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 half the Carpathian Mountain Range weaving through it,
Romania is the custodian of Europe's greatest surviving mixed forest
and two thirds of its apex predators.
As well as native Romanians,
it is 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.
Here, Europe's largest wetland fans out into the Black Sea,
creating its own vast, priceless and fragile ecosystem.
Inland, Romania is rich with historic cities and villages.
Majestic national parks.
Ruined castles.
Medieval monasteries.
And a legacy that dates back thousands of years.
However, this unique country's natural and built heritage is under threat
from reckless development and a race to modernize,
which often destroys the very things
that could ensure prosperity for generations to come.
In season two of Flavours of Romania,
we will again embark on a journey through Romania's nine historic regions,
discovering magical landscapes,
mouthwatering recipes,
music,
crafts and local traditions.
Meeting the people that make this
one of the warmest and most hospitable countries in the world.
We will also find out how Romania has evolved in the last five years,
and identify some of the challenges it now faces.
And how tourism could still provide one of its best hopes for the future.
In the last section of our Romanian odyssey, we traveled from the banks
of the Danube across Banat, finishing in Timiș County.
We now continue north into Crișana,
possibly the least well known historic region in the country,
and heavily influenced by its neighbor, Hungary,
which forms its western border.
It's a little surprise when you consider the closest geographical capital
for its 1.25 million population is Budapest rather than Bucharest.
This is supremely evident in the architectural style of its towns
of its towns and cities.
Take Arad, about 35 miles north of Timișoara.
An enchanting, colorful city which dates back to the Dacians.
And clusters on either side of the Mureș River,
which forms the natural boundary line between Banat and Crișana.
Arad has preserved many of its important historic monuments.
Like the Palace of Culture.
Displaying Gothic elements taken from Corvin Castle in Hunedoara.
Combined with Romanian Baroque
and Italian Renaissance styles.
Along with the city hall, another grand Habsburg palaces.
Arad has some impressive monuments,
like the collection of faintly familiar looking memorial sculptures
in the Romanian-Hungarian Reconciliation Park.
I'm standing in the Romanian-Hungarian Reconciliation Park,
which was inaugurated in 2004,
and symbolizes the reconciliation between Romania and Hungary,
at least for the most part.
Over there is an Arc de Triomphe,
just like the one in Bucharest or Paris even.
And behind me is a Statue of Liberty.
Yes, we've got one of those, too.
At her feet are four statues entitled The Awakening of Freedom,
The Fighting Spirit, The Spirit of Sacrifice and the Dying Warrior.
Isn't it a sad testament to human nature that the concept of freedom
is that inextricably intertwined
with that of sacrifice, bloodshed, warfare and bereavement?
Leaving the Statue of Liberty and the Arc de Triomphe behind
and heading deeper into Crișana,
it came as little surprise that I soon found myself
driving past the Sydney Opera House.
Once ruled over by Dacian King Burebista,
this contested and previously much larger region
was at various times presided over by the Bulgarian, Hunnic, Hungarian,
Ottoman and Habsburg empires.
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918,
it was divided between Romania and Hungary.
Having experienced so much conflict, Crișana is also littered
with ruined castles and fortifications like Cetatea Șiriei,
which crouches defiantly on a hill overlooking the Aradului plains.
Dating back to 1169,
it was an administrative and defensive outpost for the area.
Until it was destroyed by the Habsburgs in 1784.
Clambering between its shattered walls,
one is overcome by a profound sense of melancholy and awe.
There can be no record of the lives that were lost here
or the pivotal fragments in history that this place has witnessed.
The battle cries.
The screams.
The moments of triumph.
The nights of carousing and celebration.
Reduced to the soft lament of the wind
as it curls and blusters around ruined towers
and howls through gaping cracks in the walls.
Abandoning the castle to its lonely and decaying vigil,
we continue northwest towards the village of Ginta
and our stop for the night, Conacu Iancu,
an eco lodge that claims to offer
a fascinating fusion of rustic charm and cutting edge technology.
I'm here to find out just how smart a traditional guest house can really be.
- Hi! - Hey!
- Welcome to our house! Come in. - Thank you very much!
It's been an adventure finding you.
- My wife. - Charlie.
- Nice to meet you. - And, of course, Jackie and Tasha.
Oh, nice.
- How beautiful! - Thank you. Come in the back, please.
It's very unexpected in this maze of rustic backstreets, you know?
I'm loving the house.
But what's so smart about it?
Well, I can show you a few interesting things.
I'm seeing on the wall there something that looks like...
I don't know if it's a windmill or a clock. How does that work?
Actually, that's a wind wheel.
It has a hologram. And when I turn it on...
Yeah, you can find recipes that you can cook here in this terrace.
And I don't know if you can see this from the camera,
it does feel like it's coming out at you like a 3D cinema image.
To the untrained eye, the smart aspect of this house is a bit elusive.
So show me some of the features I'm trying to see.
I feel like I'm stepping into kind of the combination of a grandma's house
and James Bond villain lair.
Is this a well?
Yeah. A see through well.
- Cool. - Very.
- So you know where your water comes from? - Indeed.
And right to the ciubăr.
So was there a lot of this stuff here when you bought the house?
Actually, for the past few years, we've been collecting from our neighbors,
from our parents, from everybody.
Everybody is calling us.
If they want to clean their attic, they just call us, you know.
- This is good. - We have something for you.
These crazy people up the road, with old stuff they're throwing away.
And I want to show you how we're bringing them to life.
A screen in the table... That's unusual.
Well, actually, this is a project of mine.
It contains a 400 years old ash wood.
And which I integrated a smart table, a wireless charger and a...
Wow. What is this?
- What do you think it is? - It's a bit cold...
Is it a little bit cold?
Yeah. That's a hint, isn't it?
No problem, we'll manage it. Yeah.
Natural fire in your table.
You're waking up in the morning. Sorry. You're checking your email.
- Yeah. - Perfect coffee near it.
Warm yourself on the floor. The idea behind the whole house...
How did it all start?
I think it was that I wanted to inspire young people to move in the countryside
in other conditions that we all know, right?
So with all the amenities and technology that they'd be used to in the city.
Yeah, exactly.
So this is a smart mirror which you can use as a laptop.
Actually you can hear the news while you're in the shower
or while you're shaving.
It actually turns into a television if you want it to.
If you want it, yeah. And the old objects, like this old loom,
you can scan them through here, just like this.
You put your phone here.
See? And it shows you how it was made.
How it was made and what it is.
Fabulous. So you can kind of explore the house...
A learning lesson.
You can explore the house by phone.
Yeah, exactly.
And you've got a camera option here. You can take a photo while you're shaving.
- Should we take a photo? - Let's have a selfie!
That's hilarious.
I get the mirror.
But... and this is a big but.
What's with the under-arse lighting?
Actually this is ultraviolet disinfection.
So it sanitizes the loo.
- The loo. And you. - And you.
- Yeah.
That's very important. Good.
That's useful to know.
Moving very swiftly on.
Yes, please.
If we rewind, how did this all start? How did you even come to be here?
Well, actually, I was a city boy.
Yeah? I was working in marketing in Oradea,
and I was wearing a suit all day,
and meeting my clients, and I just wanted to...
- To get away, right? - To get away, yeah.
To get away and to change the quality of my life.
Do you think that's the future for the villages in Romania?
Because obviously now we're seeing more and more villages emptying of young people
and kids and everyone's going away and it's leaving just the old people.
And then they die and the house gets vacant and falls down.
This may be an inspiration to bring people back to the countryside.
Yes, I really think that's going to change in the years to come.
Now, I know you've got a very high tech kitchen.
I know, and I'll tell you what we're going to do with that.
I'm going to cook you guy an English breakfast tomorrow.
That is my benchmark for testing a kitchen,
so we can explore the capabilities in the morning.
Meantime, I did notice you had a bottle of Palinka out there.
- Oh, yeah. - May we?
- Shall we? - Shall we?
Please.
- Cheers! - Cheers!
To your health! God bless!
Thank you very much. How do you like this Palinka?
- It's very fine. - Actually, it's made by my father.
- Your dad made this? - Yeah.
For her wedding.
Presumably with you?
For her wedding, right? It takes two to tango.
Her wedding... Our wedding took place like one month ago.
You were married a month ago?
Guys, are you only just back from your honeymoon?
And this palinka is 30 years old.
- This was laid down when you were born? - Yeah. Exactly.
I feel very privileged and honored. Thank you so much.
- And congratulations! - Thank you so much! Cheers!
Cheers!
Very often when you go down for breakfast,
you find a bit of bread from the local supermarket.
The one that's dry and resembles cardboard.
If you put it in a toaster, if you're lucky to have a toaster,
you get a piece of cheese, you get a hard boiled egg,
which is also cold and some processed ham.
And yet in your village and your local town, there's probably a butcher
that has gorgeous bacon.
We have porcini because it's that time of year.
I've taken these from the forest.
You leave the base in the soil, which gives the spores a chance to regenerate.
That's important.
And eggs laid next door.
If they've got a bit of poo on them, they're more likely to be fresh.
Because if you clean an egg, then you take away the protective layer
and they go off twice as fast.
I've got butter, which is often forgotten as well.
So we have some local unt
and I've got some garlic to fry these mushrooms with the butter.
And then here we've got English baked beans.
It doesn't cost much money to have these ingredients.
Most Western travelers will pay an extra five EUR
for the privilege of having a good breakfast.
After all, this is the last thing you experience
when you're checking out of a hotel.
It's the final memory, so why not spend a bit of extra money
and give tourists a really nice meal before they go?
