Scenes from Bucharest, Romania - Part 1

Continuing the recap of my tour through Bulgaria and Romania last November with scenes from Bucharest. After some intense traffic in from the airport I was happy to arrive at Hotel Lido. It was a sharp property with art deco design / features throughout.

Big Turkish Airlines billboard staring at me like it knew I flew and would be flying MEX > IST > SOF > CLJ > IST > MEX on Turkish Airlines. Then a decent view up and down Bulevardul General Gheorghe Magheru, one of the main drags running north/south through the city.

Took a quick walkabout of the immediate environs, which seemed pretty chic. Then grabbed some supplies from the local Mega Image (cool grocery) to power through a few hours of work.

Then dinner with the team at Caru cu bere and a few night shots before getting some sleep.

Flight from Sofia to Bucharest

Flight from Sofia to Bucharest takes just over an hour. Definitely spent more time driving from hotel to SOF and from OTP to next hotel than I spent in the air. After a mini scramble in the SOF duty free to use up my last BGN Lev notes I stopped for a coffee and breakfast (not pictured) and took pictures of the food trucks (not tested).

My first flight on Tarom airlines, so I got tarmac pics before departure and after arrival.

And then immediately upon arrival I learned that Black Friday is also a thing in Romania.

Scenes from Sofia, Bulgaria - Part 5 (of 5)

After a refresh / rest / quick email check back at the hotel it was time for one last spin through the city to get a sense of the evening vibe - such as it might be on a Monday night in November. Once again I went out and down Vitosha Boulevard. Once again I took zero pictures. Not sure why. Perhaps the thinking was it's easy enough to find a million fotos and videos online. Regardless, the restaurants were open, with their mostly-encolsed little dining annexes lining the pedestrian thoroughfare. Vibe was subdued, but people were out. Lights were lit. Nice walk. But most of my time was spent checking out the east / west streets that extend from the spine of Vitosha. Someone once commented to me that in Manhattan the the places on the east / west streets are always a bit more interesting than the places on the avenues. From my experience that tracks generally, if not absolutely. Maybe Happy Bar & Grill would be the exception.

But as I got into the sidestreets off Vitosha I did see that they had their share of cozy-looking places that seemed worth exploring if I were staying longer.

Scenes from Sofia, Buglaria - Part 4

After checking out the area around Doctor's Garden my plan was to head southwest through the city toward Central Park on ths south side. If you pull up a map of Sofia you'll see the center of the city is oriented like a clockface. These pictures are things I noticed walking the stretch along ulitsa Tsar Shishman, from ulitsa Aksakov on the north down to the Orthodox Temple of the Seven Saints on the south side. Then I kept going a bit into the area between Vasil Levski Blvd and Evlogi Hristo Georgiev Blvd. A really eclectic mix of boutiques, restaurants, local bodegas, closed storefronts, with a healthy amount graffiti all around.

When I got to the little square around the Orthodox Temple of the Seven Saints it was time to eat. Grab & Go Pizza station got my attention. Clearly I was excited and ready to feed as I took mulitple shots of it for posterity.

This place, the Thirsty Dragon, has great reviews and looks like a cool place to check out. Next time.

When I got to Central Park I saw the initial signs of the coming Christmas market set up.

Then it was back to the hotel, via the route that went up through Vitosha Blvd. Somehow the only picture I took of the most famous street in Sofia was this one.

Scenes from Sofia, Bulgaria - Part 3

After passing by the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky I continued east, wanting to check out the area around Doctor's Garden. Seemed like a nice little pocket of integrated residential / entertainment that is close to the center but separate enough to feel like you had a buffer between the main busy-ness of the center. Subway stop on the SE corner, tram stop on the NE corner - apparently well-connected to everything by both public transport and by foot.