So why the title of this post then? Turns out Bucharest is famous (even notoriously so in the past) for the many stray dogs wandering the streets, living in parks and putting the traffic on the main roads and boulevards slightly at risk with their "random walks" (quick ref. here to B. Malkiel and his work). Nevertheless, these dogs don't tend to be dangerous as they're mostly "doing their own thing" ... as a matter of precaution though, one just ought to avoid them (you never know!). Travelling by ones self is really not the ideal scenario for a rabies-infected dog bite. It just surprised me how this was a phenomenon in Bucharest and no other capitals of Southern and Eastern Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Apparently, the population of stray dogs in Bucharest totals c. 1 million (although this figure is thought to be rapidly declining over the years) and is, in part, explained by Ceausescus' urban development planning of Bucharest, which led to many inhabitants moving to newly-developed housing estates where they could not have dogs. They thus left them on the streets. Decades and natural mammal reproduction must explain the build-up to today's landscape.
As I mentioned in my previous post on Sofia, I took the night train over to Bucharest. I was initially meant to stay the night in Bucharest as I had planned to leave Sofia in the morning. But the rakia effect inevitably made me miss my train (I did get to the train station on time - well 1 or 2 minutes late) and had another day in Sofia until the night train departed to Bucharest. The train was actually departing from Sofia and going all the way to Kiev and Moscow. I managed to be placed in a 4-person cabin which I had all to myself for the whole trip (I have shared some pics below of the cool compartment I had all to myself). Turned out to be one of the best sleeps I have had so far on this trip. A solid 8 hours sleep, only interrupted by customs/border/ticket control at c. 3am upon entering Romania, and was all rested up to visit Bucharest. Given that I have a certain itinerary to follow (albeit flexible, I still had plenty to see and do before flying out of Warsaw on 13 March) I could not afford to spend the night. Nevertheless, arriving at 6am gave me over 12 hours to see the city before I hoped on the train to Budapest at c. 7pm that same day. I left my big backpack in the baggage check at the train station and Canon in hand started walking around the city. It was rather early and bit chillier than Sofia and the precedent countries I had visited. Reminded me of Belgrade in that sense. Must have been a good -5C for most of the day, but with gloves, scarf and hat... "impossible is nothing" (thanks adidas - TM) at this point. The city has a population of c. 2m and his, by far, the largest of the cities I had visited until then. It was very much an exhausting day but well worth it in the end. Took plenty of pictures and had a great time. I was particularly surprised by the blend of architecture styles on display across the city. As with many of the Balkan and SEE/CEE countries one can feel the heritage of different time periods, cultural influences and, for that matter, political "orientation". Romania, in particular, had a rather oppressive regime in the 1965-1989 time period under the leadership of Ceausescu. Like many contemporary despots, he aimed to highlight the cult to his personality by "leaving a mark" on the country. This, at the time, was well accomplished by his megalomaniac urban policy, which lead him to reconstruct many parts of the city of Bucharest. The clearest illustration could be the mammoth he built in downtown Bucharest (see pic below), designed in a Soviet-like style and which now houses the Romanian parliament, and the wide boulevard leading up to it which, some people argue, he designed to replicate the Champs Elysees in Paris. As with Sofia (and I as discussed in my previous post), one could notice the vibe present in Bucharest, in particular since the EU accession in 2007. Overall, I only miss not having spent the night to discover a bit more and enjoy the night "ambiance". I had to continue my travels, this time heading to Budapest (Hungary), where I was planning to stay for 2 nights and 2 days.
By the way, did you know that Bucharest has its very own Arc de Triomphe (Arcul de Triumf) which is very similar in size and design to the one in Paris and which was erected in 1922 as a memorial to the Romanian soldiers who had lost their lives during WWI? Also, did you know that it was first built out of wood and the current granite structure was erected in 1935? Pics below!
Until my post re. Budapest (which, believe me, you won't want to miss!), I will leave you with some visuals of Bucharest. Now time to enjoy Bratislava. Stay tuned for further updates.
pv
