Wallachia
The final leg of our trip was travelling through the southern region of Wallachia to reach the capital, Bucharest. I felt through our very brief visit that this was a city that has tried to overcome some sort of inferiority complex, particularly since WWII. It has tried to have grander buildings & boulevards & vistas than most other European cities. Its efforts have mostly come to grief or are now sadly dilapidated. The most obvious example is the Ceausescu-initiated folly of the People’s House. This white elephant helped to depose the dictator due to its enormous cost which the country simply could not afford. It’s not even particularly interesting to look at.
There is a massive plaza facing the People’s House which is now just an underused, dowdy carpark.
In our drive round some of the sites we passed the newly opened National Cathedral. Unfortunately closed when some of our group tried to visit it. They missed seeing the largest organs, biggest bells & most massive this & that, etc. Somehow such structures built solely to impress leave me cold & bring to mind the expression of having all the charm of a flatulent hippo!
