Romania is a land of a thousand faces.
The crossing point between the Occident and the Orient.
And a melting pot of different cultures.
It is also a country unlike like any other in Europe.
With over half the Carpathian mountain range weaving through it,
Romania is the custodian of Europe's greatest surviving mixed forests,
and two thirds of its apex predators.
As well as native Romanians, it's home to Hungarian,
Saxon,
Roma,
Serbian,
Greek and many more diverse peoples
united by the borders of a nation
that stretches to the mouth of the Danube.
However, Romania's natural and built heritage
is under threat from reckless development
and a race to modernise which often destroys
the very things that could ensure prosperity for generations to come.
Welcome to the grand finale of our mammoth road trip
around Romania's nine great historic regions.
In this, the last leg of the journey,
we're exploring the west side of Transylvania,
starting with this place, Colibița Lake,
not far from the border of Bucovina in the County of Bistrița.
We are resting over at the Colibița Veche eco-lodge
on the shores of the lake in preparation for the ride south.
Being the weekend, the area is buzzing,
and guests were treated to a ceaun,
a rustic stew cooked in a big pot over the open fire.
Accompanied by live music from local troubadour Vasile Bancea.
Before setting off the next day,
I took out a boat for my morning constitutional
and the opportunity to experience the lake from a more central position.
Another beautiful day for mucking about in boats.
Colibița is a very good place to learn to sail
because there's loads of wind up here, as you can see,
and you can build up quite a lot of pace out on the water.
But for me, I think a gentle row on the lake is what's called for.
After a large barbecue the night before.
It's such a beautiful lake, but I am starting to see
a rash of large concrete hotels going on
and if it's going to stay this pretty,
I'm going to have to keep an eye on that and try to regulate it somehow.
An hour and a half southwest of Colibița and we reached the village of Posmuș,
home to the 18th century Teleki Castle,
an extravagant Baroque manor house and hunting lodge recently renovated
as a cultural centre and events venue with the help of EU funds.
I've come here to see the finished building
and learn more about the restoration from supervisor Bogdan Ivan.
- Hello. - Hello.
Welcome in Bistrița and Posmuș.
- Thank you so much. - How are you?
Congratulations!
- Thank you! - For this.
- It was a hunting lodge, wasn't it? - Yes, it was a hunting lodge.
It's one of the most beautiful castles from Transylvania and from entire Europe,
and in the same time was built in the 18th century
by Teleki family
and I think the main idea of that castle
it's the symbol of our heritage here in Transylvania,
because our Transylvania was built by a strong ambitious people.
After that, in the communist time, they're bringing down.
Here, in entire that beautiful castle,
in the time of the communists was sitting the agriculture pieces.
- Storing tractors and things like that. - Yes, right.
And after that we started to establish the new symbol
of our rebuilding of our County, of Transylvania, of Romania.
It's great to hear you say that,
because not everybody feels as passionately as you do
about these monuments, really.
I mean, we've travelled around the entire country
and we've seen so many buildings that are crumbling
and it feels like the authorities don't really care.
And maybe that's because the people don't care enough about the past.
I mean, I know that some do,
but I still think there's an underwhelming amount of money for projects like this.
Yes, it's a sad stuff.
We are in a point here, a point in Constanța,
another point in Cluj, maybe, and we're starting from down to up.
We could make that change because in that moment,
Romania have a very nice combination of modern and heritage.
So it's our duty to make it in the same way
and it's impossible to make it all in the same time.
And I hope that our story could be a model for another counties,
could be a model for other administrations from entire Romania
and you could make it more.
And when the tourists come from Great Britain to Romania
and they want to see ten castles
and to make a circuit of the Wines Road, this will.
- This will be on their list. - Yes.
Half an hour's drive away, takes you to the Jelna Winery and SPA Resort,
one of Romania's newest wine hotels
situated just outside the town of Orheiu Bistriței.
The drive proved to be unexpectedly spectacular.
The road meanders up and over the hills,
intersecting the Via Transilvanica, yet again, and down to low lying plains,
which, bathed in golden sunlight,
appeared reminiscent of the African Savannah.
As I arrived in the car park, the sun was casting its final rays
across the distant Căliman National Park.
Jelna produces over 80,000 litres of wine per year,
made using wild yeasts from grape varieties
including Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Regală and Pinot Noir.
The hotel is brand new and boasts a spa,
comfortable rooms,
a gourmet restaurant
and an extensive terrace with panoramic views during the day
and stylish after dark illumination.
After dropping my bags, I made straight for the restaurant to catch last orders.
Much as I love octopus and feel slightly bad eating them
is ridiculously tender.
Gelatinous around the edges, melts in the mouth
and goes very nicely with a Sauvignon Blanc from these hills.
Next morning, I'm back on the bike, heading for Cluj,
the second most popular city in Romania and arguably its most progressive,
famed as a hub for fashion, arts, creativity and cuisine.
Before setting out to see the sights,
I checked in at our high tech accommodation,
a cool guest house called Camino Home Two.
Very empty. I know there are people staying here, but can't see any staff.
So far, everything's just done on a keypad.
A small island of tranquilly in a city of noise.
This will do nicely.
Home is where you lay your hat.
I'm here to visit the world famous Museum of Art,
founded in 1951
and to investigate rumours
of a network of tunnels and interconnected cellars
beneath the city's historic Old Town.
Happily, something that can be done from the same location.
Above ground, the museum,
once a palace for the super rich Bánffy family,
hosts an extensive collection
of largely Transylvanian inspired or originated works,
including contemporary religious and neoclassical paintings
spanning almost six centuries.
This is one of the most exciting parts of the museum,
as we saw in Agapia monastery in Moldova.
There were many murals by Nicolae Grigorescu,
and these are his paintings.
He's probably the most important father of modern Romanian painting.
He studied in Paris, surpassing even Renoir at art school.
In 1877, he was summoned as a frontline painter,
much as photographers would have been today.
And at the end of that period of time, he retreated to France for a bit
and started this lifelong preoccupation
with painting simple rural scenes like this one.
You have the oxen and the cart.
I think this was probably at least partly motivated
by finding an antidote
in this simple way of life to all the horrors that he must have witnessed.
While you could spend days here perusing over 12,000 exhibits,
I'm heading back out to the courtyard
in search of a small door, or rather portal
to an eerie, subterranean world.
When you consider the scale of these chambers,
it's easy to understand why there's been so much speculation
about a network of tunnels underneath the Old Town.
This was actually four separate cellars
that serviced the grand houses of the Bánffy family
prior to the construction of the palace by György Bánffy,
who was then the governor of Transylvania.
And when work started in 1774, they needed to adapt,
consolidate and reinforce these cellars.
So they opened them all up and filled them with columns like this one
to take the enormous weight of the building
that was going up above them.
You can hear the roar of the traffic above us.
The level of the street was three metres lower than it is today,
and this was the entrance for the tradesmen,
who would bring in the supplies to service a busy working palace.
Upstairs at street level, it was mid afternoon
and the city was preparing for another night of revelry.
I took a stroll through the Old Town before tracking down somewhere suitable
to sample Cluj's bewildering smorgasbord of epicurean delights.
This is Manger, a small boutique restaurant
run by ex-Masterchef judge Silviu Chelaru,
and famed for its cutting edge contemporary cuisine.
I imagine that most Western Europeans
don't think of this when you talk about Romanian cities.
Cluj is very international, it's very cosmopolitan,
and I predict that's going to be reflected
in the way that Silviu prepares his dishes.
- Okay, lovely. - And enjoy.
Thank you so much.
The secret of a good restaurant is all about combining
the different flavours and colours and textures
and... constantly surprising the diner.
And you've got this really interesting combination of...
has cheese with spring onions and bruschetta with chives and prawns
that got here very quickly because they taste completely fresh.
Finding a short window of opportunity, I grabbed a quick word with my host.
I'm loving it.
- You like it? - Yeah.
Well, the thing is that it's a little bit outside the Romanian box.
It's not really traditional
because we have a lot of traditional in our country.
- It's important to mix it up. - Yeah.
Would you say the Romanian palate has become more sophisticated?
My generation, like these above 30,
we go out, we travel a lot and we try to bring a little bit something home.
If you go to Bucharest, Timișoara as well, you'll see young chefs just like me
just trying to open up their own place
or finding someone to reason with
and do something a little bit different.
Because it's nice to eat sarmale, it's nice to eat cârnați
and sausages and everything that we have.
It's nice, but we need to step a little bit out of our comfort zone.
Cluj is justifiably famed for its nightlife.
Once you've sated your appetite,
it's worth checking out the city's exotic array of bars, clubs and bistros.
With no clear destination in mind, I went in search of a nightcap.
I was just talking about how sophisticated Cluj is becoming.
I doubt that ten years ago you would have found bars
with names like Hemingway.
- Do you have Daiquiri? - Yes, we have Daiquiri.
- Is that the right order? - Is the best order, actually.
Really good.
The next morning, we leave Cluj behind and ride south towards Turda
before heading east into the Apuseni Hills.
I'm retracing my steps from Season One
to revisit a fairytale eco-lodge high in the hills above Sălciua de Jos.
