Bucharest  SurroundingsTour

This half day/full day trip offers you the possibility to combine a short sightseeing tour of Bucharest with the surrounding beautiful landscape offered by Snagov Lake and forest embroidered with monasteries and palaces.

We will stop to visit Caldarusani Monastery, built by ruler Matei Basarab and later painted by Nicolae Grigorescu. Then, we are sure that you will enjoy a tasty lunch in a picturesque zone near Snagov Lake and after lunch you will have the occasion to admire the nature or, according to you wish, to cross Snagov Lake by boat (optionally, for the price of 3-5 $/hour) up to an island where you can visit the Snagov Monastery.

Later, we will rejoin our tour and pay a visit to Tiganesti Monastery, than you will follow your way to Bucharest, after you spend (hopefully!) a full pleasant day.

- Civic Center, visit of the Parliament Palace, Metropolitan Church
- University Square, Victory Square, Triumph Arch
- Visit of the Village Museum
- Tiganesti Monastery, Caldarusani Monastery
- Snagov Complex, Snagov Monastery.

Snagov Monastery

Snagov Monastery, a rustic cloister from 1364, on a small isolated island in the middle of Snagov Lake, is the reputed burial place of Vlad Tepes, also known as Dracula, who, it is claimed, lies beneath the floor of the church. It's 40 km (29 mi) north of Bucharest. Don't let yourself be taken in by the imposing forest and the nice lake surrounding the island or by the generous architecture of the monastery. The secrets are there and when the strong winds rummage the deep waters the frightful sound of ringing bells of the old sunk church (built here by Vlad the Impeller's grandfather, Mircea cel Batran) reveal them to a cautioned ear. The island and the monastery witnessed throughout the centuries lots of crimes and dramas. Vlad the Impeller built a jail with special torture chambers where the prisoners were killed by fire or iron and then thrown straight into the lake by a sort of canon. In 1476, Prince Vlad the Impala-Dracula was mysteriously killed in a battle and the legend says that he was buried in Snagov Monastery.

The archaeological digging discovered the tomb but removing the marble that was supposed to cover the Vlad's grave ,they found an empty six foot pit. Is it Vlad the Impeller-Dracula?