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 any other in Europe.
With over 60 percent of the Carpathian Mountains weaving through it,
Romania is the custodian of Europe's last great wilderness area,
its largest remaining forest,
and two thirds of its surviving alpha predators.
But increasingly this unique country's natural and cultural heritage
is under threat from reckless development
and a race to modernize,
which is often destroying the very things that could ensure prosperity
and a sustainable livelihood for generations to come.
Welcome back to our eight part road trip of Romania's historic regions,
in which we discover fabulous treasures, natural wonders, medieval marvels,
mouthwatering dishes,
and meet the people that make this
one of the warmest and most hospitable nations in the world.
We will also be finding out how this hugely misunderstood country
is emerging from post Communist chaos
and identifying some of the challenges it faces
and how tourism could provide one of its best hopes for the future.
We start are journey in the far south of Romania
on the natural border, offered by the mighty Danube river.
Here Europe's largest riparian artery winds through a series of gorges,
known rather grandly as the Iron Gates.
To see them in the full glory,
it's necessary to catch a boat from the town of Orsova.
Highlights include a plaque known as Trajan's tablet,
which marked Trajan's road,
one of the routes by which the Roman Emperor mobilized troops,
during the invasion of Dacia.
It was moved further up the cliff prior to the flooding of the gorge,
to accommodate Hydro Electric Power,
and can still be seen today above the high water mark,
a testament to this region's historic legacy.
Further up the gorge and a fitting balance to the might of Rome,
is a more recent carving.
The giant head of Dacian King Decebal presides over passing shipping,
demonstrating to all who fall beneath his stony gaze,
the tremendous pride Romanians still have for their ancient heritage.
Driving north from Orsova,
you pass a little town with enormous cultural importance.
Baile Herculane or the Baths of Hercules was founded by Emperor Trajan's troops,
during the Dacian conquest,
but human occupation of this spot can be traced back to Paleolithic times.
And why wouldn't it,
with an unquenchable supply of boiling hot mineral water,
bubbling up out of the ground,
such a place must have seemed like a garden of Eden to early settlers.
In more recent times,
this small community, sandwiched between the mountains,
grew under the Hapsburgs to become a luxury resort,
unique in the whole of Europe.
During the Austro Hungarian empire,
this was the most illustrious spa resort in the whole of Europe.
People came from all over to take the waters here.
In fact it was part of the grand tour where ladies of society,
who wanted to educate themselves on the hoof would travel to Rome,
they'd go to Venice, to Florence and they'd came here.
A lot has changed since then and not much of it good,
as I'm about to show you.
DO NOT ENTER
To try and understand
how such a magnificent building came to be in this condition,
I took a look around
with the Head of the County Department for Culture and National Patrimony,
Sorin Predescu.
So, Sorin, when did the decay set in?
In the 80's. In the 80's because the Communists built a new Herculane,
in the front of the old Herculaneum.
They've moved all their activity in that part
and left this building to decay.
So they wanted to basically obliterate
everything that smacked of imperialism or history.
Yes, obliterate the history.
I've noticed that some of the tiles here they've painted over.
Over the marble, yes.
-Marble tiles. It's crazy. -Absolutely crazy.
It wasn't a very deliberate action it was in the spirit of time,
not just in Herculane,
but in the spirit of time it was too much, too ornate.
-Too grand. -Yes.
And after the revolution, all over Romania,
they sell the old tourist companies,
with all the buildings,
to some local investors.
And now these buildings are in the private property,
and our Romanian state, I don't know why,
they don't expropriate these buildings to make something with them.
Well, it's heart breaking,
I mean, how does it make you feel doing the job that you do?
I mean you haven't been inside this building before, have you?
Unfortunately,
I see a lot of that and we don't respect this building that means history,
and not just history, it's our soul somehow,
and we don't respect our soul,
I don't know why.
Look at this. Welcome to the hell.
Yeah.
This is just so sad, nobody loves this building,
no one respects it!
It's a sign of respect.
I guess the kids do it their way, 'cause they are expressing their sadness,
by spraying it.
It's been few years since I've seen this building,
and it's even worse than it was.
Yeah.
What would you do about this, Sorin?
It's the time for the Romanian state to express their right
and their duty about these historical monuments in the whole of Romania.
Yeah.
We have the law, but we don't have this habit,
we just give to the private property all our monuments,
and now we must buy them back for a fair price, but we had it before.
So if the people who own the land, privately, won't sell,
the government expropriate it at a fair price.
Yes.
-For the nation. -Yes.
But is the time to not let all this heritage to be lost,
because it's the last moment when it's possible to do something
for this building, for example.
For me it's important
for my children to see that buildings renovated and functional.
It's going to ensure prosperity for the community here if they protect it.
Yeah, absolutely, it's about tourism. The patrimony is a resource.
Well, thank you, Sorin for coming all the way down from Timisoara.
If everyone cared as much as you do then we would have this building saved.
I hope.
We just have to raise awareness.
We all need to do something about this together.
Yes.
You know for the country and for Europe.
This is one of the grandest buildings in Europe not just in Romania, isn't it?
Absolutely.
So this part of the tower is falling down completely,
I am taking a bit of a risk walking here.
The roof here is in a really bad state, really terrible.
It's just waiting to come down over there and part of it has fallen here,
that's part of the wall.
Romania, this is your patrimony, no one is doing anything,
it's been over 20 years, maybe you need a march or a petition.
Certainly lobbying the powers that be to take this building back,
and the land it sits on,
before it falls into the ground
and a vital part of Romania's history is going to be lost.
Not just Romania's history, but the history of Europe.
We've almost run out of time, so, please, can we sort this out,
we have to do something now.
Despite the fact that
the old town of Baile Herculane has become rather dwarfed
by more modern '70s and '80s architecture,
it is still a fascinating and enchanting place.
But with the right investment,
this town could once again become the pride of Romania,
and a compelling addition to the must-see list of attractions
that draw tourists from all over the world
to experience the timeless beauty of its rural landscapes.
Turning North again we head up through forests and lush valleys,
towards the Serbian border.
My next stop is Cheile Nerei,
one of the most remote National Parks in the country.
This is a magical and unspoiled region
dissected by wild gorges,
pristine rivers and aquamarine lakes.
It is also a place of mysteries,
one of the most compelling being a set of interconnected tunnels,
that run deep into the mountains.
To find out more I hiked into the hills above Sasca Montana,
with national tourist guide and local expert Mircea Jumanca.
There are a lot of theories as to who built these, aren't there?
Yeah, some say the Romans built it, the Roman Empire.
Others say the Austrian Hungarians built them.
But why, why did they built this?
My guess is the tunnels were made for logging and it was a pony pass.
So right, OK, so they dragged the logs with ropes?
Yeah, with ropes.
That seems like a reasonably plausible explanation,
'cause it follows the river, doesn't it?
Yeah, exactly.
Still it's a lot of work to create this, isn't it?
I mean there wasn't any dynamite in those days so...
No, they would heat up the rock and then poor cold water on it,
and it would crack.
So like a freeze thaw. That's very clever.
Yeah.
-But it's still a monumental task. -Yeah, it's hard work.
I mean you would need hundreds of people just working along here to create this.
For sure, yeah.
Yeah. And how far does it go?
Like 25 km to the entrance to the Nera gorges.
That's incredible.
So you can almost go through the mountains following this track?
Well, let's go a bit further,
I'm not sure 25 km is particularly an option, but we'll see.
Let's go.
This is the first tunnel, it is the shortest one.
More of an arch, really.
Yes, it is more like an arch,
and we will have another one, 44 meters long.
I think I found a flaw with your towpath theory.
Obviously, you are not going to be towing logs through here.
No, but the old path was near the river,
there's a path that goes down the river and crosses the rock face.
But it still doesn't explain why they've built this, does it?
Yeah, and it's the longest.
That's what I love about this area because there are so many mysteries,
and we just don't know and we'll never know some of the answers.
Yeah, for sure.
Back into the sweltering heat. It's nice and cool here.
Perfect.
