Braila
My husband and I are sometimes very proud of both being Danube children. When I first came to Bratislava the thing i loved the most was the Danube, and my favourite song was and always will be Blue Danube. It is sometimes weird to think that the same water passing through Bratislava will in a few weeks pass also my home town Braila.
Braila is the city where I was born and raised, it is our romanian beauty on the Danube, it is a city full of history and architecture, of nature and green, full of parks and gardens. Initially a fishersman village, it was taken by the Ottoman empire and transformed into a turkish raja, it was burned by the Moldavian princes many times because it was a concurence their cities on the Danube. The city has always been a rich port over the Danube, however it had also sad and bloody history. It was burned and distroyed many times, but everytime it came back to life and prospered. Braila went through her best and richest period in the middle of the 19 century and the beginning of the 20th century as a port city on the Danube. The whole town was modernized, paved streets, farmacies, theaters and public gardens, schools, banks and factories.
Rich merchants came via the river from Greece, Italy, Russia and other countries. Ships full of goods from all over the world stopped in the port and the merchandise was transported all over the country and other countries arround. After the second world war and then the fall of the communism the city went through a period of decline. Many of the old beautiful architecture of Braila was left to rot and slowly destroy itselft. Braila is also a martir city, durring the revolution there were intensive fights and bullet holes were visible for many years after 1989 on the building in the center. Some of the holes in the telephone tower and the mair's office are still visible today. When entering Braila with the car there is under the city name sign the mention martyr city.
The streets of Braila come out as a spider net going up the banks of the Danube to a beautiful esplanade. On the other side of the beautiful river there is a mesh of small islands and mashes called the Little Island of Braila. There is no bridge over the Danube. In order to pass over to city of Tulcea you must take a ferry. Every morning the cars gather in front of the Danube waiting for the ferry. Two ferries are moving in both directions and cars and trucks are moved every 15 mintutes from one shore to the other.
There are many beautiful places to visit when in Braila and i will try to do them justice in this small presentation. The first place to visit is the old center and the Piata Traian. The square is one of the oldest and it is surrounded by some of the most famous buildings in the city. The teather Maria Filloti was build in 1896 and it is one of the most beautiful buildings, most special ocations, official visits, concerts, sympozioms and festivals are taking place in it. There is also the museum of plastic arts, the museaum of natural history. Near them there is the most famous Corso coffee shop.
It used to be the most famous coffe shop in Braila for the select where
the best cakes and icecreams were served. Now there are many cofeterias
around the city with higher quality products, however the Corso remains a
symbol and a building of the past. The highest of all the the Hotel
Traian, the biggest hotel from the city. In the middle of the square
there is a beautiful garden with tall tress which bloom in spring, red
roses and a fountain in the middle. At the entrance of the garden there
is the statue of the emperor Traian, from which the name of the square
comes. In teh garden there is also the famous blue clock, which appears
in most of the postcards from Braila.
Maria Filotti theater
Emperor Traian statue
Hotel Traian
In the middle of the Traian square there is also the beautiful church of St. Michael and Gabriel.it is the oldest church in Braila and it was a mosque durring the ottomam occupation. It was transformed in an orthodox church in 1831 and it is one of the most beautifully decorated church.
A little away from the square there is the famous Big garder of the Garden Belvedere. it was so called because of the beautiful view of the Danube river the Macin mountains. The garden is womderfully arranged, full of flowers of many colors, statues and fountains. The most famous is the flower clock, the music kiosk and the memorial home of Panait Istrati, one of our greatest writers. There is also a nice water fountain guarded by 2 statues and a lot of benches and shops with regreshments. The park is always full with families with children and roller skaters.
Flower clock
From the Traian square you can also continue to the Street Mihai Eminescu, which was named after our greatest poet. The street is full of old historical buildings which were transformed in shops or restaurants, in farmacies and cafeterias. It is also an iconic place in the city. The street takes you from the old square to the biggest shop in the town, the Winmarkt, in the times of my childhood it was called the Danube shop.
Another place is the Independance square, the square is the new and modern part of the city and the preferred place of walk for most of the population of Braila. here they have open festivals and manifestation, comemorations and so on. The square is large and marble with flowers, benches and decorations depending to the time of the year. The main building is the mairs office, where all the administrativ and political of the town are sitting. In the middle of the square there is the monument to the memory of the people who died in the revolution of 1989. To my sadness 2 names on that cross are known to me as they were neighbours and family friends.
