Bucharest

 

On our way to the People's House

Our bus today was a relic built in 1977 under the communist regime. The regime wanted to be self-sufficient, so Romania built their own cars, buses, and trucks.

The People's House

The People’s House was built between 1984 and 1989 by over 100,000 laborers. It is 4 million square feet, the second largest administrative building in the world (the Pentagon is bigger).  They removed over 10,000 houses in the center of the city to make room for this building. It is meant to impress starting with the staircase modeled after the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. There are 22 football fields worth of carpet on the floors. Half the building is on eight underground levels. We saw a conference room the size of Nicolae Ceausescu’s office. But he was executed just before it was completed. His office is now used by the President of the Senate. The People's House now houses the Parliament, three museums, and an International Conference Center.  Our one-hour tour covered about five percent of the building. Today about seventy percent of the building remains empty.

The Grand Staircase

In the afternoon we took a walk in the Old Town section. Bucharest is called the Paris of the East because many of the buildings were designed by French Architects. We saw the Romanian Athenium concert hall, the Cismigiu gardens, and the Stavropoleos Convent.

Romanian Athenium

This is the ideal trip if you want to see and understand the history of Eastern Europe, especially the years under communism and since the fall of the Iron Curtain. It was wonderful to see Eastern Europe via a riverboat again, the crew of the Adagio was attentive and wonderful. The lecturers and entertainers brought on board really added to the places we visited. Budapest remains the highlight of the tour with its majestic buildings and their history, especially understanding how their leader is taking them back to a dictatorship. The scenic highlight was the Iron Gates portion of the Danube. It was fun sharing the trip with my brothers and their spouses.  

A video of this trip is available on youtube

Constanta to Bucharest

We spent the morning retracing our route along the Danube - Black Sea Canal by bus and then turning North. Most of the land was flat Agricultural plains growing wheat, corn, and sun flowers.

Romanian countryside

Christian told us about how his in-laws worked in a ball bearing plant, but after they retired, they restored their parent’s home and maintained the vineyard in the area outside of Bucharest. They grew five types of Romanian grapes that survived the disease that devastated most European grapes in the 19^th century.

Romania, like so many other communist countries, confiscated farms and property, and brought people to the cities to industrialize the country, providing 700 Sq ft apartments which were heated by a centralized steam plant outside the city. After the revolution in 1989, these apartments were owned by their occupants. Some of the people added extra insulation, bought heater units, and added air conditioning.

Bucharest has 2.1 million of Romania’s 19 million people. The city has 3 million vehicles making it the most congested traffic in Europe. Romania joined NATO in 2004, and the EU in 2007.

Hearing about the Romanian Revolution

We stopped at Revolution Square to listen to Egmund, who as a 15-year-old participated in the protests here on December 21^st, 1989. Why? His grandfather had spent three years working on the canal. Under communism, there was lack of fuel and electricity, little ability to travel, no free speech, and it was illegal for more than five people to gather. Nicolae Ceaușescu made a mistake by encouraging folks to gather on this square to protest hooligans, but the crowd of 100,000 turned it into a protest against him. Troops and tanks killed 1200 here and 4000 were wounded. Ceaușescu escaped via helicopter from the roof but was captured and held for trial 3 ½ hours later. By December 23^rd the army switched sides. Ceaușescu had a 70-minute trial and on December 25^th and was executed. This was the Romanian Revolution.

Egmund with the flag he carried that day

Constanta

 

Communist Youth Memorial on canal

We spent the morning sailing down the Danube-Black Sea Canal. The purpose of the canal is to avoid the difficult to navigate Danube delta into the Black Sea, it also reduced the length of passage from over 248 miles to 40 miles.  The canal was started in 1949 and the communists turned their political prisoners into laborers, about 50,000 died between 1949 and 1953. The project was resumed in 1973 and completed in 1987.

Fortuna from Roman times

Constanța was first called Tomis, by the Greeks in 625BC and then named Constantina by the Romans. We visited Ovid Square, named for the Roman poet, who was exiled here by the Roman Emperor Augustus. The archeology museum is filled with statues and gold items found here in 1962 when they began building a railway station. Nearby is a picturesque Mosque and Saint Peter and Paul Orthodox Church. We then headed for Mamia Resort along the Black Sea. The port of Constanta is the largest on the Black Sea. Now a lot of Ukrainian grain is being shipped from here with the Russian Invasion closing the Ukrainian ports. This caused a black market of Ukrainian grain to flood the local market, resulting in farmer protests.

St. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church

That evening we shared dinner with the captain and our program director, Christian.

The Captain escorts us to dinner

Abanasi, Bulgaria (from port of Rousseau)

 

Our local guide reported that on Sunday, Bulgaria had their sixth election in three years among the 26 parties. It resulted in little change with six parties gaining seats in the legislature.  Her joke was: “what do diapers and politicians share in common? They need to be changed frequently and for the same reason.” After the end of communist control, the standard of living went down 40% and didn’t recover until 2002. Many of the youth left the country to find jobs in other countries. Farms were returned to their former owners, but only if you could provide documentation or neighbors’ testimony that you had owned the farm in the 1940’s. Yet today, 24% live below the poverty line, mostly pensioners. Seventy percent of the GDP is from farming: corn, wheat, and soybeans in the north; vegetables and roses in the south. Bulgaria provides 60% of the world’s rose oil. The good economic news is that 80% of the population own their flat.

Bulgaria is an old country, the first Bulgarian empire was established in 681 AD. In the 9th century, the conversion to Christianity began and the Cyrillic alphabet was created, a very phonetic alphabet. Bulgaria was ruled by the Ottomans for 500 years and was liberated in 1878 in the Russo-Turkish War.

Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel

We visited the village of Abanasi. The Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel has murals from the 17^th century. The outer chamber is the women’s section decorated with women saints. The main altar has the icons of saints above and Old Testament stories below. The back wall depicts the death of Mary, while the Cupola has the holy trinity. While there we were serenaded by an acapella quartet.

Then we visited a fortified house built in the 17^th century. All the rooms had large platforms covered with carpets that were used for sitting, sleeping, eating or working. Each room had a heating unit fed by the fire in the dining room.

Dining Room of the Fortified House

We had a great Bulgarian lunch with a tomato and cucumber salad, a flavorful chicken stew, and baklava and a sweet yogurt, washed down with beer

In the afternoon we visited artisan shops in the town of Veliko Turnover, but the temperature was in the mid-90s so we quickly found a cooler spot in a hotel.

Vidin, Bulgaria

 

Vidin's Mosque

Vidin had 90,000 people in 1989, but only 40,000 today. With over ten factories closed in this region the unemployment rate reached 60%. Under communism, these factories sold goods to Russia, but they quickly went bankrupt because of the low quality of their goods. Vidin is primarily known as the producer of rose water today. Bought by former politicians for pennies other dollar and sold for their machinery. Bulgaria was ruled by the Ottomans from the 15^th century until 1877, a result of the First Balkan War. We visited a 15^th century mosque with a heart, rather than a moon on top of its dome. when we were here in 2013, the Iman opened the mosque to us. Down the street was a renovated Jewish Synagogue, it was a ruin last time. The Jews came in the 14^th and 15^th centuries from Bratislava (Ashkenazi) and Spain (Sephardic).  During WW II, about 8500 were sent to the concentration camps but about 50,000 were saved by the Orthodox Christians.

Bab Vida Fortress

Bada Vida Fortress has existed here since Roman times. This fortress has survived because the Ottomans converted it into a prison. We explored the fortress, discovering a chapel, and rooms displaying clothes of nobility, and suits of armor. From the fortress, we could see the bridge built in 2022 with EU cohesion funds, only the 2^nd to connect Romania and Bulgaria.

Fortress Chapel

In the afternoon, we had a concert by the Vidin Sinfonietta, the Grand Circle Foundation helps to support them. We had a mix of popular classics, a Romanian Rhapsody by Bartok and compositions by two Bulgarian composers.

Sailing the Iron Gate

 

Entering the Iron Gates

The Danube is 1777 miles Long and runs through 10 countries. The Iron Gate dam allows navigation through this region. Before the dam was built, it took 4 ½ days to navigate what takes 4 hours today. Yugoslavia and Romania cooperated on this project and the first lock opened in 1972.Twenty thousand people, highways, and railroads had to be moved to make room for the 100 km. lake.

Mraconia Monastery

The region has several gorges which make a picturesque scene.  Highlights of the area are the sculpture of Decebalus, the Domitian King that fought the Romans and the stone tablet, commemorating the Roman bridge that crossed the Danube here.

Decebolus, the Daltian King

Living under Communism

Our trip leaders discussed the life their families led under communism.

