Bohemian Bucharest: Markets & Mahallas Tour

From the heart of the city to the tastes of the country, this tour takes you on a historical, architectural, and culinary adventure through the many faces (and tastes) of Bucharest! Journey deep into the neighbourhoods of La Belle Époque Bucharest, while sampling the traditional peasant foods that define Romanian cuisine.

Highlights

• Explore the neighbourhoods and flavours of Bucharest, from the grand old centre to the cultural mahallas
• Taste traditional Romanian food, including the best local cheeses, the beloved mici street snack, and a doughnut only found in this part of the country
• Browse through the biggest and liveliest peasant market in Bucharest
• Sample local beers, and brave a shot of homemade Romanian brandy
• Hop aboard a tram and ride through the city alongside locals

Your Bucharest tour begins at the National Theatre the geographical and administrative heart of the city, and the scene of titanic street battles between miners and students immediately after the Romanian Revolution. Absorb all that sociopolitical history before taking a short walk to Strada Batistei, formerly known as the 'St Germain' of Bucharest and the site of the old American embassy, now an overgrown testament to different times. This area is famed for its 19th-century Neo Romanian architecture that defines much of the national style.  We'll then make your way to the Armenian quarter. The Armenians were a vibrant and successful merchant community in the 18th and 19th centuries, thanks to their valuable role as 'middlemen' for the Ottomans. Based around the Armenian church, their mahalla (neighborhood) features a spectacular variety of architectural styles from all over Europe and the Ottoman empire, as the wealthy merchants strove to out-do each other in taste and elegance. Classical, Belle Époque, Modernist, New-Romanian, Balkanic, eclectic — this quarter boasts all these styles, including the oldest documented house in Bucharest, which you will visit.   After, we'll experience the quintessential Bucharest public transport: a short ride on a tram. Rattling along the famous Mosilor Street, you’ll enter into Communist Bucharest, with its regimented blocks and housing projects, as you make your way to the famous Obor Market. This market is the largest and most famous of all the peasant markets in Bucharest, offering every kind of item, food, or service you could imagine, and even some that you couldn’t!   Since you’ll be on the trail of the sights, scents, and tastes of Romanian cuisine, we’ll stop just before the market for a drink of traditional Romanian tuica (brandy) to prepare the palate. But the drink almost never comes alone in a Romanian household. That's why we'll accompany it by a truly traditional "peasant platter" and we do hope that you brought your appetite with you because on it you'll find: 4 staple Romanian dips: aubergine, zacusca, whipped beans and fish roe, fresh and matured cheeses (telemea and burduf), cracklings (yum!), sausages, smoked bacon, red onions, tomatoes, toast.  And, of course a glass of local beer or wine or soft drink. Next, after such a big introduction into Romanian cuisine, we'll stretch our legs a bit and we’ll enter the indoor market proper to sample a range of Romanian cheeses: cow, sheep, and goat. After that, it’s on to the vegetable market, amid a riot of colors and textures, to taste and photograph the fresh, and more importantly seasonal,  local produce: wild strawberries and wild garlic in spring, spicy pickles in winter, juicy watermelon in summer or table grapes in the fall.  Probably the most famous and typical of Romanian foods — at least for Romanians — is called mici, which translates as 'little.'  A kind of skinless sausage, these are served with mustard and cold beer, and every Romanian has their own opinion about where and how the best ones are made. But certainly the stall in Obor Market has been known for more than 50 years as one of the temples of mici, and here you will get to try them for yourself! And finally, because your gastronomic adventure would not be complete without a dessert, you grab a sweet Wallachian doughnut, served piping hot, before sending you happily on your way home.