(Insert your own joke about the fact that we’ve always looked down on Bucharest).
Partly to keep a promise to Son of Bucharest Life, and partly because we hadn’t been up there ourselves for a while, we this week took a trip to the balcony at the top of the Bucharest InterContinental, at 77 metres the tallest hotel in the city.
You can access the small balcony via the hotel’s swimming pool (which, on the 22nd floor, is unquestionably the highest in the city).
Besides the clear delineation of old and new Bucharest, what strikes you most about the city from this height is just how small and dense it is. The tall chimney in the middle of the photo below (at IMGB, we think?) marks the city’s southern limits. It is astonishing to think that almost three million people live in Bucharest, in such a small space.
For those of you interested in such things, the InterContinental is currently the seventh tallest building in the city.
The top spot is held by the the 120 metre Bucharest Tower Centre, on Bulevardul 1 Mai just north of Piata Victoriei:
Bucharest's tallest building
However, the Sky Tower, currently under construction in the north of the city, will – at 137 metres – take the record on completion.
For the time being though, the full list of top ten tallest buildings in Bucharest is as follows:
Tower Center International (120 metres)
Elevator Test Tower (114 metres, but apparently scheduled for demolition)
Casa Scanteii (104 metres)
BRD Tower (87 metres)
Casa Poporului (86 metres)
Bucharest Financial Plaza (Bancorex) (83 metres)
InterContinental (77 metres)
Millenium Business Center (72 metres)
Charles de Gaulle Plaza (70 metres)
Palatul Telefoanelor (52.50 metres)
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Spiderman will climb the inter this friday http://metropotam.ro/La-zi/Omul-Paianjen-Alain-Robert-se-va-catara-pe-hotel-Intercontinental-art4798635672/
Wow. Looks like he has actual permission too (does he not usually do this without permission, and get arrested at the top?).
That building isn’t called Tower Center International (it might have been at some point before construction), but Bucharest Tower Center (BTC). I’ve also seen 2 heights quoted for this building (120m and 106m).
All of the buildings in the list have at least three or four different heights listed in various places. In all cases I took the most common. With the tower centre it appears it is 120 metres despite planning authorities approving only 106 metres.
Unde este Strada Ilie Nastase?
Is there any such thing in Bucharest or someone made fun of you?
No, I was drunk and bored, again! But there should be a Strada named after him though.
I think they name streets and stadiums with peoples names only after they die… except for the stadium in Constanta which for a few years bore the name of Gheorghe Hagi…
Until somebody came (not sure who) and decided to change the name of the stadium (again).
Last night I tried to walk along that street coming up from Unirii to the Inter Continental on the left hand side…Impossible and fucking annoying with all them grotty cars dumped along the side walk. And what made me shake me head at the sheer fookin madness of it all, was the part where the said mentioned street meets Strada Lipscani with it’s new fancy cobble stones. And there’s this gadgey in a daft Muncipal Police Community uniform telling some other local gadgey that it was not possible to park there in that particular spot, but not having a problem with the other 300 or so cars that litter the rest of the street from top to bottom! Rant Over and out…
At what time was that? Cause I walked on that sidewalk twice last evening.
There are 2 stray dogs in front of what was once Sheriffs fast food (hell knows what it is today, still fast food I think) who usually try to bite. And last evening I saw one of them moving his neck in an odd way, I think someone finally fed him some neurotoxins which weren’t strong enough to kill him.
I hate those cobble stones on Lipscani. They’re not new, I think they took them from somewhere else because new cobble stones don’t have a smooth edge like these ones do, but these ones are hard to walk on.
P.S.
If you look in the sky – the moon looks just as close as that furnace =))
About 10pm?
Oh, I was already home at 10pm and sound asleep by 10:30
Had some very wearisome weeks and I suppose they will continue for a little longer.
Missed you, Mr Rearguard
Bulevardul 1 Mai doesn’t exist anymore. It’s bulevardul Ion Mihalache now
Here in Berceni we call Bd. Alexandru Obregia as Bd. Metalurgiei as it was once called.
And sometimes we also call the Police as Militia as it was once called
Like anybody calls it that. You’ll be telling me Piata Muncii is actually called Piata Hurmazache next.
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