Tens of thousands of Romanians partied on the streets in cities and mountain slopes to usher in a new year and a new decade.
People turned out to watch firework displays and open-air concerts in Cluj, Constanta, Bucharest, Craiova, Iasi and elsewhere.
Thousands turned out for a “Disco Night Fever” six-hour show in Piata Constitutiei outside the giant palace built by late Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, featuring artists such as Horia Brenciu, 3rei Sud Est, Holograf and Germany’s R&B duo Milli Vanilli.
Some 20,000 turned out in the southern city of Craiova for a firework extravaganza. Singer Antonia wished partygoers “Happy New Year!” saying “We expect 2020 to be a better year that the one that just finished,” as a 15 minute-firework show lit up the sky.
The mountains are a popular place for new year partying and this year, 1,000 people, some on sledges, gathered on a mountain slope in the resort of Azuga to watch a firework display put on by local authorities, Mediafax news agency reported.
Mayor Emil Boc did the countdown to 2020 in the Transylvanian city of Cluj, and the town hall handed out 750 bottles of champagne,
Wishing residents a new year filled with health and happiness, Boc said “Together let’s keep Cluj where it is now, a reference point for quality of life in Romania and the European Union,” Mediafax quoted him as saying.
Down in the Black Sea port of Constanta, thousands of locals and tourists flocked to Piata Ovidiu in the old town to greet the new year, and a concert featuring well-known artists Stefan Banica and Andra and Voltaj, a popular band.
Farther north, in Iasi, actor Ovidiu Lipan Tandarica welcomed in the new decade on an open-air stage outside the Palace of Culture, which was followed by a firework display.