Since our first expedition to the Raven's Nest,
friend and owner Adi Păun has been busy making some dramatic improvements
to what has already become an award winning location.
I'm here to see what's changed.
But first, it was just the small matter of navigating the drive.
Easy with a four by four, but not so much on a road bike.
Good to see you. Welcome back.
Thank you very much.
Honestly, couldn't see this from down there.
- No, you can't. That's the idea. - Completely hidden.
- To create a private area for our guests. - Adi, you've surpassed yourself this time.
How on earth did you manage to build this?
- The edge of a cliff? - Yeah.
Well, we have a motto.
If it's too easy, it's not worth doing it.
I can't even begin to start to imagine what was involved in creating this.
A lot of manual work, carrying everything by hand here.
And not cutting down the forest or not making...
You had to bring it all up in amongst the trees
to preserve this little arboretum you've got.
Yes. And it was complicated, but it was a mission possible.
And I love the fact that you've got just that drop,
so you can look straight out across at the cliff
and you don't even need to go down to the nest
if you want to stay here, right?
- No, you have everything here. - And people can bring food up to you
if you want to just be a hermit.
- Definitely. - There's another one up there.
The second cabin.
There's actually two more
because we wanted to expand the story of our place
and we built three cabins
based of our three main characters of the Romanian fairy tales,
which are the ravens, the braves and the dragons.
The braves are fighting with the dragons
and the ravens are above trying to decide who's going to help.
So they are for inspiration to the braves.
Exactly. So they help the braves to fight the dragons
and eventually the braves will defeat the dragons.
I feel so sorry for dragons in all these stories.
They get such a hard deal.
Presumably also the dragons is this one, because it's the lowest down,
and then the braves is that one there, isn't?
- They're above the... - And the ravens is the best for you.
- The last one. - Yeah, of course it is.
Who'd have thought...
you'd have such a luxurious cabin in the woods?
We tried.
Beautiful bathroom, nice walk in wet room as well.
I love the attention to detail. And it's amazing.
I mean, even the radiator is hidden with a traditional casing.
Well, that's wood and hemp.
- We only use natural. - Natural.
- Natural materials. - All the way through.
So the story of this house,
I imagine those symbols here mean something, do they?
Sacred geometry. There are symbols coming from our culture
and we also have a book
explaining the story of the dragons, the symbols, so the guests...
- Can really enter into the story. - Yes.
Oh, that's really hot as well. That's like a hot bath.
And the sauna.
Yeah. Amazing.
I guess my big question is, how does it run profitably?
Because you've got jacuzzi in every single cabin.
I mean, the amount of electricity that must be used
and the amount of labour
to come up here through the woods with the sheets
and change everything and do it all.
It's so labour intensive and it must be costing you a lot of money.
I'm very attached to the new development in technology.
That's why we don't use wood to heat the structures.
- We use the heat pump. - Okay.
And the heat pump is powered by the solar panels.
And the solar panels powered up the entire nest.
- Incredible. - It's for free.
Absolutely incredible.
When I came here seven years ago,
I sort of walked out and made the statement that this represents,
in my idea at least, the future for ecotourism in Romania.
Because Romania's got
two thirds of our apex predators left surviving in Europe.
It's got the largest expanse of mixed forests,
it's got more biodiversity than any other country in Europe.
So ecotourism does seem to be what we should be focusing on as a country.
I think so, yes.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of bad taste development in tourism.
Everybody with no education thing that can handle a business in tourism.
Fortunately, we also have good examples,
and I'm quite amazed
about what some people did in other parts of the country.
What I wish is to go in the good direction,
and the good direction needs a lot of education.
And unfortunately for some people,
tourism industry is just an option to get rich, which is not...
the right idea.
Half an hour by four wheel drive further up into the hills,
there's a small hamlet,
completely cut off from civilization by miles of dirt roads.
I'm paying it a visit to meet a friend of Adi's,
who has closely guarded a formula for palinka made from wheat.
But as with life and many of the places we seem to be visiting in Transylvania,
the journey is just as captivating as the destination.
- Welcome. - Thank you very much.
- Charlie. Hello. - Welcome.
This is a very old recipe, isn't it?
Since I was a child, from my ancestors.
But during Ceaușescu, you weren't allowed to make it.
We made it only at night,
but without a light, so no anyone could see us.
This was like in the wilderness.
They would come and take your cauldron and sent you to jail.
Effectively, it was like moonshine.
Yeah. It was the moonshine of the Ceaușescu era. Exactly.
I'm told that it's very good for your health.
It's good for everything,
even better than the plum or apple palinka.
Those are also good, but this one is healthier for the body.
It's best for the stomach.
If you have stomach problems,
take this with a spoon of honey, in the morning,
but without eating anything for half an hour.
I had stomach problems
and I took this with honey,
half of this and half of honey,
I let it sit for three days, and I drank a glass each in the morning.
- Lots of health! - Lots of health!
God bless!
It has a fragrance and aroma of haylofts,
completely different from whiskey, although it's also made from grain.
Well, since it's now a legal process,
can we go and have a look at his still?
Yeah.
We put the wheat in, and let it soak.
The wheat is soaked until tomorrow in warm water.
After that, after it softens, we drain the water from it,
and we leave it until it sprouts.
We boil water in the cauldron and put it in there.
We have to boil two cauldrons, depending on how much wheat there is.
After that, we mix it well and after we let it rest a few hours,
we put cold water over it, after that we put yeast
and let it ferment for a week.
And after that we put it in the boiler, and no headaches.
We take what comes out first, after that, we put it back a second time.
- He does it twice. - He does it twice.
- So this is double distilled? - Yes.
Just to get rid of any of the impurities and any of the methanol
that might be lingering from the first round.
It's a medicine.
That is palinka.
Yeah, that is palinka.
As a surprise for Moș Ion, I had secretly arranged to bring
friend and cocktail impresario Alexandru Puiu
to prepare a bar in the garden for an impromptu tasting.
He was waiting for us as we emerged from the cellar.
First cocktail that I'm going to do is a variation of a Negroni.
Negroni is a classic cocktail from 1912.
It involves equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth.
In my particular iteration of that classic cocktail,
I'm using the local palinka from our friend here.
Instead of the gin, instead of Vermouth, I'm going to use Tămâioasa Românească,
which is a Romanian sweet wine.
And the third and last ingredient, instead of Campari,
I'm going to use this aperitiv.
This is Suze from 1889. This is based on gentian.
Gentian is a bitter, and that does the wonderful thing
of creating that bitter complexity that you want in a Negroni.
You associate, you classically associate...
- To get some contrast. - For sure.
So you have the sweetness from the Tămâioasă,
you have the spirit forward from the palinka,
and then you have the Suze from the gentian, which are the bitterness.
Take it away.
Because the original Negroni is a red colour cocktail,
I'm using hibiscus flowers,
which are going to infuse much, much faster in alcohol.
And because the English scientist
reached the conclusion that smell influences 80%
of our capacity to enjoy a dish or a cocktail and things like that,
I'm going to use a spray of absinthe because this is a 70% ABV spirit
with no sugar and it has a quite high volatility.
You're going to taste the palinka,
but the smell is going to be from absinthe and you get a multifaceted...
So you're going to be hit by the aniseed in the nose.
Exactly. So I really hope you enjoy this drink.
Thank you. Let's give it a try.
Good luck!
I can see the colour is already leaching into the drink.
If I was to leave that for another 20 minutes, it would go pink.
I've got the aniseed. There's a bit of amaretto, almonds.
For sure.
You get that from the amarena cherries.
So what do we think?
It's great.
- It's good? - What do you think?
It's good.
This is a marathon, isn't it?
It's good. Great. Cheers!
- Cheers! - Noroc!
The second cocktail on our drinks menu was a daiquiri, which dates from 1889,
and as we saw in Cluj, was writer Ernest Hemingway's favourite tipple.
The standard formula is two parts white rum,
one part sugar syrup and one part freshly pressed lime juice.
In this case, the recipe has been personalized by Alex
to include fresh ginger plus mashed and strained lovage
in the same way that Mojito uses mint.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
Cheers.
Tart. It's interesting because I've never really experienced lovage.
I mean, in soups, of course,
but made into a cocktail like this, it really works, doesn't it?
I can't finish this.
However, I think I found a customer.
Ma'am.
Please. It's delicious. Really.
I promise.
- Good health! - Good health!
Do you like it?
- It's good. - Yes! Exactly!
It's made with lovage.
- It's good. - It is.
Fantastic.
Returning to the Nest it was evening
and I was joined on the alpine viewing deck
by friends and celebrated band Subcarpați,
who had set up a jamming session
and, weather permitting, the prospect of serenading the sunset.
You've travelled the world,
you've played your music to loads of different countries,
but you're still here, you're living in Romania.
What has Romania got to offer
that other countries don't have, that no one else has?
Obviously, first of all,
we fell in love with the music of this country, the traditional music.
Especially the kaval. For example, the kaval does not come from Romania,
but nobody in the world plays the kaval as it is played here.
Its sound is so soul-related, so dearly.
Some would say sad,
but I'd use another term, I would call it profound.
The Balkans are big. You have Serbia, you have Bulgaria,
they sing a lot of brass, as it were, brass, trumpets.
