A tip I have about this place — 1 year ago
This is a difficult city to visit. Although there are tourist guides about it, you should really see it with someone who knows the city well. Otherwise you might find nothing interesting to see here. Even a lot of the people living here wouldn’t know what is worth visiting…
A few of the places:
A few of the places:
- Palatul Parlamentului (“Parlament’s Palace”, formerly known as Casa Poporului: “People’s House”) – this is suggested by most guides. It’s the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon (very close to it; Ceausescu wanted it to be the largest in the world, but accurate information about the Pentagon’s size was confidential). It’s big, ugly and forever unfinished, but still an impressive site. What is worth visiting for though is the new National Museum of Contemporary Art which is located inside the building (sepparate entrance, you may want to ask around for directions)
- Lipscani – this is what is left of the old Bucharest (which was world renowned for it’s beauty, and was called “Little Paris”). It’s buildings are very deteriorated now, but it’s still nice to wander around the alleys. It’s mostly inhabited by gipsies and very poor people, and this gives a powerful contrast between what once was and what is now Lipscani… There are a lot of antique shops here (mostly on Covaci street), and also in this area is Curtea Sticlarilor (courtyard of the glassmakers), located on Şelari street, where you can watch glassmakers at work.
- Muzeul Ţăranului Român (“Museum of the Romanian Peasant”) – all things related to the rural life in Romania. The museum also holds fares before and during important holidays, where you can buy traditional Romanian items (made and sold by Romanian peasants). Also interesting to see here is Ciuma Roşie (“The Red Plague”), located at the basement of the building. You can see here some of the items showcased by the earlier Communist History Museum (housed by the same building during the communist era).
- Grădina Cişmigiu (“Cişmigiu Garden”) – the oldest (1847) and largest (17 ha = 42 acres) public park of the city center with a lake, sitting benches and chess boards. Nice place to spend a lazy afternoon. Here you can see Rotonda Scriitorilor (“Writers’ Rotunda”), a round alley with busts of twelve important Romanian writers, a lot of other statues like Monumentul Eroilor Francezi (“The Monument of French Heroes”) and Izvorul Sissi Stefanidi (“Sissi Stefanidi spring”), some rare vegetation like the Ginko tree from Japan, and Izvorul lui Eminescu (“Eminescu’s spring”), where it is said that the poet used to come to relax (the spring is now coming out of a water pipe, but it’s still the same place)
- Parcul Carol (“Carol Park”) aka Parcul Libertăţii (“Liberty Park”) – a very beautiful park, full of history (1906), with a lake and beautiful gardens. Here you can see: Monumentul Eroilor (“Heroes’ Monument”), The Giants’ statues, Cantacuzino Fountain, the Monument of the Unknown Hero and the Roman Arenas (which a capacity of 5000 people, it’s still used for large open air concerts)
- Arcul de Triumf (“Arch of Triumph”) – a triumphal arch located in the northern part of the city, on Kiseleff road.
