The Paris of the East

I've been told that Bucharest is called "The Paris of the East," and I never quite understood why anyone would call it that. Much of the city is made up of ugly concrete apartment buildings and equally unattractive edifices. During the communist period, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu destroyed entire neighborhoods full of beautiful old homes and churches in order to remake the city as he wanted it. As a result, Bucharest is home to the Palace of the People (now called the Palace of the Parliament), which is the second largest building in the world, and Bulavardul Unirii, the central street of Bucharest, which is exactly one meter wider than the Champs-Elysees in Paris. But on the other hand, it is lacking much of the grandeur and beauty that led people to compare it to Paris. One of my new friends here, Radu, used to be a tour guide for German tourists, and he was kind enough to show me some of the sights of the "Old City," a beautiful neighborhood of buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. It survived the communist period, even if some of the buildings are a bit out of repair. Looking at these beautiful streets, I can start to see why someone would call Bucharest the Paris of the East.




This is the CEC Bank building. It was originally the national bank of Romania, which was founded after the Kingdom of Romania gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire. The first people to make deposits at this bank were the King and Queen of Romania. They wanted to inspire confidence in the national bank, so they both opened accounts there.


Here is the Romanian History Museum. I'm looking forward to seeing the inside of it!




Strada Lipscani, the Street of the Lipscans, is so called because in the 19th century it was home to many stores run by merchants from Leipzig, Germany.




Valea Regilor, The Valley of the Kings, is a small walking-street full of restaurants and cafes serving Mediteranian and Near Eastern food. The street is covered will a stained glass roof, which ends in a beautiful dome: