Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Bucharest

Wizz Air (Bucharest Henri Coandă to Cologne Bonn Airport)

I had taken the train earlier on in the day to get to the centre of Bucharest, but I decided to get the 100 bus back again to the airport. It costs around 60p and it’s easy to pay as it’s contactless. There’s my bag, looking nearly new.

I think what this sign was saying was:

“100 years since the presentation on 16 October 1910 at the Aeronautical Salon held at the Grand Palais in Paris of the Coandă-1910, the world’s first jet aircraft, without a propeller, powered by reactive propulsion, invented and built by the Romanian engineer Henri Coandă (1886–1972).”

Rather splendidly, the snack sign has managed to obscure the key bit, which is perhaps not quite what memorial plaques dream of when they imagine posterity.

I waited landside for a little while and there was minimal seating available, but they had a restaurant area that was not proving popular judging by the lack of customers. I’m not entirely sure they’re made clear what the offering is here, other than some generic beer.

It was time to head to security and I was through in a few minutes. The passenger in front of me had a two litre bottle of water in the side of their bag, I’m pleased to say that this was noticed and removed from them.

Mine was the 20:25 flight. There are no Priority Pass lounges in Bucharest, but I found a quiet spot to sit and treated myself to a £1.60 bottle of Fanta from the vending machine. Well, once I had worked it out, I find vending machines often quite complex and I rarely use them.

A view out of the window of the terminal. I had some time to do this whilst meandering around.

Safely at the gate. I decided to break my usual norm of boarding early to board towards the end, not least as I was sitting by a power socket and wanted my phone fully charged. Boarding towards the end feels a little more exciting, there was some tension from angry customers who couldn’t get their bags to fit in the sizer. One customer pushed his bag in so hard that he couldn’t get it out, but the friendly gate agent helped him, although the wheel from his bag went flying.

The seating Gods had given me a middle seat and I thought that I was lucky as no-one sat in the window seat by the time that the aircraft doors were shut. Then someone comes and takes the seat, but he asks me if I would move back ten rows and swap with his brother who had the window seat.

I said that it was a bit late, as we were about to start taxiing down the runway, but I would move after take-off. As the man in the aisle seat was annoying me by stretching his elbows and I have limited patience, I suggested moving immediately after the seatbelt lights were turned off. The guy in the window seat seemed pleased and he went with me to where his brother was sitting.

I sort of got the impression that this was like me moving my friend Liam from his window seat to sit with me in the middle seat. The brother didn’t look thrilled to move from a window to a middle seat, he left his water and he looked confused. Whether or not the two brothers were happy, I don’t know, but I didn’t care, I had a nice window seat. And that’s Budapest in the photo.

The aircraft was HA-LXW and we didn’t just fly over Budapest, we also flew over Bratislava. This is yet another aircraft that I haven’t been on before, although it has been in service since 2017.

We flew over Cologne before landing so I got to see the city from the air and it’s the first time that I’ve been here.

And safely into Cologne. We were on time and I was once again pleased with the flight, which had cost me £9. The crew were personable, the service was efficient and the aircraft was clean. The consistency really does impress me with Wizz Air and it won’t surprise anyone (not that anyone is likely to much care) that I intend to fly with them again.

April 10, 2026
Bucharest – Ground Zero Beer

I visited this taproom in 2023 with friends and it had just opened, so I thought I’d pop in again since I was in Bucharest for the afternoon.

The beer list and there was a range of styles there, although I’d tried a number of those beers before. It took me a while for a team member to come to the bar, but I was hardly in any rush. Some of the beer names are quite bold, but I think that’s the anti-corporate type vibe that they’re aiming for.

Many of the bars aren’t open in the afternoon and this is probably why, but I appreciated being able to visit them. It didn’t get much busier during my time there, but it always felt welcoming and comfortable. There’s some outside seating as well, but that’s not really my style in general.

