Walking the World: Bucharest • Hacker News Board

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#31

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 2:45 AM UTC

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…

Agreed, it sounds like a romanticized version of what the author would like to be true. A bit like the 'noble savage' myth. Life in Romania can be pretty harsh. I lived for two years in Bucharest, have seen most of the larger cities and a good bit of the countryside as well. Romania has some incredible wealth, a very rich culture but also terrible poverty and with every change in government things seem to oscillate between bad and terrible.

It is frustrating because the country has enormous potential but unlike say Poland or Czechia it hasn't managed to really capitalize on that potential. Still, it is doing substantially better than its Southern neighbor.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#32

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 2:50 AM UTC

pram wrote: post #29

Why is the Uranus neighborhood abandoned? Those buildings don’t look half bad.

There was a major push to flatten that whole neighborhood at some point during the Ceausescu regime, churches were demolished, and lots of other buildings too. There are to this date a lot of legal disputes about people whose land got stolen, formally the government owns it but there probably isn't a building there that doesn't have at least one claim against it. It is a huge mess, both legally and socially and I highly doubt it will be resolved in time for the people that suffered from it to be compensated, if that will happen at all it will be their children or grandchildren (assuming they keep the claims alive) that will benefit.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#33

Post by AdrianB1 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 3:15 AM UTC

Looking for the worst in a city is an interesting option, that is fair. But comparing the slums of various cities in Eastern Europe is almost useless, they are very similar. Yes, they are different than the slums of Rio de Janeiro or New Delhi or Cairo, but I don't see it as value added information.

I remember well the Bucharest when all these ugly blocks of flats were almost new, clean and less ugly; it is not nostalgia, but in most places Bucharest was looking a lot better 30-40 years ago than it does today: the wealthy places are rare and very not original, the average new housing areas are beyond chaotic and the lower end places are actually new, they practically did not exist at that time (not in the current form or shape).

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#34

Post by dustintrex » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 3:27 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #14

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/sea…

Most Communist countries had these.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning_in_communist_co...

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#35

Post by idiocrat » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:14 AM UTC

I think many times, what effect on people it will have, if those grey facades will be painted in bright positive colors (tastefully chosen).

Of course it is only painting over the problems, but it could give people energy to care about the surroundings, encourage change. Perhaps there are more effective city planning initiatives, but paint is relatively cheap.

Not related to Bucharest, I heard a story where during WWII liberation, an officer has packed lipsticks as an aid for concentration camp survivors. Restoring human dignity seem to have had a greater effect, than just to receive the necessities (food and clothes).

I see in Africa and India people are throwing garbage onto streets, they do not care about immediate surroundings. How helpful it would be generally for the health of a nation, if people would clean up just a little bit around themselves?

How difficult is it in fact to implement the "No Broken Windows" policy?

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#36

Post by razius » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 7:23 AM UTC

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…

No post body was provided.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#37

Post by visarga » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 7:24 AM UTC

Zickzack wrote: post #20

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 av…

> 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.

I am taking my supplies from such a shepherd from the Jina village. The cheese and smoked meats are truly amazing.

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#38

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 7:39 AM UTC

Muromec wrote: post #5

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.

Looks like pretty standard commie-block district to me. Outside is no man's land, it looks pretty dead and post-apocaliptic in winter, but with exception of few photos, it's all pretty livable and relatable. Last time I visited my parent's commie-block, it even looked lovely (during summer) with all the trees outside. It's insides of those housing projects, that are soul-crashing really.

[deleted]

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#39

Post by visarga » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 8:16 AM UTC

idiocrat wrote: post #35

I think many times, what effect on people it will have, if those grey facades will be painted in bright positive colors (tastefully chosen). Of course it is only painting over the problems, but it could give people energy to care about the surroundings, encourage change. Perhaps there are more effective city planning initiatives, but paint is relatively cheap. Not related to Bucharest, I heard a story where during WW…

> I think many times, what effect on people it will have, if those grey facades will be painted in bright positive colors (tastefully chosen).

Ah, you mean this? Similar renovations have been applied to most apartment blocks.

https://www.nwradu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bloc_nou_ve...

Re: Walking the World: Bucharest

#40

Post by abiro » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 9:48 AM UTC

Nice article overall, but worth mentioning that the Romanian nationalism the author finds so endearing also has a dark side that is often directed against the Hungarian minority.