Tag: Romania
What I Packed – Bucharest 2018
Brought a Moth Back From Bucharest
I’ve been fascinated with moths for as long as I can remember. There’s something very mystical, dark and yet fragile over them. As a little girl, I used to just sit and watch them whenever they had ventured into our home, and I always thought of them as shy night butterflies.
When I went to Bucharest, I had so many tattoo ideas running through my mind, but for some reason, I always came back to the moth. And then I got curious!
As one does, I got on Google and searched for what the moth symbolizes, and no wonder I was so drawn to it.
There were two symbolisms that were very fitting for my personality and my journey.
Positivity
The way that moths always seek out the light in the dark is a symbol of positivity, but also a sense of naive positivity because the brighter side that they are drawn to often hurts or kill them.
Growth and Transformation
The development into a full-grown moth is easily likened to personal growth as we look to shed our hindrances and strive towards a better state of living.
☼
The more I looked into it, the more I fell in love with moths all over again. And suddenly I found myself with only one option for a tattoo that felt right.
And that’s the story of how I brought a moth home from Bucharest❤️
Thank you to Radical Ink for the beautiful souvenir!
The Beauty of Old
If there’s one thing that I will take with me back from Bucharest as the thing that really struck me about the place, it’s the random and detailed beauty of the city. So much has been broken and destroyed, or is slowly decaying, but if you look around there are beautiful details everywhere. Some are big and in plain sight, and others are more hidden.
The details are amazing. I find myself sitting down with a coffee and just let my eyes wander from building to building, trying to map out the stories and the details. Trying to picture how it looked back in the days. It’s hard to imagine, but still, there’s a certain magic in trying.
I’m pretty sure it would’ve been something to see all of this when it was first built, but then again, it has it’s own kind of beauty when it’s all mixed in with all the happenings and history of the city.
If I had the time I would’ve dedicated a full day to just walk around and take in all of the old buildings and the atmosphere that surrounds them.
Maybe next time 😉
One of My Top Traveling Tips!
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!
None Do it Justice!
Some places are so massive that one gets awestruck just by the magnitude of the place. The Palace of the Parliament is just such a place, and I feel like no matter how many pictures I took of the place, none do it justice.
It’s the largest administrative building in the world with a height of 84 meters, an area of 365,000 square meters and a volume of 2,550,000 cubic meters. The building has 1100 rooms!
Apparently, it’s the ninth most expensive building in the world with a total construction cost of 3.0 billion US dollars.
Last night we ended up at Wine and Street Food Festival at The Palace of Parliament. The food trucks were all situated outside the palace and all the wine was inside. It was quite a special experience to be able to walk around and get tipsy inside this massive building. There are so many details inside this building. From the chandeliers to the staircases. It’s nothing short of a bit insane! I can’t help but wonder if there’s anyone who’s ever been to all the rooms? And are there secret ones?
I did some research about this place and there are rumors going around that the place is actually haunted by ghosts. Who doesn’t love a good ghost story?! I definitely need to look more into this!
Fascinating! Utterly and truly fascinating!
I’m Surrounded!!
When I was searching for a place to stay in Bucharest, I decided to give Airbnb a go! I want to point out that Bucharest, in general, has so many awesome Airbnb apartments (that are extremely affordable) that I found it hard to narrow it down at first. I had a whole list saved for potential places, but when I came across the one I ended up booking, I knew that I was sold!
Close to the city center, everything I could need, the whole apartment, but the thing that really had me were the bookcases!! It’s a tiny library inside of this apartment!
I’ve filmed a lot here and I will share the whole apartment with you guys in the Bucharest vlog!
This place is truly fantastic! It’s hard to not feel at home when I’m surrounded by books!
Now for the rest of the city, I haven’t really gotten to explore it yet. I had a bit of a walk around last night, but ended up calling it a night after shopping for some groceries and a very tasty falafel! Today though, the sun is out and I’m ready to find out what Bucharest has to offer!!
Hope you all are having a wonderful day!!
Bucharest, Here I come!
Well, in about a week or so at least! But I am getting ready for it now, and have been for a little while already.
No, I haven’t started packing just yet, even though I so look forward to my next adventure that I kinda want to! But I have started researching a bit and found some information about Bucharest, and some places that I really want to visit.
When I travel solo, plans are rarely set in stone. I don’t want my adventures to be stressful in any kind of way, but taking notes on a few things that I like to visit and see is something that I always do.
The absolute best is to get recommendations from either locals or people you know who’ve traveled to the same destination. When I posted the featured picture in this post and wrote about Bucharest I got a few IMs from people I know that gave me lots and lots of fantastic recommendations! And now I’m even more excited if that’s even possible!
So I have a list of things that I might see and do, I’ve formatted all my memory cards and I’ve located a couple of vegan restaurants and cafés that I really want to try out. Will be interesting to see if they can live up to all the fantastic vegan food in Amsterdam. We’ll see!
Can’t wait to explore Bucharest and to share it with you guys! Let me know if there’s anything in particular that you want to see, or if you have any tips or recommendations for me to see/do while I’m there 💛
The Year of Adventures
I thought that 2017 was my year of traveling, but it seems like 2018 might be the year instead!
My traveling itch is growing and growing, and now I’ve already booked myself two trips within the next two months! And now that I know that there’s only three weeks left before I’m on a plane again, I get even more impatient! My passport is ready, my backpack is ready to be packed and now I just have to wait…
First trip goes to Amsterdam in March. I’m going to VidCon Europe and I’m also going to spend some quality time in the city I so frequently visited as a kid, but haven’t set foot in for about 17 years.
After that I’m headed to Bucharest! It’s always exciting to go to a place I’ve never been before. I’ve traveled to Romania before, but never Bucharest, so I’m excited to see what it has to offer.
I will be taking my camera along with me, as well as my mac, so there will be daily blogs while I’m traveling!
I’ve been doing daily posts since the beginning of January now, and I really like the flow of it. I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far as well! Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to explore while on these two holidays, or if there are any subjects you’d like to see me write about in general.
If things go the way I hope, then there will be even more traveling throughout the year of 2018, and I can’t wait to share the journey here with you all 💛
Christina de Vries 