Transilvania - Part I - Flavours of Romania - watch free online documentaries

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46:48

Oltenia

We begin our journey in Oltenia, once known as Wallachia minor, and one of the least promoted regions in Romania.

2018 • Travel

44:00

Muntenia

This week we are exploring Muntenia, also known as Greater Wallachia, a region once presided over by Vlad the Impaler, whose famous cruelty as a ruler spawned the legends that inspired Bram Stoker's iconic novel, Dracula.

2018 • Travel

44:33

Dobrogea

Dobrogea is a region rich in history and modern ethnic diversity not least because it incorporates Romania's only stretch of coastline. Here the Danube Delta, Europe's largest wetland fans out into the Black Sea.

2018 • Travel

44:13

Moldova

The next leg of my journey takes us north to Moldova, an ancient region covering the Easternmost part of the country. Originally twice its current size, it included northern Bucovina and Basarabia, now the separate and not to confused with the Republic of Moldova.

2018 • Travel

43:18

Transilvania - Part I

This week we are exploring Romania's largest and most iconic region,mistaken by many Americans and others as a country in its own right. In fact Transylvania is a name that most of the western world still associates with Dracula, werewolves and folk legend. But this land beyond the forest defies all preconceptions and remains one of the most culturally important and beautiful parts of Eastern Europe.

2018 • Travel

43:41

Transilvania - Part II

The second leg of the journey through Transilvania. We pick up our journey in the fields just outside the scenic village of Crit.

2018 • Travel

47:06

Banat & Crisana

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.

2018 • Travel

48:10

Maramures

In this our penultimate episode, we reach the remote and beautiful Maramures, a region that has stoically resisted the influence of everyone, from Emperor Trajan, right up to Ceausescu.

2018 • Travel

45:24

Bucovina

Famed for its painted churches, this is a region that's replete with ancient monuments.

2018 • Travel

67:08

East Transylvania

In Transylvania, Charlie's awed by a restored medieval clock tower, samples artisan cheese and donkey milk, and visits a theme park in a salt mine.

2023 • Travel

71:52

Moldavia

Charlie briefly abandons his Harley in the wilds of Moldova, visiting rock climbers and a "hobbit hotel." Then, he samples the stew at a monastery.

2023 • Travel

76:13

Dobrogea

In Dobrogea's fragile Danube Delta ecosystem, Charlie tours by boat and bicycle to visit the region's picturesque beach and fishing villages.

2023 • Travel

77:04

Muntenia

Charlie visits Romania's capital of Bucharest and its massive Palace of Parliament, then learns how to make a clay oven and dines at a unique resort.

2023 • Travel

77:56

Oltenia

Riding across Oltenia, Charlie checks out a "glamping" resort and eco-hotels, enjoys the view from a sky hammock and takes in Craiova's arts scene.

2023 • Travel

64:34

Banat

Charlie meets an architect trying to save the decaying spa at the Baile Herculane resort in Banat, then visits Timi?oara, Romania's "Little Vienna."

2023 • Travel

66:45

Crisana

In Cri?ana, Charlie appreciates the historical monuments of the region and recounts the story of St. Ladislaus and the origins of the Oradea Fortress.

2023 • Travel

87:49

Maramures

As autumn begins, Charlie visits an authority on Maramure? history and culture, feasts on a traditionally-prepared lamb and forages for mushrooms.

2023 • Travel

77:21

Bucovina

After a winter break, Charlie gets back on the road. In Bucovina, he enjoys smoked trout, kayaking and a sojourn at a restored traditional community.

2023 • Travel

124:34

West Transylvania

Charlie wraps up his explorations in western Transylvania, where he descends into an ancient Roman gold mine and drinks a locally made palinca.

2023 • Travel

58:39

Home

The clean minimalism of the Japanese home has been exported around the world, from modernist architecture to lifestyle stores like Muji. But the origins of this ubiquitous aesthetic evolved from a system of spiritual and philosophical values dating back centuries. James visits one of Japan's last surviving traditional wooden villages, and the 17th-century villa of Rinshunkaku, and reveals how the unique spirit of Japanese craftsmen turned joinery into an artform - creating houses without the need for nails, screws or glue. Exploring some of the traditional arts of the Japanese home, James also investigates attitudes to domestic culture in modern Japan, meeting photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki, chronicler of Japan's crowded cities and tiny apartments. Other highlights include a performance by calligrapher and artist Tomoko Kawao and a visit to the hometown of architect Terunobu Fujimori.

S1E3 • The Art of Japanese Life • 2017 • Travel

48:10

Maramures

In this our penultimate episode, we reach the remote and beautiful Maramures, a region that has stoically resisted the influence of everyone, from Emperor Trajan, right up to Ceausescu.

S1E8 • Flavours of Romania • 2018 • Travel

58:32

Cities

He explores how the artistic life of three Japanese cities shaped the country's attitudes to past and present, east and west, and helped forge the very idea of Japan itself. In Kyoto, James reveals how the flowering of classical culture produced many treasures of Japanese art, including The Tale of Genji, considered to be the first novel ever written. In Edo, where Tokyo now stands, a very different art form emerged, in the wood block prints of artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. James meets the artisans still creating these prints today, and discovers original works by a great master, Utamaro, who documented the so-called 'floating world'. In contemporary Tokyo, James discovers the darker side of Japan's urbanisation through the photographs of Daido Moriyama, and meets a founder of the Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata, whose film Grave of the Fireflies helped establish anime as a powerful and serious art form.

S1E2 • The Art of Japanese Life • 2017 • Travel

58:57

Out of Africa

The seasoned traveller explores the South American country, beginning in the north-east - where Europeans first landed and grew rich on the profits from sugar and tobacco plantations run with slave labour. In Sao Luis, Michael finds out about a ceremony based on a 200-year-old tale before heading to the coastal lagoons of the Lencois Maranhenses National Park. Journeying inland, he gets a glimpse of the fast-disappearing world of old-style cowboys known as vaqueiros, has his fortune read by a Candomble priest and learns to drum with the Olodum cultural collective.

S1E1 • Brazil with Michael Palin • 2012 • Travel

46:21

Iran to Cuba

Joanna's adventures in and around Iran, from where she followed the Silk Road through Azerbaijan and Georgia, finally moving on to Venice. Also presents behind the scenes footage from Joanna's travels in Haiti and Cuba.

S1E3 • Joanna Lumley’s Unseen Adventures • 2020 • Travel

46:40

Manhattan Island

Martin arrives in New York to explore Manhattan Island on the final leg of his journey, including its world-famous Empire State Building and nearby Ellis Island.

S1E4 • Martin Clunes: Islands of America • 2019 • Travel

Transilvania - Part I • 2018 • episode "S1E5" • Flavours of Romania

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Flavours of Romania • 2018 - 2023 • 19 episodes •

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