Romania is the only country in the former Iron Curtain where people paid with their lives in a bloody Revolution in 1989 for freedom and democracy. This virtual tour will take us through all of the major aspects regarding life under communist rule in Romania from August 1944 to December 1989. Of course, trying to gather the story of over 40 years of communism within the tour is a challenge but we are ready to offer you the most interesting facts about the Communist era.

Your guide will share real life experiences, while walking around the House of People building (the second largest in the world) and by the People's Salvation Cathedral.

Bucharest

A really insightful and interesting tour into the history of your country. It was great to see the buildings of the past and understand how you are moving forward to the future. Thank you 😊 

Very eye opening, I really don’t know much about the history, Mihal is amazing in sharing this history with us. I want to learn more. Thanks again for the great tour.

Good speaker and informative of the dictatorship years. Would have liked to know more about life today. 

a great insight into a dark period of Romania's recent history...Thanks Mihai

Interesting tour with a knowledgable guide.  Highly recommended.

An excellent tour, thank you. I've learnt a huge amount.

Lots of information and added pictures.  Very interesting tour and details of history.

Lots of facts, but not a good part of the city to see,. I will try one of the more picturesque parts of Bucharest. 

A real insight into Romanian history and all the challenges the Romanian people have suffered 

It was a very meaningful tour.  Mihai clearly knows his history. 

What a fascinating tour. Minhai was very well prepared and incredibly knowledgeable. It was hard to hear about such a sad period in the history of the area, but I am very grateful for the chance to learn from Mihai. 

Really fascinating tour Mihai.  Can't wait to see more.

A very enlightening tour I enjoyed it very much 

Very good tour, with very good historical information about Romania! Thank you very much dear Mihai!

Nice tour.  Just wish he would have some emotion in his voice.  No modulation or enthusiasm for what he's sharing..  Otherwise a good and informative tour.  Good depth of knowledge. 

Another good tour.  Mihai manages to answer lots of questions and responds to comments.

Good guide to the background to Romania’s recent history - very knowledgeable 

Very interesting tour, good photos and stories. Growing up my parents referred to the soviet area as 'the curtain' and explained people couldnt leave. When i was 6 I saw uprisings on tv and asked my parents why the people there never just walked through the curtain...even when it was explained it was an iron curtain seeing an actual wall come down threw me completely! I heard about a romanian leader shot and how he had all this money when other people had none..simple solution to my 6 year old self was why not take it off him...at least stop giving it to him. I wanted to visit Bucharest my whole life as ceausescus demise was a childhood event along the lines of Chernobyl and the Ethopian famine...it created pure shock in my mind. I finally made it there in my mid thirties on a short break from Dublin, it was my first visit to eastern europe and between time limits,seeing brasov and other areas I didnt take any tours except the peoples palace inside. Mihai is a good guide and brought back some memories and new stories, Thanks again.

This was a very interesting tour Mihai. I know very little of the former soviet countries, and am glad that you educated me of the sad history of your country and the suffering of the people. I  have been on the Virtualtrips tours of Berlin and Bratislava, and I am leaning alot.    I am European:  half English, half Greek, and I really hate Brexit and that Britain is now outside the EU.  It is terrible.
Thank you very much for this tour Mihai; I wish you well.

Absolutely fascinating! Loved the photos M used and his English is excellent. Can't rate this highly enough. 

What a fascinating virtual tour of Bucharest and to hear all about the history of Romania. I know we had an unforgettable tour of Romania with you a few years ago but didn't visit the city so this was almost as good as being there ourselves.

Very fascinating and informative tour, the honesty shown by Mihai regarding the history of his country is Both brave and humbling. 

It was a very interesting tour.  Mihai gave firsthand info about living under communism and helped undestand what it was like.  thanks Mihai.

I joined this tour at the last minute and I am so very glad that I did!  I know little of communist Romania, so how wonderful to be able to learn from Mihai with his personal stories and memories.  Thank you so much Mihai for an insightful and fascinating tour of your city.  I would love to see and hear more.

Brilliant tour thank you. Romania is such an interesting and stunningly beautiful country, I hope there will be more tours from around the country.

Thank you Mihai for such an informative tour - it explained a lot of things I hadn't understood about Romania in the Communist Period.Hope to hear more form you

The tour was very interesting, I learned a lot. Thank you Mihai

Excellent history lesson. I want to learn more about this country and city. The architecture is stunning. Thank you. 

