Flavours of Romania – Muntenia

#romania #flavour #muntenia

Romania is a land of a thousand Faces the crossing point between the ocient and the Orient and a Melting Pot of different cultures it is also a country unlike any other in Europe with over half the Caravan mountain range weaving through it Romania is the custodian of Europe’s greatest surviving mixed forests and two3 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 danu however Romania’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 welcome back to our two wheel tour around Romania’s nine great historic

Regions in this the fourth episode we’ve reached montania and commence our journey starting in the capital city of Bucharest just 37 miles from the Bulgarian border it is the most densely populated city in Southeastern Europe and until 1989 the seat of power for the Communist Party led by the late Nikolai

Chesu I’m on my way to visit his lavish headquarters ironically dubbed the people’s Palace still the heaviest and second largest building in the world weighing in at a whopping 4.10 million tons it’s now the house of parliament for the Romanian government and is jointly occupied by the Senate and the

Deputy chamber we’ve been granted exclusive access to see what usually goes on behind closed doors with the help of my guide franchis who was waiting for me in one of its cavernous lobbies Francis hello Charlie hey to see you thanks to see you thanks for coming my pleasure this really defies the

Descriptions it is pretty impressive this is more than 4 million tons the weight of the palace and also the lights as you can see there are 2,800 chandeliers in the building chesco must have been very desperate to make a big impression yeah with the amount of Labor

And the costs and materials involved in building this he wanted the big building obvious this be honest you know when they build this Palace they destroyed 1/5th of the Bucharest so nobody builds a building like this just to show humility let me show you the Chamber of

The Senate this is where the action happens make legislators they make the laws over here they have the atomic Precision clock what was this originally intended as this uh still for the big meetings of the Communist party before what is very strange seeing this is is that the Communist Regime is all about

Being down to earth about not having Grand places like the Imperial Spar B hulani they were painting over the marble because it was it was rolent of the Bourgeois and yet here we have a building that is more opulent more extravagant cu the purpose uh original

Purpose was to show off the power and the might and they realized that they couldn’t impress with the Communist Department buildings I think it nicely demonstrates the fact that no political regime ever truly succeeds you know look at that this corrupt this is this is communism yeah yeah and well there are

People the everybody’s equal but some people are less equal than others this was the balcony where he was supposed to have his speech but he never did didn’t he died before it was finished cu the revolution came beforehand and and yet even though chesco was dead and this was

Costing billions they had to carry on yeah cuz they built more than 60% just in the 80s because they started in 1984 and eventually finished in 97 um all the this was the whole view of new common City according to Nikolai J’s view Michael Jackson was here on this balcony

In 96 we have the picture and everything but he didn’t dangle a baby over the side of it no that was in Germany and I think that was that’s somebody else’s tour so he was the first one the first VIP 75,000 people at his concert in the big

Stadium this is where everybody was supposed to be received before by chisu and his wife and they were supposed to walk on different stairs the same time make sure that they would uh impress everybody and after that take the people in the big reception halls in this way

Over here this is the biggest room it’s um 2,200 square met I read somewhere that he actually wanted to have a dome that could be removed um on the palace so you could get a helicopter in yeah they had some ideas but they abandoned it they never did it and the car parks

Are vast I once saw I won’t mention which program where cars were driven through the car park yes uh high speed and I remember thinking I always wanted to do that according to some sources the palace is like a gigantic Iceberg far bigger underground than it is above with numerous unspecified

Levels delving deep beneath the city however I was happy just to visit one of them for the chance to travel in the treadmarks of Top Gear and take a quick ride through the cornicopia of concrete Corridors Bucharest is a vast City divided into districts and packed with museums malls art galleries nightclubs parks and ritzy new restaurants I’m stopping for lunch at one of the most exclusive to see how Romanian Cuisine is evolving in this competitive environment Welcome to our modest uh Little Restaurant modest it’s palatial

It was a lot of work um and it went a lot against the times when we did this but we said we want to put something on the map which is really about the past brought in the present and made to last for many many hundreds of years with

Yeah well I mean a lot of old buildings in Bucharest are in a terrible State aren’t they and and it’s a sort of ongoing problem that many are facing collapse I don’t think the main challenge is that people didn’t see value in them what can I do with such a

House you know how many restaurants can you do what kind of restaurants so in a way that’s what we tried to show and it was a huge gamble that we could do such a restaurant in such a place make it work create a viable business model and

A product that people really love and want to come back to so open plan kitchen which is almost mandatory these days uh well yes not easy to do but uh this is this is the soul of our of our restaurant um and cathalene is the one that’s conducting this particular Soul

So kathen hi Charlie hey nice to meet you nice to meet you so what’s the what’s the style I mean in terms of the creative process how does that work for you for example coming some ideas I put on the paper I speak with my uh SF serin

