melonlegs

Where?!

P.S. Tried that pizza place, ordered online and never got a call back to confirm, so we went hungry last night!!

Scarlet100

Ooh, I think you're referring to me?! Hehe.

Hi all - just moved here from the UK and am living/working here for a year. Only arrived on Tuesday afternoon and am feeling a little bit lost and confused if I'm honest

Anyone have any marvellous magical tips on how to get out there and meet people, places to go, anything important I need to know about life in Bucharest blah blah?!

I haven't ventured out on the public transport system yet as my flat is a 5min walk from where I work, so my exploring has been pretty limited so far. What's the deal with buying tickets for the Metro? Someone was saying that you get a card similar to an Oyster card in the UK, that works on buses/trams/metro, and you top it up? Or is it easier to buy tickets as you go? Do you get them at stations, or at those ticket booths that I've see dotted around?

Thanks for your help!

Jess

Azarel

Hi Jess,

The transport is pretty easy really. If you are going to use public transport a lot then get an 'abonement' from RATB for the buses, trams, and trolleys. Go to any one of the main RATB kiosks with your passport and ask for a "cardul activ' for "toate liniile". You'll need to take your passport along the first time to get the card printed in your name. It costs 50 lei (about ten quid) for a month and means you can use any of the surface transport (apart from the express buses to the airport) as often and whenever you like- no faffing around with tickets.

When the month is almost up, just stop at any RATB kiosk (more or less any these days, but I suppose there are some around which don't recharge the card) and ask for another month, pay the 50 lei, and you're sorted. You don't need ID to recharge it.

You're supposed to swipe the card when you got on a bus/tram/trolley but I never bother, it's not a requirement, it's just so that you get to see when the card runs outs so that you can't use the excuse 'I didn't know it had run out' if the controllers check you.

For the metro I normally get a 10-trip card. Just go to the 'casa' in the metro station (it's normally downstairs just before the turnstyles or sometimes there's a little kiosk right next to them) and give the person there 10 lei (about 2 quid) and say 'zece' /ze-che/ and she/he'll give you a card which allows you to travel on the metro 10 times. By travel, I mean you can enter the metro system ten times. A trip is only up when you exit the metro, so you can spend all day travelling around the different lines if you like and it only counts as one trip (as long as you don't go through the turnstyle).

If you are using the metro a lot then you can get a one-month travelcard for that too. I think you can also get an all-inclusive travelcard that combines the surface transport (RATB) with the metro (METROREX) for about 75 lei.

Scarlet100

Wow that's fantastic - thank you so much I'll give that a go tomorrow!

*feeling confident*

Jess

susiecy

oooh shame the pizza didnt work, sorry melonlegs...ive started making my own pizza

i did telephone the chinese and they work on the same system as Mezze, so thats another option to try - Mezze were excellent and very tasty - too much food - salad / cheese pies etc enough for lunch next day.

Would really love a good Indian - any ideas Azarel?


another totally random question ...
weve just bought 2 bikes - any good areas to go (i dont mean where there is traffic?) parks etc

Azarel

Hi there,

Glad you liked the chinese and lebanese recommendations! Mezze has always been good when I've ordered from them.

I've had mixed experiences with Indian food here. When I first came here the Taj restaurant near the Marriott was pretty good and I used to go there quite a lot, but the last couple of times I went there the food had gone downhill a bit - it seemed like they had prepared a lot of it in advance and were just cooking it from frozen. I ordered one dish and the waiter came back and said it wasn't available. I ordered another, essentially the same ingredients except the meat was in chunks rather than minced...and they had it. Obviously they have portions made up in advance. It also tasted a lot more oily than it used to and things like samosas and bhajis tasted like cooked-from-frozen supermarket ones. Last time I went was about two years ago so maybe they've got things back on track.

They do delivery now: http://www.tajrestaurant.ro/

I ordered a takeaway from Havali once. The main food (meat in sauce and rice dishes) was good, but the extras (samosa, bhaji, nan, etc) weren't.

http://www.haveli.ro/en/

I've had food made by Karishma a few times too, and it was very good, but we were a group which included the owner of the restaurant so I can't guarantee that it's the usual standard. Worth a try though:

http://www.karishma.ro/en/restaurant.html

Some friends of mine when to the Agra Palace and said the food was good but the service wasn't:

http://www.agrapalace.ro/agra-palace/

Let us know if you try one of them - I haven't had an Indian meal for ages!

As for cycling, I think the best place is probably Herastrau Park. It's quite popular for cycling and if you can't be bothered to drag your bikes up there you can rent them for next to nothing for an hour or two. I think they only do rentals in the summer, though. Plenty of places to park in the area if you're intending to drive up their with your bikes. There's a huge lake there you can cycle around and even rent a boat and do a bit of rowing if you want to give your legs a rest

Cismigiu Park is probably too small and crowded for biking. I think Titan park is bike-friendly but I haven't been there for ages.

susiecy

anyone tried the Lidl supermarket i saw it on Saturday but havent been in yet?

yoyo84

Hi guys, I just finished reading your messages as I was curious how would a foreigner find Romania (hoping secretly that you would like it) - I must say I'm impressed!! Azarel, to be honest, your suggestion/explanations were more than accurate. Not even myself (I'm from Bucharest btw) could have been soooo specific and ...well, congrats!!
I moved to Ireland a year ago (my husband is here - we used to work for the same company but in diff locations, Dublin and Bucharest respectively; this is actually how we met) and must say I miss my country although Dublin is really nice. Anyway, long story short, just wanted to tell you guys that although I might not be as specific as Azarel, should you have any questions regarding Romania in general - places to visit, etc - just let me know. I'll more than glad to help.
p.s. In the meantime here is a nice video of Top Gear in Romania. Cheers! ;-)
http://vimeo.com/8010978

melonlegs

If for any reason anyone is still looking for fast food recommendations in Bucharest, just ordered from www.speedy-pizza.ro and it was cheap. However, it's not arrived yet, so I don't know if it's any good!

Azarel

And how was it, melonlegs? Was it speedy?

I've had a few from Rock 'n' Roll Pizza and found them tasty (according to my preferences - thin crust all the way!)

melonlegs

It was ok, not too speedy though and they put sweetcorn on it, aaaargh!
Super cheap though, 2 large pizzas were only 24 lei

I tend to order online, cos my Romanian is not good enough/ I'm not confident enough for phone orders!!

Azarel

The only pizza company I've known to do a 30-minute delivery is PHD, but to be honest I wasn't blown away by their pizza.

You should try ordering online, it'd be good practice, and anyway, the people working in the pizza places are nearly always students who probably speak English better than they average grunting pizza boy back in the UK.