Escape to myself

This has been an amazing day … two day trips exploring Bucharest’s turbulent past and its effect on the city and its development from medieval times to the present. My guides are passionate about their city and unflinching in exploring it with us.

A trip through Bucharest’s history

This mornings guide was Stefan who lead us with humour and knowledge through Bucharest’s early development and showed us many hidden gems; sixteenth century churches, Ottoman Brancovanesc style and orthodox, the majority religion here. While much has been destroyed by war, fire and communism much still remains and the French style of the nineteenth century buildings is testament to the progress made in the newly founded Romania of the last years of that period. Grand and ostentatious they are an indicator of the drive to establish a capital worthy of the name; public buildings, the National Bank, a palace, Post Office and the University all date from this pre-WW1 period.

The second tour with Laura took in twentieth century Bucharest from problems of WW1, the interwar years, Fascism, WW2, Communism and the 1989 Revolution. Often inspiring and frequently harrowing these accounts of the struggles of a new nation to establish its own identity continue. An excellent guide I learned much. Our tour ended with a monstrous monument to egotism and hubris: The Parliament building, built on the suffering of a nation.

To end it is worth remembering that Bucharest is a green city of parks and trees and rather beautiful.

A really fascinating day with two really interesting groups: Tomas from Chile, Kim from South Korea and I had a good lunch together in an excellent restaurant and later wandered the city. I also met a mother snd daughter from Telford!