You can see why the snakes like it.
-Well, the colour is spectacular. -Yeah, it's an incredible colour.
And a magical spot. And it's a spring of course.
Yeah, on the bottom of the lake there are some springs,
you can see them over there where the sand is,
and it never freezes, even during the winter.
It looks so inviting, it's a shame you can't jump in,
but it's a national park.
It's a national park and swimming is forbidden.
And the water is really cold, it's like four or six degrees.
Like many other spots I've seen in Romania it requires an extended visit.
Well, you have to come back another time.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
As mentioned you need more than a few days to explore Cheile Nerei,
so a good place stay while you do is Pensiunea Dora, in Sasca Montana.
Visitors are assured of a warm welcome,
and a glass or two of delicious homemade wine or palinca.
The next morning,
I set out on a brief, but precarious drive to my next destination,
a small house on the edge of the village,
that in a few short years has become one of this region's worst kept secrets.
Last week we visited a cob castle in Transylvania,
but the woman who helped design and create it evolved her expertise here,
on the banks of the river Nera.
The result is a dwelling, unique in the whole of Europe.
-Good afternoon! -Good afternoon!
Hi!
So these are the raw ingredients for the cob?
Yes, it's just a mixture of clay, sand and straw.
-OK. -It's all from this place.
-And your clay pit is just there. -It's right there.
I was just on a holiday here and by walking here,
I saw the perfect place for a cob house.
And you've already become almost a national monument with this house.
By accident, because I started it as a personal project,
I did it for myself, it was something that I felt I had to do.
-It was a change of values. -Yes.
And I just felt that this is what I want to do.
-And you've never looked back? -No.
Fantastic. Please show me around I'd love to see the house.
Yes.
It feels like I've stepped into the set of The Hobbit.
It's really beautiful.
Lots of people say that.
Cob is a wonderful material that goes very well for sculpture,
for a sculptured house and I like to say that I live in a sculpture,
and it's a very much caressed building.
Of course. I have to ask how much did it cost to put this together,
'cause you are recycling a lot of things,
but there's a lot of work that goes into it as well.
I started it with 2,000 dollars,
but it's really little money, because all the materials are here,
and it's just lots of physical work and lots of love.
So can we expect a spate of cob houses to pop up around Romania,
in the next ten years?
Some, some yes.
From when I started, in 2004, and now, 14 years later,
it's a huge change.
Well, of course it's nothing new, is it,
we are really going back to traditions that are thousands of years old.
Yes, and values that we've forgot.
You take the soil with the plants and everything, you put it aside,
and when the building is ready, you put everything on the roof,
and the house is just a little layer in the environment.
Well that's extremely encouraging to know.
-Can we have a look inside? Thank you. -Yes, come and look inside.
Oh, look at this!
It is as beautiful or more beautiful than I've imagined.
-Nice and cool. -Really cool, absolutely.
I guess warm in the winter, cool in the summer.
Actually, this house started as an experiment,
and I just drew a line, it only has four meters in diameter,
and slowly it got all the functions that a house would have.
So you are completely off the grid here?
Totally self-contained, with all the mod cons, a shower, a loo.
A loo, a shower, everything, yes.
In a house made of mud.
Can I have a look upstairs please?
Sure.
It's ingenious that I'm climbing the chimney and the staircase,
it's just perfect, I love it.
No space is wasted.
It's so cosy, you see the greenery through the window,
it's almost as if you are sleeping in a tree.
Exactly.
I want one.
I'm hearing the distant rumble of thunder so I think I better head,
but thank you so much for showing me, that is a great inspiration.
I may well come back,
I would quite like to know how to do this myself.
Excellent.
Luckily, the storm cleared,
but the drive out of Sasca Montana was still treacherous,
for a much more man-made reason and one which is, unfortunately,
typical of many country roads in this part of Romania.
Seems they've decided on this stretch to repair half the road,
to maximize the chances of a head on collision.
And then in other places they've repaired some of the potholes,
obviously not all of them, and then, next year, when they are more,
they can come back and have more chances to earn more money.
