BUCHAREST – When describing the attractions of Romania's capital, people have a tendency to speak conditionally.

"Bucharest could be one of Europe's most beautiful cities," says Petru, a young student I met in a sidewalk café in the historic Lipscani district.

"There's a lot of history and culture here. It really should be a popular city . . . but things have prevented it from becoming one."

Some of those "things" would be 50 years of Communist rule – the last 24 (until 1989) under the murderous dictatorship of Nicolae Ceacescu – then a bloody revolution followed by lingering political corruption and economic disorder, which left an impression that everybody here was either on the take or on the make. So, Bucharest was largely avoided as other post-Communist Eastern European cities opened up to Western travellers.