And it’s easy to put on the paper a menu but when you start the practice it’s really hard to find a good flavor trial and error yes for example we have uh some and we try it for three months that must be kind of fun though at the same

Time right I mean sometime it’s fun the experimenting is always quite enjoyable when you get it right it’s satisfaction sometime it’s little bit too expensive to practice every day yes because the the food you know yeah I know ingredients not cheap yeah but we are lucky also because our farmer is uh here

In the kitchen and all the vegetables we buy from from him Welcome to our small little room it’s it’s cozy it is cozy it is uh and uh we also try to have a story here as well with the blue yeah I’m liking the blue at the moment Romania doesn’t have a reputation

Internationally as a gastro destination do you think do you think there’s any hope of that changing in the near future you know having Michelin reviews of restaurants here thank you when Michelin decides to come to Romania then they’ll be able to evaluate because at the moment they’re not present in Romania so

We as far as the world is concerned we can have 5,000 three star mishan restaurants but no one will know no one will know so are people surprised when confronted with plates like this and they’ve come here for the first time especially Romanians who aren’t necessarily entirely used to this this

Degree of sophistication they are they’re kind of you know taken back because they do not imagine when they taste they realize where where we are Bucharest Romania Eastern Europe the flavors they’re very from here but the look doesn’t doesn’t fit with the what their story because they’re not used to

People in in this field to be so careful when it comes to details to work so much you know Romanian food better than most people we believe and in such a place you eat with your eyes you eat with your all your senses you don’t just eat with

Your tongue your eyes are saying I’m going to eat Leaf I’m going to eat Leaf as it approaches your your tongue but then you’re like this is beetroot I mean and it’s crispy it’s uh transcending into art and that’s that’s what makes it so interesting and also confusing for

People which we love I always make this comparison when people ask me what is what is exactly what is it that you’re doing and I said listen restaurants are like museums most restaurants are like the you know traditional restaurants they’re they’re like the national museum of art there it’s very clear what’s cool

You know the painting with a lot of uh security around it must be good art lots of tourists must be good art we won’t talk you know we will not compete with that we are like the Contemporary Art Museums where you go to a contemporary art museum you look at things you’re

Like what is this supposed to say to me uh a contemporary art museum in a society is about challenging it’s about you know redefining your expectations it’s about saying you thought normal was this but if you look at normal from this particular lens you might find something

Very surprising so this is the purpose of such a restaurant I think to challenge our beliefs and to show that there’s something much more authentic behind the the bigger picture with so much going on every day of the week Bucharest is also becoming a destination in its own right for the

Many International Travelers that come to explore Romania probably its top attraction is the historic Oldtown which largely survived the bombing during the start of the second world war and subsequent Decades of communist neglect today it’s brim full full of bars clubs and eateries which cater to the Discerning and less salubrious

Visitors walking around the old toown you can see why back in 1900 the Bucharest was known as little Paris not just because of the architecture but because of the fashion and the relationship that people living here had with France much of that architecture has now been lost but you can still see

Vestages of it here in the streets in the buildings in the Ambiance what adds to the charm of the old town is the unfinished buildings that haven’t yet been renovated it gives it the same kind of vibe as the ruin bars in Budapest it’s a work in progress

It’s evolving this is how it is it’s tassy around the edges it’s a bit rough it’s a bit ready but it’s loads of fun and if you ever doubted for a moment you were experiencing to little France behind me is the Mulan Rouge just north of Bucharest is an area

Of forest and farmland dissected by the serpentine snag off Lake actually an en larged segment of the alamit river which is now a natural reservation and Riverside Retreat for the rich and famous who have weekend houses away from the hustle and bustle of the Capital here beside its gentle Shores there’s a little island on which stands a small and unassuming church with an enormous claim Below its metal roof painted walls and flagstone floor is the alleged final resting place of the man who inspired Bram Stoker’s Immortal tale of Dracula in episode one we visited the alleged birthplace of Vlad Tes V the Impala and now we come to his alleged final resting place but there is some

Evidence to support his affiliation with this church and this Monastery he built the Dome above us and he built a prison for thieves and high women he also built a bridge across to the island and interestingly he built an escape tunnel why do you need an escape tunnel when you’re dead and buried On the outskirts of Bucharest in the corner of a small field is the workshop of a Craftsman who’s revived an ancient dasan culinary tradition and turned it into a thriving business this is George and he makes portable clay ovens of the type used by Shepherds for thousands of years

They look as if they they might be a bit fragile ew ew This is a bit like when you’re doing the wine Harvest but this is the horse poo Harvest yeah it’s starting to change consistency a bit getting a bit creamier squeezing up between my toes a little bit stinky this is uh

