First Impressions of Iasi, now that I'm home
In an arse-about face way, I am giving my initial impressions of Iasi after getting back. So here are some first impressions:
It's quite a good-sized city, maybe half million people, but because it has hills around it you can usually see some green in the distance. There are a lot of nice parks, particularly up in the Copou area where most of the University Buildings are. And they have very good-looking universities, like this one:
It has good trams and buses that go everywhere and up and down the many hills.
It has a lot of the old very grand buildings preserved but you can see that presumably the Caucescu era planning took out whole areas of old housing to be replaced by apartment blocks in pretty drab concrete. I'm staying in an older house in the middle of town and much prefer that to the blocks
In the parks on weekend mornings there are loads of families out with small children riding ever-smaller bikes. I expect to see a 6-month old on some kind of recumbent next. But they are all enjoying themselves and family is a joy that knows no geographic or political borders.
Iași has the normal Balkan tariff of 'feral cats' as they are called in the public health documents. Cro preferred to refer to them as 'freelance cats' as that seems to suit their entitlement and sang-froid much better. They sit by bushes and often on furniture and clearly people feed them. Iași also has a number of freelance dogs of a similar employment status who are completely unthreatening and behave much better than most owned dogs I know. What does this tell us? Here are both sets of freelancers.
In the parks on weekend mornings there are loads of families out with small children riding ever-smaller bikes. I expect to see a 6-month old on some kind of recumbent next. But they are all enjoying themselves and family is a joy that knows no geographic or political borders.
Iași has the normal Balkan tariff of 'feral cats' as they are called in the public health documents. Cro preferred to refer to them as 'freelance cats' as that seems to suit their entitlement and sang-froid much better. They sit by bushes and often on furniture and clearly people feed them. Iași also has a number of freelance dogs of a similar employment status who are completely unthreatening and behave much better than most owned dogs I know. What does this tell us? Here are both sets of freelancers.
This one was outside the airport entrance
Just chilling
I have twice eaten in a Romanian/Moldovan restaurant established in 1793. It was called Casa Volta Rece and the food looks like this.
A man with a violin arrived and I was hopeful of entertainment.
The drivers are much more self-restrained than I expected, and there are zebra crossings which are much more meticulously observed than in Hackney. Not much beeping and only the occasional boy racer as the evening sets in.
On the tram today I noticed a woman next to me crossed herself as we passed a church. I don't know if it was a special church or if she does that for all of them. Then later in the day I saw two more women doing the same thing and they did indeed cross themselves at every church.
It was very hard to find a supermarket but then I realised that several of the small shops were actually very well stocked inside and you could get everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to cheese and meat in a place where in England you'd only expect to find soft drinks and vapes.
So, like all cities in the world, Iasi has its own particular rhythm and habits. It seems quite relaxed and the people here seem to like living in it, and raising their children and hanging out with their friends. And it is always delightful to remind yourself that however much a place seems different and hard to work out when you arrive, that is exactly how your city looks to a visitor, and your comfort and fluency in it is what everyone else feels in their own. And travel may not broaden your mind, but it certainly leaves you with no worse and impression of humanity and usually a better one.
The drivers are much more self-restrained than I expected, and there are zebra crossings which are much more meticulously observed than in Hackney. Not much beeping and only the occasional boy racer as the evening sets in.
On the tram today I noticed a woman next to me crossed herself as we passed a church. I don't know if it was a special church or if she does that for all of them. Then later in the day I saw two more women doing the same thing and they did indeed cross themselves at every church.
It was very hard to find a supermarket but then I realised that several of the small shops were actually very well stocked inside and you could get everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to cheese and meat in a place where in England you'd only expect to find soft drinks and vapes.
So, like all cities in the world, Iasi has its own particular rhythm and habits. It seems quite relaxed and the people here seem to like living in it, and raising their children and hanging out with their friends. And it is always delightful to remind yourself that however much a place seems different and hard to work out when you arrive, that is exactly how your city looks to a visitor, and your comfort and fluency in it is what everyone else feels in their own. And travel may not broaden your mind, but it certainly leaves you with no worse and impression of humanity and usually a better one.
I will leave with an attempt to link to something which was an unexpected joy in my visit. I was going past an Orthodox church when this beautiful male voice singing started up. I hope you can hear it.
(If this doesn't work, just tell me and I'll try to link it a different way)
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