Romania might be a parliamentary republic, yet the royal rule still has a significant resonance and left a great heritage across the country, despite the efforts underdone during the Communist regime to wipe out or mutilate everything created during the kingdom years. Hence the idea of having a walk between the main railway station in the city (București Nord or Gara de Nord) and the former royal, then presidential and nowadays mostly transit only station in Băneasa District.

You might have passed through the Gara de Nord before, trying to spot a reputable company taxi, to make your way as quickly as possible to that train departing in 5 minutes, while also grabbing a hot covrig and a cup of coffee on the way or you might have dashed down the stairs into the subway station while arriving on that damn IC train arriving slightly before the last subway train leaves. Now take the time to leap through the station history and experience its pulse from more tranquil a stand. Grab some walnut cookies, meat or pumpkin pie from the eternal Vian pastry shop across the street and let’s walk across areas where period house quarters were cut across by standardized 10 floor apartment block-lined, straight avenues of the 1980s. Then dive in the interwar district of Domenii with its heterogeneous style mansions and villas. If feeling like having a break, do so in Herăstrău Park, the city’s largest, with the possibility to row a boat across the lake. End your walk in the Northern part of town, past two beautiful samples of period house architecture, at Băneasa Station. Having explored along the walk many Neoclassical, Eclectic, Italianate, Neo-Brâncoveanu and Neo-Gothic buildings, this station could not have been set but in... Modernist style, isn’t it? ;)

What to see: two railway stations worlds apart, with their share of history, many streets with a different beat and houses, blocks of flats or institutions set in every different style there is to be found in Bucharest. An interesting city hall palace, a whole district of Italianate or Modernist villas, as well as two of the most interesting Bucharest houses. The walk allows an easy detour to Bucharest’s largest park, the Herăstrău. And dinner with an 18 floor view.

Having a bite: The Gara de Nord comes complete with several pastry and covrigi shops (both inside and in its immediate vicinity) of which I recommend the Vian across the street from the Calea Griviței exit. Otherwise, there are snack and pastry shops along the way and especially at the Piața 1 Mai where one can also find a good kebab / shawarma place. The street the walk goes along just before reaching the Piața 1 Mai, the Alexandru Câmpeanu, has two small pizza places on its left as you go, of which the Pizza d’Asporto (at number 54) is better an option. Past the Piața 1 Mai, the Clucerului has two reasonable options along it, the Piccolo Mondo (satisfactory Lebanese cuisine, but it has seen better days) and the recommended Oliviers Restaurant at the Residence Arc de Triomphe Hotel (fine Mediterranean cuisine). For a traditional venue, one can make a worthy detour also given the fine houses and villas to explore along Alexandru Constantinescu Avenue, to the Piața Domenii, where there is the picturesque La Domenii Restaurant (the wooden building on the corner). Back along Mărăști Avenue and on to the North, there is Nada much afterwards all the way to the Piața Presei Libere / Free Press Square (you could make a 5 minute detour to Herăstrău Park East of there, to grab some mici at a terrace on the lake shore), but the walk does not last much longer and a 15 minute walk gets you to the Gara Băneasa, past the two Minovici villas. If you set the timing right, you can return to the Piața Presei Libere in time for fine dining on the fancy 18 Lounge, located where else but on the last floor of an 18 floor office building and providing a great view around. The perfect time for sunset dining, the city buzzing below. If the others, mostly corporate employees working in the twin office buildings, get too stiff and sober, do not forget it is them that do not belong in Bucharest, not you. So, a glass of Segarcea red in the hand (Segarcea is the royal domain, so it suits the walk destination; if they do not have it, start a scandal, definitely), feel free to spice up their pitiful evening a little:

À la tienne, Etienne,

À la tienne, mon vieux,
Sans ces garc’s de femm’s, nous serions tous heureux!

Duration: this walk can be done in 2 to 3 hours without too long detours; allow 4 hours with a detour to the Piața Domenii and the environs, as well as with a prayer at Cașin Church and / or a couple of mici in Herăstrău Park.

