Bucharest, Romania Previous | Books | Films | Index | 日本語 | Pics | Training | Next

29 May 2026 - Erlenbach

Bucharest is an old, old city but still very obviously a former communist capital city. Their claim to fame is one of the largest government buildings in the world, and you know that's true because it's on the Starbucks mug. My initial optimism from many happy travels in the former Eastern block was dashed with the discovery that the "hotel" I had booked online beforehand was a run-down, abandoned building and when I contacted them they just wanted more money. I found another hotel on foot, but was already out more that a hundred euros from this online deception. Throughout the rest of my trip in Romania I was more careful (no more bookings through hotels.com).

The Belorussian singer Макс Корж was to perform on Saturday, so even Wednesday night last week when I arrived his fans had flooded the old city where I was staying. They were singing and dancing in the street watched by a large Romanian police presence. It was energizing to see such happy young kids out enjoying themselves celebrating the music that they love. On Thursday night after work I went out and ended up sharing a table with a couple Ukrainians and an Israeli who were fans in town for the concert. Complaints from them about Netanyahu and Zelensky were, of course, forthcoming. All three were now expats like me, but in Romania. And there was a lot we could agree on, not just drinking beer but also the increasing enfeudalizing immigration systems of the world and that none of us completely agree with the leaders of our countries.

On my lunch break last Thursday I also visited an orthodox church that was clearly once an Ottoman mosque, although Bucharest seems mostly devoid of muslims unlike some other Balkan countries I've visited. At the National History Museum their big exhibit is the room filled with a giant replica of Trajan's column because it relates the story of the conquest of Dacia. The Dacian language is lost to history and probably also many of their genes during that conquest. Romanian is a language that evolved from Latin, but was written in Cyrillic for the centuries of the dominance of Old Church Slavonic in that region of Orthodoxy. Imagine if we started writing English in runes again! The museum also has an exhibit of the tragic battle of Stalingrad, where tens of thousands of Romanians lost their lives. They were fighting alongside Nazis when they were defeated. This unabashed celebration of the men that fought for their country in WWII despite being allied with the Nazis is a theme I also saw in churches throughout the Siebenbergen (Transylvania) region. Something I have never seen in Deutschland proper.

In the final analysis I would say that Bucharest is a fun city to visit. While I never felt unsafe, much of the old city is blighted and crumbling. The prostitution is also aggressive and young women are used everywhere to lure you into restaurants, shops, bars, and clubs. Be prepared to feel rude saying no if you are a polite American. The food is generally good and there are some excellent brewpubs (e.g. Ground Zero).