So you have employment year in year out, in perpetuity,
because if someone had the foresight
to come and repair the entire road, heaven forbid,
then it might be good for ten years.
It's just really annoying
and also dangerous when you are on a motorcycle.
The Banat region borders on Serbia and Hungary,
so its capital, Timisoara,
is a very multi-cultural, cosmopolitan city,
and provides the main social and economic hub for western Romania.
Its old town is also remarkably beautiful,
and has been the beneficiary of a huge clean-up operation,
that has transformed grotty car parks and crumbling urban spaces
back to picturesque squares and pedestrian plazas.
The historic centre has a light airy feel to it,
with architectural epochs,
packed together like trees in a forest, competing for sunlight.
The net effect creates a wonderful collage of different colours and styles,
punctuated by wide open spaces, complete with fountains,
modern art sculptures, live performers, music, cafes,
and plenty of benches where you can just sit
and watch the world wander past.
I wanted to see Timisoara since I've first arrived in Romania in 2011.
I'm sorry it's taken me so long, but here we are.
And I'm really looking forward to exploring the city.
I caught up with vice-mayor Dan Diaconu on the eve of the annual jazz festival,
to find how his team are helping Timisoara live up to its nomination,
for city of culture 2021.
So there must be a lot of changes going on right now.
-Well, it's true. -How do you prioritise?
Well, it's pretty hard because Timisoara
has the largest historical patrimony in the country.
This means almost 14,000 buildings, so the process is a huge one.
We started with big interventions on the public space.
Just imagine that a few years ago we had only one hectare of pedestrian centre,
now we have 28,
so we've really tried to regain the public space for the people.
It's quite a transformation.
It's like giving back the city centre to the people.
It's not only about tourism, it's about the entire neighbourhoods of Timisoara.
There's a lot of fun, there's a lot of festivals and activities,
and things for people to come and see.
I mean that's a big part of it, isn't it?
It is, when you're holding this kind of title
everybody wants to do something.
Yeah, you've got to put on a good show.
That is good.
A better comfort for all the people in the city. Yeah.
I'm sorry, I don't normally laugh at clowns, but that was a good one.
Well, I can hear the bands warming up,
so the jazz festival looks like it's about to kick off again.
In fact, today we are going to have jazz
with influences of Romanian folklore and hip hop.
There's a thing that is called The Spirit of Timisoara,
that means freedom,
that means inter-culturality, it means tolerance, diversity.
These are all our values and cultural music for sure.
With the first bands of the night warming up,
I sallied forth to sample some harmonious discords and cool tunes.
I think that was the grand finale of the evening,
but you can never be sure because it's jazz.
It's like a big jamming session and you never know when is going to end.
Anyway what a fantastic night and we are going to leave it there,
because we've got an awful lot to show you tomorrow,
and I need my sleep.
That was amazing.
If as a tourist you ever find yourself waking up in Timisoara,
after a long Friday or Saturday night,
then one of the most relaxing ways to see the city,
is to take a tram on the circle line around some of its scenic attractions.
This is the Bega river, it used to be a big trade route to the Danube.
In the old days they would manufacture an awful lot of things.
When Timisoara was part of the Hasburg empire,
it would supply Europe and things would go down this channel,
and up the Danube as a central artery to everywhere really, in those days.
There is a plan to restore it so tourists and maybe even goods once again
would be able to go up and down all the way to the Danube.
It's a great idea.
This is the Piata Maria where the Revolution started.
This is the spot where the first protest took place,
that subsequently gathered enough momentum
to overthrow the Communist regime.
A lot of history here.
Travelling by tram on a hot day is thirsty work,
and puts you in mind of having a cold beer.
Luckily, that's something that Timisoara is not short of.
You might even feel the need to have what we English call a "Hair of the Dog",
or as they say in Romania, Sa ma dreg cu o bere.
In which case,
why not stop off along the way for a tour of the country's oldest brewery,
Timisoreana.
With much of it now open to the public and a nice en-suite restaurant and bar,
this is a great way to spend a couple of hours,
as I found out from resident expert brewer, Zolly.
-Hello, Charlie -Good afternoon.