Now, breakfast is all about timing,
so to help me Lorin is going to do the bread bit.
- Is that okay? - Yeah.
Let's check the bread.
- Which button? This one? - Yeah.
We have a video camera, folks, in the oven.
And you can access this from different points around the house.
So if you're presumably in the shower or something,
you can just look at the mirror and see if the bread is ready.
Bacon should be semi crispy like this.
So you've got texture.
Now it's time for the eggs. You can fry them, but it's not as healthy.
So I poach them.
And if they're fresh, it should be quite easy,
because they keep their form in the water.
So we'll just drop that in.
Look at that. That's a sign of a super fresh egg
where the whites, the albumin accrues to the yolk
and it stays almost in that oval shape when you drop it into the hot water.
For me, cooking an English breakfast, whatever ingredients you choose,
because you can also have sausages, you can use field mushrooms,
you can have black pudding if that's your thing.
The Scottish really often use black pudding,
but whatever you assemble, it's like conducting an orchestra.
All the component parts have to finish at the same time.
So the toast isn't cold, the bacon isn't cold,
the beans are hot, the eggs aren't overcooked.
So... toast.
Bacon.
Porcini.
And baked beans.
A pinch of pepper.
Et voilà! Just have to do this another three times.
- Ladies and gentlemen. - Wow!
There you go. Here.
- And enjoy! - Thank you very much!
Start cause it's gonna get cold.
I'll just get mine. Okay?
Thank you!
It's always an adventure cooking in someone else's kitchen,
but I think it worked out.
We do have one vital ingredient that is coming.
The kettle is on.
You need black tea with an English breakfast.
Really simple.
Proper Earl Grey tea with real oil of bergamot.
So we just need some milk.
- Milk? - Milk.
I think we ran out of milk. Sorry.
We might have a plan B.
Actually, make that a plan G.
- A plan G? - Yeah. I double dare you.
- Yeah. Okay. - Of that.
- Are you kidding me? - I kid you not.
- Okay. - Let's do this.
- I accept the challenge. - Challenge extended.
All right, let's get around here.
No, stay.
Right. That's one. Who wants some milk with their tea?
I do. Hit me.
- Alright. - Hit me.
Come on.
It's not as easy as it looks actually.
There we go. That's another one.
Quick, before they run out of corn. Thank you very much.
How am I going to do this if you keep moving?
Don't.
Managed it.
Cheers!
- Cheers! - Fresh goat's milk.
An hour's drive from Ginta brings us to the famous spa town of Băile Felix,
close to Oradea.
Named after a monk called Felix Helcher,
who organized the first thermal treatments here in the early 18th century.
The nationality of the town has been passed back and forth like a hot potato.
In 1920, it became part of Romania.
In 1940, it was given back to Hungary,
becoming part of Romania again after World War II.
Today, it is full of modern spa hotels
and retains little of its original character.
But this does nothing to dissuade the hordes of tourists that come here
that come here for its healing waters, sapropelic mud and associated treatments.
The popularity of what is Romania's largest geothermal resort
has led to some unfortunate consequences
for the local ecosystem, particularly one small nature reserve.
Previously a piping hot thermal lake,
which hosted some completely unique species
as I found out from biologist Diana Cupșa.
It's amazing that this lake exists surrounded by all that development.
Yes. Here is the entrance.
And anyone can come in here. Obviously.
Yes, anyone.
- Chuck their rubbish everywhere. - Yes.
Nice. This is...
This is a protected area, isn't it?
- Yes, it is. It is. - Protected from what?
The level of the lake began to drop down in 2014.
Specialists analysed the problem and they found out there are two reasons.
The hotels and all the developments here use the thermal water.
And the second one, the droughts of the area.
I noticed there's a number of charities that were involved with the lake.
- They're not involved anymore, are they? - No, they are not involved.
In 2018, the National Agency for Protected Areas
took all the Natura 2000 sites from the former administrators
who were NGOs, universities, museums and other institutions.
They thought they could do a better job themselves.
Yes, they abandoned this area after the water disappeared from the lake.
There's no point anymore. Let's just give up.
Don't have any species to protect here and...
Because we've killed them all.
Yes, more or less.
I mean, let's be blunt about this.
There was a species of snail here that existed nowhere else on the planet,
and due, at least in part, to development and exploitation of these waters,
that species is now extinct.
It doesn't look like there's much left.
No.
- Is there any water at all? - Any water.
There was the spring in the middle.
- And now there's a bin. - Yes, there's a bin...
Someone's chucked a bin in there. I can't believe this was all a big lake.
Yes. So we are under the level of the former lake now.
- So we'd be under water. - Yes.
How hot was it?
Around 40 degrees.
Not near the spring. Near the spring, hotter.
- But in the lake in general? - The lake, around 40 degrees.
So that's like a super hot bath.
Yes, like a hot bath.
It's amazing hat these species managed to exist in such high temperatures.