Smelly work how long would you have to do this for and drying time in the sun approximately how long okay okay move yeah that’s it um what’s the reason for this it’s Okay that’s it thank you for chicken for that is the way bread was cooked thousands of years ago isn’t it yes perfect what first gave you the idea to start making these ovens this is something that people could make at home providing they have some clay and a horse Thank you for having us here and thank you for showing me and hopefully now people who see this might be inspired to make one of these ovens themselves or if you don’t want to get your feet dirty you can always give George a call thank super thanks a lot thank you thank you

Leaving the Southlands behind us we drive up into the Caravan Foothills north of Buzo we are here to visit Romania’s most recent environmental Triumph 1,36 km nature reserve and geop park which has just achieved UNESCO World status thanks in part to my old friend toron kirna who showed us around the mud volcanoes in season 1 I’m heading back to his historic kakle or Manor House near

Burka which he and his wife Janda have now opened as a hotel what a change with Mediterranean style accommodation and freshly foraged organic cuisine so we got the pool yeah what’s that is that a bar yes got a bar yes great and how many rooms uh five five rooms yeah

It’s a small location you know because the guest must feel like home and so you know if you have a bigger place then it’s something else and also it’s all about the food isn’t it of course if I know you yeah all of the things you serve when when I spoke to

You last was coming from the garden is that is that that still the case it’s seasonal it’s regional and it’s a with a little bit of twist so what have you prepared in front of us uh you can get the wild garlic so I have made a Pasto

Out of this with uh pinion or pine nuts and um our uh cheese that we are making here the goes so you make the pesto and then you put it in a pan in in a frying pan and you add a little bit of cream to be

Creamier and this is the cooking so it has to stay on the fire 1 minute this is the final touch you know to cramble a little bit the cheese yeah and it will taste Smokey flavor beautiful like this and then you put the pine nuts or the

Walnuts on top of it like this this is the the signature this for spring well it’s very nice to be back thank you for having me it’s our pleasure always toan I also hear congratulations or in order you you were part of the team that’s created this new

Um is it UNESCO geop Park Reserve yes it’s in fact um it’s UNESCO Global geop Park uh called buland or Bui in in in Romanian and it’s part of the UNESCO world worldwide Network and yeah I just um it was a large team and they worked

More than 15 years on this topic so I just helped in the end to promote a bit and um we are really grateful to have that because it’s a big opportunity for buza for sustainable tourism because a geop park means we have geological phenomena we try to promote rural

Tourism um sustainable tourism and um I think that will be a game Cher for this region having reverted to four wheels as advised I’m going in search of one of Romania’s most unusual phenomena situated on a hillside near the village of latar there is an Alpine Meadow where the ground is perpetually on

Fire this eternal flame is caused by gas Pockets that seep from deep underground and ignite on their way to the surface it’s easy to see how people with no knowledge of geology or chemistry might attribute this to the forces of the supernatural in fact when Bram Stoker was researching Romania as the

Location for his book he might have read about these and there’s a scene where Jonathan Harker is been taken by Carriage to Dracula’s castle at night and he looks out of the window and he sees fairy lights Flames Dancing in the Dark there was a local legend that the people

Of the villages here playing the heroes as they usually do captured an inomed a demon under the ground and these Flames are the result of his struggles to get free the area of the geop park also incorporates large deposits of salt which exude from the hillsides and cliffs in several places

Crusting the rocks and fishes in different shades of white tasty just need a bag of french fries and some battered Cod see how the rain has dissolved the salt and created these crystalline structures the local people here take the water from the gorge and use it to preserve their

Pickles for the winter this is very very primeval landscape millions of years old back to the time when this was a salt sea and as the waters receded the deposits of salt were lay down in the earth you can see at the top there we’ve

Got the layers of soil and then as you come down it gets wher and whiter there is in fact the second largest salt cave in the world just below my feet we can’t get into it sadly because it collapsed with the rain but it’s over a kilometer long hopefully that’s something they can

Unearth in the near future and will be another feather in the cap of local tourism perhaps the most mysterious and intriguing feature of the geop park has less to do with geology and more to do with the people who once inhabited this wild region hidden in the mountains around

Colts is Romania’s alternative to Stone h a series of spectacular cave churches HED from remote Cliffs while many believe they were made by religious Hermits in medieval times there are also Scholars who attribute their Origins to the prec Christian era whether or not they were created by the church they have now been

Assimilated by it and have since been periodically occupied by solitary monks and even the occasional nun many of them can only be reached by either a long hike or some technical driving preceded by a shorter one first up is Skittle fundura Skittle meaning church this small oval dwelling is

Camouflaged by the trees and unique in that it was carved from a single Boulder you can see the etchings on the walls and the ceilings it looks as if this rock was literally hollowed out with a fork it’s had many people associated with this it’s had Mystics it’s had