In Romania, they sing at kaval,
there is a lot of culture and music related to the shepherd.
The culture is special, it is specific, but still Balkan.
For life is brief and must be thought
Embraced and chased and faced and caught
I think for me, there's, as I've said, so many countries in one,
and this makes it,
I know there's a little bit of tension with that,
but also from that tension
comes a tremendous amount of creative expression.
Oh, yeah.
And, in the end, it's about people.
There's a contradiction, that...
the Romanian went through so much, poor thing,
so they would tame it.
But the Romanian ethos is known
and we have other seeds in this country
and they must be respected, they make us brothers,
they put a bridge between them and their brothers from abroad,
and they gently come toward us, and toward what we're doing.
That's why we founded Subcarpați Cultural Center
because it was a wonderful opportunity for us
to come into contact with Macedo-Romanian, Armenians, Lipovans,
in the future with Arabs, with Iraqis, with Roma,
but the idea is, I repeat, to enjoy.
In the end, that's the answer to the question,
to enjoy what this country has to offer,
and I'm still glad that the Romanians tolerated,
and not that they tolerated, were tolerated and somehow tolerate
this melting pot of cultures.
First of all,
When I heard about you guys, it's like, hey, Subcarpați.
So great band. But, you're not really a band, are you?
- More of a collective. - More and more from years.
Onwards, I feel more like saying we are like a band more because...
I kind of use that, I mean, for excuse
because we had some lacks here and there, some gaps, right?
And now we feel complete.
Next day, I was back in the saddle, riding deeper into the Apuseni.
I'm on my way to the village of Roșia Montană in the Valea Roșiei,
home to the oldest gold mine in Romania, dating back to the Romans.
Gold was exploited here right up to 2006,
when the state run mine closed
in advance of Romania's accession to the European Union.
However, the Roman section of the mine is now open to the public
and recently classified both as a historic site
of national importance and a UNESCO World Heritage Monument.
This is a copy of a plate found in 1854,
which dates back to the 6th of February 131 AD.
Documents a contract
made by the Romans who were working here in this mine,
and it also refers to the community as Alburno Maiori.
That was the Roman name for Roșia Montană.
But the reason that the Romans came here in the first place,
the reason why they built a bridge across the river Danube,
the reason why they waged a campaign against Decebal
conquered Sarmisegetusa was, for one thing, the gold in these hills.
After they'd exhausted the mines in Spain and in England,
this became the largest resource of gold for the Roman Empire.
It was said that in 165 years they managed to extract over 500 tonnes.
One hundred fifty seven steps.
That's 74 so far.
Seventy-five, 76 and onwards, down into the depths of the Earth.
One hundred fifty four, 155, six, 157 steps.
This is not the original entrance.
It was built in the last century and they blasted up from below.
But the entrances that the Romans used are still out there in the hills.
So this is the start of the Roman gallery.
You can see the colour in the rocks,
the yellows and the blues, all the minerals.
It this is not a great experience for people who have claustrophobia.
Millions of tonnes of rock above my head.
This tiny narrow space.
These holes in the wall were for lighting
and they found examples of these sort of lamps
which were filled with olive oil.
And then they'd light the wick, place them here
and that's how they worked.
On average, you get about that much rock.
Everyday mined, so they'd be chipping and picking away.
And the progress was incredibly slow.
There's over seven kilometres of tunnel down here.
Due to the continued existence
of substantial quantities of gold in the surrounding hills,
plans were underway to lease out the mining rights
to a big foreign company.
However, the environmental consequences of renewed mining
sparked one of the largest protests in Romania's recent history.
Much to the relief of conservationists, the project was finally rejected in 2014,
but not before dividing the local populace.
The UNESCO village of Roșia Montană still remains in limbo
with many of its historic buildings,
including those purchased by the international mining company,
often sitting empty and unloved.
I've come here to meet a woman whose NGO is working tirelessly
to save the architectural heritage
of what was once a wealthy and thriving community.
Hello! Welcome to Roșia!
Why are so many of the houses abandoned?
Well, it's complicated.
We have an owner that owns the majority of the houses, Gabriel Resources.
They bought a huge amount of houses and land here,
even though it wasn't exactly on the targeted area
by the mining project they wanted to implement.
But they bought it maybe to get rid of the community.
I don't know what was the strategy.
Of course, a lot of people sold, some because it was a lot of money,
others because they didn't want to live near a cyanide mine, I imagine.
- Quite understandably. - Others were very old.
It was an opportunity for some, others didn't sell.
And you can see that some houses are still inhabited.
As I understand it, the mining has been stopped.
The mining company didn't get the special laws
they were hoping for, so they can make their project legal.
They are still in a procedure of assessment.
Theoretically, as you may probably know,
they preferred to go to the Washington International Court
to sue the Romanian government
because they were not able to meet the conditions
required for them to open the mine here.
There was a lot of discussion
and a lot of propaganda about their commitment...
- To the community... - To the community and to the heritage.
But you can see it was all words.
So I'm guessing that the community is very torn
because some people would have liked
to have had the job of working for the mine
and other people would not want to abandon their house
and want life to go on and...
- And see everything destroyed. - See everything destroyed.
Yes. It's been worse than you can see today.
I mean, in 2013, it was painful to watch
what was going on here on matters of social trauma.
People were falling out with their neighbours.
Yes. With their brothers, with their parents, with their children.
It was pretty hard to look at.
And we were watching from the outside.
I can imagine how it was for them.
Tell me about the project you're working on. Adopt a house.
We started 15 years ago with these protections here,
trying to document it, to make all sorts of emergency works
to keep the houses not too full during the winter.
This was the case with this house also.
Now, here we have our headquarters, we have here our summer school.
Each year, each summer, hundreds of volunteers...
- And they're all helping to stabilise... - Yes.
...and restore the houses.
We're working hands on on restoration, repairs,
all sorts of projects recovering the heritage of Roșia Montană.
The next part of our journey across western Transylvania
takes us into wine country east of Alba Iulia.
The lush pastures and gently rolling hills are perfect for viticulture.
We are on our way to the village of Jidvei,
first mentioned in documents dating back to 1309
and home to Romania's largest wine producer.
Spurred on by the promise of a gourmet dinner
and a glass or two of bottle fermented sparkling,
I rode through the gathering storms...
to emerge into a sunlit vista dominated by a fairy tale fortress,
its russet turrets glowing in the evening sunlight.
This is Bethlen-Haller Castle,
which serves as a logo and the historic heart of Jidvei Winery,
now restored and converted into an exclusive hotel...
with luxurious rooms
and a superlative restaurant
supplied with organic produce meticulously grown in adjacent gardens
or nurtured in a high tech, climate controlled greenhouse.
After checking into my room,
complete with charming ecclesiastical view,
I made my way over to the castle for a quick tour.
Roxanna. Hello.
- Hi! How are you? - Very well. Lovely to meet you.
I feel like I've stepped back in time.
We are in a castle built in 16th century and I want to show you something.
It's kind of unique.
We have a staircase here that is the original staircase.
It's made only with oak, no metal joints, only wood nail.
And it's one of the few staircases in Europe
dated from that period that well preserved.
And we have also a legend.
Here,
they say it's a tunnel that goes to the castle from Sânmiclăuș.
It's 15 kilometres away.
And they say that in old times,
they travel there by carriage, like the first metro.
Have you ever explored it to find out?
No. It's a beautiful legend, but it's very hard to prove.
I see. There doesn't seem to be a step.
- Yeah, it just drops straight down. - Yeah.
It's really mysterious.
It's huge.
Can I come back?
I have some friends who are cavers and we could check it out.
- It will be nice. - That would be really fun.
It will be nice to prove the legend is true.
Even if it's not true, it's got to go somewhere, hasn't it?
You never know.
Another mystery in Flavours of Romania. But this staircase is magnificent.
- It really is. - It is.
Now we will go to the second floor.
It was the first restored
and after that we restored the first floor.
And now...
We are in the music room.
The castle has, over the years, 45 owners.
Yes.
It was donated, lost at cards, confiscated by the authority.
Someone lost this in a game of cards?
- Yes. - I bet he was really pissed off.
Maybe. They came here to hunt, to party.
- It was a hunting lodge, wasn't it? - Yes.
And the residence for the Bethlen family was in Cluj.
- Yes. - So it's not massively far away
for them to come for a few hours.
- Two hours. - By car.
Yeah, by horse and cart probably more like a day.
And do you have musical soirees here?
Yes, we do.
And we have a piano.
You do? And it works.
You should try it.
Now, I've also been told by one of your colleagues
that you're a bit of a singer yourself.
I don't know what to say about that.
- We are in a music room. - Yes.
It would be rude not to.
- Okay. - I'm going to just go over here.
Because the sound is going to be nice here, isn't it?
Bravo!
- Thank you! - That was amazing.
Aside from simply relaxing and soaking up this regal setting,
there are plenty of activities for guests, like mountain biking
or exploring the local area on horseback
and enjoying a gallop through acres of verdant vines.
People also come here to refine their riding skills
with practical lessons, or more virtual ones,
using a cutting edge simulator
designed to perfect your posture and hone your horsemanship.
