Iaşi

The Communist buildings

National Theatre "Vasile Alecsandri"

with an exceptional interior designed by one of the most popular architects from Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century.

Palace of Culture

The Palace of Culture is one of those giant obvious monuments that the locals take for granted but which is striking to visitors. It houses several infrequently visited museums, including a musical instrument museum and a "village" museum with ethnic outfits. Currently closed for restauration.

Casa Dosoftei

Next to the Palace of culture is a little stone house named after the scholar and metropolite "archbishop" of Moldavia Dosoftei 1624-1693. He was one of the first to use the romanian language for poetry and in the church and the house contains a small museum showing early manuscripts, prints and printing presses no english signs. (http://trifter.com/europe...)

Bulevardul Stefan Cel Mare (si Sfint)

Steven the Great ((and the Holy) Boulevard)

Along it you will find the Metropolitan Church, the Trei Ierarhi Church, the Palace of Culture and the National Theatre. If you go on this boulevard in the winter, you will find an impressive set of light decorations. During the weekends, the boulevard is closed to traffic and contains rollerbladers, bikers and strollarounders. On Sundays, the National Theatre park fills up with icons and naive paintings,which one can buy for rather small prices.

Bulevardul Copou

Copou Boulevard

Copou is a large hill in Iasi, which contains a university, a botanical garden and many old, fancy houses. Rose bushes line its sides, and there are many parks and old trees scattered between the buildings. It's a popular place to go for a walk, and for locals it is considered the rich area. Head onto the side streets for the quietest, serenest part of Iasi

Copou Park

This tame, bench and rosebush laden park is a popular destination for youth in heat and the contemplative elderly. It's a pretty park, and you should not put your feet on the benches you might get fined. There are several large bushes through which you can walk, and an extremely old linden tree held up by metal bars. Linden trees are well appreciated in Iasi, and this particular tree is the most famous because the beloved romanian poet Mihai Eminescu allegedly wrote poems in its inspirational shade. In front of this linden tree, there are two large patches of bright blue forget-me-not flowers.

Botanical Garden

The botanical garden is high up on Copou hill, and it's a popular summer getaway. In the fall, the walnut trees drop walnuts which you can eat, and some people go to the garden to find these.

Sala Pasilor Pierduti (The Hall of the Lost Steps)

The Al. I. Cuza university in Copou houses an exquisite hallway, in which you can get lost in poetic reverie. The hallway is empty, long and narrow, and its walls are covered with large paintings that allude to T.S.Eliot's Wasteland and have an intensely epic, allegorical and dreamy character. A lonely guardwatch protects the hallway, and the door is heavy, with small windows that let the light trickle in through dust. It is a lonely place, yet while school is in season it is tread by thousands of steps every day, which only make it lonelier. You might also want to explore the rest of the building. A piece of advice: freeing your mind from the confines of Euclidean geometry won't make it any easier to find your way through the place, but you will feel less frustrated when you find out you've changed floors just by crossing a seemingly level hallway. The classrooms use both the Arab and the Roman numbering system, which makes it hell when you're late for an exam, and learned men all agree that the third floor dissapears during full moon. You have been warned.

The Catacombs

This network of tunnels was built hundreds of years ago for military purposes, and connects several strategic points of Iaşi, including some monasteries. It is unknown to most visitors and indeed to many locals, but will soon be opened for tourism. The entrance will be in front of Hala Centrala see entry under shopping, but as of April 2010, this is still a construction site. In the mean time, you may be able to get a glimpse of the old tunnels if you pay a visit to Casa Bolta Rece see entry under eating.

off the beaten path

Rich Gypsy Houses

The term rich gypsy may seem an oxymoron, and perhaps for this reason the few opulent gypsy mansions are worth seeking out. Unfortunately, they are not on maps. However, there are several on a street going from the main train station towards the smaller train station Nicolina. There is a street which follows the railroad tracks very closely. Walk on this street, and you will see at least one such house. Gypsy houses are striking in contrast with Romanian houses. They are covered in sparkly, glittery materials. Their walls might be completely covered in metal, and have metal decorations which have questionable aesthetic but much cultural value. If you see a shiny metal house, it's a gypsy house.

