Bucharest 2: Cafés and Culture

Our morning started off slowly as we woke up just a bit too late to make the walking tour of the city that we had planned to do early on. Breakfast, a shower, a laundry load and a lot of sun cream later and we headed out. We walked away from the Old Town and saw some amazing buildings as we went through the city: grand imposing buildings, statues, sculptures and monuments, there’s a lot to see.  We arrived at m60, a cool cafe serving breakfasty food all day, and sat down for lunch. Avocado on toast, featuring a fried egg, sweet chilli sauce and a salad, was what we both opted for. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of choosing something different and then loving Holly’s pick again! It was very tasty and filling and if our drinks had come out before the food was served the experience would have been amazing.

BuchAR(T)est

Anyway back out into the heat we went, and back to the area that we had walked past on our way to lunch with the buildings and statues etc. One such building was The National Museum of Art of Romania, housed in the former Royal Palace, and since we had yet to go to any art galleries we ventured in. Now there are different galleries and museums in the whole building but as we didn’t have all day we decided to look round the National Gallery. There was an entry fee for the National Gallery but we were happy to pay it as they let us in as students (which worked out as 80p each!). The normal entry was only £3 each so a far cry from the 16 euros of Vienna. The first section was Medieval Romanian Art which was super interesting. Each room displayed religious art in different eras and different areas in Romania’s long history. From dominant Byzantine styles emphasised in opposition to the presence of the Ottomans in the 14th-16th century to the differing denominations influencing the style of art in Transylvania (which was not yet part of Romanian) in the 16th-17th century. From the Brancovan style initiated by Prince Brancovan in the 16th-17th century to the 18th and 19th century were Princes no longer founded churches and art began to reflect the taste of less royal sponsors. Wow very interesting! but also at the same time, it was just a load of rooms with cool paintings of Jesus, the Virgin  Mary and a whole load of saints. We moved onto the next gallery.

The next gallery included in our ticket was the Romanian Modern Art Gallery and maps the evolution of Romanian art from the 1850s to the 1970s. A really interesting gallery again starting off pretty standard, mainly with portraits of people and nothing too interesting going on. As you move through the gallery you can see how the works get more experimental with colours and shapes, basically they get cooler and look better. The one problem I found with a lot of the works was the little information provided next to the paintings. Obviously, art doesn’t need to be explained but if that were the actual case then my bed could be just as famous as Tracey Emin’s. I like it when galleries give a bit of background to the artist and the context behind the works as it makes you more invested in the piece. Some of the early 1800s portraits in the gallery just said ‘portrait of a man by anonymous’ that may as well hang in a Wetherspoons if you ask me! The tour of the city that we missed in the morning repeats in the evening and we had misjudged where we were in relation to the meeting point so rushed the best bit of the museum (the later modern stuff) to leave and get to the tour. However, when we finally managed to escape the maze of art and get outside we realised that by the time we rushed over, the walking tour would have set off already , darnit!

Thrifting

As our evening plans had opened up suddenly (and the tour pencilled in for 24hrs after we originally planned it) we decided to try and find a Romanian football team top. From each of the cities we have visited I have wanted to find the local team and buy their football shirt. It wasn’t like a big deal that I hadn’t managed to buy one so far as I didn’t want to come back from travelling with 10 or so shirts I was just interested in the local teams and wanted for that interest to eventually result in a purchase. However, despite Manchester having multiple places in the centre to buy Manchester United shirts it has been a lot harder in the cities we have visited, granted they are not big football clubs but still. As Summer Well festival is round the corner, the free time we had seemed like a perfect time to buy a top. Since all of the official teams’ shops were way too far away we decided to look in second-hand shops to see if we could find a Bucharest team top. Unlike in Manchester (again) the thrift shops are not all in a lovely quarter of the city like Manchester’s Northern Quarter but that just meant a bit more walking around the city for us so no complaints there! As you can imagine the local teams are very popular so understandably nobody has donated their tops to any vintage shops, in fact, we found two United tops which show how big our club is ey! Anyway I saw a cool vintage Bayern Munich cotton tee and out of all of the tops I tried on this fitted the best and was much cheaper than a brand new football top would be (and much cheaper than UK vintage clothes) so was a perfect pick for my festival outfit.

Duck

Duck

Duck

Goose

Same Old Town

After a successful thrifting session, to make the most of our relatively short day, we headed back to the Old Town for dinner. The Old Town really is a hub of activity and the streets were bustling with business. We headed to a Van Gogh restaurant as it looked cool when walked past the other day. However, the atmosphere and menu just wasn’t appealing when we got there but the place next door seemed better (and we couldn’t be dealing with searching any harder) so we sat down. We both had burgers again, I know we’ve eaten a fair few burgers but a lot of the time that’s the best bet on a menu and I’ve yet to have a halloumi burger so it doesn’t count as repetition. After finishing our delish food we wandered around to get some pudding to keep experiencing the Old Town bustle. In an attempt to be in hearing distance of a talented street busker I got roped into a place by those people than stand outside and rope you in. It wasn’t the best place as they weren’t really a desert-based restaurant but ice cream and a chocolate fondue can’t really be criticised (except the fact the busker stopped playing as soon as we sat down, darnit!).

Despite it being a Friday night we have a walking tour we cannot miss tomorrow so an early night it has to be!  With Summer Well festival tomorrow as well it is a big day so see you then!