Gordon, sit down and listen to me now. Founded back in 1972, with construction works started 3 years later and with the first line opened in 1979, the Bucharest metro nowadays has 51 stations along its 69.25 km. network covering a good share of the - yet by far not all - city; one can read more facts on
my dedicated page. Nothing outstanding here if compared to the subway, grrr, tube, tube, tube systems in other cities in Europe and not only. Furthermore, while it has a more useful morning schedule than the Lisbon one, the Bucharest metro has neither the art typical for Stalin's Moscow, nor the coverage - or efficiency for that matter - of the Frankfurt S-Bahn. But, argues the always dualist Bucharestian, we would not have been around today unless someone had doubted it all and started wandering around, would we? So, let us see what there is to discover down there, apart from the public transport thing. I shall only list here 3-4 instances and let you explore more of it.
What's there to see in a metro station and, more, well out of the city centre? Well, completed in 1983, Politehnica Station was paved with Late Cretaceous limestone containing many fossils. What's in there? Well, rudists, corals, gastropods, red algae and stromatolites. A fossilized sea some 70 million year old. So many and arguably so old (well, Geology-wise time-related attributes have another meaning they do for us, poor mortals) that a local Geology professor came with the idea of turning the station in a museum while still fully keeping its main feature, that of a sub... tube stop. While the idea died in 2013 due to sponsors' backing off, it might pick up again and, on the other hand, the lack of information boards, plasmas and projections does not keep one from walking up and down this well preserved sea of cemented life. Worth the price of a ride from the centre? I argue yes.
Take two. If in search for a breath and walk far from the maddin', drinkin' crowd and the Old Town glitz, hop on a Republica-bound train and get off at Titan. Before taking a walk in one of the nicest parks in town (especially if you go in September or October), stop for a little while in the aforementioned station. With a good share of the city built in a marshy area with a humid, clay and not at all very solid ground, the Titan was even worse, as the station was going to be placed very close to the Balta Albă, a lake surrounded by extensive marshes. The station design, with a wide arch lacking supporting pillars, as well as the frail ground around it resulted in an unusual - in Bucharest at the time (construction began in 1977 and the line was opened in 1981) - technology: freezing the ground around the construction site with
a big ammonia machine. Nowadays the Titan remains one of the most airy stations in town.
…and three. Ay, Gordon, throw some art in the bucket as well, will you, dear?! A fine project started by the I Love Bucharest folks back in 2008. Facts read: 20 artists, 9 panels, 120 square meters, all that at Gara de Nord 1 Metro Station. The main theme: old Bucharest with contemporary visual elements. Technique: as simple as it gets: the white ceramic-plated panels between supporting pillars and escalators were spray painted. The 9 panels took some 2 weeks to complete, with artists working only at night time, between the last and the first trains (basically 11:30 PM - 05:15 AM). The project was supposed to go on at the Piața Victoriei 2, but the economic crisis brought it to a halt. Let us hope they will go on one sunny, crisis-free day. For now, leave 10 minutes earlier when going to catch a train at the Gara de Nord and take your time to walk around a bit. Spotted
Maria Tănase over there? Now you can have a cola, even though I had rather recommend a handful of walnut cookies at Vian Pastry Shop above. Ah bon, à chacun son goût. Learn some French, Gordon!
There is more to the matter, with oddities, fun stuff, interesting trivia and definitely buckets of the unexpected to be found in many other stations. I shall end with a small scale project run by Gheorghe Antipa Natural History Museum, which had the regular benches in Piața Victoriei 1 Station replaced with special design ones looking more like zebras than like a red Metrorex bench. While the museum meant these as an ad for its activity, they brought more than that, and nowadays many passengers got to identify the station with those zebra benches. Now, Gordon, before sitting down on an Inland Taipan, please check whether it has a Gheorghe Antipa tag stapled to the tail. Otherwise you might consider standing.
Find more pictures from the stations above on this page. And then, with this list being far from complete, feel free to take your time and discover more of the Bucharest subwa... tube zings. At the end, let me know which station has the best pastry shop and in which they bake the best bagels. Hmm, err, or covrigi, let us stick to the local calling, Gordon. Gordon, where are you?! Gooordooon!