No BUCHAREST for the Wicked
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
54
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Bucharest,
Romania
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I decided to skip the 27 hour hell trip from Istanbul to Bucharest by train through Bulgaria-two border crossings and two shit trains (Eastern Europe has a ways to go in this department) and took a flight on Tarom, Romania's national airline for $200, the best deal I could find on kayak.com. I think the train would have cost me close to a hundred bucks so an extra hun to avoid that trip was money well spent. Most people I talked to who took the ride said my decision was a good one.
My bank card worked for the one and only time in Romania at the airport atm. After that I had to use my visa and subsequently learned that it cost me five bucks every time. Oh-oh. Why is it that ATM's across the world spit out large denomination notes that no one will take? Inevitably you need small notes right away to catch a bus or a tram or whatever. So I go to catch the express bus into town and they can't change the bill
View from balcony of hostel
. It's not even close. That means I gotta go get change and I miss the bus. After standing around for a half an hour I'm on the next bus. About three stops from where I must get off, an American couple gets on, followed by an inspector. He checks my ticket. I'm good. The Americans are in trouble. They've purchased a standard bus ticket but boarded the special express bus, futilely making the case to the inspector that they were told to take this bus by someone at an information desk somewhere. Mr. Inspector doesn't care. The fine, $25 each! Yow. Make sure you validate your ticket too. Same deal if you don't. Bucharest is a loveable dilapidated mess. I liken it to walking through the countryside and stumbling upon a beautiful gothic era home that has been abandoned and left to rot. Bits of it are starting to crumble and the infrastructure needs work, but it is stunning and loaded with some amazing touches. You can see the potential. Bucharest must have been absolutely gorgeous at one time.
It has a magnificent Parliament building, said to be the second largest administrative building in the world. Dubbed the 'Paris of Eastern Europe' which has more to do with its imitation des Champs-Elysees (Bulevardul Unirii) and Arc de Triomphe than its cafes and boulevards and fashion scene, it is a cornucopia of fabulous two and three hundred year old buildings in various states of disrepair. Old decaying buildings sit next to beautifully restored buildings and those are salt and peppered with nicely architectured new buildings and in stark contracts, eye-popping seemingly bombed out buildings, offering tremendous and very eclectic architecture
Important building
. As well, there isn't wall that isn't tagged or postered. Tagging is rampant and postering is everywhere. But don't despair, it's all under repair. It seems the entire city is under renovation, particularly the old quarter near my hostel. When I told the hostel manager I thought his city was beautiful, his response was 'Ya think?' My guidebook says, 'Arriving in Bucharest most tourist want to leave as quickly as possible, but to do so would mean missing the heart of Romania. Bucharest does have its charm and elegance-it's just that it does need digging for.' That pretty much nails it. I spent four days, which in truth was at least one too many. Most of the people moving through my hostel would spend one day and didn't have much good to say about the place. I think they didn't get it. The hostel had a nice little common room where it was easy to meet people and there were a lot of pretty interesting travelers coming in and out. These parts are bringing out a great crowd.
The Romanian people I encountered were wonderful. I love the sound of the language which seems a nice mix of Slavic, Spanish and French. They generally have a keen sense of style and many dress surprisingly well given the presumed standard of living. The folks working at the hostel were friendly, helpful, spoke very good English and loved to chat about their country.
There's not a lot available in the way of street food. Shaormas, a Romanian donar of sorts, are very tasty and filling and can be had for three to five bucks
Tagging/postering
. A whole margarita pizza, less than five bucks. A half litre of beer will run you around a buck in the store and anywhere from $2 to $3 in a resto. Now that's more like it. The food is tasty too. I frequented a place called Turque's Deli across the street from my hostel, The Midland ($25 a night-a bit steep.) on B-Dul Regina Elisabeta, where nonoximoronically they served some amazing Romanian dishes, all in around the $6 range and with homemade fries too. I had another great meal at a place called Mama. The server couldn't speak any English. I was trying to get her to show me on the menu what the people at a nearby table were eating. As she left to get help one of the women in a group of four locals sitting at the table next to me asked if I needed help to which I said, 'no actually, she does.' This totally cracked the four of them up. I felt really funny. Later I thanked her. My site seeing started in the area around my hostel, photographing cool old buildings and stopping in at the National Gallery where I discovered a fantastic Romanian artist, Nicolai Grigorescu. I checked out the old secret police headquarters, now a Hilton. The university and the national theatre, Elena Ceausescu's project, with its architecture resembling that of the Colosseum, (yes, it was tagged) were near my hostel. One night a bunch of us went for cocktails in the bar with a post communist vibe on the rooftop of the theatre. The Peasant Museum (yawn) was another stop. The Bucharestians all love it for some reason but for me it was like a trip back to Saskatchewan in the '60's
Random shots
. At one point during my rounds I was approached by a police officer just after I'd taken a photo of an interesting building. In the bottom corner of the shot was one of many of the parking control gate checkpoints manned by cops. You see them throughout the city and I have no idea why cops run the things. A car comes along and they open the gate, that's it. In what were shades of a bygone era I guess you can't take pictures of the cops or these gates or something. What was there to hide? He made me delete the shot. Nonsense really, but I wasn't going to argue with the guy. I also took in the aforementioned 'Parisian' hot spots, including, after an incredibly long walk featuring a serious downpour on my return (No worries, I was carrying the new travel umbrella I purchased at Tokyo Hands.), the fully scaffolded Arc de Triomphe. I wish had known. Along the way I saw the heavily guarded Canadian embassy but didn't take any photos. As much as I liked the town, two or at most three days would have been enough. There just wasn't much to see or do. I took in three movies ($4.50) at three different cinemas all near my hostel. I got my haircut where $17 got me the full meal deal, a wash and a cut with a head, neck and shoulder massage. She even trimmed my nose hairs. It was the last cut I'll get before returning home.
Next up-TRANSYLVANIA (cue - lightening and thunder)
