- The start of our Pan European Sojourn
- And we’re off — first stop Palma de Mallorca!
- Alicante, Spain
- Sète and Aigues Mortes, France
- St. Tropez and Gassin, France
- Portofino and Camogli, Italy
- Paris and Angers, France
- Bucharest, Romania
- Into the Carpathian Mountains — Peles Castle
- Brasov and Sighisoara, Romania
- Bran Castle and the legend of Dracula!
- Vidin, Bulgaria
- Valiko Tarnavo and Arbanasi, Bulgaria
- Rolling down the (Danube) river and Golubac Fortress, Serbia
- Belgrade, Serbia
- Novi Sad, Serbia and Vukovar, Croatia
- Pécs, Hungary
- Budapest, Vienna, and end of trip
Leaving Paris, we started the next phase our trip — Eastern and Central Europe. This would be the challenging part — trying to understand and sort out the complex, and often violent history of the Balkans. On its surface, it was difficult for me to grasp that most of the Balkan countries have only been free from the shackles of Communism since 1989! But as we will see along our route, the end of Communism opened the door to ethnic, tribal, and religious wars with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Luckily, we started out in Romania which probably had one of the more benign Communist rules and, despite rampant corruption after its fall, pulled through and created a very successful economy. This part of the trip also meant joining up with our friends, two couples we have known for between 40 and 50 years. We’ve traveled extensively with one of the couples and were really excited to add the other. Our meeting and launching point was Bucharest, the capital city of Romania.
Bucharest, like the rest of Romania has gone through dramatic changes throughout its history but to me, it can be broken down into pre-, during, and post-Communism. In the early years of the Ceausescu Communist rule, there was more or less an open door policy with the West and entrepreneurship was encouraged. The emphasis seemed to be on providing decent lives for all peoples, including owning homes. Lots of new construction began around the city. Sadly, in the early 1970s, Ceausescu had a change of heart after visiting Communist China, North Korea, and other more “traditional” Communist countries, leading him to reverse course in Romania with a policy of “social realism,” promoting extreme nationalism, centralized decision making, and what turned out to be horrible economic policy. Massive spending shifted to building monuments like the Palace of the Parliament which required tearing down whole neighborhoods and consumed a lot of time (13 years to build) and money which drove Romania into massive poverty and debt. This all came to a head in December, 1989 when a national revolt occurred and Ceausescu and his wife were executed. Shortly thereafter, free elections were held and, while many of the elected officials were former Communists with bad old habits, Romania in general, and Bucharest in particular grew rapidly and became a respected member of the international community.
Wandering around the center of the city, it was striking for us to see the mix of old and new architecture in various states of disrepair. Most striking are the number of buildings that were started early in the Ceausescu regime and stopped in mid-construction, never to be completed. In other cases, the ability to restore old buildings has been difficult because ownership became confused during the Communist era and, even when ownership was identified, the cost and liability associated with renovation has been too much to handle. At the same time, there were pockets of neighborhoods where there are beautiful 17th and 18th century Orthodox churches and evidence of restoration going on. Similarly, there are some neighborhoods that have been completely refurbished and are now highly sought after (and expensive) places to live. There is also some great nightlife, with innovative restaurants and bars that remain hopping late into the night.
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
