I live in a very crowded city. Not so crowded with people as with cars. A town that 500 years ago was just a village. Its development has meant and resembled a growing village. In medieval times.
The city I'm talking about now is called Bucharest, it's in the southeast of Romania and it's the capital of this country.
The eighteenth century also meant the modernization of this city. A very important role was played by Carol I, the first king of Romania.
Carol I of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, full name Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, (b. 20 April 1839, Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany - d. 10 October 1914, Sinaia, Prahova, Romania) was the ruler, then King of Romania, who ruled the Romanian Principalities and then Romania.
During his 48-year reign (the longest in the history of the Romanian states), Carol I achieved the country's independence, which also brought him immense prestige, revived the economy, endowed Romania with a number of institutions specific to the modern state, and laid the foundations of a dynasty. Source
So, with the reign of Carol, began the modernization of Bucharest. The problem was and still is that, as a city developed from a village, it has no wide streets. Most of the streets are narrow. A hundred years ago it was not a problem. A few cobblestones and then cars easily circulated on them.
But now it's a big problem. Huge numbers of cars have nowhere to go, nowhere to park.
In 2023 Bucharest is ranked the eighth most crowded city in the world. Fourth place in Europe!
For a population of 1.8 million, there are 1.4 million registered cars. Not counting cars in transit.
In these conditions, it is very hard to see empty streets. Empty streets have become one of my passions. Such a passion seems strange, it somehow points to pathology and mental problems, but I hope that what I have said so far can explain this.
There is a time when the city streets are almost deserted.
Early Sunday morning!
Every Sunday morning I walk on the most beautiful boulevard in Bucharest. It's Victory Avenue. It is a relatively narrow street, for the reasons explained at the beginning.
Nothing relaxes me more than this walk. I thought it might be of interest to have an illustrated account of this route.
Victory Avenue starts from Victory Square, an important place in the city, where the seat of the Government and the place of most protests and demonstrations is located.
My walk started a few hundred meters away from Victory Square.
Looking back at the square...
... looking forward to the destination. On the right, is the headquarters of the Romanian Academy.
Looking back, the Academy is on the left. The building, like most of the buildings on this avenue, is over a hundred years old. But it's not the building that impresses me. The garden impresses me. A huge garden in a place where land is very expensive and there is no more room for large buildings.
I like this boulevard because most of the buildings are from the turn of the last century and a walk like this makes me imagine I am a resident of the city from more than a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, many buildings have been bought up by various speculators who want to sell them for a big profit... and because they can't make that profit yet, they let the houses fall into disrepair.
This building, a former palace, is now a museum. Museum of Collections. It houses the collections of several collectors who have donated them to the state.
It starts with small terraces, actually, tables and chairs where you can have a coffee, a cake or ice cream and even breakfast. Empty like the street.
Victory Avenue connects two of the city's most important squares. Victory Square and Revolution Square.
Considered a city center, Revolution Square! As the name suggests, this square is related to the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Here is the former headquarters of the Romanian communist party, the place from where the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu fled, later caught and executed. That's recent history, but there are much more important buildings here, of great significance for the history of the Romanian people.
Royal Palace
Romanian Athenaeum
Hilton Hotel
The Equestrian Statue of Carol I
Former headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party, now the Ministry of Interior. In front is a statue group commemorating political prisoners who died in communist prisons.
Last but not least, a church about 4oo years old. Cretzulescu Church. Next to the church, you can see a building that was the communist security headquarters.
The walk continues on the empty streets and this fills me with joy and pleasure. This little section will end at the telephone palace, another famous building of the city. The first building in Romania was built in the 1920s according to the American technology of the skyscraper.
The phone palace is starting to show. The white building on the right, with the antenna on the roof.
The second remarkable building also appears. A new hotel, the Novotel.
Ever closer...
The telephone palace was built by the Americans. It was intended to be the first skyscraper in the country, but the building materials ran out and it remained a very small skyscraper...haha.
Just kidding.
Bucharest is in a very dangerous seismic zone and very tall buildings could not be built.
The Novotel Hotel is one of the few newly built buildings on this boulevard. On the site where the hotel now stands was the National Theatre, which was accidentally bombed by the Allied Air Force during World War II. For this reason, the facade of the theatre is reconstructed in front of the hotel.
I think I'll stop here with these empty streets. I'm afraid I may bore readers with so many buildings. There are still a lot of photos from this walk and I will write a further one in a few days.
I have become lazy and comfortable. I found it much easier to shoot with the smartphone and I let the camera rest at home.
I took a selfie with a reflection. Be understanding of the tired picture of us (i.e. my wife and I), we are old, we are 143 years old (together)!