Last time I visited, the venue wasn’t doing food, but they have a separate kitchen now specialising in burgers and loaded fries. Customers have to order food and drink separately, but the process felt clear and well managed. The guy at the kitchen hatch was also personable and engaging, he added positively to the whole arrangement. Firstly, the beer, which was the Split Pot from the Ground Zero brewery themselves, which was hoppy, tropical and juicy.

Onto the food and this very much surprised and delighted me. The fries were served as a generous portion, they had an element of spice to them and they were crispy on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. The toppings added texture and this would have been a sufficient snack just on its own. The smash burger with bacon was served in a soft bun and it packed a huge depth of flavour, it was meaty, had a pleasant taste and was really very good.

Overall, I spent around ninety minutes here before going back to the airport and the food and drink really was what I had hoped for. There were also power sockets available which was very handy as I didn’t want to be low on power before a flight. Ground Zero were one of the earliest craft beer brewers in Bucharest and it’s good to see them offering such a quality product.

April 10, 2026
Bucharest – The Ghost of Casa Radio Building

It’s hard not to be a little intrigued by this building in central Bucharest which isn’t in the greatest of shapes. Originally conceived in the mid-1980s as the Museum of the Romanian Communist Party, the massive structure was designed to be a centrepiece of the ‘Civic Center’ redevelopment project that transformed much of old Bucharest.

The idea of course was that of Nicolae Ceausescu, who led his country to fall apart and collapse whilst he focused on grand projects such as this and the Parliament building which Romania simply couldn’t afford. He was the sort of leader who would build a big ballroom because he thought it would help his reputation. I make no comment.

By the time of the 1989 Revolution which led to the execution of Ceausescu, the exterior was largely complete, yet the interior remained a hollow shell of concrete and steel. It was mostly left as it was, but there were plans to relocate the state broadcaster here, but there wasn’t enough money. There wasn’t always a big gap between the buildings, that was more recent work for a brand new project that also fell apart.

There it sits in all its modesty by the river, never to hold the museum to the history of communism that Ceausescu wanted. There are plans to bring the building back into use, but it’s so large and in a state of such disrepair that any project will require huge sums of money.

April 8, 2026
Train from Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport to Gara de Nord (Bucharest North)

I didn’t realise that there was a train service from the main airport in Bucharest to the main railway station in the city centre. It was quite decadently priced at twice the bus fare of the 100 city link bus, but since that’s £1.20 and 60p respectively, it’s not entirely a concern. I was staying nearby overnight and wanted to spend the afternoon in Bucharest, so this seemed a more efficient way of doing it.

The train was already in the railway station when I arrived, so I walked to the end of the platform to the ticket machine. A ticket guard, wearing jeans and looking like a passenger, helpfully came up and said that there was no need to buy a ticket in advance, just buy on board. I’m always slightly suspicious of such things, but as everyone else was just boarding, I took the risk.

And indeed, all was well. Or certainly in terms of the ticket purchase, the guard who had spoken to me earlier came along with a card machine and that was all very efficient. The train itself was packed, although fortunately I had a window seat, and it was far too hot. It’s not a long journey, but it wasn’t particularly comfortable. There was the vaguest of evidence of air conditioning, but I suspect that was more because a window fell out or something rather than anything else. This wasn’t the most modern of trains.

It was too busy to take a photo during the journey, but this was the excitement of disembarking. One set of doors didn’t seem to work which slowed matters down somewhat.

I hadn’t realised that this was the central station of Bucharest and it wasn’t built as such, but yet here we are…. I have stayed nearby many years ago on my first visit to the city, so I really should have known that.

Well, it’s traditional I suppose.

There’s plenty of stuff going on in this station, it felt like something from thirty years ago with a market, cafes and a variety of other shops. I suspect that it will all be renovated at some stage, but there’s something rather charming with it as it is.

And safely in Bucharest. This station was first built between 1868 and 1872, with the Monarch Carol I of Romania being present when the foundation stone was laid. It has been extended and knocked about many times over the decades, but there’s still some nineteenth charm to it.

