Iaşi? Sure, you betcha!

Get it? No, of course not. Romania’s third largest city is pronounced “Yash.”

Okay, how about now?

Puns aside, I’m saving you the trouble of slogging through another report on Bucharest. If you’re that interested, I have a couple of posts in the archives. Suffice that since last time, the good people of Romania’s capital continue to smoke profusely, slather their pizza with ketchup, and park their Dacias on every available meter of sidewalk.


I don’t have too much to say about Iaşi either. Like most of modern Romania, as in the picture above, Iaşi represents some intersection of stately medieval monasteries, somber communist block apartments, and tacky capitalist advertising.

Iaşi is also home to Ioan Cuza University, perhaps memorable to Sitkans from the internet jam session we had with the jazz students here during the 2008 Sitka Jazz Festival. The university gives the town a youthful vibe, and it’s certainly more laid back than the bustle of Bucharest. Tourists are even more rare than in Bucharest—I imagine they’re out seeing the Painted Monasteries in the nearby Moldavian countryside. Nonetheless, I see that as a sign that I’m headed in the right direction. We’ll see where the winds take me tomorrow.