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Bucharest (Buchuresti), located between Transylvania’s Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea, in southeastern Romania, is an often misunderstood city. Its lovely neoclassical buildings and wide tree-lined boulevards inspired the nickname ‘Paris of the Balkans’ a century ago, but many gems are obscured by post-Stalinist, North Korean-style grey housing blocks built, intentionally, to hide finer architectural moments. To spot Byzantine-style chapels and bell-towered mansions visitors have to work a little. Impressions depend on how deep a sightseer goes.

On the side streets of the historic center are bars, eateries (French, Italian, Transylvanian), antique shops, a 15th-century court attributed to Vlad Dracul, and Piata Revolutiei, the heart of the 1989 protests that ended communism here in a sudden, bloody swoop (culminating with the execution of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife).

In the ritzy north (reached easily by metro) is a local favorite, the sprawling Herastrau Park, with boat rides and an open-air Village Museum displaying traditional homes. Locals are equally fond of classical music (particularly works by Bucharest’s own George Enescu), which is played often at the 19th-century Romanian Athenaeum.

Romania joined the EU in January 2007, and the sense of a new dynamism all over town is evident in construction projects (though sadly nothing in terms of a tourist office as of yet). Bucharest enjoys a temperate climate, but mid-summer is not a good time to visit, as temperatures soar, air conditioning is rare and many of the locals leave for the coast.

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