Bojan lived in Yugoslavia. That meant that everyone had a steady job, free Healthcare, and you received an apartment based on your family size., 80% of the population were middle class, crime was minimal. We had Levi jeans, Coke, and the ability to travel.  But that all changed, after Tito’s death. Inflation was rampant. Fuel was hard to find, there were lines for groceries, you could travel for good reasons, but not as an entire family, someone had to stay home.

Mihai grew up in Romania. At first Nicolai Ceausescu was a hero because he condemned the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia during the 1968 Prague Spring. Later, his administration decided to pay off their Soviet loans which resulted in shortages of food, fuel, and electricity. Far worse, however, was the secret police and their informers. You could only express your opinions in the safety of your own home. After the fall of Communism, the archives were opened, and you could find who informed on you.

Isabela was only 5 years old when Communism fell in Romania, but she remembers all the posters of Ceausescu , it felt like he was always watching. When her mother bought her a new dress, they had a choice of two in the shops. Her grandparents owned a farm but lost it, with the threat of the family being sent to a labor camp. Her father worked in a soap factory, they were able to travel in Romania and traded bars of soap for food and rooms.

Christian remembers at Christmas, they would get oranges, the smell of Christmas. At Yalta, Europe was divided among the Allies. While Western Europe eventually was restored by the Marshall Plan, Romania experienced the Soviet plan: their aircraft factory was packed up and the building became a tractor factory. His grandfather’s farm was confiscated to form a collective. There were two hours of TV daily, mostly news. The only American TV was ‘Dallas’ allowed by the government to demonstrate the weaknesses of capitalism. That backfired, the show was very popular.

Belgrade, Serbia

 

Tito

Belgrade has a population of 2 million and 7000 years of history. We visited the mausoleum of Tito. Today, there is a diversity of opinions about Tito. What is of common opinion is that he was the only one who could keep these ethnicities together. He was born here, when this was part of the Hapsburg empire. Belgrade became the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after World War I. Serbia was the only independent country of what formed Yugoslavia before the war. The kingdom was an attempt to unite the separate ethnicities of Southern Slavs. For centuries, there have been 6 ethnic regions which have been ruled by larger empires: Romans, Hungarian, Ottoman, and the Hapsburgs. Yugoslavia was occupied by Germany in 1941. Tito organized the resistance against Germany, creating a socialist Yugoslavia. He eliminated his opponents to ensure he would lead the country. Yet he stood up to Stalin to not become a Soviet Satellite Nation. In fact, in 1961 he became head of over 100 non-aligned nations. Yugoslavia had a higher GDP than the Soviets, people could travel everywhere, and they could buy blue jeans and coke! Tito died on May 4^th, 1980. His funeral was the fourth largest in the 20^th century with well over 130 countries sending representatives. His birthday continued as a holiday for 8 years after his death.

Orthodox Cathedral

We continued to the city center, seeing the pedestrian shopping area, the home of Nikola Tesla (promoter of alternating current vs. Edison’s direct current), and the Orthodox Cathedral. On the same street are a Catholic church, a synagogue, and a mosque. We stopped inside the Orthodox church. Here we learned the key differences between an Orthodox and Catholic church: no pews, the people stand, no statues, no organ, and a screen covered with paintings or icons in front of the altar. Each country’s church is led by a patriarch, and the Patriarch of Istanbul is the first among equals.

Despot Gate in Belgrade Fortress

In the afternoon, we visited the Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park. Belgrade has been a pivotal military point for centuries located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. This is the last hill before the European plains. There have been 214 battles here and Belgrade has been destroyed 42 times. The latest battle was when NATO bombed the city in 1999. The Victory Monument celebrating the victory over the Ottomans stands here. It was originally planned for Victory Square, but stands here instead, since it is a naked man. As we walked out of the Fortress, we saw numerous young men and women dressed in native costumes taking a break from dance competitions in the shade. That evening we were entertained by the Talija

Serbian Dancers

Novisad, Serbia

 

Novisad is the second largest city in Serbia with 500K people of 27 different ethnicities, and a University of 50,000. There are five official languages. We walked the town to Liberty Square with the Bishops resident, the City Hall, and the Name of Mary Catholic Church which celebrates mass in Croatian and Hungarian.

Church and Bishop's Residence

In the afternoon we climbed to the Petrovaradin Fortress. A Fortress has existed here for centuries: Roman, Hungarian, Ottoman, and Hapsburg. It is the largest in Europe with 10 miles of tunnels underneath.

