Romania

I wasn't particularly taken with Bucharest. Everywhere else I went in Romania was lovely, though.

friends in Paris told me they don't really care for Bucharest, and I can sorta see why: the prevalence of broken buildings everywhere suggests danger, and the heat and traffic add to the sense of chaos. But I lived in Marseille last year (another place Parisians don't go) and I've lived in the American midwest a lot, so environmental decay and heat and traffic seem pretty normal to me.

& it's cool that people I've talked to are happy to be here, want to stay here if they can (the economy is tough). I guess a flip side of that is nationalism and I've seen plenty of posters up calling for the return of Bessarabia, basically Moldavia, which is a central plank of the extreme right here.

yeah the people seem pretty enthused about it ime. i was writing about techno at the time and i did a blog post about going there to cover an event, i put in touch with a hotel, someone collected me from the airport, a promoter emailed to give me a gig, it all felt really good and fun as a scene of people.

*i was put in touch with a hotel, i meant to say

🇹🇩 The map of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) overlapping the results of the 2014 presidential elections in Romania

An example of the long term impact of past institutions. pic.twitter.com/2nzexOd7rX

— Xavi Ruiz 🎗 (@xruiztru) April 20, 2018

Just spent a fascinating couple of days in Bucharest - hard to think of a place in Europe where beauty and decay are so intertwined. Some magnificent art deco palaces, bordering unpaved parking lots. Flying back to Iasi next week.

I guess a flip side of that is nationalism and I've seen plenty of posters up calling for the return of Bessarabia, basically Moldavia, which is a central plank of the extreme right here.

I'm two years too late, but I wouldn't say calls for decolonization are systematically a far-right thing (although they can be in some cases, no doubt about it).

Anyway, I'm glad you like it, baaderonixx. Bucharest is a wonderful city for lovers of aesthetic decadence. It's also infinitely safer than its reputation and appearance suggest.