I think one of my best tips when it comes to traveling and learning more about the city that you’re traveling to, is to search for free walking tours. Most big cities have them, and they’re a great way to get to know your way around the city, get a feel of the things you’d like to explore further and to learn the history of the place.
Yesterday, we went on a free walking tour here in Bucharest with Walkabout Free Tours and it was so good! Our tour guide Monica was so engaged and informative. We got to learn a lot about Romania and it’s history. From Vlad the Impaler, how the story Dracula really came to be, to Nicolae Ceaușescu and the revolution in 1989.
So much has happened in this city, and the amount of destruction and pain that’s been caused before the revolution is hard to even try to imagine.
Just the fact that the destruction of the city center that happened so that Ceaușescu could build his vision was on the same scale as Hiroshima, is hard to wrap one’s mind around.
Walking through the city with a local, we got to spark conversations with other travelers, and we got some great recommendations for other places to visit as well.
Being a tourist doesn’t have to be expensive. There are lots of great affordable options for exploring around the world, and I always encourage people to look for tours like this.
Now, they, of course, have some deals with restaurants, cafés and so on, so they will recommend these throughout the tour, and might even stop at some places for coffee breaks and such. You are not obliged to use your money there, but take note of the places and consider going back to them.
We went back to one of the restaurants that was recommended and it was definitely worth it! And we got a discount card that made the meal even more affordable. Win-win-win!
So get on out there, walk around and learn some new things!
Christina de Vries 