Extremely poor gypsy/romanian housing areas

There are still pigs in Iasi, though not as many as in Bucharest area. There are also chickens and cultivated vegetables, sometimes extremely close to downtown. If you really want to find them, you could break onto the roof of a communist building and look in every direction. Pick out the greenest looking hill these houses have plants and walk there. Alternatively, you can go south of the Tatarasi neighborhood.

Releu - an ancient sea bed

"Releu" refers to a large antenna in general, but in Iasi there is a particular one which you'll be directed to if you ask locals. The Releu is a popular picnic spot, and offers a gorgeous view of the city. It is in a strange area, which is half village half French Riviera; This means that peasants, cows, chickens and dogs still live here, but that some of the properties are being bought by rich Europeans and converted into villas. The two ways to get to the Releu are by maxi-taxi and by taxi. The taxi or maxi-taxi will leave you at the edge of the street, and you'll probably feel like you're in full blown countryside. Look for the giant antenna, and go to its base. You'll have to walk on dirt roads, but it's pretty. From the antenna, look around, and you should be able to find a crevasse it's really rather large, like a semicircular cut in the hillside. You can see some caverns dug into the side of the hill. Go down into the semicircular cut it's an easy walk and go up to the wall. You can see many shells and remains of a calcarous ancient sea bed which used to cover the entire area. If you're adventurous, you can find caves in the area, some of which are quite large. There are ancient legends that tell of the locals running away from invaders in these caves and sheltering their riches. Most of the locals believe the caves to be fictitious, but they do really exist.

Explore Abandoned Communist Factories

Iasi was a burgeoning industrial center of the communist era. The communist ideal revolved around self sufficiency, so everything except for oil and the like that needed to be used in Iasi was made in Iasi. The city's outskirts are dominated by an immense industrial zone, in which more than 90 percent of the factories have become abandoned. When the communist regime fell, these factories closed one by one, succumbing to foreign competition and internal political chaos. What is left are hundreds of factories, buildings, warehouses and fields which are completely abandoned, overrun with shrubbery, begging for exploration. It is unique, amazing and wild, and will not last long. With the European Union's accelerating economic involvement in Romania and the increasing price of land in the city, the industrial wasteland will soon be cleaned up and taken under control by the overzealous and bored Romanian policemen. You can get there by asking which way is the "zona industriala". If you are in "Podu Ros" walk towards "Tesatura" , away from downtown. As you walk you will pass the electrical power plant. You can also take tram number 1 from Podu Ros and get off at the very end make sure it's NOT going towards Copou. At the end of the tram line, walk around, because you have entered the largest communist wasteland around Iasi. There are other abandoned factories, but this is the largest concentration. Another extremely large abandoned factory is C.U.G., and used to produce large industrial equipment. It is at the end of bus lines 9 and 41, next to "Frumoasa". If you take the train to come into Iasi, you'll probably go by this factory for a very long time. C.U.G. is not completely abandoned, so you should be careful, but it also probably has the most impressive warehouses and heavy machinery. Try to imagine how 30 years ago these places were the workplaces of most of the inhabitants of Iasi. Many people moved from the countryside to the city to work in these factories.

Go swim in the locals' dippin' spots

In the summer, Iasi experiences extreme droughts and relentless heat, so the locals escape to swimming holes. The most popular one was the "Ştrand", which was an outdoor swimming pool in the middle of the city. The pool has been relocated as a big real estate project called Palas started to be built in the area. Some people also swim in the Ciric and Venetia lakes and river which lie north of the city. These are lakes, not swimming pools; there is no lifeguard, but there also are no rules. Check the bottom depth before taking a plunge. Also, the water is full of strange microorganisms and who knows what else...the local kids seem to be all right, but two-headed fish have been seen in the Ciric lake more than once. You can also swim in the botanical garden, in the pool at the bottom of the hill.

There is a new "Ştrand" on the "Cicoarei" street just ask the locals for it. It is well fitted and quite a popular place for summer bathing. There are also some hotels which have smaller swimming pools available to the public Hotel Capitol, Motel Bucium, etc. The lakes mentioned above are not really safe. A few people get drowned every year and some get eye or skin conditions from the dirty water.

Visit ANY power plant you are allowed to

Admission has been denied, but the situation changes frequently. If you're lucky, you could visit the clothing and shoe-making factory at the Tesatura intersection, next to Podu Ros towards the industrial zone, the sewage treatment plant, the bread and pasta factory the pasta more or less drips from a balcony onto an assembly line below.

