Bucharest

About

First mentioned in 1459, Bucharest gained notoriety as the home of Vlad the Impaler. In the following centuries, the city experienced periods of both development and decline, which has left it with a distinctive blends of gorgeous historic buildings and not-so-gorgeous Communist-era constructions. Most notable is the Palace of Parliament, a Communist dictator’s megalomanic monument, and the world’s second largest administrative building after the Pentagon. With a volume of 2,550,000 cubic metres, and weighing in at 4,098,500,000 kilograms, it’s also the world’s heaviest building, and the most expensive, using the same amount of power as a small city even though 70% of the building is empty. In the Old Town, you can admire the beautiful Art Nouveau buildings that had earned Bucharest the nickname ‘The Paris of the East’, 17th- and 18th-century Orthodox churches, and even the remains of Vlad the Impaler’s 15th century citadel.