Petrovaradin Fortress

Why isn’t Serbia part of the European Union?

All countries negotiate with the EU to become a member, but Serbia has an additional condition: recognition of Kosovo as a country. Slobodan Milošević, ‘the Butcher of the Balkans ruled Serbia during the 90s and committed war crimes against the other ethnic groups. Kosovo is 90% Albanian ethnicity today, yet it was the ‘heart’ of Serbia where the kings were crowned, and the culture was formed. In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia for several weeks until the Serb army retreated from Kosovo.

1999 Bombed bridges below, replacements above

On October 5^th, 2000, the people demanded new elections and a free press by storming the parliament and TV stations. At that time over 70% supported joining the EU. One of the conditions of entry was recognizing the International Court of Justice, which convict 72 Serbians of War crimes versus only 26 of other Yugoslavian nationalities. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence and EU support in Serbia fell to 61%. In 2013, Serbia became an EU candidate, but the EU was distracted by the Syrian refugee crisis, Brexit, and soon Covid. In 2016 support fell to 41% and Putin started investment in Serbia and reminded them of their historic Slavic connections. The current President was Miloševićs minister of Information, won the office in a landslide, and is playing both the EU and Russia. The students are out protesting again 24 years after the year 2000 protests

Vukovar, Croatia

 

Vukovar means castle by the Var river. The Croat people her have been part of various empires (primarily, until World War I when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was created and after WW II, the Republic of Yugoslavia. After Tito died, Slobodan Milošević became president, but Croatia declared their independence. We heard the story of the Croatian War of Independence starting in 1991. The Serbs attacked Croatia determined to create a greater Serbia. The 1700 defenders here held off the Serbian army for 87 days, delaying their March thru Croatia. Every night a boy would climb the town water tower to raise the Croatian flag to signal to the defenders that the town was not conquered. Our guide, Romina, was 5 years old at the time and traveling with her father in Stuttgart. On their return, they smuggled guns for the Croats to defend themselves. She remembers her 11-year-old brother sleeping close to her so they would die together if a shell hit their house. The town was heavily bombed, and we could see evidence of the shelling throughout the town. Before the war, the city was 42000, 15000 employed by the shoe industry. After the war, only 23,000 remain and only 1000 are in the shoe industry. We also visited the memorial Cemetery where a mass grave was found of 938 people.

Vukovar Train Station

We had lunch at the home of Lydia, Dominic, and their daughter Yvonne. We had some home-made Rakia liquor, cherry brandy, and white wine to drink and a simple salad, pork sausages, and mashed potatoes to eat. Dominic is retired, Lydia owns a hair salon, and Yvonne is in high school. They have lots of sheep, geese, and hens in their yard and breed parrots.

Lunch with Dominic, Yvonne, and Lydia

In the afternoon, we heard from a former high school teacher on how the school system in this city segregates Serbian and Croat children, even 26 years after the end of the war. While there is only one high school, they still have separate classes in one building. Teachers in the school share a lounge but sit on opposite sides! This is maintained even though 75% of the Serbians and 80% of the Croats would prefer to integrate. It’s become a political issue. Norway even proposed to fund an integrated school, but the proposal died.

That night we were entertained by a Slavonian musical group featuring a tamburica

Budapest Day 2

 

Great Synagogue

We took the optional tour to explore the Jewish Heritage of Hungry. Today, Budapest still has 100,000 Jews, one of the largest populations in Europe. From 1696, for over 200 years, Jews couldn’t live in the city. In 1840, Jews could buy land in the city. They were granted equal rights in the Hungarian empire in 1867. We went to the Great Synagogue with its Moorish external design, one of 23 synagogues in Budapest. With over 3000 seats, it is the world’s second largest. The synagogue serves about a 100 each sabbath but does fill for the high holy days. It was built in 1859 as the first Neolog branch of Judaism. 