However, the main attraction for visiting oenophiles
is the chance to dip into a commodious collection of cuvees.
With regular tastings held in the carpool or manicured grounds.
My surprise, as it turned out, was exactly that,
with the chance to try out a couple of sparkling wines
with resident winemaker, Costi Drăgan.
So I'm familiar with some of the range, but I've never tried your sparkling.
We have now over 60 years of tradition.
I'm going to open this bottle, I'm going to try a different method.
You know, hundreds of years ago,
Napoleon Bonaparte was inventing
an interesting technique of opening a bottle
using his sword, or actually the officers of him.
- Yeah, I doubt he did it himself. - Details.
Unfortunately, I forgot my sword at home,
so I'm going to try to break the glass in another way.
Wish me luck.
Okay. I don't see how you're going to manage this.
- You've got a glass and a bottle. - Me neither. It's my first time.
It will take a while.
Nice!
- Somebody hurt? No. - I feel standing in a magic show.
- Good job. - Cheers!
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
This is our best traditional method sparkling wine.
The Pinot, the Chardonnay and the...
Chardonnay, Fetească Regală, and Pinot Noir .
Yes. But this bottle was staying almost five years on.
Five years maturation in the bottle.
- Of course. - What I love is, the colour is fantastic,
the legs look great on the side of the glass.
- And the bubbles are tiny. - Exactly.
And in the palatine, in the palate, it's quite creamy.
It has such a richness and creaminess.
Also, some tertiary aromas appear in this period of maturation.
And how long would you store that?
It's going to get better up to a certain point.
- Probably... - Probably it's still growing.
Yes.
- So it can develop... - In the next 15 years.
Probably.
I think we are about to get wet,
so let's rush on to try them.
- Should I open... No... - I'm gonna try open it.
- Actually, I'm going to give... - Let me have a try.
You made it look super easy.
So you should know that the bottles are...
all the time made using two parts of glass
stuck together in this line, you see?
So you should hit...
- Find the line... - Find the line and hit somewhere here.
- Keep it from the bottom. - I'm going to hold it here.
- Yes. - And then I need to go up here.
Exactly.
To hit it a little bit harder, but not...
Very good.
That is brilliant.
I'm going to be boring all my friends with that one.
- What blend is the rose? - It's not a blend, it's 100% Pinot Noir.
It's all Pinot Noir.
Yes. It's very interesting fact that in this area
we are making wines for not century, for millennials.
For me, that's more complex than the wine...
- Previous. - Than the previous one.
And I really like it.
It's got that kind of alluring age
and a bit of mustiness you get with a champagne.
What are the other tasting notes that you would apply to this?
So... dried fruits? This is tertiary aromas, dried fruits.
- Like raisins, like... - Saltatas...
Like dates, maybe some figs.
The main flavour is freshly baked bread.
- From the yeast. - Yes, exactly.
This wine spent five years on fine lease, so it's a vintage 2017.
- Cheers. - Cheers, mate.
Having wetted the palate, I think we're now due for a deluge.
- So shall I take this? - Of course.
I'm going to take this with us.
We will move indoors.
- Cheers. - See you later.
After a sumptuous breakfast,
we take a roundabout route south towards Sibiu,
via a stretch of road that evokes images of Tuscany.
As you descend towards the former Hungarian town of Târnăveni.
And on towards Mediaș, through steep hills and forests.
In the Middle Ages, the trunk road between the bergs of Mediaș and Sibiu
was an important artery for commerce and subject to constant attack.
To help secure this vital trade route,
a military outpost was constructed in the town of Slimnic.
The Stolzenburg fortress, first mentioned in the 16th century,
remains mostly standing to this day,
Its once besieged and battered walls still holding vigil
over the heedless traffic that passes below.
I'm booked to attend
the Transylvania International Tattoo Festival,
staged in the prestigious home of the Sibiu Philharmonic,
just inside the mediaeval city walls
and hosted by friend and former guest in season one, Ovidiu Popârțan.
- Welcome! - Hey, man!
- Good to see you! - You, too.
Listen, last time we met on the Transalpina,
I told Ovidiu that I would come back and get a tattoo.
And we have the International Tattoo Festival
right here in the Philharmonic at Sibiu,
so... organised by this man.
So now is the perfect time.
This painting is the essence of the Transylvania Convention.
We bring people from all over the world,
people who have a big influence in the tattoo community,
we bring them here in Sibiu.
Then we try to put this in a picture here.
Here there are some artists who make, like, a revolution in the tattoo world.
It was illegal to have tattoos during the Communist era, wasn't it?
Yes, it was illegal.
It was something that you cannot show.
But most of the things was illegal at that time. Long hair was illegal.
Even blue jeans was illegal
because if you have blue jeans, they come from outside of Romania.
So who give it to you? How you get this connections?
Is that, do you think why a lot of kids these days in Romania have tattoos?
Probably for me, it was like this.
I mean, I get the first tattoo after the Revolution.
The freedom comes like this "boom", from one ear to another.
And then I think, okay, a rebellion in the air.
We have people, as you said, from all over the world here, don't we?
And it's full. I mean, it's really happening.
I'm surprised by how many people have turned up.
Transylvania is an attraction.
Many people from all over the world, they come here for Dracula
because they see the movie and they know the legend, the story.
But Romania have a more stronger history.
We have old ancestors, we have strong roots here.
And I want to bring this in the convention for our guests.
Not only for the people from outside of Romania,
also for the local people to remember a little bit our history
and to be proud of the thing that we was...
For a while. For a little while, we stand in the front of the Roman Empire.
She's my mother.
Ma'am. Charlie.
- Nice to meet you! - Nice to meet you!
- My mother and my biggest supporter. - Of course.
- I've heard about you from Ovidiu. - Great.
Thanks!
Your son is... quite a proactive.
- Your mom doesn't have any tattoos. - Look, here. Show him.
Sorry. Of course.
- Just a little one. - She wants more.
I hope you will tattoo me again soon.
Tell him that I'm eighty.
She's eighty.
No! She's 80?
- Yeah. - So, I've got to be honest.
I thought she was sixty.
He thought that you are sixty.
Thanks! I have to give a beer.
She must offer a beer for this compliment.
Great compliment.
Well, gratefully accepted.
Outside on the patio, visitors retreated to a Dacian Food Fiesta
with rustic stew, flatbread, smoked ham and homemade wine.
- Some red wine? - I'm not driving anymore, so yes.
I'm not. I'm finished. Yes, please.
- Cheers! - Cheers!
Ovidiu! Cheers!
Great event! Well done!
Thank you very much!
Since our good luck mascot for the duration of our journey
was a stuffed otter that usually travelled in my bike bag,
it was a no-brainer when it came to choosing an appropriate tattoo.
But you will notice all those tones,
reds and browns from the face,
as it's healing.
- What do you think? - I love it.
- You think it's cute? - Yeah, it's super cute.
- Thank you, Morrison. - Of course.
You're a legend. Thank you so much.
The city of Sibiu is a hotspot for international visitors,
and with good reason.
It was voted European Capital of Culture in 2007
and is also nicknamed The Town With Eyes
for its historic buildings displaying apertured attics.
Its old centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site,
with its interconnected squares,
host to fashionable restaurants, perennial festivals and late night bars.
This is a thing about Sibiu.
Every time you come, you discover new places,
like this little alleyway
that reminds you of, I don't know, a village in France or Spain.
It even has vines growing in pots.
So beautiful.
Of course, the old town spills out beyond the city walls
and the old buildings continue for a while
with these charming cobble streets,
cafe society, pedestrian walkways and Saxon buildings.
With their fish scale tiles and their massive attics
full of pigeons nesting and flapping around
and filling the air with the sound of feathers and wings.
But for me, this is a city of secrets.
Everywhere you see these great arch stories and openings
with iron wrought gates, and behind them, muses, little streets,
courtyards filled with flowers,
and people living their lives in total privacy,
while the street outside is bustling and busy with tourists.
Let me show you my favourite.
This is, I think, one of the most exciting things you can see in Sibiu.
It must be slightly annoying the residents
that so many people pop in to have a look.
This is another of Sibiu's secrets,
the statue of a saint that used to be in the square.
But the communists were destroying an awful lot of religious art,
so the people hid it in the courtyard of this building,
which used to be a monastery for nuns,
where it remains to this day.
Again, totally shut off from the world by a large gate.
Transylvania's subcarphatian landscapes are internationally famed
for their beauty and incredible flora and fauna,
With many areas now designated as Natura 2000 sites
for their priceless biodiversity.
Tragically, this is starting to change,
with foreign companies coming in and buying up fast tracts of land
from local people for intensive agriculture and cattle rearing.
Until 15 years ago, you could ride a horse for hundreds of kilometres
without encountering a fence.
But now, thanks to government grants and big investment,
the landscape is rapidly losing its ecological value
and increasingly resembling
the featureless farmlands of America or Western Europe.
I've come to the Hârtibaciu Valley
to meet a group of people who are fighting this trend...
and to better understand the tension between perceived progress
and the wholesale destruction of natural habitats.
This landscape changed a bit since 15 years
when big agra investment companies came
and bought a lot of land in this valley
and started to invest in cattle breeding.
