bucharest - Obscure Journey

Dragobete - Romanian Valentine's Day

Publié le 22 Février 2015 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #bucharest, #couples day, #life experience, #love, #lovers day, #romanian tradition, #traditions, #valentines day

Everyone is searching for love. We all need more love in our lives. Love is celebrated in many different ways around the world, however one day in particular stands out: lover's day.

This day may or may not be celebrated everywhere. Lover's day may not be observed on the same day all over the world. For instance, USA has the famous Valentine's Day on February 14th. Similarly South Korea recently marked November 11th as Pepero Day, when people gift Pepero snacks to their loved ones as a symbol of affection. Japan has transformed Christmas into a holiday dedicated to couples.

pic by unica.md [found on instagram]

Romanians also have a holiday dedicated to love and couples. This is the Dragobete on February 24th. I will not copy and paste anything in my post, you can read the short Wikipage about it.

pic by @floorscastle on instagram

The article says that we should go collect snowdrops flowers and to give them to the person we love. Luckily, these days, if we want to do this, all we have to do is to buy them from people selling them on the streets. Walking through Downtown Bucharest is very easy to see old ladies selling snowdrops planted in tiny baskets.

What I would like to point out is the fact that this is a very old tradition, of about 2000 years. This aspect makes me think that humanity was always in search for true and long lasting romantic love. This thought of mine is reinforced by the many legends from various nations involving lovers who have to pass through some tests to prove their love.

What are your thoughts on love? should we all have a single day in which to show and reinforce our feelings for a special someone, or is it better to have different days spread throughout the year for more love in the year?

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Using the public transportation in Bucharest

Publié le 10 Septembre 2013 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #advice, #bucharest, #buses, #commuting, #public transportation, #subway, #tram

Bucharest has a very good public transportation system. This allows you to reach any area you're curious about with ease.

There are many more bus routes than there are for trolleybuses, trams, and the metro. Buses usually leave you right next to your destination or within walking distance.

So the easiest way of reaching Downtown is by public transportation and while I read that some countries have some bus routes free of charge, this is not the case in Bucharest. In fact ticket inspectors come to check your ticket quite often. The fare for one way, is 1.3 lei for the above the ground routes, no matter how far you go... I guess this is about some US .50 cents? If you're caught without a ticket, you must pay 50 lei (about 11USD).

most commonly seen tram

Speaking of tickets, we don't use those anymore. Instead we have some cards that can be loaded with either trips, monthly passes, a combination of the two, or a certain amount of money (not more than 15 lei). They're the size of a regular bank card. To recharge, you need to find an open "ticket" booth - all of them accept cash in lei. Only some of them accept credit or debit cards. Below is a closed bus ticket booth near my [uptown] place - it used to close at 2PM and it's not opened on weekends.

Using the public transportation in Bucharest

Let's be clear, a charged card doesn't mean you paid your fare for the trip, unless you have a monthly pass. You're supposed to pay for your fare as soon you get on the [trolley]bus or tram. All the public transportation vehicles have some orange machines like the one below and all you have to do is put the card as close as possible to its front and dark circle. A green light and a BEEP will tell you you've been successful. A really loud and long BEEP with a red light will tell you an error occurred and you have to try again. Multiple charges are not possible by default, but you can pay the fare for others that are with you. This is done by pressing the button labeled 2 for as many times as possible.

from instagram: 2nd pic by @eduardintaiul [that's not the bus card]. 3rd pic by @nr137. 4th pic by @dracon1312.

from instagram: 2nd pic by @eduardintaiul [that's not the bus card]. 3rd pic by @nr137. 4th pic by @dracon1312.

As you can see, there is a screen too where various messages are displayed in Romanian. If you were successful in paying for your trip, you should be shown how much money is left on the card - sometimes the message is too fast. Sometimes, error messages are shown, like in the 3rd picture above and this usually means you can't even attempt to pay for your trip.

It seems RATB [the company operating the public transportation above the ground] likes to repair their machines with tape. They still work though.

We used to have this type of tickets. pic by @alexandrapoate on instagram.

If you go out late in the evening, you might risk not having a ride back. However, we have a few night buses go all over the city every 30 minutes, but not between 1 and 3am. The fare to ride them is the same as for the day routes. Make sure you get in the correct bus: the N123 bus for instance will not go to the same place as the daytime123 bus!

creepy old tram seen at night. used for maintenance.

Very old tram by @transportcivilizatro on instagram

This article was edited on Feb 16th, 2018, but originally posted on September 10th, 2013.

Re-edited on April 2nd, 2026.

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