Monks and it’s also had 12 nuns living here according to the stories quite how that Dynamic worked I’m not so sure they must have all just sort of slept like sausages in here at night unless of course they had a wooden Church adjacent to the Rock but any

Trace of that has long since vanished in the forest and I guess this hole here would have served as the chimney you would have put your fire here to stay warm in the winter time be you it’s not five star but you could survive to reach the next two required a drive

Around the mountain and back up another treacherous dirt road to a grassy meadow high in the Hills followed by another hike this is the Church of San Joseph and it’s the oldest of the cave churches probably dating back to the Bronze Age it might have been a dwelling or it

Could have been a temple but you get an idea of what it looked like by the holes in the Rock the square ones probably would have taken beams that stretched out here with supports and correspondingly the roof would have extended out to create a pavilion none of these root networks would have been

Here it would have been completely flat and maybe the forest wouldn’t have existed either so you would have had a clear view right across Ross the valley they always look much smaller on the inside but you have everything you need here if I’m not mistaken is uh plaster

But they plasted over the Rock and this would have probably been put here so they can paint on it so the monks can create murals and Beautiful depictions from The Testament it would have been very colorful but also gets dirty very fast because you can see here all the s

That’s still coating the walls from when they’d light the fire and You’ need to light the fire a lot especially if you’re living here all year round back down the trail on a jutting peninsula of stone is the cave of dionis toao named after a monk who lived there

In the 19th century and used to spin wool but again its Origins are probably much Older you have to admit this is a pretty good defensive position if you under attack you just pull up the ladder obviously in those days it was wooden and you’d sit here till they went away you’d also be safe from bears what I love about these cave churches is their

Timelessness I don’t mean their past their history I mean their future forget about these ladders forget about the great cathedrals of the world the Opera Houses the bridges all the cities of man in fact us as a species will all be gone but this will still be here in a million years time

The last cave on my list is alones which some argue dates back to the GTO dations according to inscriptions on the wall believed to refer to the veneration of the sun and water this is also one of the oldest Orthodox places of worship in Romania established in 1274

The entrance to the cave is protected by a small wooden Church where weekly services are still held to this day a few doors down from the church is the alanes Village School recently reopened as a community center by an industrious local NGO I’ve stopped by to meet Julia one of its founding

Members tell me about the kids camps well we are an nonprofit organization alun Art Center uh we are artists moved here and we are working with local people to revive the traditions we have the ptery classes we offer free for all the children area in the area as well as

For the children around the country but from difficult backgrounds try backgrounds basically buzo has a history of 6,000 years of portering which has been interrupted 30 Years Ago by the physical death of the last potterer so we had to rebuild it from the ground so first of all we have two ladies working

In the um pter uh Atelier MH we’ve been teaching them from the basics we brought teachers from Bucharest to restart this tradition fantastic yes this is the old technique which is quite like the oldest in the world by hand and the new technique it’s by um the wheel we have

Electrical wheels of course these are shaping up very well look at this it’s beautiful this is the old school of the village which was basically abandoned for 10 years because there are no more children in this Village so it was really how to know how to say derate and

And unloved true it’s a very good way to put it and we just renovated it started as a small Art Center where we hope to receive art residents to stimulate a bit activity and to attract a certain type of Tours to the area people which have

As interest nature and the love for arts and of course these are the people who are always um giving back to the community how do the children react to seeing these cave churches in this landscape it must be quite exciting for fascinated yeah I bet lot of mysteries

And we always they ask about ghosts and if you see spirits and if we see Balls of Fire well I mean going back to the ghosts do you well I’ve heard stories that there are um some I had I had a chat with one so you you have seen yes I follow more

The reaction people have and what’s happening in their lives after they visit us and it’s so interesting there is there are the friends of mine who came and after they just visit they have got children and I make fun that we can advertise this as a faity clinic but um it’s quite interesting

Each person reacts differently but they definitely change them change them Due West in the Hills above pest is a new and much talked about hotel with what might very well be the most luy luxurious Hobbit holes in the world this is Gaza timsh centered around a restored Manor House in a small Veil

Surrounded by Vines I dropped in to see what all the fuss was about interesting design provinal mixed with English Mana house some tartan on the walls for a we Flav of Scotland uh beautiful view Due West so good for sunsets later yeah I think this may be the most glamorous harbit house I’ve

Ever stayed in quite a long way even the bathrooms are extravagant without being over the top hand painted sink and a walk in wet room very very stylish over at the Mana house I track down resident celebrity chef niiko lras who’s internationally acclaimed for his reinterpretations of classic Romanian

Dishes welcome to my kitchen thank you sir I see I’ve arrived in the L of time yes right in t we are doing two different starters and two different main courses we already build up the starters this is a wild Bo tartar with pickles and with the wi leaves why