To the left of the square there is the the statue of the national here Ecaterina Teodoroiu and the beautiful old building of the Murgoci highschool, a school with old history and the first school for girls opened in Braila. On the right of the square there is the Hotel Belvedere with a view to the Danube river and with a nice modern restaurant. In front of the square, on the other side of the street called Calea Calarasilor is the Palace of the Agriculture, the house of the young poeple which includes a disco, there is also the famous Panait Istrati library where most of the students from all the schools in Braila go to borrow books.
From the Independance square you can go to the most famous place in Braila, the Danube Esplenada and the Danube sidewalk. The Esplanada has the most iconic fountain in Braila. The whole esplanada is a collection of wonderful artificial fountains which goes down the many stairwais that leads to the Danube. The first fountain is the cinetic fountain, formed by many palms that are moving and throwing beautiful jets of water in the air. As you go down the stairs you can admire the foutains and the water which goes down with you. At the bottom there is a large square where concerts are held in summer and where most of the young people like to spend their time.
It ends on the bank of the Danube, from here you can stay and watch the large beautiful river, the slow motion of the water, the always green other bank of the river. Sometimes the bank is flooded and water rises almost up to the large square, sometimes the water is so law you can see and plants growing on it's shore.
From the esplanade you can go to walk on the long sidewalk along the river. It is a nice peacefull place to walk, in the weekends it is almost all the time full of families strolling and sitting on the benches. Walking along the pebblestones street you can see boat docked on the promotory, some of them restaurants.
We can move now to the place where is lived in my childhood, called the Hippodrom, for the only reason the blocks of flats were build durring communist time over an old hipodrom. The neibourhood is the greenest part of Braila, full of trees and flowers and gardens between blocks. Very close to us is a hospital which is located in a very old and beautiful building. It appears between large trees and looks like the old, stylish Braila.
Another wonderful place to visit is the park near my home, called the Momument Park. It is the largest park in the city, full of attractions for little children, a place to stroll, roller skate, where you can always find restaurants, pubs, ice cream parlor, stands with toys and snacks. The park was build in 1834 around a monument to commemorate the elibaration of the city from the turkish ocupation. The monument doesn't exit anymore but the park kept the name. It is a vast expanse of green, like a forst of beautiful tall tress and green grass. There is a large pathway on which you can walk, fountains and flowers, benches on which to rest and small shops along the way. You can have icecreams and cotton candy, balloons and toys.
In the middle of the park there is the biggest playground in the whole town. Some of the slides and swings are the same since my childhood, they are probably the same swings on which i used to play as a child. Some of them are new and modern. We always stop there, since we have a child the park and the playground are the most visited places when we are in Braila.
Passing the park and running between the trees is the oldes and nicest tram, it goes since my childhood and it runs from the city to the Braila ZOO and stops ouside the site top the little village Lacu Sarat ( The Salty Lake).
Braila has also a lot of beautiful churches, some of new new and modern, some very old and historical. the oildest if the St. Michael and Gabriel in the Traian square. The most imposing is the Braila Cathedral. It was build in the last 15 years, when i was a little child there was only empty field where now sits the new white church with copper towers and roof. Every Easter at 12 in the night most of Braila gathers in front of this church for midnight mass.
Every January people gather in front of the Greek church to gather water from a famous spring which comes behind the church. It is done on the celebration of the Lord baptism when all the waters are being blessed.
The only catholic church is the Assumption of Mary located near the center and Traian square. The building of the church started in 1839 and it was consacrated in 1855. The church is build from brick in the roman style and it is painted, decorated and stained glass is added due mostly to donations from the catholic parish in Braila.
A new attraction in Braila appeared after i left the country, it is the new mall at the entrance in the city. There are a lot of shops, restaurants, bars and a skating ring. The young people like to walk there, shop, skate and go to the new cinema.
Braila was my childhood city, i grew up there playing in the park and strolling with my friends in the center and down along the Danube. it is hard for me to visit now, not because i miss it but because i feel the old Braila is dying. The houses confiscated by the communist regim are now falling apart. Some of them were returned to the previous owners who are not able to or don't have the money to take care of them or repair them. Some of the houses were not retuned, they are abandoned in dissrepair. I used to walk on the boulevards of Braila watching the beautiful old houses, my sister and her collegues from the art institute used to stop and skech the houses. Today they are in a desolate situation even in the center and on the main boulevards. The modernd communist center is paved with marble while the old center and the old sould of the commercial Braila is dying.
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