The next day was cold as well. Decided to take up the free walking tour around the Old Town. Well, I read from internet resource saying that the Old Town is not actually old as the area has been renovated. Anyway, before joined the tour, I walked to the bus station (called Filaret) to check out the ticket, as I planned to take a bus ride to Sofia in the next few days. Residential apartments are aplenty, plus the thawing snow which made the street wet and slippery. Not a good time to walk actually.
The bus station turned out to be quite run-down. Although the building facade looked ok, inside it was quite empty and run-down. Wanted to purchase advanced ticket but it was not possible. Buy on the travel day is ok, the counter lady said. So I continued my walking journey to the Union Square, where the official free walking tour should start.
Good thing about this walking tour was that the history and background of the city were explained. At least I know the social impact of the construction of the Parliament Palace. That's the largest structure in the city. And it was said that Count Dracula is a character in a novel. The name was inspired from the Wallachia ruler, Vlad The Impaler. Google the name and have a good read about the actual history. By the way, Vlad was born in Transylvania state. And that's how all the vampire stories inspired from this name too.
Probably the most recent significant impact to this country was the Romanian Revolution back in December 1989, when communism ended. Nevertheless, some older generations still prefer socialism life where jobs were guaranteed.
After the tour, I headed to the city's biggest and most popular park - Herastrau Park, in the north side of the city. To get there, one can take the metro, which I did. The park is huge and probably one of the best park around. Nearby the park there's a Romanian version of Arc de Triumph. After all, Bucharest was known as the Little Paris.
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| Residential apartments |
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| Park near the Filaret bus station. You can see the clock pole in many places of the city. |
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| Filaret bus station. Looks good outside. |
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| Intersection at the Union Square area |
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| Meet up point of the walking tour |
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| Behind the boulevard, that's the Parliament Palace (see the square building in the middle) |
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| One of the old buildings in Old Town area |
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| An Orthodox Church in the Old Town |
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| Vlad the Impaler (a.k.a Vlad Drakula) |
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| This monastery was shifted to this location during the construction of the Parliament Palace |
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| The compound of the monastery |
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| The French style building |
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| University area |
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| Another Orthodox Church in the University area |
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| The modern city metro |
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| Booths selling fresh flowers are aplenty around the city |
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| Arc de Triumph |
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| Hard Rock Cafe in Herastrau Park |
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| The partially frozen lake in the park |
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| Herastrau Park has a good scenery too |
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| Playground section of the park. Unfortunately, it's all soaked with icy water. |
All photos were taken with iPhone 6s
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