2017
From Venice we flew east to Bucharest to begin our 10 day Blue Danube River Cruise, west and then north to Budapest.
Bucharest, Romania’s capital and largest city, is situated in the southeast corner of the country, just north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border. Between the two World Wars, Bucharest’s elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned it the nickname of “Little Paris”.
Buildings and districts in the historic city center were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, but above all, by Nicholae Ceausescu’s 1965-1989 implementation of communist systemization. Today, Bucharest’s 2.4 million population makes it the seventh-largest city in the European Union.
Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania, and is one of the main industrial centers and transportation hubs of eastern and Central Europe.
