Tag Archives: City

It Begins – again! Arrival in Bucharest

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Thursday 18 September 2025 – After what seemed like, oh, only ten days or so, here we are travelling again. Oh, wait – it is only ten days. We’ll have to try to get a better handle on our plans to give us just a little more time between trips. Anyway: travelling, so the alarm went off again at some obscure hour (actually 0500, to be precise). A remarkably smooth and well-choreographed set of movements around the house saw us up, packed, breakfasted and ready to go just as the taxi arrived to take us to Heathrow.

Our flight was uneventful, but a bit cramped for me; BA is obviously squeezing its customers as well as its margins, and we touched down in Bucharest only slightly earlier than our transfer driver had evidently expected. But we linked up eventually and had a somewhat traffic-laden journey to our accommodation while in the city, passing one of the reasons that Bucharest has the nickname “Little Paris”.

Our hotel is the Hotel Minerva, which is just this hotel, really; but it has air con (needed, because it’s nice and warm and sunny at the moment in Bucharest), a kettle and a fridge. Our room had clearly been set up for single occupancy, but the chap on the front desk, Vlad (yes, really), promised to arrange extra towels and pillows for us.

It was getting on for 4pm by that stage and we were somewhat peckish, and Vlad The Receptionist suggested the names of a couple of restaurants in the old town that we could investigate. So we went for a walk. Obviously.

Actually, we didn’t. The old town is a half-hour walk from the hotel and we were hungry, so we decided to take the metro, the nearest station of which was only 5 minutes walk away. It took us past a couple of buildings which give a clue to what I suspect is the often tumultuous history of the country: a fine (if slightly dilapidated) house which would not be out of place in central Paris;

and one which screamed “communist era brutalism”.

We’re due a walking tour of the old town tomorrow so doubtless will learn a great deal more; I might even remember some of it with which to regale you. It being a capital city, there are a few down-and-outs on the street, some just plain begging and some having an entrepreneurial spirit.

We got to the station, where we discovered that one could buy a mag stripe card good for 10 journeys for 40 lei (about £7), which we decided would suit our purposes for today and subsequent visits, and descended into the bowels of the metro.

It became swiftly apparent that it was rush hour. People were streaming in great numbers, observing a “keep right” rule which is occasionally written on the walls, and means that great numbers can make their way smoothly in opposing directionds, but which makes life complicated when you find yourself, as we did, on the wrong side of a stream. We forced our way through by being very British and apologising for any injuries we caused en route, and got on a southbound train, which was like rush hour metro trains in every major city.

We emerged into nice warm sunshine at the central station called Unirii. Heading towards our restaurant, we passed more of what looked very much like communist-era apartments

and also some much older and more charming buildings.

On the right is St. Anthony Church,

which is a Romanian Orthodox church and, it transpires, the oldest religious building in Bucharest. We popped in and admired its striking interior.

There was a steady stream of people paying their respects at the altar.

They all had a particular ritual they observed in bowing and crossing themselves in a specific order. Around the side and back is a place for people to light candles and pray

THANK YOU TO THE GOOD GOD AND ST. ANTONIE THE GREAT FOR YOUR HELP AND FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR PRAYERS

It was very interesting for our short visit and doubtless we’ll come back on tomorrow’s tour to learn more about what is a very beautiful building; but for now we were peckish and so headed to one of Vlad’s recommended restaurants Hanul Manuc (which means, we’re told, “Manuc’s Inn”.

Through the arch is a splendid courtyard

On the edge of the courtyard are a bar and a kitchen, which was cooking up a storm.

Our waiter, Marius, introduced us to the local Apricot Palinka, a very tasty liqueur, and we indulged ourselves in some Romanian cuisine (well, the menu said it was, and who are we to argue?): stuffed cabbage leaves for Jane and “Mici” – skinless sausages – for me. It was delicous and the dougnuts with cream and blueberry jam we had for dessert were simply gluttony. There were beggars here, as well.

Heading back to the hotel (via a supermarket to get milk for our tea), we passed this sign:

Who knew that Bucharest was the first city to be illuminated by kerosene lamps? Not us, that’s for sure.

I took a few more photos in the metro on the way back – the stations are quite imposing, in a largely brutalist kind of way.

We have the whole day in which to explore Bucharest tomorrow, including a guided walking tour in the morning. Before we head up to the north of the country for the main objective of our time in Romania, I’m quite looking forward to getting to know this city a little better.

Another Lucca round

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Sunday 11 May 2025 – Our last day of “freedom” before the serious walking starts, and the local variant of Mother’s Day here, which meant we (the two ladies, that is… some assumptions being made here!) benefited from some extra chocolate at breakfast.

The breakfast available was, otherwise, rather woeful; particularly absent was any hint of fresh fruit. Still, we fuelled up on what we could find and made our way out into a delightfully sunny day.

We had some formal objectives for our wandering – a couple of towers, a couple of churches and, particularly, a lunch in the Piazza del Amfiteatro which we hoped would be a Nice one.

Selecting our activities based on when the light might be best for photography, we started with the Torre Guignigi, which is unique in having holm oak trees growing out of the top of it.

It is one of only two medieval towers surviving in Lucca where once there were more than one hundred.

There are over 200 steps to the top, but despite this it is a popular tourist site

and it offers some fine views over the city.

We felt we’d earned a coffee break before we walked along to our next place of interest. This was the Church of San Michele in Foro, which boasts a very impressive facade

but which is a little unusual in that it’s clearly more a place for meditation and prayer than a place to listen to the word of God – there are no pews, and the space is entirely open.

