So this will be my last article for the Bucharest Magazine.. I think the quality of writing has been slowly sinking, probably about time I got back into a kitchen full time and did some real work.
Bucharest For Sale
How do you sell a city? How can you entice foreign tourism and trade to visit and invest? These are just two of the questions the reigning Minister for Tourism, Elena Udrea must ask herself daily. Romania’s current slogan, ‘Explore the Carpathian garden’, released to the world at last months Shanghai World Expo certainly captures the bliss of the countryside and mountain ranges which dominate the centre of Romania, but what about the city of Bucharest itself?
Some would argue that Bucharest doesn’t need to be sold like a commodity, it already has a strong infrastructure of public transport and a keen collection of hotels, bars and restaurants with which to welcome visitors from foreign lands. For many, however, Bucharest remains distant and obsolete.
Whilst parts of Romania have flourished with foreign investment the country still seems to lack an identity. London has Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament, Rome has the Coliseum, Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Romania has…well, it has a very large building, built by a communist ruler that remains largely unused. Of course, London, Rome and Paris are a lot more than their famous landmarks, they are short-break holiday destinations, they are romance and adventure, they are sophistication and elegance, they are everything Bucharest was once famous for and could be again.
Here then is my handy three point guide to renovating Bucharest into one of Europe’s leading Capital City destinations:
1) Arrival
Bucharest has two main airports, one of them excellent, the other slightly less so. Henri Coanda Airport, named after the Romanian inventor and aerodynamic pioneer was finished in 1997 after a new International Departure lounge was completed. It is small, modern and functional. Major International carriers use this airport and even at peak times when it can get crowded it retains a charm all of its own. Unfortunately Bucharest’s second airport is not quite so endearing. Baneasa Airport or, ‘hell on earth’, as a colleague of mine fondly renamed it, is an altogether different travelling experience. The building, once a main gateway to the city has fallen on hard times it would seem. The Airport is small and feels cramped with only 10 people inside, there is little in the way of leisure or entertainment to be found in or around the terminal building and possibly the only redeeming feature worth mentioning is it’s proximity to the city centre and major Hotels. Many of the ‘budget’ airlines use Baneasa and so it can be a difficult place to avoid for many of the cities tourists.
Possible the easiest solution would be to flatten Baneasa Airport completely and start again.
2) Finding Information
Bucharest has a rich and varied history, this is the place where Vlad the Impaler did his impaling, it’s been the scene of countless invasions over the years and is the home to the worlds second largest building. In the era between the World Wars, Bucharest’s elegant architecture and sophistication of the elite gave birth to its nickname, ‘The little Paris of the East’. There is something here for everyone, the key is finding it. Over the summer Bucharest opened its first Tourism Information Office in Piata Universitate, a major intersection and Metro station in the heart of the city. Unfortunately it remains closed at the weekends which just happens to be when many locals and visitors to the city need it most. Outside the office stand several touch screen information posts, but unfortunately as this goes to press the information is only available in Romanian.
Bucharest needs more information points, accessible to non-Romanian speakers. There are of course many excellent city guides available (your reading one of them!) but I fear many of the hidden treasures to be found in this city remain hidden.
3) Getting Around
So, you’ve arrived safely, managed to find information about the city and are ready to commence exploration, now you need transport. Bucharest has an abundance of options that rival many of the larger capital cities. Taxis are everywhere and very affordable, as are buses, coaches, trams and trolleys. The Metro is excellent with stations serving all corners of the city and a map that will eventually make sense. If you choose to hire a car then you’ll experience the same adrenalin rush as you would if you were driving in London, Paris or Rome. The real problem lies when one wishes to venture further a field and leave the relative comfort of the city limits. Heading outside of Bucharest by car is largely problematic due to the upkeep and extent of the roads and highways. Parts of the country have excellent roads (see Transfagarasan Highway for instance) but unfortunately relatively small distances by car can take several hours. Opting to reach your destination by train is also not without its frustrations. The train network that covers the country seems broken and is certainly in need of an overhaul. Journeys from Bucharest to Brasov, a trip which should ordinarily be completed within 3 hours can take up to 6, if not more.
Something needs to be done about the trains that link Bucharest to the rest of the country, whilst they are being fixed it would be great to have many, many more kilometres of usable, flat and smooth highways as well. Unfortunately renovation such as this does not come cheap so don’t expect them anytime soon. If the new Romanian brand slogan, ‘Explore the Carpathian garden.’ is to truly succeed Romanians must first find a way to get people out into the garden!
Romania is not a perfect country, such a thing does not exist. Suggesting that Bucharest should revamp its airports and build more roads and rail tracks is merely preaching to the converted, everyone realises there is a necessity for improved travel infrastructure but funding such work, in the current financial climate is a tough ask.
Perhaps then we could start with minor changes to the city, small day-to-day improvements which, over time, would improve the image visitors have of Bucharest and of Romania. First I suggest removing all the overhead cables that can be found around the city. I also advocate banning the sale of sunflower seeds, the shells can be found all over the city as they are discarded onto the street. Will these two changes happen? Probably not, but it would be a start.
