Travel is part of my collection of passions. I have a big collection of passions and I am glad about that because passions can save me from one of the most unpleasant feelings... boredom. Boredom can grow with age. Boredom can be the shortest road to death. There's even the expression "I'm bored to death"!
Because I mentioned passions, I have a bunch of passions that go very well together. Travel and photography! These passions of mine are also the main themes of my posts. I've written separate posts about each of these passions. After years, today, this idea came to me... How about formalizing this melange of passions with a tag and a new way of writing: #Photo-Travel.
My First Photo-Travel Post is about Victory Avenue,
The most beautiful street in Bucharest, my favorite. There are many arguments in favor of this street. The history, the architecture, the many important buildings of the country, the monuments and museums, the terraces and cafes, the shops. All these recommend it to be a place that any visitor of Bucharest, from abroad but also from the country should see.
Victory Avenue is a very long street, it runs through the central part of the city from north to south. As there is a lot to say, but especially to show, I will divide this presentation into two parts, at least... HERE you can see a map with the route of the street, the blue color shows the part I present in this post, the walk that started in Victory Square and ended in Roman Square.
Victory Square is an important square. From this square, I can say that Victoria Avenue "springs".
It is not a pedestrian square. It is a road junction where 7 main streets meet, it is like a huge roundabout. In the middle is a big open space where pedestrians are not allowed to walk. And yet... This rule is often disregarded. It is disregarded for one simple reason. The most important building here is the Romanian Government building.
Because the square is in front of the Government building, this is where almost all the protests in the city take place. I've participated a few times, the biggest and most violent was on August 10th, 2018... Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's been over four years since then!
To give you an idea of the size of the square I will tell you that more than 100,000 demonstrators participated!
That night there was a very violent gendarme intervention. More than four years have passed since then and the investigation against the perpetrators of the violence has not yet been completed...
Sorry for getting lost in unpleasant memories. Back to the present time and Victory Square. Here are some of the tallest buildings in the city. These buildings are unusual in Bucharest, the capital with the highest seismic risk in Europe.
Bank offices, of course. Those who have the money for such buildings are made to withstand earthquakes of over 8 Richter. My favorite building is another. The building that houses the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.
The museum building, completed in 1941, was to be "a palace of earthly art".
The neo-Romanesque architectural style, inspired by the Brancovenesc style, with the central tower and the gazebo reminiscent of the bell towers of old monasteries, make this building unique in the city's landscape.
We left Victory Square and set off, I like to say "downhill", although the ground is flat, we started our walk down Victory Avenue, leaving the gorgeous silhouette of the museum building behind...
We didn't even enter a hundred meters and we reached another special building, the house of the Filipescu-Cesianu nobles, transformed into a museum.
A museum where you can see the evolution of urban society over 300 years. Interior fittings, furniture, tableware, costumes, and household objects.
Like any place in Bucharest, Victory Avenue is full of contrasts. Next to buildings like the one above, which has been restored, there are still "abandoned" buildings, i.e. not really abandoned, but no longer inhabited and becoming a place of "exhibition" for street "artists".
There are some real estate sharks in our area too. Especially here. Those who manage to buy an old unoccupied building, demolish it, and quickly build something modern, usually hotels or office buildings. Because I don't like them, I didn't take a picture, but you can still see something on the right...
I don't have a thing against modernity, but these buildings should not spoil the harmony of the urban landscape, which usually doesn't happen.
I've already passed by about three cafes, so it's time to show a one-off. Boiler X Guido! Strange name. I've never been here, but I need to do a coffee shop tour one day so I can recommend something tested.
The exceptionally good weather this late in the year allows us to drink coffee outside at sidewalk tables. While some enjoy their coffee...
... others take photos in the Christmas decor at the entrance to the café.
I like that the city authorities have finally started a campaign to renovate historic buildings. Many have already been renovated but there is still plenty that needs help.
The biggest and most important renovation work started about a year ago. It is a palace, the Cantacuzino Palace, one of the most beautiful buildings in Romania, built in the Art Nouveau style.
