Bucharest, full of life, art, culture and ……. traffic. We visit the Old Town, Palace of the Parliament and drive by the Acrul de Triumf.
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The Detail:
Parking 10 Lei per hour (about £2), or on-street parking 5 Lei per hour
To quote Wikipedia,
Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania. It is described as the cultural, financial, entertainment, and media centre in the country with a significant influence in Eastern and Southeastern Europe as well. It is also a city with a significant influence in terms of education, tourism, research, technology, health care, art, fashion, sports, and politics. It is located in the south-east of Romania, on the banks of the Dâmbovița river, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the border with Bulgaria. It is also one of the most populated cities of the European Union (EU) within city limits and the most populated capital in Southeastern Europe. It was the capital of Wallachia from 1659 to 1859 and the capital of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (Romanian United Principalities, later the Kingdom of Romania) from 1859 to 1881.
Going in to Bucharest
Reading about driving and parking in Bucharest is enough to make you think twice about driving into the city. It was apparently the most congested city in the world in 2021 based on the number of hours its residents lose per year due to congestion, 134 hours just sitting in traffic jams.
Furthermore, parking is and has been for a long time a major issue. As of 1st March all on street parking is charged at 5 Lei per hour or 30 Lei for a day. But finding a place can be challenging as there are more cars than available parking spaces, 5 cars to each space.
With that in mind, we arrived late afternoon and parked just within the city limits about thirty minutes from the centre at a park just off Aleea Privighetorilor. Surprisingly quiet and surrounded by woodland we slept well ready for our day in the centre,
We decided to pre-program the Sat Nav with the places we wanted to see and the car park we wanted plus a way out if we were unable to park or got overwhelmed by the traffic. We opted for a more expensive one with a security guard, simply because it was more likely to have space and be somewhere safe for our home.
Arcul de Triumf
In the event, the journey in wasn’t too bad. We managed to drive around the Arcul de Triumf (five lanes on the approach and around the Arcul) and find the car park close to the old town without too much trouble. Yes, it was busy, but at least things were moving.
Palace of the Parliament
We parked up and walked to the hugely impressive Palace of the Parliament Building.
Approached down a tree-lined boulevard with central fountains it is rather spectacular.
It is a relatively new building, ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989), the president of Communist Romania. It was designed by a team of approximately 700 architects, and constructed over a period of 13 years (1984–97) in Socialist realist and modernist Neoclassical architectural forms and styles.
Centru Vechi (the Old Centre)
From the Parliament Building it was just a short walk to the old town of Bucharest.
Centru Vechi (the Old Centre) is the historical centre of Bucharest. It covers a relatively small area and is easy to see on foot. There are many old buildings built in the neoclassical and neo-baroque styles to see as you wander around.
The Stavropoleos Church is one of the most beautiful buildings in the Old Town. The church is almost three centuries old, built in the ‘Brancovenesc’ style from the early 18th century.
The streets are lined with shops, restaurants and cafes and is a bustling hive of activity during the day. But it is at night that it really comes to life. It is for its nightlife that the Old Town is best known although we beat a hasty retreat well before then.
Leaving Bucharest
It was on the journey out of town that we saw why the city has such a bad reputation for traffic. It was around 2.15 pm when we left the car park. To get to the outskirts of the city is a journey of about 19 kilometres. A journey that should have taken about 30 minutes. At 5.00 pm we were just approaching the city limits. The traffic was horrendous, with large parts of the city roads at a complete standstill. I’m only glad that we didn’t try during rush hour. We probably would still be there now.
At the risk of repeating myself, we are not city people. However, traffic aside, Bucharest is a lovely city, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
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