They fenced off big parcels up to 500 ha for meat production.
As I understand it,
this is a Natura 2000 site, isn't it?
Yeah. And especially this site here
is especially protected for big carnivores.
And in the management plan it says
that permanent linear constructions should be avoided.
Of course, you can argue what is a permanent linear construction,
but what I consider for a life of a bear or a carnivore,
these fences live long enough to influence the behaviour.
So what we see, what is happening is they move along the fences
and try to cross, of course,
because they still want to go in the other areas.
And what happens is they go closer to the village.
So the fences are funnelling the apex predators.
- Into the villages. - Yes.
And especially in the last year,
we see that it's more and more damage to crops
and also to cattle of the shepherds that are not using fences,
that still have traditional herding with shepherds.
So they then have to start fencing, I guess, as well,
because they're getting more and more bears coming onto their land.
This is exactly what you see happening.
So here, at this stână, it's a local shepherd
and he also started to fence.
He saw the example from this European model
and start to change the traditional way here
and adapt to these fences, also because the pressure is bigger.
Yeah. At some point, the risk is that everything get fenced up
and there will be no place anymore for this animal.
What do you say to people who are going to hear this
and go, well, look, everyone wants burgers.
Unless we educate people to be vegetarians,
there's a need and that demand has to be met
and you've got to do this somewhere.
I think one of the big hopes when the EU subsidises a lot this cattle
and there was this idea that beef cattle can be the future of the milk cattle
because people can actually gain more money.
But what happened is that the whole development
got past the local people
and just the big agro businesses were able to...
So this doesn't benefit the locals whatsoever, really, does it?
I mean, of course, they have some employees,
but if you compare the number of employees
compared to the area they work on...
- It's very small. - Very small.
And this is one of the saddest thing of this area,
because once everything is sold to big agro businesses,
there is no opportunity anymore for young farmers
to get hold of the land because they cannot afford it.
Their parents have sold it and that's it.
And also all the small parcel in time become very big.
So they consolidate the land
and only big farmers can in the future, buy a parcel that has 500 ha.
Thanks for meeting me all the way out here.
No problem.
This used to be quite a main agricultural road
that was serving the landscape,
arable mosaic that you still see behind us.
But unfortunately, everything beyond us this way
has become branch land, much like you would see in Argentina.
And this is what this area is becoming,
like the rest of Western Europe
that has gone through this agricultural intensification.
Yeah, you can see that from a biodiversity point of view, that's dead.
Yeah. There's one species of plant in there
and you look around us here, how many can you see?
And they're allowed to flower, they're allowed to get to a height,
they're cut in the traditional way
and then it promotes the biodiversity of the plants, of the insects,
which then feeds on to the birds, the mammals and the landscape in general.
Why is this so important to protect these notoriety thousand sites?
Because this is progress.
Well, it's progress, but it's not progress and development for the local people.
It's a foreign investment company that's developing.
The landscape isn't progressing, the local communities aren't progressing,
and it's important that the locally traditionally managed ways continue,
because that's what created the biodiversity here in the first place.
Is it actually illegal or are they allowed to do this?
Much of what's happening here is illegal by national law.
For example, they have huge piles of manure
that they dump in the interdiction period.
So in the banned period over winter, when there's a lot of water
and the chemicals leach into the soil, in the water.
- And the river systems. - And the river systems.
And they're doing that in mass scale
and they're not allowed to do that at all as a large scale farmer.
Only small scale farmers are allowed to put manure on their fields.
Have you seen evidence of this?
Yeah, we've reported it to the authorities
and the authorities had to react and they asked them to move it.
And these companies know, they've come from Western Europe
where they know these things are banned.
Does Natura 2000 mean anything at all?
If we are witnessing intensive cattle grazing
and agriculture within its borders?
I mean, what's the point in having a Natura 2000 site?
Unfortunately, it's quite a weak framework for protected areas.
But it's being regulated in other countries.
There are good examples of where it's worked and it can work,
but it needs the support of local authorities,
national authorities and people to enforce the regulations that are there.
We now have a federation and the idea of that is to have
a more official platform to act on,
to involve the local associations,
the local organisations that are concerned about this development.
And through that federation, you can lodge complaints,
you can talk to the authorities, you can talk to local government
about how we, as a federation,
as a community that lives in this landscape,
would like this landscape to develop.
And it's only by complaining to the authorities
that they will get their head out of the sand.
The slippery drive up another dirt track took me to a panoramic view
and a shocking example of crazy fencing.
Here, a whole forest has been boxed in,
including any larger wildlife that inhabits it.
To get an idea of how aggressive modern farming impacts local people,
I arranged to meet farmer and tour guide Mihai Barbu,
who has come to inspect one of his small holdings in Bârghiș County.
So this is your land?
It's a little portion of the land I have in this area.
You were telling me that an agro business has dumped
all this manure on your land, is that right?
Yeah, it dumped some manure, probably in the winter or last year.
And I notified them on an email, the 21 March, to remove it,
and they said that they will and everything will be fine.
And I said, I specifically told them that it's my land
and I have my crop on it.
And then now I come and see.
I put some oats for the horses and it's maze now.
Now, they didn't answer to the notification.
I just have a phone call.
And they said that they will remove the manure.
- Which they haven't done. - Which they haven't done.
But you seeded it once you found it ploughed
and you put your oats.
Yeah, well, after the ploughing,
you have to prepare the land
and then I did some oats on it and...
You planted this entire strip of land with oats?
- Yeah. - And now they've gone and put corn.
So probably for it, the oats was out, they came and sprayed it
and the oats is dead, of course.
And also, the end of my land is also fenced.
You can see a fence going.
So my land goes inside the fence for 800 square metres
just at the top end,
it's too late to seed something else, so I have to go and declare
my land other crop that I originally declared.
So you declare that as your corn now?
Yeah, I have to change it.
But they'll then probably come and harvest it.
That's... Who's first?
- Probably. - Okay, so it's a race who gets a crop?
Yeah, exactly. Who's to get first?
You should not let them have it.
- Because... - I know.
This seems like strong arm tactics.
If they're doing this to you,
I'm imagining they're doing it to a lot of people.
And it's quite intimidating to see this.
It's already a system, I imagine,
so they already know all the legal gates to go in between.
And I know another case, a friend of mine,
which is almost in the same situation and is with 100 hectares, not with one.
It was a tactic that there was lots of abandoned places, lands,
and then they did this tactic because they didn't know the owner.
- Who was the owner. - Someone to complain.
Exactly. Instead of looking for the owner, actively,
going to city hall and look for the register
and then... they're just going to the land
and if somebody came
and asked for rights, oh, but why don't you...
Let's make a deal.
The other thing I wanted to ask you about,
is your tourism business, that's been affected, hasn't it?
Well, I cut the routes with facing south on this side.
I used to go through Benești and Alțina.
We had a nice stop for riding, like Bridal Path.
So you do horse riding holidays.
And in 2018 was everything fenced around, was from one month to the other.
I remember that I've done a trip and then one month later I couldn't pass.
It used to be the historical road
between Benești and Alțina, the old carriage roads.
And then of course, it was a gate there,
but I didn't know, on the other side it was a gate.
And more than that, I couldn't like,
hazard with the horses to go with five clients and seven horses to get.
Charged by a bull. So it's really compromised.
Yeah. I gave up to these southern tours. Yeah.
So this is what we must now define as a protected area.
Hundreds of miles of electric fence.
You can hear it popping in the background.
A monoculture protected from insects, protected from biodiversity,
bird life, protected from bears.
So you can grow enough crops to feed thousands of cattle
that graze these lands. And you can see the effect.
To Western Europeans this looks normal.
We're used to this because we've done the damage already.
It may be too late for us in England, Spain, Germany, France,
but Romania still has the greatest biodiversity in Europe
and if we don't do something to protect it now,
we're going to be going down the same road and it will be too late.
I think the local people will suffer,
even though they may not know it now.
They won't find tourists coming here
to enjoy landscape because it's going to be flat and unexceptional
and there'll be nothing to see. And they won't be able to buy land
because the price of land has got so high now that it's prohibitive.
Let's hope that everybody wakes up in time.
CAUTION - GATE! PLEASE CLOSE THE GATE!
With evening approaching, I drove to the nearby village of Apoș
in search of our guest house for the night.
There are a few more beautiful sights in Romania than timeless Saxon streets,
with their brightly painted houses bathed gold in the lazy evening sunlight.
Of all the Saxon towns and villages in Transylvania,
one of the best preserved is Biertan,
with its formidable fortress looming above the rickety clay rooftops.
Founded in the 13th century,
Biertan quickly became an important market town
and by 1510 supported a population of over 5000 people.
Its 15th century fortress has three 35 foot high defensive walls,
rendering it almost impregnable.
And undoubtedly the reason why it's still standing intact today.
From 1572 until 1867,
Biertan was the seat of the Saxon evangelical bishops of Transylvania
and a wealth of treasures were kept here,
which is why security was also of paramount importance.
This door is absolutely fascinating.
It was created in 1515 by master craftsman Johannes Reichmuth from Sighișoara.
