It was a hectic week with long hours and many miles travelled, but Bucharest was well worth travelling to.

Strolling down tree-shaded side streets, the air redolent with honeysuckle. Passing ageing villas with crumbling walls, steeped in character. Occasionally a concrete block juts out of the city scape, testament to the years of Communism. This is an incredibly interesting city with a storied past, which has notes of Budapest and towns in southern Italy. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t what I experienced.

The Food

I didn’t expect there to be quite so much choice in Bucharest, which in hindsight was rather naive given its status as a major European capital. Traditional Romanian food was available, but so was Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese, and even Korean. I was surpised at the sheer number of sushi restaurants around the area I was staying in.

The food quality was variable, although the most disappointing was at Caru’ cu bere, a traditional restaurant in the city centre. It was relatively expensive (not outrageous given the average price was much lower that other European capitals) and the meat was incredibly average. It did redeem itself somewhat with the dessert offering: papanasi (pronounced papa-nash). Papanasi is a kind of donut made with soft cheese, and served with jam and sour cream.

There was plenty of nightlife too, particularly in the Old Town area which was densely packed with bars, cafés, and restaurants. I had a few drinks at Encore Club which is a rock bar which offers rock-bottom prices (pun intended) and good company. The guys there were really friendly and everything is half price between 5 and 7 pm. A touch over five pounds bought me two beers and a whiskey sour. It wouldn’t even get you a pint in most of London. For a classier experience head up to Nomad Skybar, a cocktail bar and lounge with several rooftop areas (and a disturbing giraffe that appears to shift from photo to photo…)

It was expensive for Bucharest (around £8-9 per drink at the higher end) which is comparable to average prices in the UK for a nice place (the Plymouth gin bar charges £9.50), but it was an outstanding setting and excellent place to chill out. In an area otherwise dominated by restaurants with hawkers out front, it’s a welcome island of calm.

The weather was somewhat oppressive, reaching up to 27 degrees Celcius and humid. I managed to talk myself into getting a Panama hat which helped with the sun. Overall I had a great time although I was up at 3 am for the journey home and made it back to Plymouth at 10 am UK time which was, in a word, long.

Workshop Modifications

As part of the new heat pump installation, the hot water cylinder and buffer tank are going to be sited in the workshop. There was a bit of a gap next to the cupboards but not enough to fit all of the gear. The recommendation was to remove one cupboard which meant sawing a unit in half.

I still need to strengthen the new end of the cupboard but the workshop is almost ready. I’ve had to lift some of the paving slabs outside for the site of the pump as the installation team are planning to put a gravel soakaway underneath it to deal with condensation. With any luck the old kit will be collected by British Gas next week, and we’ll have a date for installation by Octopus within the next two months. The journey that has become an epic tale is nearing its end.

Right, back to Tears of the Kingdom!