Yes. They adapted to very low oxygen content
because the amount of the oxygen depends on the temperature.
Temperature of the water. It's a physical property.
There's a tiny, tiny bit of water.
Yeah, it's flowing in.
Okay. I'm going to check.
- Let's see. - Let's try.
Nope. Cold.
It's cold. No thermal water here at all.
It's completely gone.
And this...
This is down to us, to people, as much as it is down to climate change and drought.
And it's terribly sad that unique species
that only existed in this tiny hectare of land, only place on the planet,
have now gone forever because of greed,
overuse of resources,
and zero amounts of regulation. Really.
This is depressing. People should see this.
I think it's important that you guys see this. That everyone sees this.
Because, you know, Romania has got a lot of very precious resources.
I mean, it's the most biodiverse country in Europe, isn't it?
It is. I know.
But not for long at this rate.
We hope we will keep some of the biodiversity.
But it does depend on management.
This is not a good sign.
It's not a good sign. But we hope we will manage to raise awareness
of people that it is important.
We can't live without biodiversity.
With the light fading once more,
it was time to find somewhere to stop for the night.
Rather than one of Băile Felix's many four star hotels,
I've opted for an alternative style of accommodation
which balances economy of scale
with bucket loads of eccentricity and charm.
- Nathan. - Yeah. Hello, Charlie.
- Loving the design. - Yeah.
- How would you describe this? - Well, it's a baroque style building.
Baroque style. And actually, I love baroque music.
Yeah, I heard that you were a musician. You play in an orchestra?
Yeah, I play in Oradea State Philharmonic.
- Cello? - Yeah. Cello.
So may we potentially get a rendition before I leave?
Tonight I'll have a gig. I have a concert tonight.
So how about a little Bach for breakfast?
- Yeah, maybe. - Yeah.
- That sounds like fun. - Definitely.
Good. Thank you very much. Let me get the key.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah. So you have rooms two and three.
- Rooms two and three. Thanks very much. - No problem. Thank you!
I have not been in a room with so much gold
since I visited the Taj Mahal.
This is hilariously opulent.
I love it. I love it.
It's kind of very kitsch, but it's fun in a kitsch way.
I think I'm going to sleep like a king tonight.
Nathan. Bravo!
- Thank you. - Maestro.
- That was intense. - Yeah, thanks.
And it's interesting because you think it's going to finish and then it doesn't.
And Bach loved that, didn't he?
Loved those false endings.
What's the word for that in musical terms?
- Semi cadenza. - Semi cadenza?
- False ending. - Yeah, false ending.
So you think it's finished and then it goes again.
It's a bit like the actors of the day when they were doing Shakespeare.
They just reveled in the death scene.
So they'd be like "Oh!", and then I'm still alive.
And then, oh, and then they'd wriggle around some more
and just really eke it out for the performance.
And you can see that showmanship in the music as well.
Yes. That is Bach.
Yeah. And it's fitting for the setting.
From Băile Felix,
it's just half an hour to Oradea, the capital of Crișana,
and famed for its stunning architecture.
Situated on the banks of the river Crișul Repede,
Oradea dates back to the start of the 12th century.
For an impressive visual depiction of its origin,
I've come to the imposing Baroque palace,
also known as the Roman Catholic Episcopal Palace of Oradea.
These murals depict scenes from the life of Saint Ladislaus,
a Hungarian king in the 11th century and the founder of Oradea.
He was hunting in this area and spent the night out in the forest.
He had a dream. When he woke, he decided, I need to build a church right here.
You can see one of the murals.
He's instructing the architects for the construction of the church,
and fortified walls were built surrounding the church.
And later those walls were extended and became the bastion
that we see the remains of to this day.
In 1619, the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen commenced
the construction within the fortress of a unique palace.
With walls that run parallel to the exterior walls of the stronghold
and a tower in each of its five corners.
The construction was carried out
based on the project of Italian architect Giacomo Resti of Verona.
And was finally completed in 1650,
ten years before the palace, and the fortress that surrounded it,
was conquered by the Ottomans.
This is the famous Griffin Room.
When the then prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen,
ruled here in the early 1600s, he commissioned artists
to portray murals that depicted his power and authority.
So they chose Griffins, which are mythical beasts
with the head of an eagle, the body of a lion and the tail of a snake,
which symbolizes foresight and wisdom, strength and cunning.
This pair of creatures here have the whole arrangement in reverse.
So you've actually got the head of a lion, the feet of a bird
and the tail, again of a snake.
What's very interesting is he also wanted to clearly give the impression
that he was a well travelled man.
So the artist depicted an elephant on the wall here.
But if you look closely, the elephant actually has the hooves of a horse.
So they didn't really know what an elephant looked like.
And here we have a cheetah that looks more like a dog.
So this means either the artist
was having a bit of a laugh
at his expense and he didn't pick up on it
or nobody had actually seen these creatures for real
and was just imagining from drawings how they must have looked.