Because we see the pork mistres running around here and then we have Bulls which is a traditional recipe but we do it in our own way we serve it withi correct and the pastrami of duck now we’re going to build up a dish which is I think is the most fasinating dish

We have it in the menu today because is this is the deer filet in the way way to connect with this land we choose like ingredient like Jerusalem Artio which in the Romanian we use this very much in the old time and then we have beetroot

Puree this is the red wine sauce with the fruit from the forest so that would be a reduction of red wine onions presumably and Forest fruits and Forest fruits and cook it very slowly for example in here it’s two bottles of wine and reduced down to this reduced down to

This with like 2 300 G of fruits and then it’s taking the fruits and the wine the alcohol it’s evaporated and you have just the right sweetness and sound sweet correct in soundness correct so we’re going to start with the simple version of plating I’m going to use two spoons of

Beetroot we’re going to use two spoons of uh Jerusalem Artio puree because we like to create colors so I’m going to put the meat I have four small pieces then I’m going to use the sauce each piece of meat need to get sauce of course Salt it’s bringing

Everything together and then I’m going to use fruits as well and then from the same Yus maros I made chips I think every single ingredient has to be used in a different way yeah to give texture and colors it’s so artistic you don’t really want to tuck into it it sort of

Looks incredible I want to take a photograph of it before I eat it so we’ll be taking these outside of course and hopefully you can tell me a little bit more about your influences as a chef I’m trying to discover the old Romania to be able to do the new Romania so the

Dishes we are doing now in in the konak we are trying to be based on the Romanian historical Gastronomy culture so of course we are in the middle of dumare I have to connected with what it’s here but before that Romania means so much more about gastronomic culture

Because all the influences from all the regions it’s making sense what I learned all this year is Romania has to stop saying no this is not Romanian this is not Romanian you have to connect with the place you are and create the dishes with what you have around you old

Recipes they are made in old times from old reasons we are not in that time when you come to fill up your belly you are coming to this place to have an experience to have an experience and to enjoy it and don’t rush enjoy the view enjoy the food enjoy a

Glass of wine look around you breede and go home charge with all this and talk about it after a late lunch I was joined on the patio of my own private Bag End by owner Christina timsh for a signature Sundowner consisting of a lavender gin and tonic how did it all begin everything

Begin on first of August in 2018 when we came here it was love at first side at that time here it was just U the manor house and four hectar of Vineyards I had a powerful dream to make here something very special and different from all has to offer the

Hospitality in Romania everything I’ve done here I have done from my own perspective as a tourist and a very demanding one and um as a mother perspective who wants to take their children and family just in secluded places everywhere and anytime in connection with the nature the kind of

People that come here you have people coming from abroad a lot of foreign visitors as well yes yes yes a lot of so it’s quite a it’s quite a sort of Multicultural feel here yes because you know my vision for this place is to write history in international

Hospitality not just in Romanian one I think that’s very it was the vision I Proclaim 3 years ago and now it becomes becomes BEC reality for the next part of the journey We join up with the National Road one which Winds North towards the Raa Valley and our next

Destination the Royal Palace of peles in SAA but with a few hours to spare I decided to go in search of a small Reservoir deep in the B mountains with one of the most iconic views in Romania this is Lake grasa in the K or Gorge the source of the yam mitzah river

Which we last en enountered at snagov there’s a well-beaten track down to a wooden bridge from where you can take pictures of the mouth of the canyon with its weird assortment of wooden sheds clinging to the Rocks reminiscent of America back in the days of the Gold

Rush maybe it’s because of the power of Instagram but this has become one of Mona’s most photographed landmarks so much so that some bright spark obviously decided more illumination was required it’s a little bit strange to find a lamp post on a hiking trail in the mountains 20 km down a dirt

Road reminds me of the line which in the wardrobe naria however I’m sure the Bears appreciate the illumination at night and they’re foraging for wild raspberries and have lost their sense of smell very Good further down the mountain sits peles Castle Ed regally on a forested hill above the town of SAA restituted back to the royal family after the fall of Communism and now open to the public it was constructed by King Carol I first of Romania also known as King Charles according to my guide Costin C hello hello Bata the castle was built by the first king of Romania King Charles the first who came in Romania in 1866 show me the highlights now we are in the vestibule yeah I see we’ve come through a side entrance that was the this is the main entrance in the castle

So where King usually invite his guest so it took 41 years to build the castle most of the artists that were involved in here were from Germany and Austria chosen by the king he took a lot of AR historian classes at Barn University so he knows so he was a highly educated man

And knew exactly what he wanted yeah he had impressive collections in PES castle and one of the most impressive one is the weapons collection so the full collection counted about 5,000 weapons and what very important in here is the sword up there on the fireplace yeah