Street art

The city itself is not rich in street art but you can find some interesting graffiti at the block houses. You can visit this link to see some examples: (http://tarsadalomtudomany...)

Go shopping in the numerous second-hand shops around the city

As the economic crisis hit Iasi, the number of second-hand clothing shops has sky-rocketed, as one of the few profitable businesses in times of economic hardship. You'll find really good bargains for some hippy clothes, antiquities, sport equipment. A lot of young locals prefer them to shopping malls, because you may find really quality stuff at affordable prices. Most of these clothes come in big shipments from western countries. You'll be surprised maybe to find items your parents would be wearing in their youth.

Check the Jewish cemetery

Hidden behind communist buildings in the Păcurari neighbourhood lays the Jewish cemetery, a trace of the once thriving Jewish community of Iasi up to a third of the population of Iasi used to be Jewish before World War Two. It is now guarded by a family who lives there, but you should be allowed to enter during decent day-hours.

Up the Bucium hill

there is a lookout point with a really good view towards the city. Some people drive there at night to take a look at the panorama, while the car windows get steamy.

Check the traditional open markets

"Piaţa Nicolina", "Piaţa Alexandru", "Piaţa Păcurari". They are open daily. You'll find fresh local products, healthier than the ones in supermarkets, and usually at better prices too. You may find peculiar the offer of the sellers from the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, who bring their products there.

churches and monasteries

It is said that if you throw a rock in Iasi, you will break a church window. Despite the fact that Communism outlawed religion, Iasi is replete with churches and monasteries. Many of them are beautiful. The majority are of Eastern Orthodox denomination, however, they are richly decorated and sometimes surrounded by lush gardens. As you walk by, imagine the churches a hundred years ago as the centers of farming, peasant communities; the fruit bearing trees and domains around the church supported the clergy and nuns. In Iasi, the priests knock on every door at least once a year to sanctify your apartment for the new year in exchange for money. It is considered inappropriate not to open the door. When you enter a church, you can make the cross symbol on the doorstep; remove your hat, and don't wear any short skirts. On Sunday, sermon is sometimes held outside the church, broadcast by a loudspeaker, because inside there are few or no chairs. If you are extremely lucky, you will visit a church on the day of its 100 year anniversary. This is the only day in which women are allowed in the altar; Don't worry if you don't speak romanian, you won't have to say anything. There are no easy ways of finding out when these anniversaries occur, so if you really want to do this look up the dates when churches were first built.

Trei Ierarhi Church

This church is completely covered in carvings. The church was once covered in gold, which was burned away to be stolen. Trei Ierarhi is frequently under construction. The atmosphere inside is musky and friendly, typical of East Orthodox churches. It contains several chandeliers with decorative ostrich eggs.

Metropolitan Church

Be careful not to wear short skirts in this chuuch. The elderly are quite protective of in-church propriety. If you go in the summer, you'll enjoy vast rose bushes all around the grounds of the church. If you're thirsty, there is a water fountain at one end of the courtyard. There are always beggers at the entrance of this church, which is one of the most profitable for beggers in Iasi. Locally, this church is called "Metropolia". Metropolia contains the remains of "Saint Paraschiva", an important local saint. If you like chaos and celebrations, go to Iasi from 12-16 of October of any year. The city floods with peasants and religious pilgrims from Romania and abroad. The city completely changes during this period, and the Stefan cel Mare boulevard is almost impossible to walk through.

Golia Monastery

This monastery is surrounded with thick fat walls and has a prominent tower; you can climb to the summit; It is in "Targul Cucului" = "the Coockoo's market", which is right in the middle of the city in a very busy intersection. The constrasting serenity within the walls is almost unbelievable.

Sfântul Nicolae Domnesc

This small but beautiful church is located right next to the Palace of Culture. It was built by Stephen the Great in 1491-1492 making it the oldest standing religious building in Iaşi today, and later renovated around the year 1900. It is well worth a visit to admire the paintings, and perhaps take a break for a little peace of mind.

Frumoasa Monastery

This monastery is in Nicolina, farther form downtown and amidst communist buildings; You can recognise the monastery by the metal roof.