One of the key defensive features of the fortress is the moat
that ran all the way along the foot of the bastion
and provided a defense against the Turks for 46 days,
when 850 people held out against 45,000 Turkish troops
until they found a way to drain off the water, surge across the ground,
climb the walls and take the city, take the fortress.
As a commander in chief wrote at the time,
"Oradea has fallen, so has the heart of Transylvania".
The subsequent period of Ottoman dominance lasted until 1692.
When the Habsburg Imperial Forces recaptured the city
after another long siege.
By then, much of Oradea lay in ruins with only 114 houses still standing.
It was the subsequent rebuild during the 18th century, which gave birth
to many of the iconic landmarks we see today.
Like the Baroque Palace and the State Theater.
The city has done a commendable job
at preserving and restoring its historic buildings.
Walking around its regal squares and thoroughfares,
one feels transported back in time.
Like Timișoara, Oradea has undergone a major facelift in the last ten years,
and this is the result.
You can see why this was voted the prettiest Art Nouveau town in Europe.
This is hardly surprising, however,
because the Hungarian border is only ten kilometres at Borș,
and it's a matter of a few hours drive to get to Vienna and Budapest,
as opposed to a day in the car to travel all the way down to Bucharest.
Oradea's continuing cultural renaissance has also attracted
some pioneers in the field of gastronomy.
And tucked away in the courtyard of the fortress is Corsarul,
one of the best restaurants in Crișana,
featuring French and Italian style cuisine combined with Romanian produce.
Hello. Welcome.
- Thank you very much. Charlie. - Ciprian. Nice to meet you.
Please.
We're in the castle walls, aren't we?
Yes. It was the stalls of horses.
- So it used to be the stables. - The stables, yes.
So I'm looking for something light. Like a tapas. What would you recommend?
I can make a selection if you want of our starters.
And then we will see for the main course.
We'll see, exactly. Maybe starters are enough.
It's a strange feeling being in a Mediterranean restaurant
in a medieval citadel.
And you can see the arches of the stables.
Imagine this filled with horses smelling, well, as stables do
and the sound of clattering hooves.
And now we hear the sound of clinking glasses.
I noticed you have as well as the wood fired pizza oven.
Yes.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have fresh oysters, yes?
Fresh oysters from France, Gillardeau, the best oysters of the world.
We have fresh shrimps with celery, a little bit spicy, good oil,
raw tuna in sashimi way.
Then we have fresh burrata with some Tuscan ham on the side,
of course, some anchovies with some garlic, fresh parsley,
pine nuts and cherry tomatoes.
All our vegetables are from nearby Oradea.
This is... Yes, more than I can ever manage.
But I'll just, if you'll forgive me, pick a little bit.
Yes, of course.
It's quite a wake up call that there are such amazing restaurants now
in far-flung towns like Oradea, which I've never been to.
So for me, this is an education and it's exciting to see
this level of culinary sophistication in Romania.
I don't think so many people in Western Europe truly understand
that many chefs in Romania have come back from Italy,
they've come back from France or Germany,
and they've brought their skills, their traditions and recipes with them,
many of whom have studied and trained in some of the best restaurants
in those countries.
Oh, my God.
That is so good.
I feel guilty.
I know that these oysters have travelled a long way,
and I'm an advocate of locally sourced food.
But now and again...
I can't get to France, but I feel like France has just come to me.
Guilty as charged.
I'm just going to make the most of it. Cheers.
The pristine condition of Oradea's old town may or may not owe something
to the fact it's also a historically important centre for the Freemasons.
In 1902, architects from the Masonic Lodge in Budapest built an Art Nouveau temple
here in the city.
Although it closed in 1920 and was later repurposed,
it has now been restored and reopened as a museum to Freemasonry
and offers an intriguing view into the workings of this clandestine order.
I'm loving the Egyptian heads.
- The sphinxes. - Yes, they are beautiful. Interesting.
There's so much symbolism in Masonic lore, isn't there?
Absolutely.
I can't help noticing this depiction looks very like Jesus.
It's not Jesus.
In fact, the Masons consider this picture representing the great architect
of the universe, because they are not talking about God.
They are not identifying God with a name.
In Masonry, in Freemasonry, we can identify a lot of religions.
- So it encompasses other religions. - Absolutely.
Whilst being one in its own right.
Would you say it was a religion?
In Freemasonry, nobody is talking about religion.
Religion and politics are not allowed to be discussed inside the lodge.
Is that because originally Masons worked for...
all sorts of of of nationalities and belief systems?
If you go back to the Egyptians or the Jews
or the Christians or the Muslims, you know, they were working as masons,
as stone masons in lots of different geopolitical environments.
I think your approach may be correct,
but the Freemasonry is above all these kind of elements.
It's above the politics, as I said.
So you could be a Muslim, you could be a Christian and still be a freemason.
