Successful, unsuccessful and rain

After four long hours drive from the Danube delta, we arrived at Bucharest at 19.00.

Bucharest is a big city, and we suspected that parking Dora would be a bit more complicated than in Sofia. Arriving late in the day and looking for a place to park at night is not ideal. So at lunchtime, we spent a bit of time searching online. We found out, that other motor homers had previously stayed at the back of a campsite, near the airport. That sounded ideal. Airports are easy to find and have good connections with the city centre.

We had no problems in finding space for Dora. We settled in and have gone online again. This time to plan our trip to the next country: Moldova. Why Moldova?

Moldova is a country that sits between Romania and Ukraine. It is as ‘off the beaten track’ as you can get in Europe. It is the most communist country you may still come across, apart from Russia. It doesn’t attract many visitors, that is why we have decided to go. We like being where only few others have gone to.

As we suspected, Dora is not wanted in Moldova. So we need to arrange a parking spot which is secure. As we were close to the airport, we looked at long term parking fees and there were very good value: 140 Lei for the four days (€31).

The next thing to arrange: transport to Moldova. An overnight train departs from Bucharest to Chisinau (the capital) at 18.00 but it only runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It comes back on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Today is Wednesday night. So we should get tickets for Friday.

 

So Thursday morning, we get ready and go to the nearest bus stop in a shopping centre 10 minutes drive from here. We park Dora close to the Carrefour entrance and make sure she is quite visible. We want people to see her when we leave her for the day. That might deter opportunists.

Lots of buses stop here. We go and get the ticket, if possible a one-day travel card, which includes buses and metro. The ticket officer doesn’t speak English but we feel confident we have been able to describe the travel card we needed.

We get on the first bus and get off at edge of the city. From here, we are hoping to get the metro to the Nord station, to buy the tickets train to Moldova.

A guard stops us at the Metro barrier. Our travel card is only for buses. We didn’t buy the right one after all.

Getting the tickets to Moldova was a bit painful:

Us: Two tickets to Moldova on the overnight train

Ticket officer: First or second class?

Her speaking in Romanian and us in English, it has taken us 10 minutes to work out the price for each class. Now that we are all clear, she looks for availability.

Her: There is no first class cabins available on the way out but there is a cabin available on the way back.

Us: OK. Can we have second class out and first class return?

Her: I suggest you wait until tomorrow before you depart. You may be able to get first class on the way out too, as there are always cancellations.

Us: We don’t want to. We prefer to buy the tickets today. We don’t mind going second class, really.

She insists. Maybe there is something really wrong with second class. We may be regretting it but we don’t care. We would rather get our tickets beforehand.

One more thing before we start our touristic tour around Bucharest. Tomorrow, we will park Dora at the airport early in the morning, come to Bucharest and go to Moldova in the evening. We need to drop our bags somewhere until then.

Her: There left luggage available at the station.

So, arrangements for Moldova: success.

It is already 13.00, time to see Bucharest. We need to get any bus which goes to the centre. At the bus stop we ask a staff member for a bus map. There are none available. How come? So, we have no choice but hoping we will get the right one. 

But we don’t. We get on one, it goes to the opposite direction. We get off, get on another one. The same. Eventually, we get on the one which takes us where we wanted to go.

The first monument we come across is the Rebirth Memorial, a white obelisk built in commemoration of those who lost their lives for the opposition to the Ceausescu regime.

We get off the bus and walk from here.

In this square, there is also the Central Committee of the Communist Party. From this balcony, Ceausescu appeared the last time in public before he was killed on 25th December 1989.

I still remember watching his and his wife’s hanging on TV. I was very interesting in how the Communism system was dismantled in each European country, but more especially in Romania. The fury and anger which pushed Romanians to kill both so violently was remarkable. Fury and anger built after many years of oppression.

What really shocked me was the speed of the revolution. Apparently a priest criticised the regime on the 15th December. The church removed the priest, which led to demonstration and the overthrow of the regime. The Ceausescus were hung on the 25th, just ten days later. GDR

Ceausescu was an eccentric, lunatic and violent character. These personality trades didn’t make him very popular within the Kremlin and, eventually, he  isolated himself from the rest of the countries which formed Soviet Union.

