A Love In Bucharest

Another comfortable train journey took us to Bucharest.  The city is full of grand old buildings, many of them so run down you wonder if they are beyond repair.  The buildings that have been restored look lovely and are resplendent with statues and stained glass windows.  The old town is a maze of winding streets filled with many bars and restaurants.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of visible sleaze, which we haven’t noticed in other old towns.  One wonders if the sleazy elements will move on as more and more of the properties are restored.  Budapest is much more advanced in their restoration works whereas Bucharest seems to be struggling.  Having said that, we felt perfectly safe walking around, even at night.  The police patrol the streets with Alsatians and we didn’t see any drunk or disorderly people around.

We have noticed a number of Romulus & Remus statues in various places around Romania.  The main one is a replica of a similar monument in Rome and was presented to Bucharest by the Italian state in 1906 to signify Romania’s Latin origins.

 






One of the places I was keen to visit was a bookshop that I had read about which had opened for business earlier this year.  The Carousel of Light is situated in the old town and is known as one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores.  There are 6 floors adorned with massive white pillars and it was so beautiful that Michael and I visited several times whilst we were in Bucharest.  There is a lovely café on the top floor serving excellent coffee and food, and it was very relaxing to sit and look at the surroundings and people watch.

There is a lovely park called Cismigiu Garden with shady walks, a lake and numerous park benches to relax on.  We had a bonus when we visited as there was a festival taking place and there were a number of stalls selling traditional folk art, beautiful embroidered blouses and various other items.  Michael found a stall selling many varieties of Turkish delight and he even tried a type of bread beer (he didn’t like it).

We visited the Palace of Parliament, which is the world’s second largest building (the Pentagon is the largest).  The building was the dictator Ceausecu’s brainchild and many citizens of Bucharest had their homes demolished to make way for the 12 storeys, 3100 room monstrosity.  It was built in 1984, however it is already in a state of disrepair and the grounds look neglected.

 






Once again the food was a highlight in Bucharest.  We dined one evening at the Caru’ cu Bere (the beer wagon) which is a restaurant in a stunning 1899 building which has been decorated in the art nouveau style. 

Michael and I sat on the balcony overlooking a performance of traditional folk dancing, which was very entertaining.  The women dance whilst making a curious whirring sound their tongues – not unlike Xena, Warrior Princess when she launches an attack! The food was good and Michael enjoyed his beer.

It may sound morbid, however I wanted to see Ceausecu’s grave.  The image of Nicolae and his wife, Elena being executed by firing squad in 1989 remains one of the defining images of that decade. Michael and I set off for the hour-long walk to the Ghencea Cemetery, which turned out to be a massive graveyard.  We had the row numbers for both graves however, try as we might, we couldn’t find the graves anywhere. 

We walked up and down the rows to no avail.  I didn’t want to ask anyone for directions, as I was not sure that it would be appreciated that we were trying to find the former dictator’s memorial.  We eventually gave up but at least I can say that I have seen a Romanian cemetery.  The average grave markers are very plain, certainly not the elaborate architectural masterpieces of Russia or France.