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Walking the World: Bucharest

intellectualinting.substack.com

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Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#11

Post by paganel »

As a Bucharest resident I must say this is so cool on so many levels, especially glad that the author realised this:

> and a poorer southern half, so I focused on the south, because wealthy neighborhoods, no matter the country, are pretty much the same.

pretty early on, it took me a few years of living here to actually notice that difference, I used to be blind to it for one reason or another.

Also, for the people that really digged the photos with the apartment blocks I shamelessly leave a link with my IG profile [1], I use to post such photos in there from time to time (plus some other, mostly architectural stuff).

There's also a book written especially on the Southern districts of Bucharest (mostly Berceni), called "The Other City. Places and Stories from Bucharest-South" [2]. It's in both Romanian and English, I haven't personally read it even though it's somewhere on my book-shelves but it's written by people that deeply care about this city so I can vouch for it.

[1] https://www.instagram.com/mihaitc/

[2] https://carturesti.ro/carte/celalalt-oras-locuri-si-povesti-...

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#12

Post by bserge »

beebeepka wrote: post #9
323 wrote: post #2

Just know that not all of Bucharest looks like this. Looking at his other entries, he seems interested in visiting the more poor/neglected places of a city, which is fair.

That's what I always do. I don't care about museums and tourist traps. No, I want to see the real thing, check out how people live. There's plenty of shit (literally and figuratively) everywhere I've been but I haven't seen northern Europe and Switzerland.

Yeah, seeing how the poorest fare is the best way to judge the development level of a country.

Indeed, if you're wealthy, you're gonna be living great anywhere.

But look at the poorest people, are they homeless? Do they struggle to afford food and electricity? Do they have the means to get to work and back? Health care? That's the true measure of a society imo.

I'll also add that in this case the buildings may be old and look straight out of a post apocalyptic movie, but they can be quite liveable inside.

And there's more space and green stuff around, compared to the newer (car centric I'd say) blocks.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#13

Post by walrus01 »

vladharbuz wrote: post #6

I'm from Bucharest, and I've always felt like, if you ask Romanians whether they're happy to be Romanian, most will reply in the negative, and describe being born in Romania as a misfortune. There's a popular song from a while back that goes “we weren't born in the right place”. [0] The author describes the feeling of unity amidst unfortunate circumstances as bringing the Romanian people together and giving them “a s…

Would you say that the people unhappy in general to be Romanian are due to the economic situation in the country, from the breakup of the soviet union until now, as compared to some of the more prosperous/high-income countries in Europe? Or is it some sort of more generalized malaise?

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#14

Post by walrus01 »

those ugly soviet standardized design concrete apartment blocks in bucharest have a cousin in Kabul, called the "macroyan". Some of them have now been fixed up and are part of the more desirable apartment/condo real estate because they're near the center of the city, and generally known as a nice community to raise your family.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/asia/kabul-afghanis...

https://www.google.com/search?q=kabul+macroyan&client=firefo...

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#16

Post by vladharbuz »

walrus01 wrote: post #13
vladharbuz wrote: post #6

I'm from Bucharest, and I've always felt like, if you ask Romanians whether they're happy to be Romanian, most will reply in the negative, and describe being born in Romania as a misfortune. There's a popular song from a while back that goes “we weren't born in the right place”. [0] The author describes the feeling of unity amidst unfortunate circumstances as bringing the Romanian people together and giving them “a s…

Would you say that the people unhappy in general to be Romanian are due to the economic situation in the country, from the breakup of the soviet union until now, as compared to some of the more prosperous/high-income countries in Europe? Or is it some sort of more generalized malaise?

It's obviously difficult to sum it up, but there are two main factors that come to mind. The first is the economic situation you mentioned, along with the fatigue that comes with the feeling of working a lot but still not being able to afford much. The second is a general feeling of distrust in the government and politicians, a sense that you're being ripped off by corrupt politicians putting money into their own pockets, and a lack of hope towards any of that getting better.

The knowledge that these problems are not as painful in more modern nations such as the US or Switzerland contributes to a feeling of "being left out". Not that the problems don't exist there, but the less you have the more painful they are. For example, old people in Romania often live on a pension of almost literally nothing.

I don't want to paint too gloomy of a picture though. There are definitely worse things than walking around Bucharest's old town with friends and a shaorma. :)

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#17

Post by golemiprague »

Veen wrote: post #10
drclau wrote: post #7

This creates an incredibly unbalanced view of Bucharest, honestly. Bucharest is a very diverse city, with a rich architecture, and the authors of the post seem to have focused strictly on poor neighbourhoods and communist-built apartment buildings. Such a missed opportunity.

I’ve never understood the fascination with communist-era and brutalist architecture among Western Europeans and Americans of a particular political persuasion. There’s so much more to Middle and Eastern European architecture than that. But I guess it’s not cool to go around photographing the beautiful 18th and 19 century architecture all the capital cities in that region have.

I have found them both fascinating, the city centres are beautiful and the soviet era hoods also have their own charm and it is very interesting for someone who haven't seen it before. It is just natural curiosity and has nothing to do with political affiliation.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#18

Post by oblak »

drclau wrote: post #7

This creates an incredibly unbalanced view of Bucharest, honestly. Bucharest is a very diverse city, with a rich architecture, and the authors of the post seem to have focused strictly on poor neighbourhoods and communist-built apartment buildings. Such a missed opportunity.

The guy is not doing a piece on Romania on national TV. Photos look like they could've been made in any eastern block country.

I don't understand the conscious need to present your own at its possible best at any opportunity. It's good that seeing the ugly make you feel uneasy. Ignoring it serves no good purpose

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#19

Post by baby »

drclau wrote: post #7

This creates an incredibly unbalanced view of Bucharest, honestly. Bucharest is a very diverse city, with a rich architecture, and the authors of the post seem to have focused strictly on poor neighbourhoods and communist-built apartment buildings. Such a missed opportunity.

Looking at the pictures it looks like Bucharest to me. At least it looks like the Bucharest my friends are living in (not the downtown Bucharest that tourists might stay at)

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#20

Post by Zickzack »

I generally agree with the sentiments in the article. However, when it comes to the following, I beg to differ:

> I always find it funny when people go to a place like Romania and then go out of their way to eat what is labeled as traditional Romanian food. So they go to some fancy place in the tourist district that serves expensive dishes nobody eats anymore.

I find it funny when peple go to a foreign country and avoid the traditional food. It is one of the big mistakes. Yes, the locals will often - especially in Romania - point you to a pseudo Italian restaurant when you ask them for a recommendation. In the likely case that you like Italian food, do not go there.

My first visit to a Romanian restaurant was a cheap place at the northern trainstation in Bucharest on my way to Transylvania. The other guests were working class people, half of them missing teeth. The toilet was a hole in the ground. The place served Romanian food only. It was the day when my love story with ciorba de burtă started. This love story is not entirely mutual because my attempts to create something that tastes like the Romanian original are not satisfactory.

I have travelled all over Romania in the following years. Restaurants in the center of known tourist locations are to be avoided. The rest is excellent.

One of the secrets of Romanian food in the countryside is that there are still semi-nomadic shepherds taking care of herds of cows and sheep. Meat of similar quality is hard to find in Western Europe. These herds travel through regions where there are still bears and wolf packs, by the way. As for vegetables, the people in the countryside have not yet understood what glory Monsanto holds for them. This will change, I am afraid.

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