Bucharest
Part 8: Horses, dogs and markets
Tne
thing that was a riddle to me for a long time were certain shouts or rather a
singing I could often hear from my windows. When I finally asked someone I was
told, that it were people, usually Roma, who went through the city with horse
carriages to collect used metal people didn't need anymore, to build new things
to sell in the markets. Romania's own recycling system, I was told with a certain
pride.
Horse carriages
are not an uncommon sight, even in the centre of the city. The major streets are
off limits to them, but in the side streets one can see them every now and then.
And once one goes to the countryside, they seem to still be the major means of
transport in some of the smaller villages.
To some foreigners at least, the
so-called "caru??" has thus become almost a symbol of Romania, a fact
that is not liked by all Romanians. On an earlier visit to the country I had gotten
into an argument with an old man in the town of Bra?ov, who saw the picture on
my guide book - a city sign of Bucharest together with a caru?? in a red circle
- as an insult to his country. "It portrays us as backwards", he said.
The
street dogs, that I had heard so much about, on the other hand, never caused a
problem to me. According to a newspaper, some 70 people get bitten daily, but
apparently that happens more likely in the outskirts of town. Of course I saw
dogs, especially when I left the immediate centre, but they seemed to mind their
own business, as long as I minded mine.
I
have always liked markets, and Romania has quite a few of those. In Bucharest,
the one tourists are most likely to visit is the central Piata Amzei. It is somewhat
overprized, but pretty. Before one gets to the stands selling different fruits,
vegetables, flowers and similar things, one passes people without an own market
stand sitting by the street and offering just one vegetable or one type of flowers,
or other small things, while sitting on the ground.
A
lot bigger and cheaper is Piata Obor, but I went there only once. Here it seemed,
almost anything was sold. I was warned to watch my bags there, and the atmosphere
was chaotic indeed, but that exactly made it fun. The markets I liked best though,
were the ones I found on my visits to the countryside - but that is another story.
U.H.,
2005, Berlin
additional
infos about the trip and the author
can be found here