One does not expect much behind the ugly concrete buildings bordering Unirea Avenue, while, when on top of the Patriarchal Church Hill, the city seems to end there. However, a quaint district of 100 year old - and sometimes older - houses starts there, complete with a quite large park, the city’s first railway station, as well as an interesting option of seeing fine samples of European Industrial structures on the way back to Unirea Square, to complete a loop.
The walk: start your walk at Unirea Square, following the Dimitrie Cantemir just for 50 m., then turn right before the impressive Sfântul Spiridon Nou Church. Follow the Calea Șerban Vodă for a short while, then turn to the right, along Principatele Unite Street. The most interesting buildings lie on Olimpului and Cornelia streets, but you can wander around. Eventually reach the Strada 11 Iunie. Follow the latter to the right (N) to number 36, where you can visit Macovei House.
Nearby, at number 50, have a look at what a former factory walls, some paint, plaster, scraps and a lot of imagination can come up with: Fabrica Club (pictured here to the left). Then return along the 11 Iunie to the South until it pops into a wide square. After a peek at the interwar Zodiac Fountain or a walk across Carol Park to see the Sequoia Gigantea, go up the stairs to the Aleea Suter peeking at the fine structure of Carol Parc Hotel, eventually reaching Filaret Bus Station and then the fine brick and fresco Cuțitu de Argint Church. The walk can end there but I recommend a continuation along the Fabrica de Chibrituri and then a right along the Viilor, with decaying, but fine period properties.
A short walk along the - again - beautiful, yet decaying house bordered Calea Rahovei will take you to the former Merchandise Exchange House, excellently restored. Across the street from it there is the equally interesting Bell’Agio Casa store hosted in a structure from the same period of time; and in between you cannot miss Bucharest’s lively flower market. Return to Unirea Square along the Calea Rahovei which goes between the unfinished structure of the Romanian Academy and the early 20th century Bragadiru Palace, then along the Regina Maria (with several interesting, even though decaying, period properties) or Unirea Avenue (with its Ceaușescu era typically malfunctioning fountains and grey apartment buildings).
What to see: plenty of Neo-Classical architecture of French influence, as well as Neo-Romanian pieces with smaller or larger properties, together with some of the city’s finest samples of industrial architecture and a very interesting church. The walk comes complete with an opportunity for pleasant strolls in Carol Park with its fine sculptures and an unexpectedly appealing technology museum.
Having a bite: one would not say that at the first glance, but there are venues for all pockets around the Filaret, from the merry mici’n beer stalls by the Odoarei - Calea Rahovei crossing and all the way to the top end Poem Restaurant of the exquisitely restored Carol Park Hotel. About half the way between the two and with a fine atmosphere, there is the Băcănia Veselă (En. the Merry Grocery), at 45 Strada 11 Iunie, serving cheap and tasty hot meals at a few tables on the sidewalk. Snacks and sometimes pastry are available at Filaret Bus Station. Also, there is a cafeteria with a large terrace next to the apartment buildings immediately to the East of Carol I Park and the Fabrica Club (on the walking route) is yet another colourful option to consider.
Duration: a 3-4 hour walk without visits.
Filaret Hill and Fountain. It bears the name of the Mitropolite of the Wallachian Orthodox Church in 1792-1793, a great cultural figure of his time. The hill used to overlook an extensive, swampy lake that was eventually drained and turned into a field. One of the two most famous wells in Bucharest at the time, Filaret Well, was built in 1793 by the mitropolite; it used to collect water from 4 springs and was endowed with a monumental kiosk. Rich landlords from all over the city used to have their water brought from either this well or from the one in Pantelimon, East of town. The initial structure was demolished in 1863 and replaced with a new, Neo-Classical one by George Grigore Cantacuzino in 1870; the current structure bears Cantacuzino’s name. It is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting medieval knights and coats of arms. The fountain lies in Carol I Park, which was set on the place of the former lake and field.
Macovei House. Ligia and Pompiliu Macovei bought this house in 1952 from a Jewish merchant that had a hat store on the same street. The house was probably raised at the end of the 19th century or just before WW1. The couple restored the house and started collecting art objects, especially from France and Italy, where Pompiliu Macovei, an oddly enlightened Communist, acted as UNESCO Ambassador. All pieces of furniture and items were put together in order to make a prolific environment for Ligia Macovei, a painter. Some pieces of furniture were designed by Pompiliu. The house hosts, among other items, English and Spanish pieces of furniture, French Art Deco tables, paintings by Ciucurencu, Pallady, Ghiață, Grigorescu, sketches by
Marcel Iancu, as well as interesting Oriental pots and Spanish, respectively Italian pottery. While the house itself is not very large (the visit includes four rooms and a furnished hallway), possibly the best thing the place has to offer is the atmosphere of a bygone era; while in the hallway or in the library, especially as visitors are rare and far in between, one gets the feeling the owners are about to show up for dinner or a chat over a cup of coffee. In 1988 the couple donated the collection to the City Hall, so as to save it from immediate demolition which had hit a wide part of the city. Luckily, the 1989 coup saved the whole neighbourhood from demolition, so that the house still stands and can be visited.
The house is open 10 AM to 6 PM, Wednesday to Sunday.