Which is a German execution sword on the blade of the sword there was engraved the text in the old German language in Translation when the sword will be above your head God will offer you eternal life I know it’s hard to believe but that then was an honor for being Beed

With that one they probably didn’t see that uh in the last few seconds of their life but that sword has actually been used to behead Noels Noy 16 many people so over here that’s the music roomen stample because she was a musician herself wasn’t she yeah she was

A musician she was a translator she was a writer she was a painter that’s by her yeah that’s a PO yeah painting right there done by Queen Elizabeth we have to pass through the reception halls where we going to find two large Venetian chandeliers which were made of Murano

Glass which is known as the best glass in the world now you will see in here that he had a Hall the place where Sarah Bernard played over there right in the background that’s the RO box of course and all around the room you’ll see the

Phrase in here which was painted by the well-known Austrian painter Gustaf Clint this is a door to use in case of emergency what do you mean by emergency King said that’s a lot of wood in the castle and if it starts a fire during the night you have to escape as quickly

As you can from your bedroom so this is why each important bedroom in the castle had a secret do like this one so it wasn’t for the purposes of illicit access are you sure about that I’m 100% sure so this is a royal bedroom for the king and queen it’s important to notice

That Charles I first and Elizabeth share the same bedroom usually back then in Europe Royal members used two different apartments in a castle now we’ll see the biggest and also the most impressive apartment the castle and it seems to be also the most expensive one this was for

Guests cuz this is how you show your wealth they spent for this apartment about 12 million dollar the equivalent or actually that that high money you you said that the royalty even visiting royalty slept in separate bedrooms so the the King was there if look here closely this is the cover this which

Looks like an wardrobing another wardrobe yeah another Secret Door a secret door which leads to the Queen’s apart so through the Wardrobe like naria exactly well there’s a lot of naria context coming up yeah at the moment wherever I go this this is really beautiful and this would be her sitting

Room would it the sitting room yeah yeah we’re going to find a lot of Italian ceramic in here and we’ll see right here the Queen’s bedroom it’s uh a little smaller the bed that’s not so small this is a queen siiz bed of course but imagine that in this bed the second

Queen of Romania Marie gave birth to her first child Charles II so much history has taken place within these walls it’s flabbergasting how much work has gone into creating every single detail in the palace and I imagine also the effort that’s needed to maintain it yeah we

Have to King Michael the First lost king of Rania when he come back in his home here 2007 he said that this Castle will be forever open for the public so we have to maintain it for future Generations to reach the west side of monia we have to negotiate the butch Edge

Massive which takes us around to the north past bran and up towards RAR and tavish on our way I’m making a quick detour to explore the stunning dumble vwara Gorge which cuts to the edge of Patra kloy National Park and back into Transylvania it’s easy to see why this dramatic setting was used as a backdrop for the Epic Western Cold Mountain with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law well that’s the end of The Gorge and I think I’ve inadvertently ridden back into Transylvania but if you come all the way up here you leave most of the people behind and you have this wild and unspoiled Place almost entirely to your myself I’ve had to do it on the bike

Because we wanted to show you the whole thing but my advice is leave the car down in the town take the time and walk all the way up here it’s one of the most beautiful hikes you can do in Romania one of Romania’s more abundant culinary resources is the

Truffle which includes both black and white varieties finding them however is a tricky business and requires expertise both human and animal I’ve come to the forests around Tav to meet truffle Hunter Marius heru who’s taking me on a mining trip to harvest Romania’s elusive Black Gold Mar Salud salute good to see you I think we might leave the bike cuz we’re going yes we can leave the bike here quite deep into the forest okay yeah okay in my car there are dogs you’ll see where would we be without the dogs I guess you’d be using

Pigs the problem with pigs is they eat them don’t they yes the problem they want to eat do do do for fun yeah and I and the old biscuit I believe yes yeah it’s not entirely charitable is it Yeah so this is mostly Oak and Beach and some Hawthorne oh this looks good around here Bravo Luna bravo bravo look this is the trle Bravo but as you see it’s eaten by snails okay it smells of yes but it’s a good one yeah smells good yeah it smells

Like should be smells like my socks exactly as it should after a day on the bike yeah so this is a summer truffle isn’t yeah this is a summer truffle the summer truffles are from when from June till August is that yes and the aut trule starts from September to December what is

Interesting that the trees are somehow communicate each other with connection made by A fungi and this melum connects this three from about with this one because they change nutrients they change information they exchange information via the if a fire starts there all the trees from this Valley in

A few minutes or half an hour um develop carbon dioxide this is very very interesting to protect yes so it’s almost like Avatar the idea by you know the film that actually there’s one big Forest Consciousness and everything is linked yeah one question I I’m fascinated in as well is how how do