Absolutely. With no problem. Because inside the lodge, never,
anybody will talk about religion, politics...
always the great disputes, wars, problems
starts from religion and politics.
Isn't that interesting? That's how I was brought up. My my father always believed
there were three things you didn't talk about at dinner.
One was politics, the other one was religion. And the third one was sex.
- Yes, the same problem. - Avoid animated discussions.
- For sure your father... - Was onto something.
Probably undercover mason.
It's funny that you're at one level saying that it's above religion
and it doesn't incorporate religion because you leave that all outside.
And yet it's still described as a temple, which is a religious building.
Not necessarily, because when you're talking about the temple,
you have to identify this temple with your personal temple.
Every person has a temple.
That's why when we are going to enter the temple,
we can see in this lobby the footprints.
The footprints disappear.
Yeah.
That's fascinating.
So I guess that symbolizes the shedding of the weight of your troubles.
Absolutely. All your worries must stay outside the temple.
Because in the temple, you must enter clean and humble.
Very good.
So the signs of the zodiac and the all seeing eye.
- Which is... - The God is here.
God is watching us. So wherever you are...
- The God. - Sees you.
- But the God is with us. - Yeah.
It's a good approach.
Also, you can see the sun and the moon. It's the duality.
So night and day, male and female.
- All the yin and yang. - Exactly.
I'm presuming that this goes right back to the time when the Freemasons
were stone masons and builders and architects.
At the beginning yes, they were all builders.
But during the time the operative aspects of the Freemasonry disappeared,
and inside the Brotherhood
were accepted other persons, other trades.
But the tools, the compass and the square
are builder's tools.
So they, I suppose, have acquired a symbolic...
status since then, in the intervening years.
Yes, but you have to use all these tools on you because the square
is to have a measure in everything you are doing,
no matter how much flavours of Romania you are eating.
So to be measured. So it's restraint.
Exactly. And to be right.
Of course, literally to be correct.
To be correct, honest and respectful.
- And virtuous. - Yeah, absolutely.
Isn't that fascinating how two simple implements
that were originally used for construction
have now become symbols for a spiritual way of looking at the world?
Let me show you something else. Look at this rock.
I was wondering if that was there deliberately.
- Everything is happening with a reason. - In this room.
Absolutely. It's not perfect because it's the human being.
Always you have to work on you using these tools.
- You have to... - Shape yourself, to own yourself.
Shine yourself too.
Again, another metaphor that only a builder would use.
Tell me about these pillars and the checkered board below it.
Yes, the three pillars.
As you can see, the capitals are different.
We can identify three styles, Ionic, Doric and Corinthian,
which means... one is the wisdom.
- The second is the, you know... - Strength.
And the third one is beauty.
Beauty.
Because all must be...
Striving for strength, beauty and wisdom.
- Or to be able to find out inside of you... - All these characteristics.
Absolutely.
Moving on from Oradea, we're riding an hour northeast,
to the community of Sălacea in Bihor County,
which rejoices in the claim of having the most cellars of any village anywhere,
according to the World Record Academy.
Due to the area's propensity for flooding and high levels of groundwater,
the local people constructed over a thousand cellars on the adjacent hills
to be able to store their produce in cool temperatures throughout the year.
The result is a stunning collection of hobbit like streets.
There are doors leading back into the hillside.
- Hi! - Hello!
Now let's see.
There, and in the back.
We can find even longer ones.
Longer, shorter.
- This is amazing. - We put potatoes here...
We store them until spring here.
Temperature stays the same during winter and summer.
And the onion?
Potatoes... Perfect.
- It has no gas. - You have for sale?
I'm thinking about it. Maybe.
It's amazing that these...
These cellars, some of them are abandoned.
It's really sad. I would...
I would happily occupy one and make wine, but it's quite a long way to travel
from Brașov to get up here.
We could sell that one too.
This is one of the most remarkable things I've seen so far on my travels.
It's the right time of year to be here.
They've started the process. They've harvested the grapes.
And what's happening now is they're creating must,
which then ferments and turns into wine.
So this is the first stage of the process.
Thanks!
Now you can taste the yeast in this. It's...
It's beautiful.
So the crushed grapes sit here in the barrel.
And go through this wine press like this.
Smashes them up.
He then simply siphons off the juice with this hosepipe
into the bucket, and then they start to ferment.
As with most aspects of country life, nothing is wasted.
Even the leftover residue from the wine is reused
to create something a little stronger.
The pure grape juice has been taken off, and that's going to ferment into wine.
And then the rough skins and the remaining liquid
will be fermented with yeast and that will create țuică.
So the harvest is bountiful.
You get țuică for the cold winter nights and you get...
You get wine as well to drink next year.
Veering east from Bihor,
we drive towards Sălaj County and my next destination.
This region of Romania is little known by the outside world
and consists of gentle hills and downs with wide open valleys and floodplains,
a landscape ideal for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables.