Well researched, prepared and organised with pictures relating to the history of Romania.  Wind was a problem for sound, and Mihai did his best to get in a position out of the wind.

I thought that Mihai did an excellent job of giving us a history lesson of Romania‘s passed. From freedom to communism to independence. I will certainly sign up for another tour to see the pretty sights, but I appreciate having heard of what Romanians have had to live through in the past hundred years.

Interesting. Too bad the wind impacted the presentation.

Very knowledgeable guide. I have visited Bucharest and this trip brought back good memories of a lovely city.

Mihai is clearly very knowledgeable. Perhaps the government building was too large to view in the short time. Yet, a little less showing of the pictures would be nice. We came to see live street views and feel as though we were actually there, as we would like to be. It is only my own opinion, otherwise he is a passionate and interested in his subjects.

Mihai was knowledgeable, patient, and connected to his audience.   He inclusion of Romanian history was relevant and helped create an accurate picture of the fall of communism in that country .  

Would love to take more tours with Mihai! 

Very interesting...am particularly interested in Communism, from local point of view. Can't give me too much history. 
Good job Mihai!

Mihai tried his best to make the tour informative. What I enjoy less about is the route of the tour. It definitely align with the theme of the tour (communist history) but is a less beautiful part of Bucharest.

I enjoyed the tour with him today. He had lots of stories to share.

Mihai was very well prepared and taught us so much about the history of Romania. Thank you

My first tour with Virtual Trips and Mihai, and I couldn't be more pleased to have found this site. Mihai was knowledgeable and presented very well in what much be difficult circumstances : walking, talking, handling the camera AND responding to questions! Bravo, Mihai. I look forward to joining your next guided tour.

As we lived in Hungary during Ceaușescu regime and heard a lot about it what is going in the neighbour country I couldn't wait this tour.  It was an informative, interesting historical tour as it was promissed. Thank you very much.

Great job - it is interesting and sobering to hear about the effects of communism and dictators on people who have lived through it. Thanks for the history lesson and your perspectives. 

Thank you, very informative and interesting 👍👍

Mihai was really informative. I liked that he had maps to give us extra information. He definitely knows his stuff! It was cool to learn about the Communist period. Thanks Mihai.

Mihai was well informed and interesting and I enjoyed it was live. Well juggled with comments, topic and walking with a camera! Would definitely recommend him . Thanks Mihai.

Superb tour. Mihai  explained the history of Bucharest very clearly . I need to learn history and he did an exceptional job.  I will definitely register for more of Mihai's tours. He is so considerate and gracious. Thank you, Mihai.
Judith E. 
Pennsylvania, USA

Excellent tour guide! Very knowledgeable. Learned so much on his tour. Would definitely go on another tour with Mihai.

Mihai is very knowledgeable.  He was able to provide information that is largely 'sad', but without it being depressing.  He did very well! 

Mihai gave us a great tour ... a very knowledgeable guide... very informative 

It’s a bit more like a history lesson than a tour but still very interesting and informative! If possible it would be great to see a few more different buildings but I don’t know Bucharest well so this may be difficult 😊 Thank you for the tour!!

5++++++++++++😊

wonderful tour, but also very disturbing.  you really opened my eyes to how absolutely rough it has been for Romania for many  many years. Sounds as if ti continues to be very challenging.  considerable strength in your country.  St Petersburg Anne spoke similarly to the challenge of moving from communism to not; from dictator to the people.

I truly wish the previous feedback had not been so critical.  sounds like the comments were pretty rough.

you well handled all of the ??? that were popping up, that were not in line w what you were sharing.  i suggest you stay on point.  we can look up most of those answers.

the blurb about the tour clearly spoke to the content, so i was not surprised of the historic timeline shared.  you did a great job in condensing down such a long turbulent time.

looking forward to more tours w you

Outstanding.  Mihai blended history with personal information that  help make this terrible time for the Romanian people alive and interesting.  Congratulations Mihai.

Fascinating history, excellent English, exceptionally knowledgeable. Appreciate showing the supplementary photos from the past. I will definitely join his tours again on other topics (i. e Old town)

Mihai was a very charming and well informed guide. The information he presented was up to date and complete. He answered all of our questions without boring us one second. Thank you! 

Very interesting talk/lecture on the some of the history of Romania - not so much a walking tour. Saw the Parliament Building and some others close by. The pictures he showed were very helpful. Good Job! Look forward to other tours in Bucharest. 

