What to do in Bucharest this weekend

The weather might be trying to keep us indoors this weekend, but the many events taking place around Bucharest are sure to provide enough incentive to brave the rain. Be it culinary fairs, pet exhibitions, theater plays, or opera shows, there’s bound to be something worth going out in the rain for.

To start the weekend off, the Ozosep gastro-cultural fair might be of interest. Taking place at the Verona Garden, the fair brings together small producers from the Harghita and Covasna counties. The products on offer include cheeses and yogurts, homemade cakes and breads, meat products, including game, drinks such as palinka (plum brandy), beer, and teas, natural cosmetics, wooden toys and handmade jewelry, according to the event’s Facebook page. The fair ends on Sunday.

The National Romanian Peasant Museum is also hosting a Spring Fair this weekend, between 10am and 6pm, where craftsmen and artisans from all over the country will be present with various objects, such as religious icons, ceramics, dolls, traditional and handmade jewelry, and many others. For the food lovers, pickles and zakuska spread prepared according to traditional Dambovita recipes will be available, together with cakes from Braila, apples from Voinesti, gingerbread and pretzels from Pitesti, traditional cakes from the Moldova region, honey, seasonal greens, baklava and Turkish sand coffee, according to the event’s website.

In terms of what shows to watch this weekend, Saturday offers Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew at the Comedy Theatre (Teatrul de Comedie), starting at 7pm.

Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata will also be playing on Saturday at the National Bucharest Opera. The show is in Italian, with Romanian subtitles, and starts at 7pm.

Sunday comes with the Insir’te margarite (Pearls, thread yourselves) theatre play, directed by Dan Puric, and playing on the stage of the National Bucharest Theatre (TNB) at 7pm. At the same time, also at TNB, Requiem by Matei Visniec and directed by Alexandru Dabija will be playing, and later in the evening, at 8pm, Lia Bugnar’s The Girl from the Rainbow will be showing

Something else that is happening this Sunday is the second edition of the Bucharest Pet Exhibition at Romexpo, where “all animal lovers, owners of pet shops or veterinary cabinets, all those who have a pet or wish to buy one, members in organizations for animal welfare,” are invited, as detailed on the event’s website.