Today is another beautiful, sunny summer day in Bucharest.
I decided to take a stroll on one of the iconic streets of Bucharest, Victoriei, which means "Victory".
And because one of the distinctive traits of my city is the contrast between old and new buildings I tried to highlight the "contrast" theme in all the photos I took today.
As a nice side effect of this exercise I felt like I re-discovered some of these places that I pass by every day and I don't even notice them anymore.
So without further ado let's begin:
Here you can see the oldest Romanian Bank - the CEC bank next to a newer one, the Commercial Bank. It's such a stark contrast between the harmonious, french eclectic architecture on the left and the glass and steel on the right.
Here's the CEC building in all its beauty:
And further on the right of the BCR building, the old Victoria Shopping Centre, an ancient version of today's shopping malls, miraculously still functioning.
The Odeon theatre - in renovation at this time next to the Ramada Hotel.
A closer look on the Ramada Hotel.
One of the many cozy, chic passages that connect Victoriei street with parallel streets. I love the contrast between the colourful umbrellas and walls around.
Hotel Capitol on the left and an in need of renovation building on the right.
The Novotel Hotel which literally saved just the facade of the previous building and built behind it a glass and steel modern building.
A wider view on the Novotel, now contrasting with the grey, flats building on the back.
A very old church next the an old building wrapped in huge mesh ads.
The Atheneum, home of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the most beautiful buildings IMHO and on top of my favourites. This one is just too beautiful to picture it next to anything but the green garden in front and the blue sky above.
On its right, you can see one of the ugliest monuments of Bucharest, built to honour those who died during the Romanian Revolution from 1989. Locals refer to it using all kinds of funny names, one of them being "the impaled potato". It's kind of ironic to build such a monument to honour our martyrs and yes, it does ring a bell about Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for the Dracula character.
A little bit on the left of the impaled potato there is another iconic building that mixes old and new, just like you saw done on the Novotel Hotel.
And further on the right a striking contrast between the gorgeous, yellow tree and some black, modern sculptures that I don't really dig.
Thank you for joining me today on Victory street in Bucharest's city centre!
I hope you enjoyed this short stroll along one of my city's iconic streets.
If you want to see more posts like this from me, let me know in the comments below :)
everything is beautiful. i like what I saw. all of them!
glad you liked the tour :)
That's certainly a nice perspective. Loved it :) Keep those posts coming up, I have a good feeling about them ;)
Thank you for the encouragement :)
lovely pictures
yours is very nice. i interested. I amazed you
its like a tourist guide navigating all the tourists through the landmarks of the city...thanks for the tour :)
you're welcome, glad you enjoyed the tour :)
Most under-rated city ever..
Yeah, it is. That's why a lot of foreigners choose to stay here after they discover it :)
I went to Catholic school (in Canada) - it seemed every other kid was either Romanian, Croatian or Polish ;) Beautiful place, language and people (literally).
How cool, you must have had an interesting experience growing up among so many nationalities :)
30% of Canadians weren't born here.. Its the most multicultural society on earth - 200 ethnic groups and over 140 languages spoken.. Im Irish and I married a Slovac (Catholic school had its benefits I guess!) - its a really beautiful society even though we lack the weather and the beaches (although its 35 Celsius outside right now).
Awesome neighborhood you got there. Thanks for sharing!
You deserve a:
Glad you enjoyed discovering it! Thank you for the bravocado :) BTW, I love eating avocados!
You're most welcome. That's great to hear, I love it too!
This makes me really want to visit Romania now! Is it safe to walk around with a camera in Bucharest?
Cool, happy to hear that! If you look it up, you'll find Bucharest is one of the safest capitals in Europe, so yeah, it's safe to walk around with a camera. Now if you want to do a documentary about the suburbs and the not so safe areas of Bucharest (which exist, but they are far away from the centre) then you should be extra careful. Otherwise, common sense is enough to keep you and your camera safe :) And if you decide to come by, don't hesitate to write me so I can give you tips & tricks.
awesome