2022: Friendship Week and 30th Anniversary in Bucharest
The foundation of Eurojumelages Romania dates back to 1991.
Due to Corona, however, the 30th anniversary of the foundation could not be celebrated in 2021 and had to be postponed by one year. Thus, the President of the Bucharest Section, Camelia Bitea, issued an invitation to all Jumeleurs to participate in a friendship week in Romania from 15th to 21st May 2022 to "belatedly celebrate" the 30th anniversary.
Camelia and her team prepared a very interesting cultural programme for their guests.
The travel group consisted of 11 German twinners (3 from the Bonn association, one from the Böblingen/Tübingen association, 4 from the Marburg association and 3 from the Stuttgart association).
The travel group is happy to report on the highlights of their trip to Romania:
Arrival and Day 1/Monday
On Sunday, 15th May 2022, the German twinners left for the Friendship Week in Romania.
Upon arrival, direct transfer to Hotel Intercontinental. About 8:00 pm the group was complete with 11 German (unfortunately only German) travellers. Camelia, our contact person and organizer, had organized a place for dinner that evening.
After a good breakfast on Monday, the minibus with Roman, Ukrainian and guide Dr. Mihălcioiu M. Mihail, known as Michael for short, was waiting for us for a short city tour. Across a few important streets and squares, the largest building in Europe, the "Palace of the Parliament" was already recognizable from a distance in front of us.
Built from 1984 to 1989, under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, it is an impressive building with 1,100 rooms, as large as concert halls. The lobby alone, measures 340 metres long! 10% of the rooms are open to the public.
Other parts are used by government agencies. Everything is just huge. Impressive fountains, one for each part of the country, are situated in the line of sight to the building. Adjacent buildings were replaced by functional high-rise buildings for government members, on the dictator's instructions.
Entire streets had to give way to new high-rise buildings. If we understood well, the new buildings replaced those of the royal era. Fortunately, you can still find a part of the old town with historic buildings.
Next stop, the "Village Museum". Nicely located in the city, it is a popular destination for residents and visitors. Here we find the country life of the last 200 years in original houses (dismantled in the country and rebuilt here). Unfortunately as always time was limited. 3 members of the Bucharest association were waiting for us and accompanied us.
Off to the bus and the "Comana Natural Park", a marshland about 45 minutes from the centre. More than 1153 different plants and 212 bird species can be found. Unfortunately, this unique landscape has already been strongly "adapted" to the pressure of those seeking recreation and also to the demands of agriculture.
Lunch at 3:30 pm on site, simple but good. A short tour and with many pictures in the mobile phone, even more impressions, and afterwards back to the hotel.
Short walk to a restaurant in the old town, and our first impression of Bucharest at "Night". Everywhere was clean, however some pavement slabs were uneven creating sudden tripping points. Fortunately we had an accident-free return to the hotel, and were all eagerly awaiting what the next day will bring. (Diethard Klüh, association of Marburg)
The full report with all days is available here as a pdf.