The walk. Start at the Gara de Nord towards the Calea Griviței, fuel up at the Vian and then go along the Gheorghe Duca, with a couple of interesting - while not well taken care of - Modernist buildings, one at number 2 and another one at number 13 (note the tower-like upper floors). Turn left along the Paul Ionescu with a fine bas relief on the upper facade at number 1. A bit farther on, note the fine, picturesque, Neo-Brâncoveanu loggia at number 12, as well as the door frame at number 18. Take a right along the Constantin Dissescu, followed by a left along the Alexandru Ioan Cuza which you follow all the way to its ending upon meeting the Nicolae Titulescu lined up with tall Communist era blocks of flats. Turn to the right and, in the major crossing 100 m. away, take the fork to the left (not the one with the tramway lines), immediately noting to your left the tall building of City Council District 1 (Ro. Primăria Sectorului 1, see a description below). Across the street from it there is one of the interwar post offices set in Modernist style, the apparent red brick wall building (again, description below).

Take a left past the district 1 administration palace, along the Barbu Vlădoianu and you will soon notice to your left a nicely restored Neo-Romanian building with arcaded windows: take a left here, up the Alexandru Câmpeanu, bordered by mostly single storey, single family houses. Note the Modernist house at number 10 with an interesting door grid. You will then pop into Ion Mihalache Avenue and just across the street there is the Piața 1 Mai, one of the old marketplaces in town, stretching between two streets and featuring a round, domed corner. Passing around the domed corner structure, take a left along the Clucerului; the first street to your right, the Nicolae Ionescu, has a few beautiful houses along it, among which the one at number 7, behind a tall fence; note the Byzantine decorations on the arcade above the main door. Continue up the Clucerului which is bordered by period houses for about 10 minutes, then make a detour to the right, along the Mirea Demetrescu: at both number 9 and 19 there are fine samples of Italianate villas, of which the one at number 9 was better restored, nowadays hosting the Embassy of Venezuela. The Clucerului soon ends upon crossing the Mareșal Averescu, cross it and go straight along the tramway line-centered Mărăști, and 5 minutes later you will reach the imposing Cașin Church, set in 1937 at the request of the owners of the new houses in Domenii District recently developed West of it. The church features a large verandah supported by fine carved stone columns, as well as rich detail doors by the main entrance.

The route goes straight on, but I recommend making a detour to the left, along the Alexandru Constantinescu: both this street proper and the adjacent ones are lined with beautiful houses set in the interwar period in a few different styles in fashion at the time. Note, for instance, the intricate iron decoration balconies and fence at the property at number 42. Or the light orange Modernist house at number 39, featuring a fine, relaxed pergola on the top floor. Or the petit Wardalla Villa at number 9, that seems torn from another world with its small garden and single storey structure. The street ends soon, upon meeting the Ion Mihalache, but the streets around it are just as interesting, so take your time to explore them.

Back at Cașin Church, take the Mărăști on towards the North, passing by the Agronomy Faculty with its vast campus. The avenue eventually pops in Montreal Square and its tramway terminal: here you can take a right, cross the big tree lined avenue (the Kiseleff) and have a walk through Herăstrău Park. Otherwise continue straight on and you will reach the Piața Presei Libere (the Free Press Square): to your left there are two twin office buildings, one of which hasts a fine restaurant on the top floor. Ahead of you there is the Casa Presei Libere (the Free Press House), formerly known as Casa Scânteii (the House of the Spark), a Soviet era structure reminding one of Ukraina Hotel or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow (details below). Continue on to the right of the Casa Presei Libere, on the sidewalk to the left of the street. A 10 minute walk will take you, past some other office buildings, to the place where the street opens up and is centered by a mosaic-covered fountain: the Miorița. In the same place, to your left there is Nicolae Minovici Villa (the white one set in Neo-Brâncoveanu style), while behind it on a side street there is the red brick Dumitru Minovici Villa (information on them below). 50 m. North of them (basically straight on, to the left of the railway bridge) there is Băneasa Railway Station. Go on the platform for a better view of this simple, fluid, Modernist structure that sees little, if ever, passenger traffic nowadays.

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.

The Gara de Nord. Call it simply Gara de Nord, Bucharest North or, according to CFR schedules, București Nord. With the first railway on the actual territory of Romania being the coal line between Oravița and Baziaș (in the Austrian Empire then) in 1854, Bucharest saw the opening of the railway linking it with Giurgiu in 1869, while its first railway station, the Filaret, was inaugurated the same year. The main railway terminal nowadays is the Gara de Nord, opened in 1872 and initially called the Gara Târgoviștei due to the fact that the road plying its tracks was called the Calea Târgoviștei (the actual Calea Griviței); it got the current name in 1888. It was set in U-shape, with the main entrance through a massive column portal. In 1928 it had 6 lines for departures and 4 lines for arrivals, while it nowadays has 14 lines. It was heavily bombed by the Allies aiming at the Nazi supply lines in WW2, with the country's being an active member of and an oil supplier for the Axis, while troops for the Eastern Front also transited this hub. It lies in Piața Gării de Nord and there are two subway stations with access there.