There’s an underground metro station, trams and buses to the city centre, but as it was only a thirty minute walk that’s what I did. I decided to get the 100 bus back to the airport though….

April 8, 2026
Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to Bucharest Băneasa)

Safely back at Warsaw Chopin airport and ready for my next flight to Bucharest. As usual, there was a minimal wait for the security process and it took under five minutes from scanning my boarding pass to being airside.

That meant a quick stop in the lounge.

It was all clean, comfortable and spacious as usual, with plenty of power points available.

Very healthy.

The spring rolls didn’t look entirely appetising as they were quite broken up, but it transpired that they were really quite agreeable.

The boarding process was efficient and I was flying within the Schengen zone, I didn’t have to wait for an hour for the EES system like last week.

Oh good, a bus gate.

And ready to board. It’s aircraft 9H-WDS, which entered Wizz Air’s fleet in late 2023 and appears to be yet another aircraft that I haven’t been on.

Unusually, I was first to board the aircraft. The excitement of it all….

So here’s a photo of an empty cabin, I don’t get to post these very often.

The seating Gods had given me a window seat and also no-one sitting next to me, which was all very handy. Wizz Air seems to pad their schedules to cover a small delay so the estimated one hour fifty minutes flight time was actually only eighty minutes. The crew were friendly, the aircraft were clean and, once again, there were no negatives for me to mention.

Safely in Bucharest on time and able to walk to the terminal.

I’ve written about Bucharest Băneasa airport before and it’s beautiful, although rather small.

The central dome of the airport.

The bus stop is a short walk away on the main road although not overly well signed. Anyway, with that I was on the bus to the hotel.

The flight cost £9 because of my Multipass, again representing excellent value for money.

April 8, 2026
Wizz Air (Bucharest Henri Coandăto to London Luton)

After a peaceful night at the Ibis Styles Bucharest Airport, I decided to walk to the airport which is about a fifteen minute walk. Not all of the pavement was like this shall we say, but it was an easy walk and for those without baggage it’s not worth using a shuttle. Although I might not be the best touchpoint on this as I think that anything involving under one hour of walking isn’t worth getting transport for.

The Gendarme Heroes Monument at the entrance to the airport.

I had some minor issues finding my way into the airport terminal, which is evidently not designed for people walking there, but here’s the main entrance. It transpired that this was the arrivals terminal, but there is a connection via an internal corridor to the departures terminal.

As I had departed too early for the hotel’s free breakfast, they had instead given me a drink, yoghurt, croissant and I saved the banana and yoghurt drink for the airport. There’s no lounge here, so this just had to suffice.

I’m sure that the airport will look lovely when the work is finished, but it feels a bit like a building site at the moment.

The departures terminal.

There’s my flight, the 07:10 to London Luton.

There wasn’t much of a check of my passport at the airport, but the security there were all friendly and I was able to find a quiet spot to wait for my flight. There isn’t a great deal of space here, but the gate staff did their best to ensure that passengers weren’t left waiting.

This photo is from the arrival at Luton Airport, as there was an air bridge so I couldn’t get an external photo. The seating Gods had put me in 34F, which is a window seat, so that worked nicely for me. The aircraft is 9H-WNP and for about the tenth flight in a row, I have to report that I haven’t been on this one before either.

I was asleep for most of the flight, but everything I saw was well managed, professional and efficient. I really don’t understand how people have issues with Wizz Air on such a regular basis, as I find their cabin crew and pilots to be as good as on any other airline.

And that was the end of this trip, which started on my first birthday weekend with Liam, Ross, Richard and I going to Cardiff. After travelling to Italy, Slovenia, Albania, Greece and Romania (albeit the last three quite quickly) I had a train back to Norwich and some happy memories of a very lovely trip, with thanks to Steve, Bev and Susanna joining me in Italy and Slovenia.