GPS - N44 25.287 E26 05.735
Carol I Park. Set on the extensive place of the former lake, the park hosted the 1906 General Exhibition of Romania, and the urban Luna Bucureștilor (En. Bucharest’s Month) in the May 9 - June 9 interval, yearly 1935 and 1940. One enters the park from 11 Iunie Square, passing by the monumental Zodiac Fountain. It was built 1935 to the plans drawn by Architect Octav Doicescu, with the zodiac signs being done in mosaic; the bowl is 6 meters wide and the water jet used to raise 25 meters in the air; it is now lower, but equally refreshing. Among the landmarks in the park, there are a few samples of Sequoia Gigantea and the even taller, imposing, red and black granite Memorial of the People’s Heroes. A graveyard dedicated to the people heroes was meant to be set there, together with a monument and a military museum after 1943, yet the war stopped the works and they did not continue afterwards until 1959-1963, when the actual structure was set, dedicated to the Socialist militants. The monument used to contain the graves of major representatives of Communism in Romania, among which Dr. Petru Groza, Gheorghe-Gheorghiu Dej, Constantin Ion Parhon. An eternal flame used to burn in a granite amphora. In 1991 the Unknown Soldier Grave was brought back and set in its initial place again, after it had been being dispatched to Mărășești in 1959.
On a happier and more interesting note there is the story of the Giants, the two statues set at the opposite ends of an alley running perpendicular on the main one in the park. They are both 3.50 m. tall and depict nudes of standing young men. They were initially set next to an artificial cave that used to exist in the park. The complete set also contained the statue of Beauty, a young girl sleeping, so that the cave was called the Charming Cave; the statues were inspired by a legend, that of two twins falling in love of the same girl. Due to their impossible love, they were both turned into stone, while the girl was turned into a waterfall. The two giants were sculpted in stone by Dumitru Paciurea and Frederic Storck, while the girl was sculpted in marble by Filip Marin; if you wonder where the third sculpture lies nowadays, it’s in Herăstrău Park, in the opposite side of town: walk in Herăstrău Park through the main Charles de Gaulle Square entrance, go straight on for 100 m. and the Sleeping Beauty sculpture lies in the middle of the green area between the two main alleys, at N44 28.202 E26 04.977; it is included in my Aviatorilor District Walk. I’ve added a picture of it on the photo album dedicated to this walk (click on the link at the end of this article)
GPS - N44 25.099 E26 05.710 (for the Zodiac Fountain and the entrance to the park)
Filaret Bus Station. On top of Filaret Hill, on the Western side of a park-centered square there is the quite chaotic Filaret Bus Station. This was the city’s first train station, opened in 1869, together with the first railway in Wallachia on the Bucharest - Giurgiu route (the first railway on the actual territory of Romania being opened in 1854 between Oravița and Baziaș). It used to host 3 railway tracks and the roof was cut in the central part to allow the coal smoke to exit. Once the larger București Nord (a.k.a. Gara de Nord) opened in 1872, the importance of Filaret Station dwindled. It was turned into a bus station in 1960 and now it continues to be used for that purpose, generally serving destinations South and North-East of Bucharest, as well as a few international routes in Greece, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.
GPS - N44 24.948 E26 05.522
Cuțitul de Argint Church. A wooden church was built here in 1766. It had no steeple and it was covered in wood planks. It was repaired a few times and, given the 1906 Exhibition which was organized in nearby Carol Park, it was replaced with the current brick church, built by King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta. In 1906 the church was endowed with a large, stone carved cross dating from 1677. The church has exquisite exterior frescoes which were restored in 1992-1995; also note the fine tile work in different colours. It is surrounded by a graveyard. Carol Park, just down the hill on top of which it is located (Filaret Hill) lies to the back of the church.
GPS - N44 24.827 E26 05.532
The former Merchandise Exchange House and its whereabouts. It was built in 1898, following the plans of Architect Giulio Magni that worked together with Anghel Saligny, the one that designed the Cernavodă bridge over the Danube. It was set in European Industrial style, with a red brick facade. The structure hosts a few company offices, a bar, a summer Indian restaurant and different events; it can be visited if talking nicely to the guard or asking for someone from the management to show up. In the same area there are other structures set in the same style and currently restored (for instance, the Bell’Agio store across the square to the SE), with more colourful facades. The many florists around bring a great contrast to the buildings around, as the the flower market lies on one side of the square, going on for a good stretch of the Calea Rahovei as well. The florists moved there after the traditional flower market in St. Anton Square (in the open area between Manuc’s Inn and the Old Court Church in the Old Town) was closed down due to the archaeological digs in 1967-1971.
GPS - N44 25.180 E26 05.057
Bragadiru-Colosseum Palace. Construction started in 1905 and ended in 1911, with owner Dumitru Marinescu meaning the building to host a Palace of Culture for the employees of his beer brewery (Bragadiru Brewery). As he had grown up in poverty, he wanted to provide entertainment and fun for his employees. The palace consists of a wide, elegant ballroom (largely overdone, a bit kitschy and dusty, if not all the way grotesque though), a library, shops on the ground floor, as well as a fine backyard. In 1948, the communist regime confiscated the property, and renamed it Lenin Culture House. The descendants of Marinescu got the building back in 2003. The building lies to the back of a still unfinished building which was meant for the Romanian Academy in 1989. It is not open for visitors, it is usually rented for weddings, parties and corporate events, but if asking nicely you might be allowed to peek in (ask for someone from the office to the left as you look at the main entrance).
GPS - N44 25.285 E26 05.204
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.