Bucharest

Lake Herastrau in Bucharest. The Village Museum is on the western shore of this lake.

One of the most interesting sights in Bucharest is the Village Museum, located close to the Arc de Triumf (Bucharest’s answer to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) and situated on the shores of Lake Herăstrău, adjacent to Herăstrău Park. The museum provides visitors with a look at how people lived in rural Romania for centuries. For more information on other sights in Bucharest click here.

Note the intracate fence design - a lot of work if you had a large farm!

Note the intracate fence design – a lot of work to build and maintain if you had a large farm!

The open air museum contains a number of homesteads with houses, barns, farm implements, churches, water mills, windmills and presses from around Romania.

This type of home was very practical - half buried, so it remained cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Also was easier to disguise during Ottoman raids. Plus less maintenance - few walls to paint!

This type of home was very practical – half buried, so it remained cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It was also easier to disguise during Ottoman raids. Plus, less maintenance – few exterior walls to paint!

I was impressed with the highly decorated wooden churches, with various biblical scenes on the interior walls.

A 18th century wooden church. High decorated interior.

A 18th century wooden church, with the brightly decorated interior.

Another view of the same 18th century church.

Many of the homes are open for touring, and local guides dressed in period costumes provide information on life in 17th and 18th century Romania.

Another example of a homestead with the living accomodations on the 2nd floor.

An example of a home with the living accomodations on the 2nd floor.

Interior of a typical rural home in Romania.

I found the barns and sheds interesting with examples of tools and farm implements used hundreds of years ago, and in some cases still in use! Much of the farm work today in Romania continues to be done manually, with horses and carts also providing some families’ transportation.

Farm shed. Note the extensive use of thatched roofing.

Farm shed. There was extensive use of thatched roofing, not only on this shed but also on other buildings.

The museum was founded in 1936, and I think it was a smart idea–to save these buildings from the past as a way to preserve the heritage of the people of Romania, and to ensure future generations have the opportunity to see what life was like in an earlier day. Plan at least three hours to wander through this museum and park.

Until I visited this museum, I didn’t know that windmills were pretty common in southern Romania in medieval times.

At the end of our wonderful trip to Romania, we spent a couple days exploring Bucharest. We stayed in an apartment on the south side of the city, within walking distance to one of the main squares (Piata Unirii) where the tourist “hop on, hop off” buses depart (25 lei per person for the round trip), and close to several sights. The Bucharest airport is on the north side of the city, about 30 minutes from downtown.

On the open-air hop on, hop off bus tour of Bucharest.

Paris? No, but almost – Bucharest’s Triumphal Arch. Built in 1935 to commemorate the reunification of Romania in 1918. For a fee, you can climb to the top.

The Romanians love the late Michael Jackson, even though when here on tour he said “Hello Budapest, I’m so glad to be here.” Oops.

Having been to many European capitals I will admit that Bucharest doesn’t make my top 10; however, it still has a number of interesting sights, the two primary ones being the Parliament Palace and the Village Museum. I will cover the Village Museum in a separate post.

Palace of Parliament

The front view of the Palace of Parliament.

“Huge” is an understatement. The Palace of the Parliament is the 2^nd largest building in the world after the Pentagon, and was built in 1984 in the latter days of the Communist Regime under the dictator Ceauşescu. On our tour we saw less than 2% of the building. It is 12 stories high, has 1,100 rooms and four underground levels including a nuclear bunker. About 20,000 workers labored around the clock to build it in 5 years.

One of the grand hallways in the Palace.

One of the hallways in the Palace.

One massive staircase had to be rebuilt 3 times before Ceauşescu was satisfied. The saddest part is that for the cost of this immense building much could have been done to help the very poor average Romanian at the time.

One of the grand staircases in the Palace.

A grand staircase in the Palace.

One of the grand reception rooms in the Palace.

One of the Palace’s reception rooms in which foreign dignitaries were met.

The 2.5 ton chandelier in the Human Rights Hall of the Palace.

Tips on visiting the Palace: Tours are conducted regularly and advance reservations are generally required. We lucked in to an English-speaking tour without reservations by arriving about 45 minutes early in the off season (May). Since this is still a functioning government building, they are very strict in regards to picture taking—security cameras are everywhere, and wandering off from the tour group is not allowed. Not wanting to spend time in a Romanian prison, I paid attention to our tour guide’s requirements. The cost was 25 lei per person plus 30 lei for a photography pass (about 3 lei per USD).

Looking east from the famous balcony of the Palace, towards the Piata Constitutiei.

Bucharest’s Old Quarter

Another interesting area undergoing refurbishment is the city’s old quarter, not far from the Palace. There are many restaurants here, and a few historical sites such as the Princely Old Court Church, and some 15^th century ruins.