Bucharest rising

The Frugal Traveler is enjoying his stay in Bucharest, Romania.

Matt Gross, a travel writer for the New York Times, has reappeared online. After a long train ride from Istanbul, he's exploring the burgeoning art scene in the Romanian capital. The city has undergone a gradual transformation since the days of Nicolae Ceausescu's authoritarian government. Now Bucharest is sprouting terraces and sidewalk cafes.

Gross's limited-budget "Grand Tour of Europe" continues to attract lots of web visitors.

You can see this week's video here, or read the blog on the newspaper's web site. If you'd like to learn more about Romania's largest city, try the national tourist office site.

Last week, the Frugal Traveler hitchhiked around Cyprus. Gross heads to Lithuania next.

For a related post on this blog, see "Rome and Malta."

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Thanks to Roxana Barbulescu for her photo of the Bucharest Athenaeum. She made it available on http://www.sxc.hu/