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BUCHAREST |
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BUCHAREST (Bucuresti), with a population of over two million, may be
the largest city between Berlin and Athens, but it's by no means the
most beautiful. At first sight the city is a chaotic jumble of traffic-choked
streets, ugly concrete apartment blocks and grandiose but unfinished
Communist developments. Lying 64km from the Danube, Romania's southern
border, but 600km from its northern frontier, it's also far removed from
the country's more obvious attractions. And yet, it's Romania's centre
of government and commerce and site of its main airport, so most
visitors to the country will find themselves passing through Bucharest
at some point.
Founded by the princes of Wallachia and dominated by their Turkish
overlords, Bucharest only came into its own with Romanian independence
in the late nineteenth century, when it was remodelled by French and
French-trained architects. The city was dubbed the "Paris of the East",
as much for its hectic and cosmopolitan social scene as for its
architecture. The Romanian aristocracy was among the richest and most
extravagant in Europe, but this lifestyle depended on the exploitation
of the poor, and in Bucharest the two coexisted in what Ferdinand
Lasalle described as "a savage hotchpotch", with beggars waiting outside
the best restaurants and appalling slums within a few steps of the
elegant boulevards. Under Communism these extremes were reduced, but
Capitalism has brought back conspicuous consumption and a new poor.
Despite the signs of Westernization and a new prosperity, with glossy
shops full of designer clothes and a rapidly expanding restaurant scene,
few Bucharestians can afford to indulge in them.
The architecture of the old city, with its cosmopolitan air, was
notoriously scarred by Ceausescu's redevelopment project, which
demolished an immense swathe of the historic centre and replaced it with
a concrete jungle, the Centru Civic , including a huge new palace for
the Communist leader, now known as the Palace of Parliament . The palace
has become one of the city's prime tourist sites and is best viewed
along the approach from Piata Unirii. The other site that can on its own
justify a visit to the city lies to the north of the centre: the Village
Museum , a wonderful collection of vernacular buildings collected from
all regions of Romania. Between these two poles, in the centre of the
city, the National History Museum lays out the story of Romania's
development from prehistoric times to the 1920s. It's in much the same
style as every other county museum, but this is the biggest and best in
the country.
More than most European capitals, Bucharest is an insider's city. Behind
the congested arteries lies a tangle of backstreets where concrete is
softened by abundant greenery and the inhabitants manage to rise above
the bureaucratic obstructions and inadequacies of the city's
infrastructure. The people are a cosmopolitan mixture: Romanians,
Gypsies, Turks, Arabs, Africans and Pakistanis, now joined by thousands
of Chinese who add yet another layer to the thriving underworld of
traficanti , prostitutes and beggars.
Accommodation is more expensive in Bucharest than elsewhere, and you're
more likely to be hassled, hustled and overcharged. Though power and
water cuts are now rare, many hotels are overheated in summer and
freezing in winter, when snowdrifts grip the city and the temperature
plunges to -20°F (-4°C). Unless Bucharest is your only destination, it's
as well to head for Transylvania or the coast as soon as possible. There
are good train and road connections to the rest of the country, but
local services to the towns and villages in the immediate vicinity are
often limited or tortuous. However, there are some monasteries and
mansions, notably at Snagov and Mogosoaia, which can be visited as day-trips.
The City
The heart of the city is the Piata Revolutiei , site of the old Royal
Palace and the scene of Ceausescu's downfall. It lies halfway along
Bucharest's historic north-south axis, the Calea Victoriei , which is
still the main artery of city life. Buses heading north and south,
however, use the unattractive boulevards east of Calea Victoriei; the
main junction along them is the Piata Universitatii , scene of major
events immediately after the 1989 revolution.
The majority of sights are within walking distance of these two Piatas.
Just to the south lies the historic centre of the city, with the remains
of the original citadel . Beyond this, across the River Dâmbovita, is
the contrasting cityscape of Ceausescu's Centru Civic , with its
centrepiece, the monstrous Palace of Parliament , now the city's main
tourist attraction. Just west of the centre are the Cismigiu Gardens , a
tranquil space and a popular place for assignations. For a taste of the
old atmosphere of the city, you need to wander north and west of the
gardens past the vine-covered facades, to suburbs where life retains a
village-like slowness and intimacy, or head north from Piata Revolutiei
along Calea Victoriei to Herastrau Park , the site of a superb
collection of buildings brought here from all over Romania and assembled
to form an area known as the Village Museum .
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