Bicycling the Blue Danube 2008: Day 33--Bucharest by Boat and Van

BUCHAREST BY BOAT & VAN

Sunday, July 27, 2008

We woke this morning at 5:30 am. Some had coffee, and then we walked to the hydrofoil at 6:10. It was early enough so that there were few people on the boat and it was nice and cool. I sat in a seat where I could stretch my legs and not have the sun on me and even found a spot where I could see out the window.

When we got off the hydrofoil, we went back to the Hotel Esplanada, had a great breakfast, and then collected our stored things and split into a van and a SUV for the 3-hour ride to Bucharest. I snagged the front seat of the van. The first half of the ride was on back roads through some beautiful countryside; the second half on a very nice expressway. We got to Bucharest at 1 pm.

The Esplanada Hotel and the van loaded with our bikes ready for the journey to Bucharest; the photos below were taken from the front window of the van on our way

After a rest, Judy and I walked several miles to buy some pottery. The concierge at the front desk had told us where to go. We were both disappointed because the large mall he directed us to had two little tourist traps in it, and the mugs were nothing special. I bought one regular mug and one small one nonetheless.

Must stop here and complain a bit. For the entire ride, Judy has been the albatross around my neck. She has absolutely no sense of direction and trudges along behind me in silence much to my annoyance. When I stop or slow, so does she, so I had to urge her to walk next to me a couple of times. Even so she does not talk and claims often not to hear me or my questions (very selective hearing!). Also, she doesn’t trust my navigation skills, so is always stopping people and asking long-winded unintelligible questions in English to non-English speakers as to the correct route. Today she said, “ I know we’re going the wrong way, and if we don’t find the mall in the next two blocks, I’m going back.” She would have been lost in Bucharest forever had she done so, but she changed her mind when I told her that I was not going back, but she could have the map. Enough whining.

One of the first things we noticed about the city was the awful disarray of its electrical system as the photos below can attest. And, on our way to the mall, we stopped at an intersection so that Judy could ask her usual directions and one of the people told us to take the underground. We were standing not 10 feet from its entrance, and both of us decided to ignore this advice. It looked like a crumbling bunker and the perfect place for a mugging.

Remember awhile back I told you that you had not seen the worst of Romanian wiring? This takes the cake. Don't know why there is not a blackout or electrocution every day

The entrance to the underground that Judy and I decided not to take; a typical antennae studded rooftop

Two babuskas in the city proper

Some of the ornate building details

Tonight at 5:30 pm one of Alex’s friends who is the editor and chief of Mbike interviewed us for his magazine. After that Alex led us on a 2-hour walking tour of this old city that for so long (1965-1989) was in the grip of the fanatical Ceauşescu regime

Alex lives in Bucharest and knows all the back streets and alleys. At one point on our tour he even walked us on boardwalks suspended high above a dug out area of streets and through Villacrosse Passage, a covered area where people were reading newspapers and smoking hookas.

The group marches through Villacrosse Passage where people were reading newspapers and smoking hookas

We started in the Piata Revolutiei (Revolution Square), which, as its new name implies, was the center of events in Bucharest in December 1989. On the western side of the plaza is the former Royal Palace, now the National Art Museum; on the northeastern side are the Athenaeum (for concerts) and the University Library, which was heavily damaged during the 1989 fighting. On the southeastern side is the infamous Communist Party Central Committee Building, where Ceauşescu made his last public speech on 21 December 1989. Though he tried to flee the revolutionary uprising, he was caught, deposed, tried, and he and his wife were executed by firing squad on Christmas day 1989.

Top right clockwise: Former Royal Palace, now National Art Museum; University of Bucharest Library; University of Bucharest; Athenaeum

Internet photo: Communist Party Central Committee Building

We then walked a broad flowered and fountained Unirii Boulevard to the city’s historic quarter dating to the 15th century. Sadly this was the scene of one of Ceauşescu’s biggest crimes, his infamous Palace of Parliament, or “House of the People” as he called it, second only to the Pentagon in square footage. To create this, and his own Champs Elysees (Unirii Blvd) leading to it, he cleared a full district of 70,000 people, bulldozing 26 churches, two synagogues and a monastery in what was the city’s most historic district. It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build. The palace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 328-ft-long lobby and four underground levels. The interior is a luxurious display of crystal chandeliers, mosaics, oak paneling, marble, gold leaf, stained-glass windows, and floors covered in rich carpets.

Unirii boulevard (the imitation Champ Elysees; the gang walking along the boulevard on their way to Parliament I'm still hobbling behind on my shin splints and swollen ankles

Ceauşescu's enormous parliament building or "House of the People"

Closer views of Parliament

Two elaborate concrete apartment buildings that Ceauşescu had build on the square across from the parliament building

Ceauşescu’s “Unirii Boulevard runs 3.2km to the monstrosity of this building. It still functions as Parliament, and any country that would need a building like this to run a country must have a lot going on! Surely some room at the inn to take in the people whose homes were bulldozed and some of those poor Roma and peasants who are wanting.

We left that area and then went to see Bucharest’s oldest orthodox church and a crumbling museum area and archeological dig area with a statue of Vlad the Impaler in front of it. Cannot remember the connection. Hanul Manuc (next page) is an early 19th century caravanserai, so the centre of the hotel is a courtyard and the doors to the bedrooms are found on balconies wrapped around the courtyard. It is being restored. If I remember the guide's spiel right Manuc was the host for a 19th century international peace treaty.

Stavropoleos Church and its inner courtyard; moved when parliament was built

Vlad the Impaler; Ceauşescu honored Vlad the Impaler as a freedom fighter. Most remember Vlad for terrorizing the countryside by impaling tens of thousands of opponents. Over 20,000 Turks and Bulgarians were impaled at one time during a battle in 1462 and lined up along the road into the city as a lesson to enemies.

Manuc’s Inn (Hanul lui Manuc). When we were there the Inn was heavily graffitied and undergoing renovation; the photo right is an Internet shot of what its interior courtyard and rooms look like.

Biserica Curtea Veche, church of former royal court

At 8 pm we finally arrived at a beautiful restaurant in what had been a wealthy architect’s home, now converted to a restaurant. The meal was somewhat Indian, a big salad, chicken, rice raisins, yogurt sauce with cloves. It was very tasty and a change from the Romanian dishes we’ve been getting. Dessert was a piece of pound cake with all sorts of fresh fruit on it. Yummy!