December 14, 2025
Bucharest – Ibis Styles Bucharest Airport

I accept that this isn’t a perfect photo, but I had taken two flights and a rather packed bus from Bucharest Băneasa airport to get here. This is the Accor operated Ibis Styles hotel, which is where I was spending my final night of my near two week trip around various bits of Europe.

There was a very friendly welcome from the team member at reception and he mentioned about the free breakfast. When I said that I’d be leaving too early, he said that the hotel can arrange something in these circumstances, which was much appreciated. He also mentioned that they had upgraded my room and I very much liked this as well.

Very comfortable. The design felt both a bit 1980s and also modern, it had a homely feel that I liked. Ibis Styles are known for their slight quirkiness and they brand their hotels around a theme, with this one being air travel which feels appropriate.

My welcome drink of beer and also my welcome gift of fruit. I’ll be honest and say that I prefer chocolates, crisps, beer or random souvenirs, but a gift is a gift and was much appreciated. I also love seeing a Nespresso machine in a room, so I indulged in coffees.

Some of the room decoration.

I like traffic noise, so I opened the window happily, although the double glazing is very effective at keeping the noise out, including from the next door airport.

With my breakfast collected, it was time for the early morning walk to the airport. And more on both of those in the next post….

But, overall, this was an excellent hotel, with friendly service, clean rooms and no noise issues. I felt very welcome and after two flights in one day, with another one early the following morning, I felt entirely rested by the time I woke up. This is a hotel that I’d certainly be happy to book again when I’m next in the Bucharest area.

December 14, 2025
Bucharest – Băneasa Airport

My Wizz Air flight had arrived into Bucharest Băneasa airport from Athens, which is the smaller of the two international airports in the city and one that I’ve never visited before.

I think it’s beautiful and it was immediately evident that this is an airport from the early days of international passenger travel. These are usually demolished or refurbished beyond recognition, so it was a delight to see that much of this one felt original.

This photo was taken in 1960 not too far away from where my previous one was taken. In the middle is Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the then Leader of Romania, with Nikita Khrushchev, the President of the USSR, with his hat. And there to the left of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej is a younger, and at the time less powerful, Nicolae Ceaușescu.

The departure hall of the airport. As a quick history of this airport, it was opened to passengers in 1920 and that makes it one of the oldest airports still in use in Europe. The current terminal building dates to the late 1940s, although it didn’t open until 1952. It was the country’s main international airport until Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport opened in 1969.

In 2012, it was decided to close this airport to passengers and concentrate just on business traffic, primarily as Bucharest Henri Coandă had taken all of the trade. However, this period was a time of a surge in budget airlines, more interest in visiting Romania as a country and growing business needs, so, in 2022 it reopened as a passenger airport.

And the approach road to the airport. I hadn’t realised when I landed here just how beautiful the airport was, so I’ll have to try and ensure that I fly from, or to, this airport again so that I can explore it a little more.

December 14, 2025
Bucharest Trip : Manuc’s Inn

It’s fair to say that my blog sort of curtailed itself half way through the Bucharest trip when I got distracted with something else, but I think it’s time to now rivet my two loyal readers with a few final posts about this very marvellous trip. Bev had ruled out my idea to go back to Excalibur to get another chicken, so instead we decided to go somewhere a little more decadent and we opted for Manuc’s Inn. This is something of a local institution and there are numerous elements to the dining area, but we were seated downstairs in the rather captivating cellar area. There’s plenty more information on the restaurant’s Wikipedia page, but it’s over 200 years old and the oldest remaining hotel building in Bucharest.

I hadn’t had this beer before and if I’m being honest, I’m unlikely to have it again. All very average, but decent enough as we weren’t in a craft beer bar and I knew we were going to one later on. I’m very tolerant and patient like that.

This was the bean soup with smoked pork served in a bread bowl, far more filling than I needed for a starter if I’m being honest. But, there was a depth of flavour to the soup, I stupidly ate half of the chilli which was far too hot and then enjoyed the moist bread. A suitably entertaining starter for the meal, whilst Bev was busy annoying the waiter. He coped admirably.