A very interesting tour. Please ignore the people who complain about too much history. Romania has a terrible past ant it's very important that we learn about it. I would very much like to hear more about the lives of the people in the pat and how they are recovering now.

Great story of history. Excellent use of photographs to show before and after, plus to put the narrative in context. Thanks!

Very informative! I loved learning about the history of Romania! 

Mihai, thanks a lot for your dedication and great historical information! The weather did not help you at all and you manage to even bring the Pope and Michael Jackson to the tour!! Briliant. Thank you very much!

An excellent tour on the history of Romania. The tour description was accurately written so I do not understand the negative comments on the content or structure of this tour.  Mihai provided excellent historical information supported by historical photos and maps. A thoroughly educational tour and I look forward to more tours with him.

Very interesting.  Enjoyed the history.  

Very informative.  Good knowledge of history shared. 

A very interesting insight of the communism in Romania. Highly recommend the tour to the ones interested in the communism era.

Thank you for the great and informative tour. I really enjoyed it and learned new things about Romania! 

brilliant tour with a brilliant tour guide. 

Mihai, thank you for a fascinating tour today. I am grateful to virtualtrips and all tour guides for making virtual travel with a live guide possible.  I am booking the next virtual plane ride when it's available.

I think he had a lot of great history.  On my end it was 6 am and I couldn’t have the volume as loud as I would have preferred and all I heard was “um” every other word.  So next time I need buds at that hour and working on the “ups” would be good.   I would take another.  He certainly knows his history. And the added photos for reference was good.  

Very interesting and gave a brilliant insight into the history of communism.  Very moving.  Thank you so much Mihai

Thanks for the tour Mihai.  There was a little too much history and viewing maps etc. (for me anyway) and I'd have liked to have moved around and seen more of the area as can always research more later :-)   Appreciate you have great in-depth knowledge and a passion for the history. 

Mihai's  Ashes of Communism tour provided a really interesting summary of that significant period. Lots of interesting facts, and enthusiastically delivered live from   Bucharest on a wet and grey day. Thanks Mihai - looking forward to sharing more of your tours.

Knowledgable guide. Interesting but this was a TALK, not a tour.

Hi Mihai, I think you did well for your first tour, but there are things that you could improve. For quite a long time at the beginning the focus was on one building, the parliament and there was a lot of historical facts. It would make it livelier if you moved around more and broke up the 'history lesson' a bit more with information about how the country is now. There was plenty of interest, but overall it felt a bit dull/heavy. The weather wasn't exactly on your side either. Keep doing the tours as it wouldn't take much to enliven it. 

Interesting with the historical background, and very nice to be able to join virtually:)

Informational and helpful tour around the House of the People, the second largest building in the world ! Multumesc Mihai

Well done Mihai on your first tour. It was full of information about the history of Romania which not many people really know about. Even though this was not the usual "picturesque" trip, it was never boring and it was interesting to see the impressive government building and wide boulevards. Look forward to more trips. 

Learned a lot about the history of Romania!

It was so good to see and hear of the history of Communist times in Romania. When Communism ended we, as Christians, were able to send as a group, parcels of food and clothes to various families all over the country, as well as help for the institutions.   So thank you Mihai for sharing so much.  We look forward to joining you again in the future.

A great tour Mihai. You are an extremely good teacher!!!!

Excellent tour, thank you. Very informative. I learned a lot I never knew before

Mihai`s tour was very informative and I learned so much:)  I remember many of the events happening, the more recent ones, that is.  Mihai said this was his first tour and he was a little nervous, I didn`t notice that he was, so professional:)  I`m looking forward to more tours with him.

Very good tour. It opened my eyes to Romania now. I had images of Romania in the 50s and 60s, when I saw Romania on TV. It certainly has changed. I appreciated the history but missed some towards the end so need to book another tour to fill the gaps. My fault as I was called away. This was the first tour for this guide and he was very good. Loved the photos he brought with him.

Your first, well done. Plenty of information and the visual aids were good to see.

Mihai's tour was very interesting and informative, a perfect 1st four, looking forward to others

It was his first tour so he did well. Centred around one area that captured a lot of the history and the turbulence over a century of political change. 

Quite a dry history lesson rather than a sightseeing tour. Felt like a school trip. Interesting enough but could do with some more colour and movement!

The Ashes of Communism

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