White truffles fit in the white truffle which is the most expensive is very very rare and needs special conditions special combination of trees and a lot of moist so the equation is far more complex yes far more comple that’s why it’s so rare and so expensive but we do

Have them in Romania don’t we yes we have I think 80% of the truffles sell it in Europe and maybe in the world is coming from Romania Hungary Serbia Bulgaria croaa but uh the Italians um they like to hang on to the idea yes they handle the market so they say all

The St is from Alba you know this is Alba trle there is a sad part of this story the sad part is the stold are harvested by some poor people who owns just few money for this stold but on the end in luxury restaurants this high price someone’s

Paying £100 a plague yes but these people who Who harvest truffles are poor people like like in the diamonds only in Truffles is not uh is no blood H she find something bravo graci bravo oh it’s a black thr bravo bravo the fungi we know above the ground are spreading the

Spores with wind the fungi under the ground need something else to spread the spor so they develop some smell to attract animals they eat the Stuffle they poop over there and they spread the spores and that’s why this Stuffle is so so smelly so flavor so so it wants to be

Found yes I thought I knew about truffles but as it it turns out I barely scratched the surface so we just have to go and find some in t of Vish now uh that might be prepared to cook them at extremely short notice for dinner there

Got to be a restaurant I’m knocking on the door all right all right let’s go let’s go my JY hi hi hi hi Bella hi hi Bella hi copy hi well I think we’ve got a table reserved for us over there I’ll see and I’m just going to go and have a word

With the chef okay Mario hey Che thank you so much for doing this at last minute listen let me show you what I’ve got what is what has he got in his pocket is here we go look wow truy yeah summer truffles from this afternoon gold

This is gold it’s black gold gold yes Black Gold what can we make with this uh I make pasta or something else pasta sounds Great it looks Sensational Sensational thank you for doing this for us we are much thank be from the ground to the table this is the very definition of slow food in a very short space of time obviously it’s only traveled 10 km to get here and we’re eating it a few hours

Later completely fresh pu Theaa tgov was the capital of wakia during the Middle Ages and the seat of power for Vlad the Impaler I’m here at his former Palace to find out more about this iconic figure with the help of archaeologist and historian Mii Nasi Mii greetings nice to meet you well I like

Your office thank you very much it’s really big office as you can see it must have been very impressive in its Heyday definitely it was you know I I I’m trying to imagine what it looked like there’s no draw we don’t have any drawings no unfortunately not oh that’s

A shame yes it’s sad but uh there there are only sketches with that b in the state of a ruin the oldest part of the buildings dates back to the 14 hundreds something like that early 15th century correct me if I’m wrong this was the capital wasn’t it of of Southern Romania

At that time yes it it’s it was the capital of alakia from 1420s till 1660 it’s so sad that it’s fallen so far from its original state yes the main cause for for it for it the state you see it today it’s the fact that he was abandoned so Vlad tapes governed from

Here yes this was his Center of of power of of of of course but he was a bit of a a hero of his day because he he kept the Ottomans out didn’t he he he had brutal taxes he had successes against the Turks but he’s not only popular for his uh

Let’s say foreign policy but he’s also very popular for his inner policy uh in order to to create a a centralized government well basically uh one person government yeah uh an autocracy yes but uh the context of that time it was of this nature that this kind of policy was

Welcomed by the the the masses because well except those who’ misbehaved got a stake out that bottom yes if you look at this it it was like justice for all and everybody was equal in front of the of justice but it was not in the terms of today no but it

Was in the terms that it was a universal punishment for every offense despite the legends about him some of them they are really bad and some of them they are quite idic into a certain way to a certain perspective would you say there’s any any kind of comparison to be

Made between the perceived brutality of the church Esco Reign and um and the Tes uh era Jesu definitely tried as all the modern tyrants to take and embody the past into their Rule and into into their being and of course blood it was a a figure of righteousness of Justice of

The authorit ruler but who was making good for the people but you can you can fall foul of that as well because if you have such a a flimsy legal process then uh it can backfire rather spectacularly yes well I would say the the history teaches us a lot of examples that who

Draws the sword dies by the sword dies by the sword as we will see just around the corner Across town and we reach a nondescript military building on the side of a Long Avenue of trees now open to the public this is a place that quite literally witnessed the final heartbeats of the Communist era on the 25th of December 1989 an exceptional Military Tribunal convened

Here in this building to judge sentence and execute Nikolai chesu and his wife Elena they were held overnight on Camp beds in a small front room before being marched across the corridor and sat down before the waiting jury and this is the room where the trial took place chesco and his wife sat

On those two chairs over there in the corner he dismissed any defense because he refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of of the tribunal the judges sat here and just over an hour later his sentence was passed and he was taken out to be executed it’s really strange being in

