Flavors of Romania
Flavors of Romania presents all the regions of Romania through the eyes
of the english TV director from Great Britain. In addition to presenting
traditions, people and beautiful places, Charlie Ottley uses this series to
encourage the conservation of romanian heritage, while promoting tourism.
Divided into 9 episodes, the documentary Flavors of Romania presents
attractions and stories from all regions of the country, including Oltenia
,known also as Wallachian Minor. Charlie Ottley thus started by visiting the
eastern part of Oltenia, entering the Hanul Vatra a former Neo Romania
style baths which has been renovated as an eco hotel.Not far away from
Hanul Vatra there was Buila Vanturita National Park was declared natural
protected area by the Government Decision and represents a mountainous
area with flora and fauna specific Southern Carpathians.This just helps to
showcase than even in the least visited region in Romania there are a lot of
hidden treasures which not even some locals have heard about.Near
Pietreni he also shows a couple of old churches which are amongst the
oldest churches in Romania there is one that dates to 1663,but of course
they are both abandoned because they miss the necessary amenities and
their walls are being eroded day by day because of the weather and
nobody is taking care of them until recently when there were both declared
objectives by the World Restauration Center .
Romania is also rich in cultural heritage when it comes to ceramic art
Horezu has been added by UNESCO to Intangible Cultural Heritage
List,pottery has been part of Horezu culture for the past 600 years there is
even a shop which has been run by the same family for 6
generations.There is a problem which is more and more apparent in
Romania the disappearance of small villages,and the village life which is
more obvious when he goes to the smallest village in Romania Firijba It
would be the oldest village and the smallest in the country, all the houses
here would be preserved for the sake of medieval tourism there are only 16
families that still live there the youngest villager is in his early seventies.
Going into Targu Jiu the main attraction there is of course the work of one
of the world`s best sculptor Constantin Brâncuși.He was a
Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in
France. Considered a pioneer of modernism, one of the most influential
sculptors of the 20th-century, Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern
sculpture. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm
tools. His most famous work can be still viewed in Targu Jiu such as Infinity
Column, The Gate Of The Kiss, Table of Silence
Oltenia is also of the richest regions in Romania when it comes to
traditional music, and Romani music is the music of the Romani people,
who have their origins in northern India, but today live mostly in Europe.
Historically nomadic, though now largely settled, the Romani people have
long acted as entertainers and tradesmen. In many of the places Romanies
live they have become known as musicians. The wide distances travelled
have introduced a multitude of influences
of: Byzantine, Greek, Arabic, Indian, Persian, Turkish, Slavic, Romanian, G
erman, Dutch, French, Spanish and even Jewish musical forms.
Charlie Ottley also meets up with 2 young boy Vlad and Alexandru,that
promote tourism by taking tourists on bike rides across the village of
Ponoaru,it is amazing how young people find opportunities to promote
tourism in Romania even if they are not helped by the government.
The biggest ally to the survival of Romania culture and traditions are the
young people which are the only ones that can help promote them and
make sure that future generations will still know and appreciate them.
Oltenia is the region in Romania with the greatest Romanian influence we
can see that through the numerous Roman buildings that are placed in
certain strategic locations like in Drobeta Turnu Severin.
All the good tourist location can be shadowed by the littering which is not
an isolated problem but is present across the whole Country
All in all,this documentary shows us how important it is for us to preserve
the traditions,culture and many the many historic buildings so that the
future generations can still appreciate them and how tourism could help
empower the restoration of these important sites.
