First Impressions of Bucharest

My previous perceptions of Bucharest, and Romania in general, were completely blown out of the water as soon as I set foot into the city. In fact, even upon border control I was surprised as I crossed from Belgrade to Bucharest by rail how tight everything was, i.e. I didn’t expect them to be so vigilant. Yet again, as I travel, I am surprised by my own ignorance, and how I can form such a silly opinion. Romania is not the under developed country I thought it was. On the train customs came on, doubled checked our passports, had us all of the train, searched our bags, and even took apart the inside of the train and seats with drills searching for people who may have been trying to sneak in illegally. At the time, I must admit, my thoughts were along the lines of – “surely people would be trying to smuggle out not in”, but as soon as I touched down in Bucharest I felt annoyed at myself for thinking thoughts so disrespectful to the local people. This is why I’m glad I travel. It blows any perceptions, ignorance, and pre-conceived ideas out of the window.

Old Vs New

In Bucharest there was a definite sense of a culture clash between different age groups here. You had the young(ish) businessmen & women walking around in crisp designer suits. You had teenagers, and young people in their 20′s walking around in cool, fashionable clothing… no doubt costing much more than what I was wearing, but then you had the elderly people… I saw so many old people out on the streets selling things at markets. Most of them looked very poor, and had the old gypsy style Romanian vibe about them, which until I actually came to Bucharest was the only previous experience I’d ever had of Romanian people. It was like Bucharest was changing. There was new life being breathed into the city. It was emerging strong from a time when things were not so good for the local people, but unfortunately in my experiences there, the older generation were getting left behind.

Stray Dogs

I’d heard a lot about the stray dog problem in Bucharest before I came, and I must admit, I was a little wary when I stepped out and saw all these dogs wandering about. It can be intimidating when you’re about to walk down a dark street and all you can see is the silhouette of a big dog down the bottom. Throw in some barking and there’s no chance I’m walking down there. The reality for me however was that actually, the stray dogs I came across in Bucharest were not at all aggressive. They’re not afraid just to walk right past you up close. They’re used to people, but if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you in my experience.

What I actually found in general was that the only dogs who acted aggressively were the one’s stuck behind a garden gate, and that were actually someone’s pet! I have a theory on this though… I have two dogs back home. They are very friendly, lovable, pet dogs. However, dogs by nature are territorial, and if they hear the sound of another animal or strange footsteps near the garden gate in the middle of the night they start barking. It’s a particular type of bark too. Pet dogs in Bucharest I found to be much more aggressive. I guess they have a territory to defend. With the strays however, they don’t have somewhere they call their own, so I guess there is no territory so to speak to defend.

I really hope that as Bucharest continues to develop that the local government, council, or equivalent really makes a push to try and re home these dogs or get them off the streets. I say this both for the benefit of the animals, and the city.

Bucharest Palace

I spent half a day wandering in and around Bucharest Palace while I was there. What I didn’t realise was that this is actually the “Palace of the Parliament”, i.e. it’s a main government building. To get inside you have to through a lot of security, and you are not allowed access to certain parts. I also accidentally bumped into a security, black out windows style car as I was walking in. Everyone who worked there looked at me worriedly as I did so, before averting their eyes and getting on with their work. I had to leave before the person could get out the car, so god knows who was in it? I may have just bumped into the most important man or woman in Romania! Who knows? Nevertheless, it’s a huge building that is important to Bucharest so it’s worth a visit if you’re there.

 Crazy Jumbled Architecture

When you get away from the main square and head into the more residential areas of Bucharest city centre, it’s almost bizarre how the architecture of the ordinary buildings are represented. You’d have semi-detached buildings, one about 2 foot bigger than the other. Terraced buildings which looked like they’d originally been built as stand alone flats, and then someone joined out with different brickwork at a later date with no real effort to make them look the same. I kind of liked the mish mash. It was cool. One building would be old and falling apart, another renovated to look completely different, and another completely brand new, again, nothing like anything else on the street. It made it interesting I guess, in a jumbled, non-conformed sort of way.

Doors Hostel

I stayed at Doors Hostel while I was in Bucharest, who very kindly let me stay for free during my 4 nights in the city. I can honestly say they are one of the coolest hostels I have ever stayed at. Any hostel that has pets is always cool in my book, but the kitten was especially cute. The main reason I loved this place though was the cool, hippy-eske hangout common room areas. They also had a really cool garden, which I can imagine in summer would be a great place to hang out in when the weather is better, and it’s not just me who says this place is great. They also get really good ratings and reviews on both HostelBookers and HostelWorld. I highly recommend staying there.

If you’d like to read more about my “first impressions”, check out my First Impressions of Budapest, or Belgrade.