Bucharest is like an enormous quilt, split up and reassembled by ethnic minorities, ruthless dictators, and artistically inclined monarchs, held together by ancient myths and nocturnal legends. Never been to Bucharest? Then it’s high time. The city’s architecture alone merits a visit. Ceauşescu’s megalomaniac monstrosities contrast with the restored and revitalized old town. Not everything has yet been done up, but the town indisputably has a distinctive flair. In many places you can picture the city’s former glory and how beautiful it will be again given a few years’ time. A slightly morbid charm now predominates, that also has something to do with Dracula, whose real name was Tepeş. While it’s good that the tourists have a soft-spot for the old count, it is really the abundance of contrasts that will impress: Gypsy dwellings cheek-by-jowl with luxury hotels, an old lady with a bathroom scale standing in front of a haut couture boutique, grey apartment buildings along elegant boulevards, melancholy juxtaposed with joie de vivre. The latter has ensured that Bucharest now offers everything that a jet-set heart could wish for: fine dining, a vibrant fashion scene, and pulsating nightlife that lasts until dawn.