Travel Blogs - Travellerspoint

Bucharest is disorientating from the minute you arrive, lacking any coherent organization that may allow a visitor to adapt quickly to their new surroundings. I typically feel quite comfortable wandering the streets of a new city without a map, relying on a few quick glances upon arrival but from there on only checking it if I’m having trouble finding a specific street or place. It is my favorite part of exploring a city, constructing a mental map of my environment which remains etched in my memory for years to come. My keen sense of direction has to date proved adept enough to keep me from getting lost, and in the process, permitted me to stumble upon a variety of hidden treasures away from the tourist centers. This approach, the indiscriminate wandering, backfired on me in Bucharest on more than one occasion, leaving me absolutely clueless as to where I was, which direction I had been walking, and more importantly, how to retrace my steps to a more familiar spot. Bucharest is nothing short of a nightmare to walk around, and if I ever find myself teaching a class on how not to organize a city, this city would without a doubt be the best example Europe has to offer.