Last fall I visited and very much enjoyed a few smaller towns in Romania. Like Cluj-Napoca and Oradea and Timisoara. And so I decided to come to the Capital: Bucharest, and have a look.
Bucharest is a very large Eastern European City, struggling to overcome the coma of communism and even further economic injury under the Ceausescu regime.
Which left them some remarkably grand constructions such as their Parliament, one of the largest buildings in the world.
A taxi driver told me that it has over 1000 rooms of over 1000 square meters. And that you can see it from the moon. I doubt the latter.
And they are still going for grand constructions, at work today building the world’s largest Orthodox Church.
The city center is already fairly nice, especially all along the Calea Victorie, a street that runs a pretty far distance from the river near the old town all the way up to the Plata Victoria. Numerous historic buildings have been restored and the area cleaned up and modernized.
The pavement and sidewalks are new, with nice bike lanes.
This is where most of the international hotels and upscale shopping is located. As well as new investment.
There are also perhaps a half dozen museums in this area. And they are worth visiting although there is not much English used in the displays.
The old town itself is fairly small and has been converted into a continuum of restaurants, bars and night clubs.
The guide books say that the nightlifmle here is very wild. Being a 9:30 to 6:30 guy I don’t know. But for sure they stay open late.
Any time I come to a new city I hope to fall in love. Like my first times in London, Paris, Florence. Or be fascinated by their history and culture like in Rome, or Edinburgh or Munich. But Bucharest a
nd I never hit it off. Sure I admire the effort being made to improve this city and the progress that has been made.
But the city is still gritty and crumbling.
There are very big problems with automobiles, graffiti and the desperately poor.
And it is sad that there is so little here. Whatever was once the city outside of the immediate center has been demolished and replaced with endless blocks of soviet style mid-rise apartment buildings.
Perhaps a young night-life loving person would really enjoy this city. The prices are certainly astonishing. 50 cents for a coffee on the street (watch out, 3 dollars in the old town).
How about a 24 cent hot dog?
Splurging with a dollar and 11 cents the Colonel will give you a “Cheesy Booster”.
Or one could just eat 60 cent doughnuts and pastries all day.
Many of you are familiar with the Economist’s Big Mac Index which they use as a gauge of the comparative Purchasing Power Parity between economies. I have my own gauge. I go into an upscale supermarket and look at the wine prices. Here a cheap bottle of wine is about a buck 50, and what looks like good stuff say 8 to 10 dollars.
I walked two blocks from my hotel and had a week of laundry done “wash and fold” for 6 bucks. It would have cost me that for two pairs of socks in my hotel. Where our hypothetical young traveler would not be advised to stay.
A glass of wine in the hotel bar costs 12 dollars.
Anyway, a blue sky morning makes everything better.
I need to point out that this is a very beautiful, interesting and welcoming country to visit. Everyone I have interacted with could not have been more friendly and helpful. I am just sorry for all they have lost .. and wish them the very best.