This room and seeing it exactly as it was apart from him over there it’s as if they’ve only just left and the whole proceedings happened hours ago rather than 30 years between 240 and 245 chesco and his wife were taken out here it was very rushed and they were placed against this

Wall and three guys with AK-47s opened up there was no direct order they knew what they had to do and there was a a sense of urgency to get on with it and suddenly it was all over you can see the bullet holes behind me in the wall

You can see the outline of chesu and his wife where they fell and at that moment in time Romania ceased to be a communist country or so one might think however there are still vestages of that old way of life it’s been a slow Evolution ever since and it’s taken decades for Romania

To grasp fully the concept of democracy we still have corruption in this country we still have the media in the pockets of certain politicians and the Old Guard who for a long time controlled things from behind the scenes but it’s a bit like being a teenager you have to go

Through this process of change it’s awkward it’s difficult it’s never easy till you come out the other side and Romania now step by step is growing to a brighter future but not without a huge amount of pain along the way leaving recent history behind we are now journeying into the distant Past I’m on my way to an archaeological dig outside tagish on the flood Plains of the river dumit my satnav has brought me to a field outside the village of D Jango EST where archaeologist Anna ILY has been working to unearth a prehistoric site the remains of an adobe Village

Inhabited over 6,000 years ago welcome Charlie come and see my beautiful beautiful sight yes my exciting sight actually I don’t want to walk in the wrong place cuz I know how important that is how did you find it the site was found in 1969 by the history teacher from the

Village which is near by this Village is there at Jango Ag uhhuh and the river is 2 kilm Far Away South uh Dita River and we are in the bed of the this River so this is the flood plane yes the flood plan but the Terrace is nearby where is

The forest this Comm Community um gumal karanovo culture they love to have water around them we have knowledge that they exploited all kind of fish and mola but here I didn’t find any bones because the side doesn’t preserve the bones is very acid what sort of things have you found

Recently today we found this uh figurine a lot of potery because potery is very common here uh these artifacts are linked to the specific um beliefs religion beliefs I was going to say that looks like a fertility symbol uh could be some Specialists say that there are toys but

They are not this is a voluptuous figure if you look at the curves at the back and everything I mean look at look at that is not so big because usually it can be more the the she has got quite a large posterior so I’m thinking

Fertility might be a yes it’s a it’s a can be one utility of this because you don’t find masculine representation on Earth so rare there are seven in Guma north of the Dan Guma culture and I discover here another four but that’s all that’s that’s all usually they are feminine representation so masculinity

In the in that period was actually represented with horns with horns so it’s been a very productive uh site yes and what is interesting and for me as Archaeology is to find what is distinct from another sites and this one was a big surprise because uh the way they

Build houses is not like I have seen yeah but I have read about and here you can see it and here I can see that yeah that must be tremendously exciting yes indeed to have in prehistory a house with a upper level live where they live

Because I found there on on top of this oven like this one collapsed and to find that makes you keep going before heading on to our final stop the historic town of C de Ares in Western monia I grabbed a quick roadside snack one of my favorite things about

Traveling in Romania is whether you’re in the spring the summer or the Autumn there’s a huge range of fruits veg nuts wild mushrooms things grown and things foraged just waiting for you to stop and fill your bags kilil that’ll be a kilo of plums and a kilo of peaches sensation

Who needs to stop at a gas station buy a curly sandwich when you have this kind of thing right on the side of the road Onwards riding Northwest the landscape changes again this is an area rich in Mineral wealth where Timber and Farm in are not the only available Resources I’ve only traveled 12 km from to Vish and already it feels like we’re on a a different continent what landscape does this remind you of no here’s a Clue yep you guessed it we’re in Dallas folks welcome to C Ares or the court on the river Ares which served as the second capital of vakia during the Middle Ages alongside tavish I’m here to visit its famous monastery which has one of the most beautiful churches in

Romania built 500 years ago Ago by Prince ngoya basarab the story of its construction is riddled with Legend as I found out from curator and priest Adrian inaki I’ve never seen anything like it in in the whole of Romania I mean the the architectural style is is is unique Is for Al for for for for fin that’s all we have time for in monia join us again as we continue West into Alania one of Romania’s more mysterious and less wellknown historic regions but one that hides a multitude of natural and cultural Treasures we will be hanging out in the

Mountains and venturing beneath them as we leave no stone or building unturned in search of more Delights and local Delicacies I will be riding one of Romania’s most famous Serpentine mountain roads and traveling to the city of ca for night of fun and festivities but with strings

Attached plus we will also be joining friends for a trek along the Via transvan Romania’s answer to the Camino de Santiago all this and much more in the next episode of flavors of Romania