It has four spontaneously operating locks in 15 metal bands,
so when you turn it, it completely secures it to the wall.
In fact, it was considered to be so interesting
and such a work of craftsmanship
that it was exhibited at the World Trade Fair in Paris in 1889.
Now it's back where it belongs.
People can look at it, but not touch it.
Sadly, because I really want to do that.
This was known as "The couple's prison".
Couples seeking divorce who approached the local bishop
were locked in here for up to six weeks.
They could only get out
if they resolved their differences after two weeks or onwards.
There's one bed, one table, one chair, one spoon,
because they had to share everything
and it seemed to be quite effective
because church records confirm
that during the 300 years or so it was used,
local divorce rates were down to one.
Maybe we should actually reinstate that.
Imagine, no TV, no mobile phone, no social media, nothing.
Just you and her or him and you.
And all the time in the world to argue until you get bored.
I wonder if there is a key.
If you're visiting Biertan,
it's also worth travelling a few extra miles
over the next hill to check out the bucolic village of Copșa Mare,
home to one of Transylvania's most exclusive guest houses,
featuring beautifully restored Saxon buildings
converted for boutique accommodation.
Another great example of this
can be found in the village of Cund, not far from Dumbrăveni.
This is Valley of Verde,
founded in 2007 by chef and bon viveur Jonas Schäfer and his wife Ulrike.
Since first coming here,
Jonas has grown the business from a small restaurant
to include a colourful stable of picturesque farmhouses,
providing accommodation for up to 82 people
and jobs for most of the residents here and in several neighbouring communities.
He also hosts weddings, parties and regular gastronomic events,
like his Bacchanalian seafood banquets,
courtesy of friend and international chef Roland Burr.
Thanks to fortuitous timing, as always,
we just happen to be in the area for one of them.
Gentlemen, thank you very much for inviting me.
It's a beautiful afternoon.
It seems to me that every time Roland is in town,
it's a seafood extravaganza.
- Well, that's what you do. - That's what it is, that's what he does.
And I don't know anybody who's better at it than he is.
What I do, I do it in actually 52 countries all over the world,
since the 90s, so since quite a long time.
This is not about gigs.
So you're basically paid to travel the world,
cooking delicious seafood for everyone and anyone who can find you,
like the A Team.
And yet you do keep coming back here.
I actually showcase food and wine and nature.
- And nature. - And when we met in 2010, I mean,
I was travelling through Romania,
doing these kind of events in Galați, in Deva, in Timișoara, in you name it,
in 34 cities in Romania, actually.
And then Jonas, well, invited me, engaged me, however,
to come to Transylvania, and then I discovered Valea Verde.
- And here we are. - Here we are.
The rest is history.
But Jonas, going back a bit to the beginning,
as Roland was mentioning,
I mean, you started here with a restaurant, didn't you?
And I don't think you probably knew at that point
what you were creating
and how profoundly it was going to change the community.
People were thinking, first of all, we were completely...
now the German guy is completely off his rockers.
But for us, it was very important to do something to keep this community
that we have become part of
alive and to create opportunities for people which are sustainable.
And sustainable opportunities always go hand in hand
with development and with business, in a way.
So you need to create jobs, you need to create possibilities
of people to rent their rooms, rent their houses,
to have additional income,
to stay here and not migrate to Western Europe.
- To London, Spain, Germany or France. - Exactly.
But it is a connection that works both ways.
We could not live without this community.
So this community is actually furthering our work
and is defining, in a way, what we do.
And, Roland, now you're invested,
if that's the right word, directly in this village...
So when you fall in love with something
and then it makes you stay and you want to be part of it, and then...
came that opportunity to buy, actually, the old vicarage,
the Pfarrhaus here...
- The vicarage. - The vicarage.
You and the vicarage?
Me and my partner and the vicarage.
It seems a bit incongruous for a man of your stature
to be living in a vicarage or...
Well, that was not the idea.
We just said, it's such a beautiful... just a beautiful building.
I like the fact that it's a little bit on the slope.
- I think it's brilliant. - So we invested and we renovated it.
And actually kept everything as it was.
And even the furniture are made by the people of Cund, by Jonas' people.
So the beds and the wardrobes and the chairs and the tables,
everything is from oak, from the forest here around.
What are we having? Just quickly, I'm seeing lobster...
And then we have scallops and with a little bit of olive oil
and some wild garlic flowers marinated...
- With algae. - With a little bit of algae.
And I actually discovered this year
that you can marinate these flowers of wild garlic so beautifully.
So we pickled them and they are packed with garlic flavour.
And it's pickled with a bit of chilli.
It's pickled with olive oil, salt, vinegar.
- Stop. I'm salivating. - Go for it.
Don't eat the shell.
Please.
Oh, my God. I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.
God, that is good.
Gentlemen, you have surpassed yourself as usual.
- Thank you ever so much. - Let's feed the troops and then indulge.
Thank you very much. Let's get plating.
Before leaving the next morning,
I had the chance to get behind wheel of Jonas' latest toy,
a vintage Aro undergoing restoration by his neighbour Robert.
Now discontinued,
this used to be Romania's answer to the Land Rover Defender.
As we saw in previous episodes,
Romania possesses numerous regions with geothermal springs,
something the Romans were quick to take advantage of
establishing spa towns like Băile Herculane.
Another of these, but much less known about, is Geoagiu-Băi.
An ex-communist resort located on the site of an ancient Roman spa.
The remains can still be visited today,
but cut a distinctly melancholy site,
sitting unattended and unloved amidst a maze of concrete backstreets.
Amazing to think that around the second century AD,
this was a thriving SPA, full of people taking the waters here.
Romans in saunas, Romans in hot pools, Romans everywhere.
Now there's no evidence of any Romans whatsoever.
All I can see is concrete.
This needs just to be really taken out and they need to start again.
If you Google Roman spa Algeria, you will see one just like this,
except it's been looked after, it's been preserved,
and now it's one of their biggest tourist attractions.
I think this may have been a waterway
that fed the baths outside, like that one,
and there's a smaller channel that goes further down to another pool.
But I can't be sure
because there's no ticket office at the rusty iron gate
and there's no guides seemingly available to people that just want to come here.
And I could have maybe contacted the City hall and asked for one, but...
I wanted to see this like all the other tourists.
And it's a shame.
And yet, with some money and an authentic restoration
using the sort of stone the Romans used,
you could put this back into working order,
could reopen the channels, get hot water flowing through it.
It wouldn't be so difficult, would it, to reconnect this one
and reopen a Roman spa working as it did 2000 years ago.
Geoagiu-Băi is a town full of unrealized potential.
Many of its high rise hotels sit empty
at a time when this place should be seething with tourists.
Apart from the nearby Hotel Germisara,
there was little in the way of international standard accommodation.
That's the second hotel I've tried and they're closed.
And it's peak holiday season.
It's actually a bank holiday in May.
And it's dead.
There is a hotel across the road, four star hotel,
which is full,
but that's hardly surprising
given the fact that most of the others aren't open at all.
Let's go and see if I get some advice from the tourism authorities.
I noticed there's a tourist office next door.
Maybe they can shed some light
on what's going on here.
TRAVEL AGENCY
Doesn't look very open.
I think the dead bird is a bit of a giveaway.
Nope.
Well, they shouldn't be closed.
Right now, at this time of the day.
So maybe it's closed down.
I think that's it for me, for Geoagiu-Băi right now.
It's a very sad example of a place
that could be another mecca for health tourism,
like Borsec or Băile Herculane,
and I'm finding the same thing over and over again everywhere.
Romania has this vast potential for health tourism,
geothermal spa destinations, all that kind of thing.
We've got hot water up to our ears if we use it,
but all these beautiful places
are just getting totally trashed with concrete,
and they become so ugly, so quickly, that in the end,
not very many people actually want to come here.
Certainly no international tourists. Or very few international tourists.
Let's be fair.
I hope that one day we'll wake up to the possibilities
that locations like this offer
and do a better job of promoting them and restoring them.
Our journey takes us south and back towards the mountains.
On the way, we pass the mining town of Hunedoara,
home to one of the most romantic edifices in Eastern Europe.
This is the much photographed Corvin Castle,
named after Matthias Corvin, the king of Hungary
and son of Ioan of Hunedoara,
who extended and transformed a former keep here in 1446.
It's also the largest castle in Transylvania.
As I approached the front gate,
I was greeted by a mediaeval welcoming committee.
Charlie. Hey, Charlie! Come here!
Welcome to our home, Charlie!
Hello! Thanks!
Let's go!
Well, Charlie, we bid you welcome within our castle.
We have foreseen this moment from 500 years ago
and we've been waiting for you.
You are knights guarding the castle.
Yes, we are some of the knights that remain still from the 15th century.
So this is not necessarily a full time job anymore.
The castle doesn't get attacked so often.
A full time job? We've been here for 500 years old.
What kind of full time is that?
Good answer. Great answer.
The castle has changed since you've been the last time.
- It's looking very different. - Yes.
This part of the castle has been cleaned up
because in the past
this was black from the iron industry that we had, from the...
- Exactly. All the smog. - Now we are restoring it.
We wish you to enjoy our castle.
Enter to our home.
