One of the major advantages of living in a capital city, or any major city, is that you keep discovering new things about it, even though you were actually born there. I have seen Bucharest going through a lot of positive transformations since the end of the communist regime to the present day. New buildings appearing in the landscape and old ones being restructured, modernization works, some of them even unnecessary, but that's another story. Would you believe that in 2007-2008 the historic center, nowadays so full of bars, caffees, restaurants and shops, and loved by tourists and locals spending their spare times, looked like World War II had just taken place? Well, I'm still astonished too.
However, I recently discovered that what has been already done is far from enough. Bucharest has submitted its candidature as European Capital of Culture 2021. With this purpose, several cultural NGOs are regularly organizing pedestrian itineraries free of charge (or based only on donations from participants - you give if and as much as you want). These itineraries, which are very popular amongst the city's inhabitants, as tens or even hundreds of people attend every time, are meant to raise awareness to the undiscovered and/or forgotten parts of the city, hoping that the message would get to people in authority and something is done about them.
I also attended this type of events a couple of times. And it's been insightful and saddening at the same time. Apart from the mainstream venues and touristic objectives, there are also many buildings, or even entire neighbourhoods, true jewels of architecture, which seem to be abandoned, perhaps claimed by some (real or fake) owner from the post-communist era, and left to deteriorate. Or neighbourhoods full of stories and legends from times past, which are now only inhabited by poverty and social cases. Or, a huge inhabited land by a lake generated a proper natural reservation, which is almost competing with the Danube Delta. Or, an amphitheatre which had started being built during the communist days with the idea of becoming a summer theatre is now abandoned and useless (well, I know communism has done lots of injustice to the population, but a summer theatre would do us good, as we like to have a rich cultural life in all seasons).
Bucharest has grown, but it can grow even more. I don't know if these things happen in all cities. I don't even know if action will be taken, or at least anytime soon. And I'm not that rich to become a top-notch land developper, 'cause otherwise I would. :) But one thing is certain: we cannot afford to lose such beauties, which can make our city an even more charming place.
