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Thursday, September 25. After a very nice breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the blue group bus at
8:30 for a city tour of Bucharest. We drove by the Romanian Academy. Like many of the government
buildings we would pass, it was surrounded by large open areas that obviously had not been taken care
of for years. They were covered with tall weeds, wild trees, and ragged patches of uncut grass. Many of
the largest buildings we saw were unoccupied, either because they had never been completed or they had
been abandoned.
The bus continued to Constitution Square where we stopped directly across
the street from the front of the Parliament Building to take pictures.
We then continued west to Unification Square with its many fountains. There was a good view from there up the Boulevard to the Parliament Building, and the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch's church (Mitropolia) and palace were just off the Square.
We drove south through University Square and by the National Theater. We passed through Roman Square, with a statue of the she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus. We turned south at Victory Square and went by the Air Heroes' Memorial (1935).
Turning back toward town, we passed the Arch of Triumph, Media Square, the Enescu Music Museum, and finally stopped at Revolution Square where we saw the former Royal Palace (last reconstructed in the 1930s), now the National Art Museum. It was on a balcony of this building that Ceaucescu was making a speech when the revolution that overthrew him in December 1989 began.
Further down the Square was the oddest building. Several stories of modern glass and steel were being added atop what looked like a 19th century church. Our guide said the building was to house an architects' group. Back on the bus, we drove back through University Square, past the old Cretulescu Church, and into the very oldest part of the city, where the first major settlement began. We parked near the Dambovita River and walked a short distance to the Manuc Inn (1808), Budapest's oldest inn. It was described to us as a caravanserai (an inn where caravans rested overnight, with a central courtyard for the animals and wagons). And in fact, it bore a strong resemblance to the caravanserai we'd seen in Kusadasi, Turkey.
We continued down another street to some glass shops, but none of our group seemed very interested in shopping. Then we were led back to the Old Court Church (1559), Bucharest's oldest church, across the street from the Manuc Inn.
Boarding the bus, we rode along a scenic stretch of the Dambovita River, past the Palace of Justice (court house) and the Opera House, and returned to the Marriott for a rest stop before driving to the M/S River Adagio, waiting for us at Oltenita.
Although our brochures indicated that Oltenita was "about 30 miles away from Budapest," it was a two-hour drive on secondary roads that we shared with many, many horse-drawn wagons (including covered Gypsy wagons) and an occasional herd of goats. It was interesting, though. It was our first look at the rural countryside. We passed through a lot of small villages, but I wouldn't use the word "picturesque" to describe them. It was obvious that Romania is a poor country. We'd seen a lot of trash along the streets in the city, and it was much the same way far out in the rural areas. The land was very flat, too.
The Captain's dinner was at 6:30 and we went to bed about 9:00. We had a very early start in the morning.
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