Railing thru Europe: Stop 17.1 Romania – Bucharest

Posted by ourjotterbook on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 · 6 Comments 

Hmm… prior to this trip, the only things I’ve known about Romania are probably 1) Gheorghe Hagi (Romania’s football legend and one of the best Attacking Midfielder of his time) and 2) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (which probably left me with the impression that Romania is dark and goth-like and full of mystery). However, what we experienced in Bucharest was far from goth and mystery…well except for the occasional ‘haunted mansion’ that we saw at night. We had been warned by Lonely Planet that Bucharest will leave some travelers shell shocked and indeed, our first impression of Bucharest was full of question marks in our heads. Bucharest seems detached from all the other grand European cities that we have visited and rather, we felt Bucharest bore certain resemblance to less developed areas of Thailand. It felt really strange, having not set foot in Asia for more than a year and just one train ride away from Hungary and we seemed to have arrived in a different continent!

There were no sense of tourism whatsoever in the city; for the 1st time, there were no shops selling postcards and souvenirs, no sight-seeing buses and we had never came across any tourist information centre! Which is kind of shocking given the fact that Bucharest is the Capital! There was an evident lack of tourists in sight and we often find ourselves sticking out like the only Asians/tourists in the city. I guessed to most travelers coming to Bucharest, it is just a stopover to get to Brasov and Sinaia. The most touristy place that we came across was probably at the backpacker hostel that we stayed. Which, you would not have guess it is a hostel from the exterior. The address given by the hostel led us to a rundown back alley that has no signs that suggests it being a hostel. We breathe a sigh of relief when the receptionist answered the door and the inside of the hostel was a strong contrast from what it looks from the exterior.  It was a nice and cozy little hostel and we met several Koreans and Caucasians staying there (Finally! some signs of travelers.) but that’s pretty much it.

Once we stepped out of the hostel, we felt much like the only travelers again. I remembered, when my partner who was reading the map, said that: ” Hey, we have reached the city centre! and i was like:” Are you sure this is the city centre?” My partner inspected the map again: ” Yup, pretty sure we are already in the city centre!” still feeling suspicious, i went:” As in the CENTER of the city centre???” Partner said: ” YUUUP!”  It was nothing like any city centre you would have expect for a capital city. It felt like we were still in a neighborhood suburb with rundown shop-houses that caters to the locals. The streets were littered, stray dogs were EVERYWHERE and we had to be very careful as we wouldn’t want to risk being bitten by them and get rabies! There wasn’t any architecture to marvel about, well except the Palace of Parliament and maybe the Arch of Triumph (which wasn’t original).

All those factors were probably contributed by the fact that Romania had gone through a torrid time during the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his communist party. Long story short, the President made himself richer at the expense of his people therefore, everyone wanted him gone and managed to do as recently as 1989. He and his wife happened to be the last people to get executed by firing squad before the government abolished the capital punishment.

Gara de Nord, Bucharest

Calea Griviţei, the first street that we saw when we step out of Gara de Nord.

Our cozy room at East hostel.

All our souvenirs we collected throughout our backpacking trip... Brings back memories from our first stop in Porto till now.

Breakfast is served! Bread, eggs and hotdogs... topped off with chocolate Swiss rolls!

The Romanian Athenaeum a concert hall located at Victoria Square, in the centre of Bucharest

Romana Square (Piaţa Romană)

The Revival Memorial on Revolution square - dedicated to Romania's Revolution

Kretzulescu Church (Biserica Kretzulescu) is an Eastern Orthodox church situated in a corner of the Revolution Square

The Military Club (Cercul Militar National) was built in 1912 to serve the social, cultural and educational needs of the Romanian army

Villacrose and Macca Passages is a sheltered arcade street lined with shops, cafes and restaurants

Romanian Savings Bank. This was the only bank that was allowed to do business during communist era

Walking along Bulevardul Unirii, lined with its many fountains. It was meant to be Communist Romania's answer to Paris's Avenue des Champs-Élysées

At the western end of Bulevardul Unirii stands the gargantuan Palace of Parliament

The Constitution Square (Piaţa Constituţiei). As this is the largest square in Bucharest, big events such as concerts, new year's party are usually held here

A view of the Palace Of Parliament taken from the side entrance

Romania's very own Arch of Triumph (Arcul de Triumf) built to honour its soldiers during the first world war.

A walk through Herestrau Park

A rundown building by day, a haunted mansion by night... just joking. But this building really looked spooky, and so is the neighborhood!

Speaking of spookiness, we head to Bran Castle for our next post. The Castle remained the inspiration that it was to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

J & Yee