Bucharest is a city whose history dates back to the middle ages when Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler established it as his residence. (More on Vlad later.) Over the years it has been destroyed by natural disasters and rebuilt several times and was hit by Caragea's plague in 1813-14. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu razed many of the historic parts of the city and replaced areas with Socialist realist development. Although Ceausescu and his wife were executed outside the city in 1991, they are buried at Ghencea Cemetery in Bucharest.
Although communism was tossed in the Romanian Revolution of 1989, supporters have on occassion come to Bucharest to stand their ground. In 1990, tens of thousands of miners came to the city to violently counter anti-community demonstrations.
Bucharest is called the Paris of the East. Unfortunately, we will land and immediately hit the road out of town, spending our first night in the mountain resort of Sinaia.