And once inhabited by dragons, according to the legends of old.
On the way, I passed through the town of Șimleu Silvaniei,
where I happened to catch the tail end of a medieval festival
in the ruins of Bathory Castle.
Which featured the local equivalent of polo.
Horse rugby.
I'm not sure of the rules, but the two baskets are obviously the goals,
and they've got to wrestle the bundled sheepskin
from the opposing team and chuck it in their opponent's basket.
Like many other parts of the country, especially those close to the border,
Sălaj has a mixed ethnic population.
Among the nationalities that live here is a sizable number of Slovakians
who came to work as foresters in the second part of the 19th century
and set up communities like Făgetu in the hills above Sălaj.
I have an appointment in the nearby village of Plopiș
with a woman who has built an eco village
featuring Romanian, Slovakian and Hungarian style traditional houses.
- Good morning. - Good day.
Thank you. Charlie. Nice to meet you. So you created all of this yourself?
Not by myself. My family has helped me.
Because I was a child, I was only 12 years old,
when my grandma left this world,
and out of love and respect,
we decided to keep her house,
a very old house, built in 1880 by my great-great-grandfather,
an emblematic house for Valea Barcăului,
in which I tried to keep
all the objects that reminded me of my grandma.
From the bed with pillows to plates, traditional clothing,
everything they had in their home.
The idea wasn't to create a museum.
We made it out of love and respect for my grandma.
I wanted to express these feelings by keeping her house.
My parents let me do it, considering it a summer hobby,
but then, when they saw me continuing, they decided to support me.
Thus we decided to bring here, in our backyard,
as you can see on this village street,
other houses emblematic for our area.
A mayor's house, as you can see to my right,
a traditional Slovak house,
from the close village of Făgetu,
and up here, we will have a guest house
for people who want to spend a few days in the countryside,
to feel the tranquility and the energy of countryside life.
Of course.
So, these houses were derelict.
You rescued them, didn't you?
The majority of them were uninhabited, they were getting demolished
and they were replaced by a new construction.
Of course, it would have been better to keep them in situ,
so that we didn't have to dismantle and bring them here.
But rather than leave them in the past,
because we couldn't keep them and maintain them there,
we bought them, we brought workers to help us dismantle them.
They were built with wood beams, on a stone foundation, glued with clay.
It was a lot of work, it's not easy.
The process would last two or three years for a house, with all stages.
Some people would do the carpentry, others the clay part,
others the roof, if it were made out of reed or other materials.
It's not necessarily something made for profit.
We did that from our hearts, out of respect for our predecessors,
our traditions and the area where I was born, I grew up
and where I still am today.
I noticed the design of the Slovak house is quite different.
You've got thatch on the roof, for instance.
Yes, initially, it had a straw roof,
but we couldn't find the right thatchers at that time, in 2015,
who could do the straw roof, which was called with jupi.
It was a roofing technique in our area.
Slovaks settled in our area as woodcutters.
The house was initially built in 1860, and it had only one room.
As they were clearing the land, they would dismantle their house
and move it where they were working.
And we arranged it the same way, with their objects
and their things from Făgetu village.
I know you're really busy,
but I've heard there's a Slovak chef waiting for me somewhere here.
Can you point me in the right direction?
- There? - Yes.
Thank you very much. I shall go and investigate. Thanks a lot!
I can't believe what an amazing job
Ligia and her family have done with these houses.
I found one like this up in Toplița or near Toplița with this blue.
Which is a color traditionally used because it keeps flies away.
But sadly, we couldn't save it. And it got demolished. It got bulldozed.
And many, many more houses like this are lost every single year.
People don't want them, but this is what they look like when they're pristine.
Absolutely beautiful.
- Hello! - Hello!
It's so warm in here. Lovely.
- Charlie. - Anca.
- Nice to meet you. - You too.
What are we making today?
We are making potato pancakes, podlesniki in Slovak.
We need potatoes, flour, eggs, salt, pepper and oil.
Because the soil is poor,
we mostly grow potatoes, oats and rye.
This is why most of our recipes contain potatoes.
Do you all have a lot of contact still with the Slovak Republic?
Yes, we still keep in touch.
Recently, we had the Slovak Festival in Oradea.
A traditional band came from Slovakia,
Kollárovci.
And do the do the children learn to speak Slovak?
Yes. The primary school classes are held in Slovak.
We are approximately 700 Slovaks
in Făgetu
who speak Slovak and hold on to traditions and religion.
After we grate the potatoes, we put in an egg,
flour,
salt and pepper,
and then we mix the ingredients.
Now we fry the pancake.
It smells very nice and it's very delicious.
How do Slovak traditions differ from Romanian ones?
During holidays, we have the Viflaim and Dracul traditions.
On Easter Monday, boys throw water on girls,
like in the Bible.
