Set between Cotroceni Palace (host of the President of Romania) and River Dâmbovița, this quarter hosts many houses and villas settled between the two world wars. There are houses in different styles but the Modernist ones prevail and are at their best here; otherwise, one can also find here some fine samples of Neo-Romanian and Italianate style structures, and less of other styles. Then, the president’s palace (Cotroceni Palace) is also set here.

What to see: interwar houses, especially those in Modernist style, Cotroceni Palace, the Botanical Gardens.

Having a bite: Allow a break for tea at one of the two: Ceai la Cotroceni or Infinitea. For a meal, there are a few restaurants around, of which you might consider the Trattoria Roma - Opera, in the Northern tip of Doctor Lister Street, at number 1. For more options, hop on a trolleybus North-East, to Piața Universității / the Old Town area.

Duration: without visits and / or tea, 1-2 hours; add 1 hour for the Cotroceni visit (booking and passport / ID required) and at least half an hour for tea; walking through the Botanical Gardens at leisure.

The walk. Start at Eroilor metro stop; go out through the Eastern exit, cross the street opposite the river, pass by Elefterie Nou Church and follow Dr. Lister Street ; to the left you will soon pass by some fine samples of Modernist architecture. Take a right along the Louis Pasteur and immediately a left along the Obedenaru; right on the corner there is a beautiful villa with a round, belfry - like room on the first floor and fine Byzantine columns. Continue South along the Obedenaru passing by a mixed block of Modernist and Neo-Romanian properties. The street ends in Tomescu Street, where you come to face a pure, exquisite Modernist sample with a fine, white facade. Take a right along the Tomescu and a left along the Victor Babeș until you reach Grigore Romniceanu Street. If you feel like tea and some great interiors (or a fine, relaxed terrace in summer), at number 7 and on the first floor there is Infinitea. Then take the stairs up by the Infinitea villa and then turn right, coming down through the pleasant Romniceanu Park.

Follow Dr. Herescu Street until it pops in the Dacol Davila, then follow that one to the left and across Eroilor Avenue, casting a glance at the Military Academy with its bas reliefs covering a good part of the Romanian history. Then continue along the Carol Davila until it pops into Eroii Sanitari Avenue: across the street and to the right there is the 1903 Faculty of Medicine; as you look at it and to the left towards Cotroceni Palace, there is a fine Mediterranean villa with Romanian inserts and a fine wood column balcony hosting Corund pottery. Follow the Eroii Sanitari until it ends at the main entrance towards Cotroceni Palace; for yet a second sip of tea, turn left and the second house to the left hosts the Ceai la Cotroceni. Otherwise turn right and go straight to the entrance towards the Botanical Gardens. The tourist entrance to Cotroceni Palace lies to the left, up the Șoseaua Cotroceni.

Cotroceni Palace. In May 1679 Șerban Cantacuzino started to build Cotroceni Monastery, made of a church, cells for the monks and a voyevodal court. Constantin Brâncoveanu also used the settlement as a residence and Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the ruler that had two of the Romanian kingdoms unified, developed the court, bringing fine pieces of furniture. When he got on the Romanian throne in 1866, Charles the 1st of Hohenzollern was given the Cotroceni as a summer residence. However Charles the 1st preferred as a summer residence the new palace in Sinaia.

In 1893 the Romanian Government decided to demolish the old voyevodal court and raise on the same location a Royal Palace, preserving Cantacuzino’s church in the middle. The design was done by the chief architect of the Romanian royal house, namely Paul Gottereau, and the palace was built between 1893 and 1895. Prince Ferdinand and his wife, Maria, moved into the palace in March 1896. Between 1900 and 1910, respectively between 1913 and 1915, Maria started to redecorate the interiors, especially the Golden Hall, the Green Hall, the Silver Bedroom (which she redecorated in a blend of Byzantine and Celtic style), the Norwegian Hall and the Paintings Hall. This way, the old Romanian architectural lines Ball Room met the Secession or Norwegian halls and the Neo-Romanian White Hall. The northern façade was added two new structures with obvious influences from Hurezi Monastery in Northern Wallachia. The furniture was ordered in Vienna and Paris.

