"Botosani 2005" Botosani by jacobzoethout

On april 14th 2005, we took the train of 11:08 from Bucharest Gara Nord to Botosani. We spent seven hours in the train, but they passed very quickly. We met some interesting people and had conversations, partly in English, partly in Romanian. Late in the afternoon we arrived in Botosani. We took a taxi. At first sight, Botosani didn't look attractive at all. A dull big boulevard in decay led us to the centre of the city. We got out next to the park, and walked on the pedestrian Strada Unirii to the Rapsodia Hotel. We changed our mind about Botosani very quickly. We spent almost three days in the city and to my surprise it was a very pleasant place, with a small old centre, and very friendly people.

Botosani, Old centre

Botosani is situated in the north eastern part of Romania, in the region of Moldavia.
The city is not yet discovered by tourists, probably because of its decentral location. If Romania will join the European Union, Botosani will be a city on the outskirts of the EU. The border with Moldova is just 50 km from here; the border of Ukraine just about 80 km.

Botosani, Hala de Carne

There are about 120.000 people living in Botosani. About a century ago, Botosani was a relatively wellfaring city. There was a big jewish community there (more then 15.000) with about 70 synagogues across the city. In the 1950's , most of them migrated to Israel.