Each year Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc offers travel to a wine region. Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo lead these travel tours. This year our Messina Hof Travel was on Amawaterways from Budapest to Bucharest. This was an unexplored wine region for wine and food.
Tip for Travel: If you are traveling abroad for a guided tour, try to go early before the tour and/or stay after to explore other areas. Make the most of your time there to do as much as possible. Airfare and 9 hours of flight time are investments.
This was a great trip and we wanted to share our favorite finds and some tips along the way.
Tips for all destinations:
- If you are traveling by train, book your hotel near the train station or tram stop that runs from the train station. It makes movement around the city and to other destinations much easier.
- On the first day we either take the sightseeing Hop on Hop off bus to learn more about the city or we jump on the local buses and trams to see every part of the city. This allows us to identify areas we want to explore more. We usually go to the local Tourist Information office to get maps and points of interest.
- We use the bus and metro to move around the cities. Most towns offer one and two day passes for all local modes of transportation.
Bucharest, Romania – Who knew that the parliament building there is the largest in Europe boasting 1100 rooms! It is an impressive huge building. But, the most interesting attractions were the old parliament building which is now a monastery, old town Bucharest, and the National Cathedral.
Hotel: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Calea 13 Septembrie 90, Bucuresti 050726, Romania.
This hotel was elegant and had an amazing restaurant. It was quite a long walk to Old Town. If you want to stay closer to Old Town, one of our group recommended Old Town Hilton.
Check out Caru’ cu here in Old Town.
Transylvania, Romania – Don’t miss this day tour from Bucharest. Not only do you learn a fascinating history about how a German Prince changed the direction of this area, but you see one of the most beautiful pristine originally furnished neo-renaissance you will ever see.
Pele Castle: www.peles.ro/
Another photo opportunity is the Brun Castle. It is celebrated as Dracula’s castle even though it was not.
It can be alarming to see the effect it has on those around you!
From Bucharest we flew to Belgrade. Omio Travel made the arrangements.