Whether we like it or not Ceausescu will always be remembered because of its oddness and peculiarity. His obsession with power and glory drove him to undertake mastodontic projects, such as The Palace of Parliament and the Transfăgărășan highway, which attract many visitors each year.

I would like to find out more about him. That is why, we head straight to the national history museum.

Wandering down the main street, we admire the old, neo classical architecture,

as well as modern architecture.

Now that is what I call renovating an old building; knock everything down behind the old, keep the facade and build a brand spanking new one behind it and over it, fantastic. GDR

Bucharest feels dynamic. Numerous construction and renovation projects are currently taken place. The traffic is heavy. Lots of people wander around. The city is alive, vibrant, full of energy.

On the other hand, there are still buildings and residential housing left to die, a common feature in ex-communist cities and towns. It seems like Romanians are keen to build new but not in a hurry to destroy the old.

A gallery full of trendy coffees and bars. Oops, an Irish pub at the end. These Irish have got everywhere.

What is it with Irish pubs, they are like an infectious disease which spreads to every corner of the planet, there is even one in Arenas (a small town near Guisando). Do you really need an Irish pub to sell stout? Do they really need to show English football and sell traditional pub food?

We obviously avoid them like the plague, but they still pollute any street they reside on. GDR

After 30 minutes, we arrive at the History Museum. Opposite to it, a building catches our attention, the National Bank. People can visit the building but not today. It will be re-open tomorrow.

Now the copula up top is partially glazed, which suggests an amazing atria, quite unusual for such an old building. Part bank, part greenhouse. GDR

Before we start our long tour around the history museum, we stop for a quick lunch, which we have to cut short when a storm starts.

We run to the History Museum. Once we purchase the ticket, the ticket officer hands a map over to us and crosses out with a pen 80% of the sections of the museum.

Her: These sections are closed, due to lack of funding. Only the artistic temporary exhibition is open.

Us: The close sections are the ones we are really interested in. Could we have our money back, please?

No History Museum for us. We have been pretty unsuccessful with our sightseeing today. Let’s try one more sight: The Palace of Parliament, the world’s second-largest building after the Pentagon. Another legacy from Ceausescu. To visit this building, we need to book a tour, and the last one is at 16.00. We may get there on time.

Nope! A miserable policeman stops us rudely at the gate.

Him: You can’t go any further. An important event is held here today and tomorrow.

Fine, we will try to book a tour online for when we come back from Moldova.

What should we do? There are a couple of museums on the way back to Dora. There is no time to get both done tonight, so we stop at the one it closes later: The National Village Museum, an open air museum with a collection of homestead, churches, mills and windmills, relocated from rural Romania.

The museum has been laid as a little village. A map outside each building indicates where it comes from and describes how it was built and when it was brought to the museum. The museum was put together back in the 1960’s.

Shame that some of the houses are closed to the visitors so you can only peer through the windows.

But the ones you can get in, a collection of furniture, costumes, icons and artwork typical of the region are displayed.

I find these premises quite interesting. Here, the future married couple used to live in each separate house. Once married, they could still keep both houses and allowed to live separately if they wished to do so, only getting together at night…

Me, trying to spot the objects inside this house.

Roofs made out of thatch, excellent insulation.

And this is how they used to pile up the hay from the fields.

Another method behind, that roof moves up and down dependent on how much hay there is. GDR

And what a quirky roof, for some other sort of store.

A church, there is always a church in a village.

Quirky little house, painted in blue. Probably from Transylvania. Most of the houses come from this vast, infamous region.

Underground houses which keeps you cool in the hot summers.

A watermill system to wash animal skins to make some clothes later on.

A children’s swing/ Ferris wheel

More windmills.

We have been here for two hours and we have still one more section to see, but the storm has now started proper. I think we should call it a day. We hurry up through the last houses.

This is another legacy of the communist era. These buildings are not copies. They moved the houses from the villages. Photographs show the original inhabitants happily smiling outside. Perhaps they got nice new communist houses, who knows. A remarkable collection in a very strange and abstract environment. GDR

We run to the bus stop and get back to Dora.

Tomorrow a bit more of Bucharest and departing to Moldova.

SM