-Good afternoon, good to see you. -Just got off a tram.
Yeah, it's been here for a long time, but the brewery has been here for longer.
The brewery was built in 1718.
Initially it was a strategic necessity.
It was built because the Austrians, when they first conquered the city,
had a lot of health issues because of the low quality of the water,
and the easiest way to purify that water was...
-To ferment it. -Yeah.
Well, they've been doing this for thousands of years.
Yes. Well, beer has been around for at least 6,000 years,
from what we know today, and the reason why it survived so long,
well, it was always the poor's man alternative to a safe drink.
The rich man's was wine.
Why it was produced for the military, of course,
you didn't want your soldiers to be too drunk.
No, you must understand that, in case of a siege,
one of the ways to defeat the city
was to either starve it out or contaminate their water source.
This brewery was responsible to supply that city with fresh drinkable water
or beer.
And, of course, to keep morale at a certain level.
Exactly. Especially during a siege that's crucial.
-Drip feeding them beer, of course. -Yeah.
-There's so much history here. -It is.
This, for example, is locally known as Muki.
I found out later on that
it's the name of the guy who drove this for about 42 years of his life.
-Muki? -Muki, yeah.
This was basically our distribution system up until the mid 70's.
It delivered the beer barrels to the city,
also recovered the empty barrels to take them back to be refilled again.
-So it's basically the beer train? -Yeah.
It's no wonder that the people gave it a name,
because they must have grown very fond of the beer train.
Yeah, because whenever this was seen through the city they knew the beer...
-That beer was on its way. -Yeah.
So before the train you had the horses and now of course you've got the lorries,
so the method of transportation has changed,
but the way in which you make the beer is still basically the same, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
But why talk about it when you can see it.
Let me just demonstrate it. Come on.
So this is the old cellars.
In the old days this is where they used to maturate the beer.
You need a cold environment, don't you?
Yes. The beer maturation has to take place in a low temperature.
For that reason,
they maturated underground where they could keep the temperature steady.
For about 280 years this is where they produced the beer.
This is where the production happened here.
It's riveting, quite literally.
Yes, well as you can see this is end of the 19th century,
beginning of the 20th century technology.
You can see all the rivets there.
But this is one thing we pride ourselves here in this brewery.
We always implemented cutting edge technologies.
We have several examples,
like in 1921 they built the first refrigeration plant in Europe,
and the second one of its kind in the world,
that was able to produce ice during the summer and that was a big thing.
In 1964 they implemented the second semi-automated brewery line in the world.
It ran on punch cards,
but for 1964 I imagine that would be like using holograms today.
It's beautiful to see it
and it's also slightly a shame that is sitting here you know gathering,
well, bats and cobwebs.
For now. But since you've seen how they used to do things,
I would much like for you to see how we do things today.
Yeah, I'm sure that's quite a contrast.
This is the nerve centre of the brewery where the whole process
is carefully monitored by a team of experts.
Zoly talked me through the fermentation process starting with the malted barley.
The grain is soaked to kick start the germination process,
release starch and enzymes after which it is either dried or roasted,
depending on the desired finish.
Water is added to create wort, which is then boiled with hops,
to obtain the correct flavour.
Whilst beer has been made for 6,000 years,
hops is a relatively new addition.
In about 570 A.D. some monks in a Belgium monastery added hops to their beers,
and they observed two elements.
One, beer that had hops in it,
the bitterness from the hops with the sweetness from the malt,
they balanced each other very, very nicely.
And the second most important element,
the beer that had hops in it can be held for longer periods of time.
Hops is a preservative.
So this is the final product of the brew house area.
The next part of the story,
I'll tell you more about it in the fermentation area.
I was going to say it's the fermentation, isn't it.
-Exactly. Okay.
So this is the fermentation area.
This is where actually that bitter wort you tasted in the brew house
gets transformed into beer by yeast.
Basically, during the course of three to four weeks,
depending on brand,
yeast transforms sugars into alcohol, carbon dioxide,
and thus after three or four weeks you have your final product, beer.
And just for you to have a fresh taste of it...
