site.btaOpen Streets: Downtown Bucharest Turns Pedestrian on Weekends until October

If one of Bucharest's oldest boulevards, Calea Victoriei, is jammed with cars the rest of the week, it will be packed with people this weekend. Starting this weekend, Romania's first cobbled street, where the city's history is intertwined, becomes a pedestrian zone.

Bicycle traffic on Calea Victoriei will also be banned for pedestrian safety. This will be the case every weekend until October under the Open Streets project. 

The project is initiated by the Romanian Association for Culture, Education and Normality (ARCEN) and is supported by the Bucharest Municipal Administration. It was launched with the end of the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to encourage residents to use urban spaces for recreation, as well as to give a chance to traders affected by the pandemic. Unlike past editions, this year's initiative started almost a month earlier because of the unseasonably warm weather, organizers said.

While the residents and guests of the Romanian capital stroll around the boulevard, they can listen to live music in different styles, watch various artistic events, view exhibitions, participate with their children in various games. 

Open Streets' first weekend programme will include stilt performers, jugglers with circus acts, a theatre production for children and a parade of characters from the shows The Magic Flute and The Elixir of Love, as well as a drummers' show.

Last year over 1 million residents and visitors of Bucharest participated in the Open Streets project.