By this stage, we knew that the cathedral would be open for visitors, and so headed that way, passing, as we did, the 12th century church of of San Giusto, which, like several churches in these parts, has a very striking facade.

The cathedral, the Church of St. Martin, is, as one would expect, an imposing building, again with a wonderful facade (the picture below was taken later in the day when the sun illuminated it better).

Inside is the sort of space one would expect in a significant cathedral

lavishly embellished

with some impressive marble work

and some lovely stained glass

some of which was throwing wonderful colours from the sunshine.

There’s a sort of “temple within a temple”

which, under normal circumstances, would house the Volto Santo, the “Holy Face of Lucca”, an 8-foot tall carving of Christ on the Cross

 

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

but at the moment contains just scaffolding, as the figure has been removed for restoration work, and can be seen displayed in a workshop setting in the church.

Inside the cathedral is a statue of the eponymous “St. Martin and the Beggar”

showing the saint using his sword to cut his cloak in two in order to give half to the beggar. This is the original and there’s a copy now on the facade of the cathedral,

looking, it has to be said, in need of the ministrations of someone with a power washer and a long ladder.

With over an hour left until our lunch appointment, there was clearly time for those of us with courage, fortitude and good quads to climb the other tower of note in Lucca, the Torre del Ore, the suitably-named Tower of the Clock.

It turned out that I was the only one of the three of us prepared to make the journey, and it turned out to be rather a lovely experience; in striking contrast to the Torre Guignigi, I was the only person in the tower, apart from the gatekeeper, who charged me €8 to climb the steps. At the top I had the entire platform all to myself

and could enjoy the lovely views over the city

including a great view of the Torre Guignigi.

Whilst I was climbing the tower, Jane and Caroline relaxed at the near(ish)by Gorilla Craft Beer and Cafe, where I eventually joined them so that we could sample some Italian gins as an agreeable prelude to lunch. That was taken back in the Piazza del Amfiteatro, at a very good restaurant called Sotto Sotto. We were well looked after by Eugene and eventually tottered back to our hotel so that we could get some rest and prepare for the forthcoming rigours.

Tomorrow is Day 1 of The Walk; we will walk to Rome, and Caroline will join us for the first week, as far as Siena. The significant datum is that we have nearly 30km to cover tomorrow, after a short  train journey to where we will start, in Altopascio. We’re all feeling a little bit daunted by the thought of the distance we have to cover, and you’ll have to keep in touch with these pages to see how we get on, won’t you?

 

Camino Rest Day 2 – Burgos. Blimey!

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Thursday 31 August 2023 – We’ve had a day to decompress after the long walk yesterday and so despite yesterday’s exertions we went for a walk. Obviously.

Jane had mapped out a few Things To See and so after a very ordinary hotel breakfast (after probably the least comfortable bed of our time on this particular junket) we headed out into the streets of Burgos, which is a very handsome city.

The first stop was the cathedral, Santa Maria, which is brain-bogglingly big, and inside so extraordinarily sumptuous that I actually felt a bit offended on behalf of all of the people to whose benefit the money involved in creating this edifice did not go. But it may be that my jaundiced view was as a result of a poor night’s sleep.

Catholic cathedrals are intended, designed, to inspire awe. I found that the completely over-the-top Sagrada Familia in Barcelona did inspire that in me to some extent. Santa Maria, not. But it was still interesting to look round – and the infrastructure to guide tourists (signage, app for audio guide, etc) is very well designed and implemented.

The thing has over 12 chapels, for God’s sake! (see what I did there?), amazing stone working and other fascinating aspects.  Rather than bore you with the many, many photographs I took, I have put some of them in a Flickr album; click the image below if you would like to look through them.

Santa Maria Cathedral, Burgos

Here are a couple of photos to give you a taster.

Wandering around outside gives a few views of the place and surrounding items of interest.

The Santa Maria Cathedral is on Santa Maria Plaza, and access to that is through Santa Maria Gate.  Looking at it from the square, you see something substantial.

Walk through it and look back, though…

From there, one can walk along the Paseo, a pleasantly shaded green space

with a bandstand

and lots of statuary,

including that of four kings, who can also be seen on a bridge at the far end of the Paseo.

For the record, these are (in alphabetical order) Alfonsos VIII (1155-1214)  and X (1221-1284), Fernando III (1199-1252) and Enrique II (1334-1379). Just so you know for the quiz later.

There’s another significant figure enstatuated round the corner – El Cid, the honorific for Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, a Castilian knight and warlord in 11th-century Spain.

There’s a huge amount to see wandering around Burgos, as befits somewhere that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Castile. Much statuary both modern and ancient

varied street art,

imposing gateways and churches,

St. Stephen’s Gate

St. Stephen’s Church

a tourist train,

and ancient city walls.

There is also a castle; we tried to get in, but it was closed. That exercised me sufficiently that I walked the 200 steps back down to the hotel to get my drone to walk back up the 200 steps to take a photo of it,

so you can now understand why it was closed. On the way, though, one passes a fantastic viewpoint over the city.

which I think is the best way to leave it – too much to see to do a splendid city justice.

We’re back to the walking thing tomorrow – 21km to Hornillos del Camino, on the first trek across the second third of the Camino – the Meseta.  The forecast is for a chilly start but a warm finish and it will be interesting to see the how different the landscape is.  To find out, check back in at some stage, won’t you?