Europe - Bragging about Bucharest

Image: VictorCozmei licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

What a surprise arriving on Sunday evening in Bucharest, the capital of Romania - firstly it was 35 degrees Celcius in eaarly June! A week or so ago it was still winter there - August temperatures had arrived early.

Secondly, the roads and streets are wide boulevards, lined with trees and plenty of parks; we passed the Arch of Triumph, then many elegant French style buildings. When we wandered through the old town in the evening, it was abuzz with noisy bars, tables spilling out onto the pavements filled with diners.

We enjoyed dinner at the Van Gogh Cafe - the walls covered with Vincent’s artworks, all copies - a sheer delight nonetheless. We’d arrived in Little Paris!

During the 1920s and 1930s Bucharest was one of Europe’s most avant-garde cities and became known as Little Paris. French influence was the hype until the mid 20th century - a time when younger men studied in Paris, returning with a strong desire for change.

The local aristocracy wanted to replace the Turkish influence (the Ottoman’s ruled for 200 years up to 1877) with a French lifestyle, French-inspired fashion, French architects contributed to urban development, restaurant menus contained French words, many diaries written in those times are in French, and French artists frequently toured Bucharest.

The Van Gogh Cafe; Art Deco shop fronts; shaded leafy streets; Bucharest’s Arch of Triumph; Elegant Parisian buildings and streets; An Orthodox Church near our hotel; The ice creams expensive at Gelateria La Roma, instead I bought one at the convenience store - such a hot evening and the queue was long - I’d eaten it before getting to the cash register! Photos: Jane

Our hotel was close to the old town and on Monday morning we joined a 2-hour walking tour. We started at Hangul Manuc, a restaurant well known for its Romanian food, located in what had been a caravanserai.

Built in 1808, it’s one of just 3 that remain in Bucharest - back in the day 30 caravanserais served as resting places for travellers - some surviving the arduous journey hunting for polar bears in Siberia for their fur, while others traded along the Silk Road.

Victory Avenue, also known as Calea Victoriei is compared to the Champs Élysées with its exclusive boutiques and lined with impressive buildings: the Romanian Athenaeum, the National Museum of Art of Romania, National History Museum and Telephone Palace.

Top - Hangul Manuc - once a caravanserai; Centre & Bottom: around Revolution Square - a mix of French and Soviet style buildings. Photos: Jane

The old town is filled with French inspired buildings - some may be a little shabby but remain grand and elegant. Rich facades, laced window frames, elegant yet monumental symmetry, awning-covered front entrances, and decorated wrought-iron gates.

At one end Palace Square, now renamed as Revolution Square after the successful outcome of the bloody Romanian Revolution in 1989 - it was here, in Romanian Communist Party Headquarters that Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife fled by helicopter - a few days later they were both executed, ending his 22 years of harsh communist rule.

On gaining power, Nicolae Ceausescu implemented quite liberal rules, such as easing press censorship which made him popular with the people. However, this was short lived, heavily influenced by a visit to North Korea and his totalitarian rule became the most repressive in the Eastern Bloc.

Romanians have had a rough time - prior to WWII great poverty and fascism. Bucharest was heavily bombed during the latter part of World War II. The communist authorities installed by the Soviet Union at the end of the war made their mark and today there are still many rundown soviet style buildings and vacant lots where buildings were destroyed.

In 1977 the biggest earthquake in the city’s history killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed many buildings. This gave Nicolae Ceausescu the chance to remodel the city - extending Unirii Boulevard, lined with fountains a further 1km to make it longer than the Champs Élysées.

He cleared 9sq kms of land, moved or destroyed churches and relocated 50,000 people, to build his Palace of Parliament, the ultimate symbol of his megalomania. It’s the 2nd largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon and can even be seen from the moon!

Today Romania has a democratic, multi-party system, with legislative power vested in the government and the two chambers of Parliament.

Top: Shop and cafe in Old Town; Palace of Parliament. Centre and Bottom: plenty of street art and graffiti around. Photos: Jane

We saw banners all over town advertising a Salvador Dalí Exhibition - how wonderful we were in Bucharest at the right time. All the works, signed by Dali are from a private collection belonging to the art collector Beniamino Levi who met the artist in the 1960s and commissioned a series of bronze sculptures inspired by the best-known motifs and themes of the surrealist imaginary.

The 170 exhibits include sculptures, graphics, engravings, lithographs, gold miniatures, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and glass, and surreal furniture. We thoroughly enjoyed the extensive selection from this fascinating surrealist artist and to learn more about his life.

A selection of works at the Dali Exhibition. Top - Surrealist Angel; Woman with a head of roses; Dalinian Dancer, whose rhythms denote Dalí’s homage to flamenco and his native lands. Centre: Poster; Mae West Lip Sofa. Bottom: Winged Angel - 18 carat gold; Dance of Time III; Dance of Time II - also 18 carat gold. Photos taken at the exhibition by Jane.

A Virtual Reality experience was included, something I had never done. A magical 3D movie which included a segment on Dali’s famous painting - Perception of Memory. I love Dali’s melting clocks, which are among his many symbols, which also include the egg, ants, elephants, even Alice in Wonderland. A terrific end to our first full day in Bucharest.

I became quite intrigued by Salvador Dali when I visited a fantastic exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria - 2009. He is quite a controversial character and its difficult to comprehends his unusual thinking. Nevertheless he was a genius - photographer, painter, sculptor, designed exquisite jewellery and even made movies.

Browsing the internet I found an exhibition of his work currently on in McLaren Vale at Darenburg Winery located on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.

Salvador Dali Exhibition | McLaren Vale | d’Arenberg
Salvador Dali Exhibition at d’Arenberg Winery in McLaren Vale

It is so easy to be consumed with learning more of Dali and soon we will publish a post on this fascinating artist, however we are in Romania and my travels continue - tomorrow I share a day roaming the Romanian countryside and visiting Dracula's castle in Transylvania.