4-May-25 Bucharest, Romania

Dear reader, me old mucker kindly reminded me that he was missing my blogs and so having been given a nudge…expect a flurry.

Train to Bucharest doesn’t depart until 1230hrs so a leisurely brew for breakfast in that well known Romanian coffee shop. Starbucks. Nice location in main square so a prime spot for people watching.

Stalinist station architecture. And a train that probably ran in Stalin’s era too. Am in First Class. Now. As we all know. There’s First Class and there’s First Class. First Class Germany on the ICE trains is proper First Class (when the trains run obviously). First Class Romania is…well…how shall I put this…not very. Although seats are in a 2+1 configuration to give the impression of First Class the seats are opposite each other. Quite close together in actual fact. So no knee room. Little old lady sits opposite me. She has already claimed that all important leg room for herself. And stretched her little Nora Batty legs under my seat. Being the perfect gentleman, I splay my legs out in the aisle so as not to impose on her space (what little there is of it). Sod that. Find a four berth bay with no one else in it and stretch out. Which is fine until a load of people get on at the next stop an hour later. So have to return to original seat and sit skewiff for the remainder of the journey.

First part of the rail journey is twisty as it follows the river valley through the Transylvanian Mountains and very scenic. Before opening out to a flat plain to Bucharest. Train terminates Bucharest and as passengers disembark one side of the train, passengers start embarking from the other side. Slightly chaotic. Usual scenes. Small people with bags bigger than them. And far too much luggage.

Usual negotiations for a taxi. 70. 50. 60. 50. We agree on 50.

Plenty of graffiti enroute. Check into the Hilton Garden Inn (https://www.hilton.com/en-gb/hotels/buhgigi-hilton-garden-inn-bucharest-old-town/) in the Old Town.

In need of a curry. Namaste Indian for dinner. Uber to restaurant costs RON22. But it’s a cash transaction not the usual Uber charge to a credit card.

Order food. The only Indian which, for some inexplicable reason, doesn’t serve poppadoms and chutney to kick things off. So. Order some bhajis as a starter. Still eating the bhajis when the main course is plonked on table. Garlic bread (yes, garlic bread, not garlic naan) and a biryani. That’s not what I’ve ordered. He realises he’s cocked up the order as I’d ordered lamb hiryali. Which rhymes with biryani.

Second beer and main course excellent.

Time to go and ask for bill. And pay by card.

But.

Card won’t work. After many attempts at a contactless transaction failing.

Assume it’s because it needs a chip & PIN transaction for fraud prevention.

But.

Their card reader doesn’t have a slot for cards. Only a contactless reader.

Try my secondary credit card. Again. And again

Same thing.

Try my business credit card. Again. And again.

Nothing’s working.

No cards work.

They have a second card reader at the till.

Repeat process again. With all three cards.

Knowing that all three cards have more than enough credit for a curry. Clearly a wifi/card reader issue. Not a card issue.

Now here’s the thing. Don’t have that much cash as not had time to go to a bank today.

But offer to pay cash.

Bill is RON168 (~£27).

Have RON180 (~£30) on me. But tell him I need RON30 for taxi back.

Surprisingly accepts RON150 (~£24). He’s already missed the second beer off the bill which I assume was because he cocked up the order.

So do rather well out of this little deal.

Cashless now. Hotel ATM thankfully spews out cash for the next few days using credit card.

And obviously have to ensure card can be used for contactless transactions.

Beer from bar proves it works.