Bucharest, Between the Pages

I often return to Bucharest because it’s my boyfriend’s city. Over the years, I’ve watched it change, as people returning from abroad bring their own interpretations of places they loved elsewhere. What interests me is how the city makes those influences its own.

Vintage finds

Old buildings, carpets, fur hats and vintage jewellery give my walks a literary atmosphere. They sometimes bring Dostoevsky to mind, although neither Crime and Punishment nor The Brothers Karamazov is set here.

In a vintage accessories shop spread across four enormous rooms, we found a wonderful collection of costume jewellery. I took home a little white cameo.

Art & bookshelves

There’s a shop we always visit for its changing selection of paintings. The beauty and creative depth keep drawing me back.

Then there are the bookshops: frescoes, painted doors and creaking parquet floors. Rooms where the architecture is as absorbing as the books, and where I naturally slow down.

Two sides of the city

I notice a scene centred on art and dark, intense music, alongside traditions full of embroidery, colour and bold flavours. Around the cultural spaces I visit, dark, casual clothes meet small bursts of colour.

These are a visitor’s impressions, shaped by the places I return to. I’m curious about what comes next, and aware that someone who lives here might see a very different city.