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Bucharest

Romania

Bec
2004-09-15 13:22:40

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Bucharest
From Varna, I took a bus to Ruse on the border and a train to this station in Bucharest.

It was cold and raining when I arrived at 6 pm so stayed in the first hotel I found outside the train station, hotel Brucegi shown here. I had a small room with TV and a sink for 14 $US.

The Brucegi was OK but I soon moved to the Villa Helga youth hostel. I had a 6 bed dorm for myself and the place was well located and friendly.

The old and the new meet in this picture showing the "Economic Consortium Palace" in front with the "Bucharest Financial Plaza" in the background.

Much of the old city was destroyed to make way for Ceaucescu's grandiose remodelling of the city but lovely Stavropoleos Strada was spared. At the western end can be seen the "Economic Consortium Palace" of the last photo and under the awning is the famous "bererie" Caru cu Bere, Bucharest's oldest restaurant (1875)

The Dambrovita is led through Bucharest in an orderly manner in its well controlled riverbed.

In the background you can see the "Bucharest Financial Plaza" and the tip of the dome of the "Economic Consortium Palace".

Just south of where the last photo was taken, rises one of Ceaucescu's extravagant follies, the enormous Stalinist style Palace of Parliament with its 330 000 square metres of floor space. I don't know if bigger is better but only the US Pentagon is bigger than that.

This Stalinist" Press House" building, located at the opposite northern edge of Bucharest, was built to centralise the offices of the various media in communist times. It is still familiarly called "The Palace of Lies" by the people.

Between the House of Lies and the Arcul de Trumf, built to commemorate the reunification of Romania in 1918, is the large Herastau Park featuring a "Village Museum" that I found interesting enough to reserve all of the next page to it.

A short distance further south is the Senate building with the statue of a flayed man representing the victims of totalitarian regimes.

Just across Revolution Square is the 1722 red brick Cretulescu Church shown below on the left.

The Russian styled Student's Church on the right is close to University Square shown further down.
And this one looking west towards Ceaucescu's Palace of Parliament in the distance.

I liked Bucharest, there was a lot to see and people were friendly.

My next stop was Moldova but I will first show you the sampling of Romanian village architecture that I found in Bucharest's "Museul Statului".

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