During WW1, the palace was occupied by the German army and it also hosted between January and March 1918 the peace talks with the messengers of the Central Powers. After the liberation, on February 20, 1922, the palace and the old church hosted the marriage of Princess Mărioara of Romania with King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia. After King Ferdinand and Queen Maria died (in 1927, respectively 1938), their successors – King Charles the 2nd and Michael the 1st – no longer used the castle.

On April 4, 1944, the palace was damaged once again by the air raids of the Allies. In September 1946 it was restored. After King Michael being forced to abdicate on December 30, 1947, the palace was virtually robbed by the communists. Most of the books from King Ferdinand’s library (about 6700 tomes bound in gold or silk) were burnt in the garden, sculptures and paintings were stolen or destroyed, while rare pieces of furniture were loaded on trucks and smashed in the south-east of Bucharest. Moreover, between 1949 and 1976 it hosted a pupils’ club, fact that continued its deterioration which was completed by the earthquake in March 1977.

The church built by Șerban Cantacuzino was however turned into an old religious art museum that existed between 1968 and 1984. The palace was restored between 1977 and 1988 because President Ceaușescu wanted to turn it into a luxurious hotel for diplomats. This way, the palace was given back it splendor, but with a quite high price: in June 1984 Ceaușescu ordered the demolition of the church which had just celebrated 300 years of existence because it “spoiled the view”; only the cells survived and nowadays they shelter a few elements extracted from the former church (the portal, several columns, Șerban Cantacuzino’s tombstone). On the July 12, 1991 a part of it was turned into a museum, while the rest was meant for the president.

The president's entrance is on Doctor Gheorghe Marinescu Street, GPS - N44 26.050 E26 03.995. Another entrance is on 37 Cotroceni Road (for poor mortals, also known as tourists), tel.: (021)2211200. Visits are only possible with previous appointment made by phone and you will need an ID; GPS - N44 26.079 E26 03.613

The Botanical Gardens. The gardens stretch on a 17 hectares area. Founded in 1860, the Botanical Gardens were moved in the actual place in 1892, when the Botanical Institute was built; it was however destroyed during the great air raid of April 4, 1944. In 1961 the Botanical Museum was opened, hosted by a building set up in Brâncoveanu style (to the left as you enter the main gate). The herbarium hosts half a million pages with dry collections of plants, while the greenhouses host rare and exotic plants. The gardens themselves are a pleasant place for a walk.

Note: There is however a strong touch of wartimes' ruin, as many alleys are not being taken care of, bushes are overgrown and certain areas are totally abandoned, even though some (weak) efforts are done to correct this situation.

GPS - N44 26.212 E26 03.979

The Faculty of Medicine. It was built in 1903 in the residential quarter of Cotroceni, not far from Cotroceni Palace. The building followed the designs drawn by Architect Louis Blanc. Set in French neoclassical style, the faculty has an imposing central building, with a triangular fronton that stands on four columns. In front of the main entrance there is the statue of Carol Davila (1832-1884), the founder of medical education in Romania. The statue was done by Carol Storck (see my special tip on Storck family and their beautiful house).

GPS - N44 26.086 E26 04.185

Elefterie Vechi Church. It was built in the middle of an old forest West of the city proper (at the time) in 1744. Affected by the earthquake in 1802, it was restored in 1804. Because of the damage done by the 1838 earthquake, the cells around the church had to be demolished in 1852. In 1867 the church was re-painted in Byzantine style. In 1895 the City Hall built next to the church Sfântul Elefterie School. Nowadays the church lies in the middle of the street, and it is rarely used for service, after the New Sfântul Elefterie Church was built around WW2 (see below).

GPS - N44 25.987 E26 04.472

Elefterie New Church. The construction started in 1935, by General Georgescu and his wife. It was raised on a grand scale (36 by 22 meters), following the plan of Hrupište Church in Macedonia. The works were interrupted during WW2, so that is was finished 36 years later, in 1971.

GPS - N44 26.017 E26 04.614

Click here for an album of pictures shot along this walk, with their respective GPS coordinates; I have arranged them in the sequence mentioned in the walk description above.