Interior of Great Synagogue

Breaking from the Orthodox branch. They removed the curtain separating men and women, they moved the reading platform from the center of the synagogue to the front. This synagogue isn’t square but looks like a church. It also has an organ (technically it is outside the synagogue since it is behind the ark of the covenant). It is also so played by a non-Jew, since Jews can’t work on the Sabbath. Franz Liszt played at the inauguration. Before World War Two, Hungary had 800,000 Jews. Since Hungary sided with Germany, they were not invaded by the Nazis at the start of World War II. But 2000 Nazi soldiers came in March 1944 and by June they had sent 400,000 Jews to the death camps. The Nazis were ready to deport the Jews in Budapest, Regent Horthy stopped the operation. But the Hungarian Army isolated the Jews in a ghetto and began shooting Jews. In December 1944, the Germans retreated to Buda and destroyed all the bridges. It took 6 weeks for Soviet troops to reach Buda and the Jews were left without food or heat. 10,000 corpses were found by the Soviets. Next to the synagogue is the Holocaust Memorial Garden and Cemetery.

We also visited the Hero’s Temple built in 1931 commentating the Jews who fought for Hungary during World War I. Outside is the Weeping Willow shaped like a menorah. It commemorates the 400,000 Hungarian Jews who murdered during the Holocaust. Nearby is a memorial to the diplomats and others who protected the Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust who provided documentation like passports and baptism certificates.

Weeping Willow Memorial

We then visited the Rumbach Street Synagogue built in 1869 by those who wanted to be more conservative. After WW II, this synagogue lost half its congregation, then in 1956, it lost its Rabbi, it closed in 1960. The Hungarian government refurbished the synagogue in 2022 as a synagogue, but also to provide education to all. The reading platform descends under the floor to provide a lecture and performance space. There are also classrooms attached to the building.

In the afternoon, we walked the Buda Castle area. Climbing the hill to the Fisherman’s Bastion, originally the ancient city walls defended by the fisherman’s guild. Nearby is St. Steven’s Statue, the first king of Hungary from 1000 to 1038 AD. Mathias Church has a beautiful tile roof. Many royal coronations have occurred here.

St. Mathias Church

That night we waited for dark to appear, so we could so the monuments of Budapest lit up at night!

Autocracy in Hungary

Our lecturer, Dr. Kate, wanted us Americans to learn from Hungary’s experience how easy it is for a democracy to become a dictatorship. After the Berlin Wall fell, Hungary had two free elections, but all have been rigged since then. Victor Orbán has won 2/3rds of the vote since 2006. How? It started with a coup that was led by football players, who called for new elections and then relied on character assassination to win. From there, they took over the free press: newspapers, radio, and TV. If a citizen only knows Hungarian, his only news source is the government. Listening to these sources today, Hungary's biggest problem is gender change in kindergarten. Then the Hungarian government offered Hungarian citizenship to anyone with Hungarian heritage who lived in other countries (4 to 5 Million). Since Hungary had EU membership, this offered employment to any Eastern Europe countries, who weren’t EU members. Finally they added voting privileges to these foreigners. Then the legislature required constitutional judges to retire at age 45, so they could completely replace the court. The 200-year-old constitution was dumped and replaced by one written by one person on a 3 hour train ride. Hungary, a member of the European Union and NATO, has leadership that is anti-EU, and pro-Putin. Joining the EU or NATO requires unanimous consent of the current countries, Hungary has accepted funding to not veto recent entries.

Budapest

We arrived in Budapest about 5:00 PM. Our baggage arrived, but I realized that my phone was missing, it had dropped out of my pocket by my seat. We caught the shuttle to the River Adagio arriving just in time for dinner. 

Hungarian Parliament

This morning everyone took the city tour of Budapest, seeing the Parliament building built in 1896 to commemorate a millennium of Hungary. The construction involved around 100,000 people and took 40 million bricks, 40 kilos of gold, and half a million precious stones and jewels used for decoration. 

Shoes on the Danube

Nearby is the Shoes on the Danube memorial remembering the Jews massacred by the fascist Hungarian militia in 1944. Then they visited Hero’s Square with its Millenium Column, with the equestrian statues of the ninth century Magyar leaders who conquered this region. 

Magyar leaders in Hero's Square

I had to return to the airport to recover my phone, on my return, I walked to the top Géllert Hill to see the Citadel with its Statue of Liberty, celebrating the 1944 defeat of the Nazis. In the 1990s it was renamed the Statue of Freedom. In the afternoon, we went to the marketplace designed by Eiffel. Not being a shopper, I headed off to see St. Steven’s Basilica. The Basilica is dedicated to King István, the first monarch of Hungary, who brought Christianity to the country. 

Statue of Freedom

We ended the day with the Captain’s Dinner.

A video of this trip is available on Youtube