Thim likes his wine and he approved of this vessel.

I correctly identified it as red wine. I’m not really into red wine, I’m too much imbued in the whole beer culture, but it had a pleasant taste.

There was a relaxing atmosphere to the whole arrangement, I liked it.

No, not chicken strips, but chicken schnitzel, although I suppose that’s not far removed from it. Served with chips, which is very classy of me. Forgetting that the green chilli had been too hot for my starter accompaniment, I had Steve’s chilli and remembered again that it was too hot. I don’t get out much…

Goodness knows what Bev was doing, getting ready to complain about something I imagine.

We lingered for quite a while so the restaurant became quiet, but we had to leave as I had demanded another visit to Hop Hooligans.

An enjoyable evening, especially since Thim treated us to the whole meal which was an unexpected surprise at the end of proceedings. He’s always been one of my favourite people that Thim. But, back to the restaurant, I found the service attentive, the environment was inviting and the food was reasonably priced given that this is one of the main tourist destinations for food in the city. It was the last night that we were all together in Bucharest and I think that we were all pleased with the choice. The on-line reviews are positive and it’s worth visiting not just for the food, but also because of the history to the building and its courtyard.

January 13, 2024
Bucharest Trip – Day 4 : Tour of Bucharest Parliament

I don’t want to get too political on this blog, but it’s fair to say that I’m not a fan of the governance of Nicolae Ceaușescu. And this building is one of the reasons for that dislike, as whilst he presided over a political system that had tens of thousands of children in orphanages and a country that didn’t have enough electricity, he decided to build one of the largest, and heaviest, buildings in the world, the Palace of the Parliament. He destroyed a huge chunk of the city to build it, he ploughed through history and constructed a building that remains 70% unused. Hundreds of people died during the construction, 40,000 people lost their homes and Romania couldn’t afford the extreme costs of this building. Look at the size of the building as it is, but there are also eight underground levels. This is a building meant to be part of the Ceaușescu personality cult, but it’s fair to say that it didn’t turn out as he intended.

Anyway, politics aside, I was pleased to be going on a tour of the building as I didn’t get chance to do that last time I came to the city. Visitors have to phone up to make a reservation, and as Susanna is the most social of the group, she did that.

There’s a free art installation on the ground floor for visitors to look at and, let’s be honest, it’s not like they’re short of space as there’s a total of 4 million square feet in the building.

There was tight security, but this is the working Parliament of the country, so that’s to be expected. Here’s my visitor’s pass and they carefully checked IDs before allowing entry. Our tour didn’t visit some of the rooms as Parliament was sitting, although the tour remained at an hour or so in length.

There were a lot of long corridors such as this.

A theatre, which is still used, with what I think is the biggest chandelier in the building.

A carpet designed to fit into the flooring. Just imagine the cost of all this.

Media rooms.

Interviewing of what I assume to be Romanian politicians.

This would have been the grand entrance for international dignitaries and Nicolae Ceaușescu would have walked down those stairs whilst his wife, Elena Ceaușescu, would have walked down stairs that were located opposite.

The curtains are so large that they’re dry cleaned in situ.

The first of three rooms all next to each other.

The second room.

And the third room. These are huge rooms, do they really need three of the things? There are 1,100 rooms in total and just under 3,000 chandeliers.

The building is so heavy that it’s sinking, which is causing cracks throughout the structure.

Another function room.

It was a fascinating tour, although I struggled to hear the guide for quite a bit of the walk around. The group size was large, perhaps just a little too large, but we saw a fair amount of the building. At the end the guide said we had only seen 2% or 3% of the interior, a reminder of how large the structure is. I’d recommend the tour to others, it’s a way of seeing inside this enormous building which they clearly still don’t know what to do with. There’s a temptation to use it commercially, but it is the Parliament building and they don’t want to Disneyfy it. There’s an interesting Guardian article on the whole arrangement.

November 25, 2023