I will leave you to carry on your 500 year old job guarding this gate.
The power of my staff will accompany you in the entire house.
- Go! - Thanks!
Enjoy!
If you're like me,
the first impression you're going to get coming here is a strong sense of déjà-vu.
I'm talking about movies,
Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage
and The Nun, not for the faint-hearted.
The sun is getting a bit low.
I think it would be good to get out of here before nightfall.
There's an intriguing legend concerning this well.
It's said that Ioan of Hunedoara had three Turkish prisoners, Ottomans,
who he promised freedom to on the proviso that they dug him a well and found water.
And here it is. It took them 15 years.
Unfortunately, shortly after they finished,
he died, before he was able to keep his promise.
And his wife was not so forgiving.
And had them promptly sentenced to death.
Their names and their deeds are engraved on that stone there,
which reads, "the one who dug here is Hassan,
prisoner to the jailers in the fortress next to the church".
Bit of a tragic end after all that work.
Imagine 15 years thinking, we're going to get out of here.
No.
They might have been better off
digging a small escape tunnel down there as well.
Iron ore was not the only raw material mined in this region.
I'm on a scenic drive up into the hills above Hunedoara
in search of an abandoned village...
reputedly constructed from white marble.
At first, the road is well maintained
and takes you through little towns
with gobsmackingly gorgeous views like Ghelari,
with its impressive church of St Michael and St Gabriel.
Reaching for the heavens.
A little further and the tarmac runs out, replaced with dirt and gravel.
Beyond the village of Poienița Voinii, the going becomes even more challenging.
Until taking a right, I descended a steep valley.
To be confronted by a cobbled road paved entirely with slabs of marble.
Last few miles to the village of Alun make for a bumpy ride.
There was much relief when I arrived in what passed for the town centre.
This area was mined for its marble since the 18th century,
but the mining really got active in the '60s and '70s
under the communists when they extracted the rock
to help construct the People's Palace in Bucharest,
which we saw in episode four.
However, because the trucks weighed so much, taking out the stone,
they had to build a really hard road, and asphalt wasn't going to do it.
Luckily, though, there was a good source of local material.
The church is also made entirely of marble and I'd love to show it to you,
but we're not allowed into film because it's under repair.
But as members of the public, you can come here and see it for yourself.
I just don't advise you doing that on a Harley Davidson.
Going up that road was no fun at all.
Romania, as we have seen over the last nine episodes,
is a nation peppered with ancient ruins and archaeological sites.
But perhaps its most evocative and intriguing
lies in the forested foothills of the Orăștia Mountains,
and might be best described as Romania's answer to Machu Picchu.
Sarmisegetusa was the heart of the Dacian civilization,
serving both as a religious and military capital.
It was here that the decisive battle was fought and lost to the Romans,
leading to the suicide of King Decebal, who slit his throat
rather than be captured by the forces of Emperor Trajan.
Once a thriving city, Sarmisegetusa now lies buried beneath the forest floor.
But a series of excavations since the Second World War
have revealed some tantalising insights into its extraordinary past.
I'm here to meet renowned archaeologist Professor Gelu Florea to learn more.
This is one of the most impressive buildings here.
We think also that it's a central point of...
focus point of the entire sacred area, maybe,
and with a complex plan,
with three concentrical rooms with several entrances and so on.
So it's a place of worship, and of course, it's nearby the altar.
- Worship of what? - We don't know.
We cannot reconstruct their pantheon
because we don't have enough data.
But it's absolutely sure that they were polytheistic.
So several gods were worshipped here.
Everybody in the ancient times spoke about the god Zalmoxis,
which seems to be one of the main gods of the Getae
in earlier times, and probably maybe the Dacians also,
but we don't know if and when was he worshipped, even here.
So life continued up here in the mountains as normal
for maybe hundreds of years until the Romans came.
The history of this city actually is shorter than that,
because we know about the first occupation data
only from the first century BC.
So the life here went on for 150 years?
- Less than two centuries. - Yes, less than two centuries.
But yes, after that, in 106 AD, everything stopped,
at least from the Dacian point of view,
because the city was sieged
and it was conquered and the temples were destroyed.
It's fascinating that this happened, all of this happened here
so many years ago, and we're standing here now
and trying to imagine what it was like
with no trees here and buildings everywhere,
and the temples with wooden columns, I imagine.
Some of them, yes.
Because these were just foundations, weren't they?
Yes, most of them were plinths, actually.
Foundations for wooden columns and for the entire building,
which was made also of wood.
Do you think there should be more funding
made available for archaeology in this country?
Yes, we always will need funding.
That's an obvious question to an archaeologist.
- I know. - Yes.
Don't you feel, let me put it another way. Don't you feel that it's a bit inadequate?
What is there to help reveal the incredible past that Romania has?
Archaeology is not cheap.
You need funds, you need resources, you need analysis and all sorts of things.
I guess it's hard to convince so many people
of the necessity for it when, as you know, being a professor,
kids are less and less interested in the past, per se.
I mean, maybe I'm being unfair here,
but I do think that a lot of kids these days
aren't so fussed about knowing...
I would not say that they are not interested in past,
but they are more interested in the present and maybe the future.
- I don't know. - Kind of same thing I'm saying, really.
I'm just being a bit more blunt about.
Yeah, but students are coming to learn archaeology,
still coming, and they're interested in participating on diggings.
And I think we have to find ways
to get closer to the mentality of the young.
- If you... - And archaeology, I think,
it's a very good way to get closer
because it's a little bit of adventure, it's a little bit of science,
or even more science, maybe.
I don't think it lost its fascination.
As well as a litany of cultural treasures,
Hunedoara County is home to more than its fair share of natural wonders
that make it a film scout's paradise.
For instance, this is Cheile Băniței,
a small, but perfectly formed canyon
that circumnavigates a huge cliff off the road to Petroșani.
When the elements created sculpture like this,
it takes millions of years
and yet more proof, not that we need it,
that Peter Jackson could have filmed
all three episodes of Lord of the Rings right here in Romania
and probably saved himself a fortune.
A couple of miles the other side of the gorge
and there's a small turning left, which takes you to Peștera Bolii,
a gigantic river eroded cave system that's as spectacular as it is colourful.
This landscape keeps getting more and more fantastical.
We've now entered an underground kingdom.
Hewn from the limestone by this stream.
Yep, another film set.
And this is where the spot lamps and the Las Vegas lighting runs out
and the river races on into the darkness.
I wish I had a head torch, some rope, pair of waders and half a day,
but I'm sure this cave continues all the way through the mountain.
One of the most enduring cultural traditions in the Carpathians
is that of the transhumanța.
The seasonal droving of livestock from the lowlands up into the mountains,
graze on the wildflowers and lush grasses of the alpine meadows.
Many shepherds travel huge distances over the summer period,
setting up makeshift camps
where they sleep out in the wild, accompanied by their dogs.
Let's go to show them. Let's go, doggies. Let's go, Bălan!
Daily life consists of tending and breeding their animals,
milking the herd each day and making cheese.
I'm climbing high up into the Retezat Mountains to join them
and to scratch beneath the surface of this harsh and often solitary life.
If I was Bear Grylls, I'd probably say something like,
this is the only way across this inaccessible chasm
in order to continue our progress up the mountain.
However,
just off camera,
there's probably a perfectly good footpath,
so let's stick to that.
- Hello! - Hello!
Charlie.
- Emi. - Emi.
How long have you been here?
About three weeks.
June, July and August...
- July, August and a little September? - A little.
When the tourists come, do they buy cheese and other things?
Yes, they do.
- One or two kilos. - It's another business.
- A little business. - A little one.
What made you choose this life?
I like it
and I inherited it from my parents, from generation to generation.
Your parents were shepherds.
They were. And I do this because I like it.
You were here since you were a child.
Tell me about a normal day to you.
- We wake up at five in the morning. - Okay.
We milk the sheep, they are milked three times a day.
We go with them to the mountain to graze. At noon we go down, milk them.
We let them go to graze again, in the evening back to milking.
- And you make cheese. - Yes, we make cheese.
We make the cheese here. Here we only make cottage cheese.
And for the night, a fire?
Yes, we make a fire there at night. We have where we sleep,
we put them there in the pen, and sleep...
- There? - Yes.
There has to be someone there at all times.
The donkeys are arriving.
That's a lot of dogs.
I think you will have to stop filming because the dogs will fight.
- Okay. - They are from two different sides.
Go to the sheep!
Talboc, come here!
What does the future hold? Do you think this way of life is bound to change?
I don't know if the lifestyle will change
because there's no more, there aren't young people that like animals anymore,
that like sheep herding and want to make a business out of it.
It's kind of disappearing.
Kind of sad, unfortunately.
We are from Alba County, Pianu commune, Pianu de Sus village,
and we come there in the summer with the sheep to the pasture
up in the mountain, in Retezatul Mic.
We have the pasture here from our ancestors.
They bought the pasture from a certain earl named Kendofy,
for a hundred or so years and the village pasture remained.
In spring we have here the sheep herd.
We bring them over from Alba
during transhumanța, on foot, over the mountain.
- We're leaving... - So, you travel.
Yes. All the farmers' sheep gather here.