This is like drinking milk straight from the cow.
Exactly.
So this is the final product, here in the fermentation,
this is the maturated beer.
Have a taste!
Believe me, you won't find it any fresher than this.
Well that's one way.
-Well that's got a good head on it. -Yeah.
-And actually it's very nice. -Yes.
So you have like a tasting room, don't you?
Yes, a tasting room where a tasting panel gets together almost every day.
So you are paid to drink beer on an almost daily basis?
-At work, yes. -Right, that's not a bad job.
No, no, I would say quite the opposite.
And you are not sick of the taste of beer yet?
I don't think you have that effect with beer, at least in my experience.
-As long as you pace yourself. -Yeah, of course.
So you've tasted our intermediate products,
it's only fair that we go to a restaurant and you get a sample of the final thing.
Final result. Absolutely.
-Thank you very much. -Have a seat.
So this is open all year around?
Yeah. Just to give you some short information.
Inside this restaurant, this was the first place,
where Johannes Strauss the son had his first concert outside Vienna.
-So a lot of provenance. -Yeah.
Like the rest of the city, really. Big changes are afoot for Timisoara.
-Yes. -Well it's exciting,
it's exciting that you've got your anniversary next year,
and it's exciting that Timisoara itself may become the city of culture 2021.
Yeah, it's a great honour.
But we, as brewers, have to contribute to this event as well.
Well, I mean it's a community effort, isn't it?
Exactly.
Best of luck with it all. Thank you so much.
-Cheers! -Cheers! Good luck and good health!
Leaving Timisoara behind it was time to hit the open road,
and head north again towards Arad and beyond.
On the way, I wanted to check in briefly
at a charming eco-lodge, close to the village of Bogda.
Raw palinca.
Casa Altringen offers a peaceful rural getaway for weekenders from Timisoara.
But more importantly it has helped to reinvigorate and provide employment
for the community, as I found out from owner, Ovidiu Sandor.
This area around Timisoara, which is the historical Banat area.
It is an area with a very blended ethnical population
due to its history.
Various populations were brought into this region,
because the population was depleted by wars and diseases and so forth.
The most important group that settled in in this area has been a German group,
called the Schwaben and they settled a number of either existing villages,
or villages newly built specially for them.
Charlotta or Charlottenburg in German,
a lovely village built on an urban plan in the 18th century,
having a very round shape is definitely one of the first villages
built on an urban plan in Romania.
Tell me about the food, because you actually made a point, haven't you,
of insuring that the people eat
the same recipes that the German population used to cook?
What we've tried to do from the beginning
is actually preserving the character of the area in a sense,
both in the way in which the rooms are decorated,
but then also in terms of food, which has its German influence of course,
with an Romanian input, but also Hungarian influences or Serbian influences,
and we've been taking a very conscious decision not to hire a trained cook,
but to try to find local people that are skilled in cooking at home,
and a lot of people coming here, when they taste the food,
they say "oh, it tastes exactly like the food that I had when I was..."
When I was a child.
"When I was visiting my grandmother in the countryside."
And that's actually what we are trying to do.
So talking about employing the local people,
what is the influence of the guest house being on the local community?
I think that's a very interesting question that you raise.
It is an area that basically has almost no employers,
so we thought it should be extremely easy to find people in the villages.
Well, it actually turned out to be quite difficult.
Because everything works in an almost medieval barter system.
I will help you in your garden, you will help me painting my house,
so basically there's no need for money as a tool of exchange.
How extraordinary. I mean that's rather lovely, isn't it?
Well, I do think that while it might sound nostalgic and lovely,
I think it is something that is hindering the development of these communities.
I think it was very nice when one of our ladies
previously she was in a sense, you know,
"My neighbours tell me that I'm stupid that I'm working and that..."
They were criticising her for having a job, yeah.
But one day she came here very proud,
because being employed she could go to a bank,
could borrow money from a bank and redo her house,
and now she has one of the nicest houses in the village.
Right, so she's having the last laugh.
So she's having the last laugh,
but I think if these places would be better known,
and it's great what you do with these documentaries,
I think people in Europe, and across the world,
would discover something that is unique.
