Ioana

In case Bucharest is on your bucket list of places to discover, we need to introduce our local guide Ioana to you all. Ioana, a native to Bucharest, is one of the newer additions to our team and a great one at that. she quickly found her passion: street art. She promotes it, talks about it, attends all the cool events and meets all the cool artists. Therefor, if you are looking to see and understand the cool and hip side of our city, Ioana is the ultimate guide for this adventure.

What is like to be a native Bucharestian?

I was born and raised in Bucharest. I lived in this city all my life. How it is to be a native Bucharestian? Well….it’s natural :))) I mean for me it’s home 😀

How did you end up becoming a tour guide?

By allowing myself to try and see what this really meant. I never thought before that I would become one :)) I’ve participated in a lot of tours, as a tourist, I loved the experience and when I had the opportunity to start doing cultural tours myself, I said why not. And it was enough to do that once to realise that this was what I wanted to do from then on.

What about Bucharest makes you proud?

All the opportunities we have here. If you want to study a certain subject you have a faculty for that (in most of the cases), if you want to be a volunteer for a cause there are plenty of choices from which you can choose, if you want to watch a movie, to enjoy a concert or to see an art exhibition, there are a lot of opportunities as well. Or, if you want to book a cultural tour, again a full range of options :)).

Do you have any favorite local traditions?

The Christmas tradition of making ‘’cozonac’’ – a traditional cake with cocoa and nuts cream, flavoured with a lot of spices. All the house smells like orange and cinnamon. What else can be better? Maybe the smell of clove coming from a hot, steamy cup of mulled wine 😀

What’s one thing people need to know about Bucharest before they visit?

That it is the capital of Romania, not Hungary 😉

What’s your favourite neighbourhood in Bucharest?

Hard to pick one…. Let’s say Carol park and its surroundings, an area that brings back childhood memories.

What’s your favourite spot in Bucharest?

Academy’s Hill with all the tea houses hidden in the nearby.

What’s your favourite thing to eat and drink in Bucharest?

Favourite thing to eat…… papanasi, a traditional Romanian dessert. Favourite thing to drink in Bucharest? Definitely a café latte, made by some of the best baristas in town.