Views of Bucharest

Some destinations are just not on the tourist radar for people. The guidebooks don’t talk about them and it rarely makes it onto people’s to-travel list. I think it’s one of the reasons that pulled me to visit Romania. I always had a curiosity for this country even though I knew little about it.

The only exposure to Romania I ever had was through a family friend who fled his small village for Canada in 2001 for a better life. He would retell us his story of survival, hiding in a small stowaway container on a boat that was bound for the east coast of Canada. He and seven other men spent nine long days inside that container until it docked in Halifax with nothing more than some water to sip on and the shirts on their back.  They were escaping the impoverished conditions that still lingered, even after years of communism. Before I landed I had pictured the city with rubble and bad road conditions,

But Bucharest pleasantly surprised me, from its rooftop views to the Old Town, the food and alternative corners. Even bad parking jobs in Bucharest were worth visiting for.

The view from our apartment over Piața Romană. 

Economic and social development after the collapse of communism 25 years ago is a slow transition. States don’t change overnight, especially after a dictatorship but Bucharest today is bustling and a more modern city than it used to be.

In post-communist Bucharest, billboards advertise commercial products like Dove, H&M, and Samsung.

Street art near the main train station means there is an emerging youth and creative scene.

The Old Town