The story is that, when Jesus Christ has risen,
soldiers, in order to stop women from sharing the news,
chased them with water.
I guess this makes a lot of sense because when Christ was risen,
they didn't want the soldiers to come and find him and maybe crucify him again.
So the women were told, "Just don't tell anybody".
For some reason they thought that women talk and gossip a bit more than men.
That's not my opinion.
That is just the observation.
So the men the day after Easter chucked water on the women.
It wasn't, of course, so the boys can see the women in wet clothes.
They're ready now.
We can prepare mujdei.
We have the crushed garlic here.
We put sour cream on them.
With cream, salt and pepper.
And that's our garnish.
May I? Yes?
A little bit on there.
Like that.
- That's it? - More. As much as you like.
Very tangy. Lots of garlic, as I said, but works beautifully.
The crispy potato held together with the egg.
It's gorgeous. I think that is the nicest version of fried potatoes I've ever had.
It beats chips. It beats French fries.
- Much tastier. - Thank you.
Around 100 years after the birth of Jesus, the region comprising Sălaj County
had become the northwest perimeter for the Roman occupation of Dacia.
The tribes beyond remaining unconquered.
Not surprisingly, this area required constant supervision and reinforcements
with numerous legions stationed here to protect the border.
Most important military center was the Roman fort of Porolissum,
just outside the modern city of Sălaj,
which grew to become the administrative hub for the province.
I've come here to meet the president of Sălaj County, Dinu Sălăjanu,
for a quick tour of what is one of the largest and best preserved
archaeological sites in Romania.
- Welcome, Charlie! - Thank you very much!
Welcome to the land of Silvania, Sălaj County, at the Porolissum castrum.
- This is all Roman. - Yeah.
The northernmost point of Dacia Porolissensis, of Roman Dacia.
Here we have the most important castrum from this northern area.
Starting from here, you could find the Free Dacians.
It's much larger than I expected.
It's very beautiful. Here we have the Pretoria Gate.
Through this gate passed the only emperor who visited Porolissum, Caracalla,
who went to Vienna and Budapest,
then he came here too, because we found some writings,
and he was invited and expected to come
to this very important castrum for the Northern Roman Empire.
Presumably a lot of this has been rebuilt.
They started rebuilding this gate in the 80s.
We have the original Roman road here. The stones are 2000 years old.
The road started here, in Porolissum,
and it ended in Rome.
- So this is the Roman... - Yes, these are the stones.
Based on recent studies, the gate looked a bit different,
so we want to rebuilt it with European funding.
It has been rebuilt in the 80s,
we want to do it like the original one, the way we believe it was.
There were a lot of discoveries made in Dacia.
We could see who the architects who built this castrum were,
and we will rebuild it with the help of specialists.
It's remarkable to think that this road went all the way to Drobeta-Turnu Severin.
And then straight on to Rome.
It's even more impressive that we found out
it has been built in only two years.
When they were building the highway, they made a discovery.
They discovered a junction in Sutor village, Sălaj County,
where there was another castrum.
They discovered the junction in Bologa
and this road right here, at the Porolissum castrum.
And we can see exactly how this road was made.
Impressive! The technology, the engineers and the durability.
- Even today we can step on a Roman road. - And in very short space of time.
Yes, very short time.
Today we build highways in ten years,
but they made a road to Rome in two years.
The way to Rome in a matter of a couple of years.
It means they had engineers, technology and very good specialists.
It is said to be the most beautiful Roman castrum in Europe for its position,
because, if you noticed, we can see from up here
the Maramureș County, Gutin Mountains, and the Vlădeasa summit.
When it's sunny and clear, we can also see the Turda Gorge.
You know, everywhere I go is beautiful in this country.
And it's still amazes me that so many people abroad
have these preconceptions about Romania. How do we address those?
How do we promote this country in a way that makes people think,
"Wow, I've got to come here"?
We, the Romanian people, have to stop victimizing ourselves.
We have to start from the actual reality.
If we keep portraying abroad the image of a victim,
this is how people will see us.
We have to be more united
and to promote the real values that we have.
We are not that united yet and we don't promote the same idea.
Each area is important,
but the most important thing is that we have a beautiful country.
We are Europeans, we have the same values as the others,
but we also have our own personal values.
We need to hold on to our identity.
We were born with it and we have hold on to it.
I hate to hear that we are all lazy people or thieves.
No. My parents and my grandparents worked very hard,
from morning until night, built a family, built a home,
had a culture, loved each other,
they were Christian...
We need to refresh these values and keep moving forward.
And so we reached the end of our travels across Crișana.
Join us next time when we head east
into the wild and wooded region of the Maramureș,
where I will be learning some important lessons in symbolism,
galloping across the hills,
exploring painted wooden churches,
pristine forests
and "happy" cemeteries.
And celebrating another successful harvest,
with the ritualistic burial of a slow roasted lamb.
All this and much more in Flavours of Romania.