The Banat region has its own very special type of history within Romania,
and it's an additional maybe flavour to what Romania can offer.
-That looks "wow"! -Enjoy your meal!
Thank you so much.
Can I serve? Et voila!
Enjoy your meal!
We are in yet another achingly beautiful place,
eating delicious food.
You shouldn't be able to do this for a living,
but we needed to show it to you so what can I say!
Cheers, everyone! Good job!
-Good health! -Good health!
The following morning I continued driving North,
leaving Banat behind and entering the province of Crisana.
Our next port of call is close to Chiscau in Bihor country,
on the Eastern edge of the Apuseni range.
This far from modern attraction was only discovered by accident in 1975,
when miners working on a hillside
dynamited open a collapsed vent to an underground grotto.
Exploration revealed a kilometre and a half of vast caverns,
littered with the bones of a species of cave bear that date back 17,000 years.
Half a decade later,
the Bear Cave in Chiscau opened its rather '70s doors to the public,
and is widely held to be the most beautiful cave in Romania.
I'm very torn by this place because when you arrive,
the development that they created to meet the demand is, well,
ill-conceived, but then you come into the cave,
and you see these caverns and they are breath taking,
they are so beautiful but more and more people want to come here,
and, of course, places like this can become victims of their own success.
So you have to be careful,
and the development that surrounds them has to be done very sensitively,
in order to not ruin the beauty and integrity of the location itself.
My final stop on our tour of Banat and Crisana is Vadul Crisului,
a small village near Oradea.
This region is famous
for what friend and musical consultant Bogdan Simeon
described as a hybrid string and brass instrument,
the likes of which you cannot find anywhere else in the world.
Good afternoon!
Welcome to Nelu Petru Jolt's house.
This is Nelu, this is his wife and his children.
Here you go!
-Good health! -Good health!
-Health and virtue and music! -Exactly! Health, virtue and music!
Shot!
Yeah, that will put hairs on your chest, definitely. How strong is that?
52 degrees.
52 percent? Well, I'm very glad that I'm not driving after this.
Fantastic sarmale,
slightly different from the ones I've had before, actually.
Is it a regional recipe?
This is the general Transylvanian way to do it,
but also to be found in Crisana, where we are, and in Banat.
Besides minced pork,
you also have lard in it which gives you that extra pork feeling.
-Gives you more of a flavour. -Exactly.
Just in case you needed reminding that pork is Romania's favourite vegetable.
Inside a cabbage roll.
Tell me a bit more about this area, in fact how you found it?
This region is very interesting because it has a very unique sound,
and it has a few people playing a very special instrument,
which is only to be found in this particular region.
So, in your odyssey of musical exploration you came here,
because you heard about it and you wanted to learn?
Of course. I wanted to discover the stroke violin from Bihor.
It was developed by an Austrian Jew in London, in 1901.
It was first described by the English ethno-musicologist Dick Donovan, in 1902.
It gradually became an instrument
that the gypsies played for the Hungarians in this region,
and in the end it became a Romanian peasant instrument.
If that is not multiculturalism I don't know what multiculturalism is.
I know, it's good. But it's also a bit steam punk, isn't it?
Charlie, you can have the violin,
but Nelu's son is going to accompany you with the drum.
-OK, so we have a new band. -Yeah.
There's a new band in town!
He will start the beat and you have to follow him.
-Bravo, that was Rares. -Bravo, Rares.
Most importantly, not to spill the palinca.
Like that. Just like that.
I think we need to...
You know, this is so strong,
this is evaporating off my hand as quickly as it's been poured almost.
-Cheers! -Cheers!
Have a...
No, he's driving, he's not allowed a drink.
I was just checking.
To the hotel, please.
Taxi, come on, let's go, Mr. Jolt.
As the sun sets in Crisana,
we reach the end of our journey through western Romania.
Join us next week as we cross the timeless hills of the Maramures,
and uncover secrets, both wonderful and terrifying,
as we take you down more roads less travelled,
only in Flavours Of Romania.