Top ten places to take visiting friends in Bucharest.

Princess  Eleonore af Schaumburg-Lippe lists her ten places to take visiting friends in Bucharest.

My ten place to show friends in Bucharest would be:

The Stavropoleos church

The Patriarchal Cathedral

The Village Museum

The Antim monastery

Jaristea

Mogoşoaia Palace

The Dacian treasures in the basement of the National History Museum

Caru cu Bere

Cernica monastery

The Royal Palace (National Art Museum)

TicTac restaurant near Cismigiu would once have been my first choice but it is only a shrunken thing. Sarpile Rosu is no more. The Old Town has been spoilt. I would take them to a good, simple terrace - perhaps Blanduziei, No. 2, Str. Academiei, close to the entrance to the National Bank. The food is mediocre but the terrace is so charming and the feeling genuine, unlike the nearby new Old Town. The waiter told me Mihai Eminescu used to eat there, though I am not sure if I believe everything waiters tell me. Maybe to some music hall - Miss Piranda. Gypsy music is definitely de rigueur. Casa Doina. The Theodor Aman museum. Somewhere on the waterside at Lake Herestrau - perhaps to Casa di David. Pasarea Monastery. Athenee Palace Hilton is a must of course but now we have far more than ten.



I am trying to think of odd cheap places and can only think of TicTac which was pure 1980s - and Blanduziei likewise perhaps. Why I do not know strange bars full of gypsies? I must get out more. 


Thinking about it, walking through decrepit fin de (last) siecle streets is, actually, by far the best thing to do with visitors. They are Bucharest's great charm.