We bring them here. We gather them since May,
depending on the weather, when the snow melts.
In some years, we leave around May 20th or 18th.
From there it takes us about ten days, two weeks,
it depends on what we can do, on the weather, how the weather helps us.
When we arrive here,
we stay until autumn on the 23rd, 24th, 25th, it depends.
There are two boys who stay with them here all summer.
How is life here?
Life here depends on the weather.
When the weather is good, it's nice. When the weather is bad, it's...
- Cold. Miserable. - No, it's harder.
And any problems with wolves or bears?
- There are some. - Are there?
Yes, there are. It depends.
We have good guard dogs
and if they help us, no more wild animals.
Over the time, if they can't grab hold of a sheep, not really.
So have you personally had any close encounters with bears?
Yes, the bear came.
It came very near, I approached it, it was in the spring,
and I was five-six meters above him.
And our colleague had an accident, actually.
The bear took him and...
No!
- Oh, my God! - The bear knocked him down.
The bear knocked him down.
That was the bear. You can see the...
That must have been terrifying.
How did you get out of it?
I was lucky with the dogs that came after the bear took me,
because it grabbed my leg, I dragged me like that for about 200 meters,
and the dogs arrived.
And then, when I was screaming from the bear's mouth
the dogs arrived and caught him, and then he let me go.
If the dogs didn't come, he would kill me, eat me.
Thank God with the dogs here, because otherwise...
We have very good guard dogs and they come and save us many times.
- And then... - Danger is everywhere.
There is danger at any moment here.
Back down the mountain,
I've made a quick stop at another one of Romania's more photogenic waterfalls.
Situated in the nearby Valea Mare Gorge.
The initial hike takes about half an hour before you reach a series of ladders
that lead you up the ravine towards the first of several thundering cascades.
I can barely hear the sound of my own voice over the tumult,
the roar, the crescendo of water behind me.
It's like being in the Garden of Eden.
This is a primaeval, untamed landscape,
some might say the last truly wild corner of Europe.
As we have seen over the last ten episodes,
the Carpathian Mountains are an adventure playground
to thrill seekers and nature lovers alike.
One sport that combines both of these two elements
and offers a bird's eye view
of Romania's majestic landscapes is paragliding.
I've come to the other side of Retezat to Clopotiva,
to hang with a group called Sky Tribe,
a fearless bunch of aeronauts
who offer training and flying lessons for the uninitiated
and organise one of the largest international competitions
here every summer.
Having not flown for a while, I decided to brush up my skills
with a bit of ground handling before leaping into the void.
Go! Go to the right. Left hander.
Okay, too much left hander.
Once reassured that I'd still be able to get it up,
we proceeded to the take-off field,
located 700 metres above us in the forest.
So this is the first time that I've flown in about 15 years.
It's a bigger wing.
For obvious reasons.
Technology's moved on a bit.
Done the ground handling. We've got a slight sidewind at the moment,
so we've got to wait for the conditions to be exactly right.
But there's a gentle breeze. It should be, as we say,
a walk in the park.
Still get that slight feeling of apprehension.
Last time I flew was in La Paz in Bolivia,
about 6000 metres above sea level.
So this really I'm expecting this to be quite pleasant.
You may begin the exercise.
Soon it was my turn to launch
and a few seconds later, the ground was dropping away
and the gentle winds carried me safely out over the foothills.
Riding a motorbike you never quite forget.
But that was really amazing.
Flying over the forest,
above the wilderness,
the Carpathian Mountains looking out, seeing the world at your feet,
swooping like an eagle.
I had the radio,
so I had the guys there guiding me
because it's obviously my first time here.
But it was bliss.
I'll be dreaming about this tonight.
Feeling exhilarated and exhausted in equal measure,
it was time to head back to base,
painfully aware that this year long odyssey was almost over.
And there were so many things we haven't had time to include.
But before reaching home,
there was one more unmissable sight to show you.
An incredible natural phenomenon
that only happens for a few days each spring.
This is the village of Fundata above Bran,
with panoramic views across Piatra Craiului
and the Bucegi Massive.
And voted the prettiest village in Romania in 2023.
I've come here to drop off the bike and set out for a final stroll
up past the treeline in hope of catching this season's flush of wild rhododendrons.
My friends in England asked me why I decided to emigrate to Transylvania.
And this is my answer.
We're on the roof of the Carpathian Mountains.
And it doesn't get much more beautiful than this anywhere in the world.
Surrounded by a carpet of rhododendrons,
these flowers used to be picked by the local people
and made into tinctures and herbal teas.
Unfortunately, too many people started making a habit of it, so...
that's been rightly banned now,
but everyone can still come up here,
sit on a rock and enjoy this feral beauty.
And I still have to pinch myself
when I remember that this is now home sweet home.
You can see that other hill in the distance.
Is also completely purple in the sunlight,
As the Ministry of Tourism might say,
"Welcome to the Carpathian garden".
Back down in Fundata and with mixed emotions,
I saddled up for the final stretch of this 20,000 kilometre ride
the last few miles home to Șirna.
Having spent three months on the road this year and four months last summer,
it felt strange to know it was all about to end.
And I had returned safely,
much to the enormous relief of my adopted parents.
Doru and Rodica.
To help process the enormity of this undertaking
and offer some thoughts of his own,
friend and veteran travel presenter Cristi Tabără
was waiting for me on the deck with a welcome pint of cold beer.
- How are you? - Good. Really good.
- I've got a pint for you. - You superstar.
- Yeah. - The simple things in life, isn't it?
Just coming back home after a very long journey
to a cold pint and friends.
Let me just ask you something.
Let's get back to Flavours of Romania, summarise it a bit.
I mean, what are your conclusions, finally?
It's been seven years since the first one,
and it was very interesting to go back to some of the same places again.
We revisited some places
because I wanted to observe how they'd changed,
but also to see the historic regions from a macro perspective.
Why were they different?
What has happened in the intervening years?
I was horrified in Bucovina, dare I say it,
to see a lot of development that had happened,
huge amounts of development.
And in the time I've been here, which is about 13 years,
I've noticed this change where more and more of the old houses have gone.
They haven't been valued, they haven't been treasured,
they haven't been adapted,
they've just been burnt
or sold for firewood or in some cases, floorboards,
because people haven't recognised their value.
And I keep saying this, but if we don't wake up now
and save the existing monuments and historic villages
and places of huge cultural interest,
there'll be less to offer foreign tourists in the future.
And that will mean less money for local communities
and less money for the people that live there.
And what about the ethnic patrimony?
Well, I think, again, from a foreigner's perspective,
looking from the outside, it's hugely appealing.
Romania is more culturally diverse than, in my experience,
pretty much any other country in Europe.
- One final question. - Please.
A yes or no question.
Are we aware of the fact that we do have a country called Romania?
I think it's got to be a no,
because I think a lot of people,
and would you agree with this statement?
Yes or no?
- Back at you. - Yeah.
Thank you for being so honest in your answer.
We don't have a collective consciousness of being Romanian,
but if we all got on and we all learned from each other
and Romanians, actually, I say Romanians by saying everybody,
because it's a hat.
Just like Great Britain has Wales, Scotland and England and Northern Ireland.
But they don't consider themselves to be British.
They'd say, "Ah, I'm Scottish. I'm Irish. I'm Welsh".
But they're still cheering for Great Britain in the Olympics.
And that's the important point.
We should be aware of our individual or collective cultural legacy
within a community, within a minority, an ethnic minority.
But we should also be aware of a greater collectivity
and actually extend that further, a global collectivity.
Because if we don't see ourselves
in terms of being part of a bigger picture,
then we can never combine our strengths to go forward.
And Romania has the most incredible resources,
the most fantastic forests that could be sustainably managed,
mineral wealth that could be sustainably managed
without impacting too badly on the communities or the environment.
It has amazing food and produce. It was the breadbasket of Europe.
And I keep going around and I found this again with series two.
There's no collective consciousness
that enables all those elements to come together
to take Romania to the next level.
We've all got to value each other, we've all got to learn from each other.
But celebrate the fact you're Roma or you're Lipovan
or you're Hungarian or you're Romanian.
Celebrate the fact that also you're part of a country.
And celebrate the fact we're part of Europe
and ultimately we're all part of the same planet,
which, if we end up not caring,
we'll get roasted like a spud with global warming.
So whatever we do impacts on those around us, on our community,
on our culture, on our country, on our planet.
And I think people here should be maybe encouraged to think more like that.
We're greater than the sum of our individual parts.
And that's the lesson I take from my travels here,
from seeing the beauty and the fantastic integrity
of all the different communities, villages,
ethnic minorities, landscapes and places that I visited.
Accept this from me. Thank you.
And thank you for watching.
All ten episodes, I hope,
because if you're here and you didn't skip to the end,
then you've been with us on this journey.
It's not a journey I'm going to be making again anytime soon,
but I wouldn't take any of it back, none of it.
It was just the most fantastic experience.
And I only hope that people watching
will get some of the enthusiasm,
the joy and the inspiration that I took
from travelling again all the historic regions of Romania
and finding out that every part of this country
has something wonderful to offer.
To offer us, to offer Romanians and to offer the world.