Reading about the origins of Bucharest's "Old Town" put me off slightly: "In the past, Bucharest didn't really have one central place where people would go out or meet with their friends. So a couple of years ago the City Council decided that the city needed such a place. They designated a couple of streets for this area, laid cobblestones, and forbade most traffic. And so now Bucharest has an Old Town. The locals were joking that it must be the newest Old Town in the world..."

Don't be deterred, however. This is not some schmaltzy faux-old area. It's all genuinely old, and has just been repurposed:






Bucharest also has some fine parks:




Today we went to King Michael I Park, a very extensive area of green on the northern side of town.

To get there, we took a picturesque route:





Along the way, we also came across this:


It is a tribute to Romanian philosopher and writer Mihai Sora, who died just a week ago, 25 February, at the age of 106. Always at the forefront of political protest, Sora in 2018 wrote "an ironical 'activity report for the shadow state', where he outlines meeting a seven-year-old boy and his grandmother at the giraffe statue in front of the Antipa Museum, a well-known meeting place for the protesters gathering in the capital’s Victoriei Square. He explained that his 'citizen’s consciousness' drives him to show up at protests."

At the top of Kiseleff Avenue, you can find the Arcul de Triumf:


Today was the first time we've had blue sky and sunshine since we arrived in Bucharest. The weeping willows have come out in leaf, and everything was starting to look a little spring-like:




And then home, via some very nice Panamanian coffee, and another interesting set of thoroughfares:



So, tomorrow we move on again. I feel we've short-changed Bucharest, with just three full days. But we do have a destination in mind for this trip, so we can't linger too long anywhere en route.

We've enjoyed staying in this little flat. One of the fun things about this type of trip is that you experience lots of different apartment layouts and building quirks. As in Sofia, we have a useful lobby, but this time it is actually bigger than the kitchen... And something about the configuration of the flat means that nothing is quite square (not a problem; perpendicularity is over-rated).

Other features:




What will we encounter tomorrow in Brasov? Whatever it is, it will only be for one night. This is our shortest stay anywhere.

Brasov, by the way, is in the Carpathians. (I've only just discovered what the Carpathians are, and like saying "Carpathians". So expect to hear LOTS more of them...)