The City Council District 1 Building. In 1926 Bucharest was divided in 4 ‘sectors’ (districts) in order to have an easier and closer administration. That way, the first sector was yellow, the second one was black, the third one was blue and the fourth one was green; nowadays there are 6 sectors with a different surface from the initial one. The building we are referring to here was set to host the administration of the Green ‘Sector’ in 1928-1936. It was set in Eclectic style, in a blend of Neo-Romanic and Neo-Romanian styles, with the typical Brâncoveanu column decorations on the facade loggia. The style employed was monumental and sober. The clock tower strikes at first; in its upper part it used to feature a large fresco depicting King Ferdinand and Queen Maria, but that one was covered up in the 1950s with reinforced plaster, which makes it impossible to recover nowadays. The peak of the clock tower is marked by a knight in armor holding a shield which was nicknamed ‘Pandelică’ (En. approx: Little John Doe). A fire devastated the building in 2009 and it lies nowadays in restoration works. It lies on 7-9 Banu Manta, at a 10-15 minute walk from either Basarab or Piața Victoriei subway stations.

GPS - N44 27.218 E26 04.453

Banu Manta Post Office. There are a few post offices in Bucharest that were built in the interwar period on the pattern of the early 20th century banks in the US. They featured a main, open space ground floor hall with various, public access offices and wickets, respectively staff only offices upstairs; two such samples lie on Banu Manta Street and the Calea Vitan. In sight, the Banu Manta building, following Architect Octav Doicescu's plans and accomplished in 1938; it nowadays hosts a Romtelecom branch. It is well worth having a look at the way the Modernist, clean and functional centerpiece looked upon completion. It lies on 10-12 Banu Manta Avenue. GPS - N44 27.218 E26 04.453

The Free Press House (Casa Presei Libere). It was built in 1956 and it is the typical sample of Stalinist architecture, resembling the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow. Formerly known as Casa Scânteii (House of the Spark), this building was set at the Northern entrance in the city and played host for all newspapers and other printed media of the Communist times. On the marble pedestal in front of it there used to be the statue of Lenin, but it was taken down in 1990 and replaced a couple of years ago, at first with the Romanian and European Union flags and then, with different temporary statues, while Lenin’s statue was dropped near Mogoșoaia Palace. However the old Communist logo (the scythe and hammer) remains: look for it on the sides, right under the antenna pole at the top of the building. Planning on visiting the place? If you enter one of the sides and put on that ‘I’m here on business’ look, you might get in and wander at will. Otherwise put on a shirt, get an empty laptop bag along, your best shoes and that serious, goddamn concerned look, print a mambo jambo ID and head straight for the main entrance. If they ask anything, answer in Finnish. It lies on 1 Piața Presei Libere. GPS - N44 28.735 E26 04.336

Miorița Fountain. Just like the city's other notable fountain, the Zodiac (off Carol Park), it was designed by one of the greatest interwar architects in the country, Octav Doicescu and built of Dobrogea limestone. The black and white stone mosaic was done by Milița Petrașcu, being inspired by the ballad of Miorița, a folklore poem. It was completed for the 1936 edition of the Luna Bucureștilor. Mind the traffic around it or look at it from the sidewalk by Nicolae Minovici Villa. The best time to see its mosaic is when the water is not running (in winter time). GPS - N44 29.059 E26 04.517

Dr. Nicolae Minovici House tells the tale of a family that had a great contribution to the Romanian scientific scene. Brothers Nicolae, Mina and Ștefan were the nephews of a merchant coming from Tetovo in Macedonia and settling in Brăila. They were pioneers in medicine and chemistry at the turn of the 20th century. Nicolae founded the first ambulance service in the Balkans in 1906 and the first 24/7 ER unit in the country in 1934. Mina founded the first forensic institute in Romania in 1892 and led outstanding studies of legal medicine. Ștefan was a professor of Chemistry upon the University of Bucharest.

