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Walking the World: Bucharest

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Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#21

Post by csbartus »

Surreal and hallucinating, as in real life:

"Meanwhile, a few yards away, a mother, dressed in leather pants, knee-high boots, and with bleach blond hair, oblivious to it all, supervises her kids, dressed in knock-off Disney snow outfits despite there being no snow, playing on an immaculately clean and neon bright playground set, while texting on a gigantic phone. All punctuated by the constant sound of the kids tossing fireworks into the cement blocks."

Every time I visit Bucharest it fills me with such memories.

If you want to immerse yourself into Romanian realism please enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/c/THECINEPUB_filme_romanesti_online

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#22

Post by haloblue »

I spent a few weeks in Bucharest and many other parts of the country about 10 years ago. Also spent a day wandering around this building learning everything I possibly could about it. Truly enjoyed the trip, the people, the culture, the history and the food. Amazing place and people.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#23

Post by kubb »

> It is really hard to look at it and not see it as a physical manifestation of all that was wrong with Communism.

This strikes me as a limited way to perceive things. History is complex, and the conditions leading up to the construction of such buildings deserve a bit more consideration than "yup that communism sure was bad" by an American tourist.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#24

Post by hedgehog »

The concrete apartment blocks in that region can look grim from the outside but are frequently well-engineered and nice to live in. The interior layouts are pretty decent with balconies and cross-ventilation, and the use of massive amounts of concrete make them much quieter than US-style wood frame apartments. I suspect one of the design strategies was to use more material to allow use of lower-skill labor under the communist central planning mindset (student work parties etc). The neighborhood layouts also tend to be walkable with shops, playgrounds, transit, libraries, etc all very close.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#26

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

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’m in this camp, so I can tell you one perspective. It’s got nothing to do with political persuasion. It has everything to do with novelty and curiosity of the strange and different.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#27

Post by GekkePrutser »

Wow he's really been around. I visited Bucharest a lot for work and as always on business trips I love walking around and exploring every night. And not just the center. I love seeing how people live and travel, to use local transport systems instead of sitting in the hotel at night and using taxis. The metro in Bucharest is much faster and probably safer than taxis anyway :)

However my local colleagues always cautioned me against going to places like Ferentari. I'm surprised the author felt safe there. From what they made it sound like I couldn't set foot there without getting stabbed :) I have to say I was also intrigued. But as a Western European I'm not sure if I would be able to accurately identify risks in a really bad area so I didn't go.

But perhaps even locals don't visit these areas much so they might not know what they're really like? It does certainly look like a place that would make most people turn around.

But I agree. The rich places always look the same. I don't want to see another mall or McDonald's :)

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#30

Post by jacquesm »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #27

Wow he's really been around. I visited Bucharest a lot for work and as always on business trips I love walking around and exploring every night. And not just the center. I love seeing how people live and travel, to use local transport systems instead of sitting in the hotel at night and using taxis. The metro in Bucharest is much faster and probably safer than taxis anyway :) However my local colleagues always cautio…

Would have been hilarious if we had run into each other there and never realized it :)

I've lived there for two years total, still have fond memories of all the parks and the beauty behind the grime.

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