The Bucharest metro system

I wrote about our trip to Bucharest and got questions about the metro system there.

This is a very convenient system.

Finding the right train is easily accomplished through the big maps on the walls of the stations.

You can get individual tickets or tickets for a certain period. The metro is relatively cheap. The tariffs are here. You can buy a ticket at ticket vending machines at all stations. The machines are straightforward to use, have an English interface, and accept many cards and contactless options such as Apple Pay.

We bought a week’s ticket for 30 RON (6 euros) per person.

The ticket is a thick paper card with a magnetic strip. You use the card to enter through the gates. YOu slide the strip in, wait a few seconds for the validation, and the machine spits out the card again and opens the gate.

When you arrive at your destination, you can pass through the gates without presenting your ticket. The gates open automatically.

PS. In an earlier post, I mentioned that Bolt provides a fine taxi service in Bucharest.

Last days in Bucharest

(Last Friday)

The Muzeul National al Taranului Roman (National Museum of the Romanian Peasant) is being renovated. Not many of the interesting exhibits to which the Michelin Guide devotes three pages are now on view. The renovation leads to an amusing search of the halls through the cafe-restaurant on the terrace with its old wooden church. A golden McDonald’s arch stands in the courtyard to a set of stone tombstones. In a small room displaying religious drawings, the attendant keeps accurate records of visitor numbers.

We take the subway to Polytechnika station, where fossils can be studied in the marble of the subway station.

We walk on to the AFI Cotroceni mall. All the malls in the world of this type look alike, whether you are in NYC, KL, or Bucharest. In the food court, we find a Lebanese restaurant among the KFC-like restaurants, where we eat labneh, sambusek, falafel, sarmalute, and some flatbread. Not very Romanian, but fine.

We walk back past the botanical garden where a light show, Belle and the Beast, is built up, so we can’t go in. We walk back through the Cotroceni district, a nice neighborhood with old houses of the more luxurious category. At the edge of the district is the Saint Eleutherius Church; we take a look.

In the evening, to restaurant Manuc’s Inn, Hunul lui Manuc, traditional and with dances (review mode:) which was nice but also very touristy; so what, why should I be ashamed of that?

The next day with Bolt (an Uber-like app) a cab for 45 lei but the airport. That’s 9 euros for a half-hour ride. How can a person earn anything from that? (Lei is the plural of leu, I just read)