(this was in the old word-press format, sorry it looks pretty bad)
We headed out of Tulcea to Bucharest on what we thought would be an uneventful 5 hour mini-bus ride. However, we were soon fascinated by the local life. The main road initially paralleled the Danube and it was dotted with fisherman standing by the side of the road like hitchhikers (fishikers?). No they were not looking to carpool, rather they were dangling fresh fish for sale from their fish filled styrofoam coolers or trunks of their cars. The type of fish they were selling roadside? Our guess was turn-pike.
Prior to our visit, everything we read about Bucharest was rather dismissive, recommending just a half day visit would suffice. Compared to what we read, our experience was very different. We spent 2 days, and wished we had stayed longer especially after learning more about the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Bucharest was simultaneously beautiful, ugly, downtrodden, inspiring and frightening.
We were initially amused by the items found in our airbnb but it really foreshadowed what we would later learn and helped us to better understand Bucharest and Romania under the dictator Ceausescu and the struggles to a more Western economy post 1989 revolution.
A flute? Celebrating the folk art history of Romania. We didn’t play it. Shirts for sale in the refrigerator closet? Romania transitioning to the market economy and capitalism. We didn\’t buy either.
See-thru bathroom inside and out-reflecting Communist Romania\’s history of extensive civilian spying. We showered in the dark (actually the shades did go down).
Hybridized architecture, buildings in flux, in need of renovation. We admired the building while avoiding construction debris in the stairwell up to our flat.
Bucharest, like so many of the cities with beautiful, massive buildings, benefited from the building boom initiated in the mid 1800s by the Austria-Hungarian Empire (which was kind of a continuation of the Hapsburg Monarchy which was kind of a continuation of the Roman Empire). When Romania became it’s own country in 1918, it wanted to create a magnificent European capital to house it’s growing population (population had tripled) resulting in a city with a mishmash of old buildings of baroque, art nouveau, secessionist and quasi-byzantine styles.
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| Seems like a lot of the renovated buildings now house a bank, Starbucks or a McDonald\’s |
After WW2, and the rise of communist government, the type of buildings changed dramatically as a weird hybrid was created with classic features (columns, porticos) integrated into 3-4 story brick buildings built around courtyards to house the people rushing into Bucharest from the countryside (where in 1948 80% had no electricity or running waters in their homes)
In 1965, Nicolae Ceausescu came to power and he had his own ideas about what a city should look like- essentially no green, just massive, concrete and crowded- kind of like commercial chicken coops for people.
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| More 80\’s music love |
Ceausescu was initially popular both at home and in the West as he challenged Soviet authority by ending Romania’s active participation in the Warsaw Pact, refusing to take part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and easing press censorship. Romania was one of the few Communist countries to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when most of the Eastern bloc countries boycotted the event.
However, after a visit to North Korea and China in 1971 when he saw how their leaders, Kim Il-sung and Mao, used totalitarian rule he became obsessed with creating a similar situation in Romania. He returned and began similar control of all branches of the government and the citizens
However, after a visit to North Korea and China in 1971 when he saw how their leaders, Kim Il-sung and Mao, used totalitarian rule he became obsessed with creating a similar situation in Romania. He returned and began similar control of all branches of the government and the citizens
Control of the media, ubiquitous secret police spying on civilians, pro-Ceausecu propaganda plus his megalomania effectively destroyed Romania.
Ceausescu , inspired by how Kim designed PyongYang became very involved in urban planning and a devastating earthquake in 1977 provided an excuse for him to destroy a large portion of the historic city center to build his dream (or nightmare); The People\’s Palace, the heaviest building in the world,
with surrounding grandiose apartments, promenade culminating in an extravaganza of fountains (Bulgarians must envy).
He bulldozed one fifth of the old city displacing 50,000 people. (A side note is that he made many dogs homeless which caused a dangerous feral dog problem that lasted for many years).
In 2019, the city’s buildings are both falling apart and being restored; some effectively combine old and new,
while others just sit sadly, such a waste but clearly not a priority in a poor country with many needs.
Despite years of communism and neglect, many churches survived and are pretty much everywhere you look.
Thirty years after communism, Romania is still experiencing growing pains.
Governments subsequent to the revolution are still trying to find their place in the world. Like Bulgaria, like Serbia, like Croatia, like Cyprus these countries still need to address the cumulative sins of the last thirty years (corruption, genocide) in order to join the Schengen area of greater Europe.
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| Memorial to those killed in 1989 Rebellion, often referred to as the toothpick with the olive |
While shopping we experienced an air raid signal followed by 2 minutes of silence as it was June 2, the day that honors Hristo Botev, poet, journalist and revolutionary who was killed in battle on June 2, 1989. His presence was in virtually every city we visited in Bulgaria.
Because we stayed just one night, in a hotel and did not have a kitchen, we actually went to a restaurant to have some classic Bulgarian food. Served with a great view.
