Iaşi (pronounced "yash") is the second largest city in Romania , after Bucharest . It has a population of just under half a million people; swelling greatly when the town's several universities are in session.
It is said that, like Rome, Iasi lies on seven hills. Some of these hills have conspicuous churches perched on top, each of which warrants a different view of the city. Iasi looks green from above in spite of the ubiquitous brick and concrete due to its boulevards and gardens. Ancient churches, old European style houses and communist apartment buildings compete for space in this crowded city, which is constantly expanding into the surrounding villages; The urban rush of communism replaced houses, pigs,chickens and cherry trees with apartment buildings. The land was confiscated from the peasants and they received apartments as compensation in the newly created common living spots. Factories sprung around the intensive urban effort, organized together in the industrial zone, only to be abandoned two generations later with the fall of the regime which gave them and the nation purpose. Like all communities in the former soviet block, Iasi had to reinvent itself in 1989. The children of those who left the countryside to move to the city now strive to build houses on the outskirting villages, although they drive hondas and not horses. They are not peasants. They wear jeans and french perfume, but they plant grapes and onions and have begun to enjoy the freedoms of having a house like their grandparents had but their parents moved away from. In Iasi you will find both simplicity and sophistication, and interminable ironies as the reinvention process progress on its own. There are still peasants selling fresh produce in the markets, but their kids may have cell phones which cost 100$. In Iasi, the landscape changes fast, motivated by psychological and economical turmoil.
Iaşi has a small international airport (code IAS). It is served by several airlines:
The airport is about 8km from the city center. The only transportation to the city is by taxi. A metered taxi to the center of Iaşi should cost no more than about RON 15–20; it's not unheard of for them to try and get away with charging upwards of €10. Most city taxis have meters; insist that they use it. The metered rate is 2 RON per kilometre outside city limits and 1.8 RON per kilometre inside them.
If arriving from another country, bear in mind that there are no currency exchange outlets at Iaşi airport. There is an ATM outside the building. Since taxi drivers accept RON, not euro or other currencies, you will need to be able to withdraw money from this ATM or arrive in Iaşi with RON.
It is well connected by train with Bucharest. The train station is quite close to the center, you can go walking.
You can also take direct trains from Budapest, which is well linked to Western Europe.
A train ticket from Iaşi to Bucharest costs around 20 euros when using the most expensive and luxurious option, the inter-city called Sageata Albastra (Blue Arrow).
There are a couple of possibilities to reach Iaşi from all over the country on national roads. Recently these roads have been improved and are not blocked by traffic jams. To reach Iaşi from Bucharest usually takes five to six hours by car. Although the situation has been steadily improving, it is crucial to have a map in order to reach Iasi from Bucharest without having to stop and ask for directions. The locals know which turns to take - there aren't many, but they are not marked with large arrows as they are in the United States.
Romania is criss-crossed by many "mini buses", sometimes called "maxi taxi". They are faster than the trains, and can be taken directly from the international airport in Bucharest.
Iasi is a rather large, densely packed town. You can walk it in a few hours. For the curious visitor, walking is the best way to get around.
taxis are quite popular in Iasi, and have recently switched to universal yellow. In Iasi, locals sometimes take the taxi which they find most appealing, not necessarily the first in line, so if you really like some brand of car you can chose that taxi. This practice is becoming less common, however.
maxi taxis go pretty much everywhere you could go on public transportation. They are privately operated, smaller, usually white micro-buses. They have their endpoint destination written on a paper at the front and they follow a usual route. They do not accept foreign currency, and don't expect the maxi-taxi drivers to speak english well enough to tell you where to get off; you could write your destination on a piece of paper, point and ask.
These methods of transportation were traditionally very important for getting around Iasi, especially during the communist period and afterwards, before cars became commonplace. Buses are often imported from abroad after the respective country upgrades, so you can find a large variety of buses.
If you go in the middle of the trolley buses, you can stand in the circle which turns (trolleys in Romania refer to the buses with two large ams which reach up towards two power lines. Otherwise they look just like a bus, but they are always long and have two halves which can move with respect to each other. Kids enjoy going in the middle, because sometimes it spins and takes you by surprise) If you are lucky, you will see the trolley operator have to get out of the trolley, go out into the street, and put one of the power arms back up to the lines from which it has fallen. This happens fairly rarely, but it's entertaining.
There is a special tram that goes up and down Copou hill. It is older and it's a different style from the normal trams, resembling the San Francisco ones somewhat.
The main reason to go in public transportation is to witness regular people going about their business. Everyone goes on the public transportation. This is a good place to see beggars performing. If you're on a bus, it's fairly likely that some group of little kids will get on and start singing. They are usually gypsies singing traditional romanian songs, and some of them are rather gifted. They want you to give them money, of course.
Iasi is a small city, however. You could use the public transport to go around, but most of the interesting parts of the city are in the center, so you can go walking. You need the bus if you want to go outside the city to see something or because you found an accommodation there.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Restaurant and fast food with Dutch specific, located in the Super Copou complex close to M. Eminescu Park. They serve good Dutch pancakes either salted or sweet and are non-smokers friendly. Iasi Apartments is an alternative for Hotels/ hostels in Iasi. Location: all apartments are in the city center. Facilities: AC,internet, Cable, TV, equipped kitchen, own bathroom ( with shower ). Studios are about EUR 25.00 to EUR 35.00 depending on the length of the stay. 25-35 EUR.. It's a cheap hostel, compared to the standards of Iaşi. A single room is 70 RON/night while a double room is 100 RON/night, all with a shared toilet. The place is not very nice, you can also feel the vibrations of the tram passing on the main street, but you are in the very center of the city and in each room you have TV and a DVD player.Pickpockets are a problem in Iasi. Pickpockets don't advertise their strategies, but you should keep your money in a travel pouch tied around your neck and on the inside of a shirt if you want to be confident of its safety. Pickpockets are mainly around the main train station area, and target mostly people with lots of luggage, especially when trams/busses are full.
The best strategy is to always check for suspicious groups of persons around you, and to just move if you see them surrounding you. Don't argue with them or start a fight if you find them with a hand in your pocket. Don't call someone out on their pickpocketing; chances are that you will not get the crowd rallied in your favor, and might cause an unnecessary aggravation for yourself. Simply leave.
Do not go to the train station area at night if you want to avoid visible hints of prostitution.
Beggars can be persistent; Remember, just because someone is begging doesn't necessarily mean they are truthfully poor or as disabled as they appear. Judge for yourself. If a gipsy approaches you trying to read your palm, guess your fate in a shell etc, don't be surprised if you encounter hostility. Don't worry, you will probably not be attacked.
Try to travel in the well lit areas at night, which allow you plenty of mobility . Iasi is a lot cleaner and feels a lot safer now than it did ten years ago, as if the questionable nightlife has become muted.
Don't antagonize the packs of dogs. If you are being followed by dogs, don't be aggressive; they're probably doing their own thing; however, if you find yourself threatened, do not run away. yell, throw rocks, try to kick etc; don't take away their food.
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Colin Jensen, Cristina Domnisoru, Peter Fitzgerald, Alexandru Rugina and Alessio Damato, Wikitravel user(s) Tatatabot, Morph and Hypatia
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