It's the George Enescu Museum. The building belonged to Enescu's wife.
George Enescu (19th of August 1881, in Liveni, Botoşani – 4th of May 1955, Paris) is considered the most important Romanian musician. He was a composer, a violinist, a teacher, a pianist, and a conductor, with a complex and brilliant artistic personality.
Source- Learn more about Enescu here!
Another café. The Enescu Museum is between two cafes! I like coffee but I love Enescu.
We continue our walk down Victory Avenue. It's amazing what kind of buildings alternate, and how different their purposes are. On the right side, you can see a Casino, a shady place I wouldn't enter... but they wouldn't welcome me either! What's strange is that next to the casino is... the Romanian Academy. A joining of two worlds so different.
I think I'll stop here with this presentation, I realized that I don't have photos of the Academy, a place with a very beautiful building and park. I need to go and complete the photo archive. Until then let me show you some posters I have passed by.
Again a merging of two different worlds. Next year's Depeche Mode concert poster is next to a New Year's Eve poster in the Parliament building! The posters are well done, especially this one with a young singer and actress now in vogue with us, Theo Rose. I must admit she is beautiful, well-dressed, and accessorized.
As I said, it was a lovely spring day(?)..., autumn(?).... not at all like the winter I've been used to so far. I don't think anyone has ever seen, in Romania, someone driving a convertible a few days after Christmas!
Only the window of this little gift shop reminds us that it's winter!
I had chosen another point to present this part of the city, a favorite place for tourists and residents alike, the proof is that I walk along this street every week. I think I have covered about a quarter of it, but I think I still have to write two more blogs to cover it all.
I would like to start a series of writings under the tag #Photo-Travel, a tag that inspires me and urges me to make a plan and an obligation to present the city I live in as much as possible.
Bucharest is an eclectic city, full of contrasts, which attracts and repels at the same time. The idea to write and show pictures came to me after a friend and colleague of ours, @missdeli, who also lives in Romania, but in the western part of the country, told me that she doesn't like Bucharest but would like to visit it at some point. Then I thought that I should recommend her to visit some places in the city that I think are representative and special. While I was thinking about this, I realized that I don't know what to recommend to her, I was afraid that maybe I will recommend her something that I like but she won't like and it will make her unfavorable impression stronger. I don't want that, because I think she might like the city, if she manages not to compare it with her favorite and much more beautiful and civilized cities like Prague, Budapest, Vienna...
I thought I'd better do a long series of posts about places in the city and maybe she'll choose something to visit...
I tried to write differently than before about travels, walks, and places I saw, liked and thought were worth sharing with you. I wrote a lot because I tried to explain the concept of #Photo-Travel. This post I think contradicted what I said I wanted to do, but with the next few attempts, I hope I will fit the requirements I set for myself...
When I say a new way of writing, this is what I mean.
When I travel, anywhere, in the country, where I live, or abroad, I usually photograph all the time (much to my wife's dismay). These photos determine the route of the trip or walk, these photos become a history of the places I have been. With the help of these photos, I remember where I traveled, in the sequence in which it happened. With the help of these photos, I reconstruct the trip and can then share it with others by posting it on Hive. I think most of you do the same, only the number of photos used differs...
Some use too much text and not enough photos, which can be harder to follow and others use almost only photos, without the help of words, and that can be boring. I'm thinking that #Photo-Travel can bring a balance and equality between text and photography. That is, not too much text telling about places you have to imagine, if not shown, but not a string of photos, many repeated, without any explanation!
I intend, when I use the #Photo-Travel tag, to write travel blogs, of different sizes and with lots of photos, because there are, in my opinion, two benefits that such blogs should and can bring. To let those who can't travel to a certain destination, SEE what it's like there (not to imagine) or, to help those who will travel there, to recognize the places seen in the photos, to be a kind of guide. Of course, for this, there must be many photos, but with the amendment that a short or medium explanation must be written for (almost) each of them!
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