Of them, Nicolae, which had briefly studied the Arts before turning towards Medicine, had always his heart open towards the beauty around him, especially in its folk, traditional shape. From here, his becoming a traditional artifact collector was just a matter of time. As for the house, the idea emerged in 1903, as Nicolae was a good friend of Architect Cristofi Cerchez that managed to convince the former about the opportunity of having his house set in Neo-Romanian style instead of the French Neoclassical style prevailing for new properties being built in Bucharest at the time. The plot of land bought by Nicolae was not flat, as it went down towards a swampy area, which provided a good terrain for a descending garden, with the house placed on top; to make it complete, the city used to end there at the time, and woods used to stretch to the North. The house was accomplished in 1905 in the style of an Oltenia kula with wonderful Brâncoveanu decorations of which especially the carved stone columns, the painted belfry ceiling and the wooden balcony are particularly interesting even from the outside. The garden was arranged in the style of the 1900s, being set by decorative sculptor Wilhelm August von Becker. The purpose of the house was hosting Nicolae’s traditional art collection and so it became a private museum; more and more items were added until 1940. In 1936, Nicolae donated all collection and the house to the City Hall, on the condition that it would always stay like that, a museum dedicated to traditional art. The doctor died in 1941 and his nephew, Dumitru Minovici, which inherited a part of his fortune, became director of the museum. He also built on part of the land his uncle had owned the house that would bear his name: the actual Museum of Old Western Art, completed in 1942.

Having changed the administrating authority a few times during the Communist regime and afterwards, the museum was closed for over 20 years and, following a thorough renovation that included the garden on premises, reopened in mid May 2016. While many of the original exhibits are gone (black and white pictures in every room show the way it used to be arranged), some pottery, painted glass icons and religious items are still there, while all different terra cotta heating stoves and some interesting pottery or carved wood ceiling light decorations have been preserved. Other than that, rooms host personal items, pictures and scientific material that belonged to Nicolae, with plenty of interesting information in Romanian and English. As a fine curiosity, there is quite a rich display of period tattoos with well preserved skin grafts, one of which (the lady and the child) has its story deciphered in a dedicated section. Apart from the exhibition inside, take your time to explore the house, it is a fine sample of Neo-Brâncoveanu architecture, with carved stone columns and window frames, as well as frieze and ceiling decoration well preserved. The adjacent conference hall often hosts interesting exhibitions (contemporary art sometimes) included on the same ticket. It lies on Str. Dr. Nicolae Minovici nr. 1, close to Băneasa Railway Station, accessible by #335 bus from Aviatorilor subway station. It is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM, website here.

GPS - N44 29.059 E26 04.517

Dumitru Minovici House lies next to the aforementioned Nicolae Minovici House. It was built in English Gothic style in 1939, as Dumitru Minovici, its owner, inherited a vast piece of land from his uncle and bought many pieces of old Western art (stained glass windows, a chimney, statues, a whole library, old tables and chairs, paintings); the interesting thing is that he had the house built to fit these items and hence the harmonious display. The house brings an unexpected addition to the Bucharest architecture and is therefore a recommended place to visit. Add here a charismatic, very knowledgeable guard (thank you a lot, Ion) that will tell you many things about the exhibits (in Romanian only unfortunately). Dumitru Minovici House lies on Str. Dr. Nicolae Minovici nr. 3 (close to București Băneasa Railway Station, access by bus #335 from Aviatorilor subway station), website here. The guard is very knowledgeable and helpful if nicely asked. The museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 9 AM through 5 PM.

GPS - N44 29.052 E26 04.476

Gara Băneasa. Or Mogoșoaia Station. Or the Royal Station. In 1936 the Romanian Railways (CFR) started the building of two special stations: one in Sinaia and the other one in Bucharest, both meant for King Carol II, the Royal Family and foreign delegations paying visits to the two towns hosting royal residences in Romania at the time (Bucharest was the capital city and Sinaia hosted the summer residence of the king, Peleș Castle). The station features a main pavilion (the passenger terminal, including a reception hall), technical and guard quarters, as well as a 70 m. long platform that was partly sheltered. The building was set in Modernist style, following Architect Duiliu Marcu’s plans, and the works were completed in 1937.

During WW2 it was here that the evacuated wounded from the Eastern front used to be received by Queen Mother Elena. The station used to have the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania on both sides, but these symbols were taken away in the early years of the Communist regime, when the station was used for presidential trains and foreign officials. Nowadays, while many trains pass along the tracks here on a daily basis, few - if ever - stop, as all passenger trains stop at the Gara de Nord, which has much better accessibility for passengers. It lies on 1 Strada Gara Băneasa and is accessible from Aviatorilor subway station by bus #335.

GPS - N44 29.104 E26 04.521

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.