romania and it does seem to have made something of an impact in the country during the sixteenth century. This has all become a little redundant as the Orthodox Church rules pretty much supreme here, but one of the reasons of the sculpture being here is that it marks the tolerance of all religious beliefs. Although, the whole switch to the Orthodox Church is interesting here, pretty much starting during the 1866 Constitution of Romania which made it the country’s prominent religion. That constitution was not particularly tolerant, as it prevented non-Christians from becoming citizens, although at the time this predominantly impacted the Jewish community.

The Martin Luther (1483-1546) side.

And the Jean Calvin (1509-1564) side.

November 15, 2023
Bucharest – Fabrica de Bere Buna (Zaganu)

[I wrote the below in February 2020, when I last visited Bucharest. On my recent visit to the city, I decided to include this on our list of pubs to visit and it seems to just be known as Zaganu now, the name of the brewer. November 2023]

If I was in the UK, then I’d be worried about any location which puts the words “craft beer” on their frontage, as beer lovers will find excellent drinking establishments without such embellishments. However, this is Romania and the craft beer scene is a little behind the curve, although this bar most certainly isn’t. It’s beautifully on-trend and I hope in a few years that Bucharest will be teeming with bars like this.

The two blackboards at the bar, with the draught versions on the left and the bottles on the right. There are several beers from Zaganu and they are the operators of this bar and their brewery is around 100 kilometres to the north of Bucharest. They started their brewing operation in 2013, so very much pioneers in this field in Romania. The number of breweries in Bucharest is though growing and this bar features several beers from these businesses as well.

The bottled beer list.

The bar is modern in its decor and there’s a contemporary feel to the establishment, it’s all nicely done. There is an upstairs area for when it’s busier, although it wasn’t open when I visited.

I thought about going for the beer flight, but I was in a mood for a dark beer (although it might be easier for me to note when I’m not in the mood for a dark beer) and there was only one draught option for that.That was the Russian Imperial Stout and it was a little strong for what I wanted, but I’m all for making sacrifices in my quest for the perfect beer. It tasted fine, a richness of flavour although lacking a little in aftertaste, but it was at the appropriate chilled temperature and was a refreshing beer. There was a chocolatey flavour to it which I liked, it was certainly an above average beer.

I thought I’d have a little snack as well, this is the Mexican hot dog, which was surprisingly not as messy to eat as it might appear. Freshly made, all very nice.

There was table service offered, which surprised me slightly as I’m used to going to the bar, but the staff member was always friendly and helpful. Most of the customers when I was in the bar spoke English (although they all seemed to be from other European countries and were using English as a communication tool rather than it being their native language) so this is clearly a popular location with visitors. The prices were a little high perhaps by a local standard, as my beer and hot dog was just under £7, but compared to the UK that’s very reasonable.

Warsaw has seen a craft beer revolution over the last few years, with CNN saying they were one of the best cities in the world for it, and I hope that Bucharest will be following over the next few years. Hopefully this street will be packed with craft beer bars before I know it….

November 15, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Gallery of European Art

I visited this museum in February 2020 and wrote some of it up then, but I’ll come back to the artworks here later on (and repair some of the missing images in the oldest posts). In the meantime, a quick summary so that I can make progress on catching up the backlog of this blog. Susanna, Steve, Bev and I entered the gallery and showed our tickets we had obtained earlier on. Susanna had to wait for Thim to return as he had their tickets, which led to a highly suspicious security guard seemingly determined to think that Susanna was trying to get in for free. Susanna was guarded carefully for ten minutes by this security guard before Thim arrived, although I understand that when the ticket was produced the exchange become rather less frosty. Anyway, moving on.

There are world class artworks at the museum, although it isn’t as rich in quality and diversity of paintings as some other national museums. It also wasn’t particularly busy, but everything was well managed and orderly. I did think that the temperature in the galleries was a little hot, but I often think that. As another of my random asides, the photo above is of a staircase that it made me quite dizzy even looking over.

The collection of artworks was initially formed from the paintings owned by King Carol I (1839-1914) and they have been carefully adding items over recent decades. In terms of their most treasured pieces, they mention artworks by El Greco, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Rodin, Pieter Paul Rubens and Rodin.

Back to the staircase, I bravely looked over anyway.

It is rather beautiful…… It’s certainly worth a visit (the gallery I mean, not just the staircase) for anyone interested in European artworks and it’ll likely take an hour or two to walk around the collections.

As I mentioned, I’ll come back to surprise and delight my two loyal blog readers with my comments about some of the individual artworks, but for the moment I’ll limit myself to this post. After our visit, Steve and I decided to walk back, with the others spending a little longer at the gallery. Steve and I had planning to do on what pubs we needed to ensure we visited before the end of the week, we couldn’t spend all day looking at art.

November 15, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Tree Eating Fence

I feel that the title of the post has rather summed this up. I just rather liked the whole arrangement.

November 15, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Trofic

After a busy morning of meandering around a museum, the group decided that it was time for a light lunch. Our first location wasn’t doing food but had beer, which would have suited me, but they recommended that we visit Trofic. I say ‘we’, but Steve and I were looking at churches and we got sent a location of where the others had run off to such was their immediate demand for sustenance (we had forgotten the name of the place that we had been recommended). After some shuffling about the chairs after we arrived and Bev scaring off the neighbouring table, we were good to go.

A selection of the cakes is visible beneath the counter.

Susanna and Bev, both of whom said their food met their requirements. Bev was so excited by the whole arrangement that she needed a cheesecake as well as her main course which we all thought was rather greedy, but none of us said anything of course.

I was still recovering from the morning unlimited buffet at the Ibis Styles, so I just went for a coffee. I’m trying not to drink caffeine any more, although I had an espresso as this two hour time shift from Romania is a bit exhausting. It was rich and did do the trick of making me feel a little more awake during the afternoon. I think caffeine is fine in small measures and only occasionally, or at least, I hope it is.

The service in the cafe was friendly and they managed to split the bill on request, something that is done really well in some places and rather more clunkily in others. As an aside, some dictionaries tell me that isn’t a word, some tell me it is, but I’m going with ‘clunkily’ as I like it and I doubt that either of my two loyal blog readers much care. It’s not a large venue, but the space is well utilised and the service was efficient. It’s suitably on trend, although they didn’t stretch to having a beer menu, but it was a decent recommendation to have been given. This is particularly suitable for a light lunch or coffee stop, with the pricing being reasonable as well.

November 15, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Kretzulescu Church

This rather beautiful Orthodox church dates back to the 1720s, although it was modified in a neo-classical style between 1859 and 1860. It was decided to restore it back to something more like its original design between 1933 and 1936 and that meant making its brickwork become visible again.

It’s located in a central area of Bucharest, next to the National Gallery of Art.

Some of the external painting. These external paintings are original, although there are also internal paintings from the 1859 to 1860 restoration but these have lost their vibrant colours.

It’s certainly impressive from the exterior. I did go in, but there are signs saying no photographs so I abided by that rule. The church has been through a lot over the last century, there have been earthquakes that damaged it in 1940 and 1977, then there was further damage during the 1989 revolution.

These small Orthodox churches feel steeped in historic charm with the smell of incense and the artworks add character and mystique to the dark surroundings. I find the whole set-up of the iconostasis which separates the nave from the sanctuary to make the church so different to the Protestant openness between the nave and the chancel. It’s not for me to say which is the most appropriate form for a church, but it does change the dynamic of the building quite substantially.

Anyway, that beautiful little interlude over, Steve and I had to go and find the others who had charged off to find lunch.

November 14, 2023