The communist megapalace and the Belle Époque courtyard — Bucharest contains both, plus Eastern Europe's finest nightlife and surprisingly excellent wine
Bucharest operates on a scale that startles first-time visitors — the Palace of the Parliament (the world's second-largest administrative building, built by Nicolae Ceaușescu at the cost of entire historic neighbourhoods) faces off against a city of ornate Belle Époque buildings, flower-filled courtyards, and an art and food scene that has quietly become one of the most interesting in the region. Romanian cuisine is deeply underrated: sarmale (cabbage rolls with pork and rice), mămăligă (polenta), ciorba de burtă (tripe soup), and cozonac (sweet walnut bread) are the classics, backed by excel…
Founded as a trading settlement on the Dâmbovița River, Bucharest became the capital of Wallachia in 1659 and the capital of unified Romania in 1862. The city earned the nickname 'Little Paris' for its early-20th-century Beaux-Arts architecture and cosmopolitan culture. Ceaușescu's 1977 earthquake reconstruction program (using an actual earthquake as pretext) demolished a quarter of the historic city centre to build the Palace of the Parliament and the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism — the trauma of which still shapes how the city understands itself.