Transylvania to the Black Sea Great Continental Railway Journeys

I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

that will take me across the heart of Europe.

I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,

dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

for the British tourist.

It told travellers where to go,

what to see and how to navigate

the thousands of miles of tracks to cross the continent.

Now, a century later, I'm using my copy

to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,

but also of high tension.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe that in 1913

couldn't have known that its way of life would shortly be swept aside

by the advent of war.

This journey takes me to the most eastern reaches of Europe.

Although one of its youngest nations,

recognised as a kingdom only in 1881,

Romania's situation and natural resources

attracted the attention of the great powers

in the years before the First World War.

"Romania is a modern kingdom,

"formerly a Turkish principality," says my Bradshaw's Guide.

That kingdom was only about 30 years old.

1913 brought important territorial gains for Romania

as the old Turkish Ottoman Empire crumbled.

But Romania was still the slow train of Europe.

It had a backward agricultural economy

with some astonishing touches of modernity.

Today, I feel as though I'm visiting a new country again

because, less than 30 years ago, the old communist dictator Ceausescu

was killed, setting Romania free.

And, like my equivalent traveller of a century ago,

I'm prepared for some surprises.

My route will begin in the Transylvanian town of Brasov.

I take in vampires and castles,

before visiting a fairytale palace in Sinaia.

I strike oil in Ploiseti

and uncover a moving story in the capital, Bucharest,

before ending my trip on the Black Sea in the port of Constanta.

'Along the way, I experience a rare and beautiful wilderness...'

Wake up. Did you sleep well?

I feel really very privileged to see this magnificent animal in the wild.

Thank you very much.

'..marvel at some 100-year-old technology...

That enormous roof just swishes aside. It's wonderful.

'..test my head for heights...

Whoa, this is scary.

I've got the shakes.

'..and find a kindred spirit in Dracula.'

"I found the Count lying on the sofa

"reading an English Bradshaw's Guide."

Everybody needed a Bradshaw's Guide,

even if you were a bloodsucking vampire.

My first stop will be Brasov.

Bradshaw's tells me, "It's a finely situated and important commercial town."

It's in Transylvania

which, a century ago, was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In the Middle Ages, a bold warrior battled against the Ottoman Turks.

With a name like Vlad the Impaler,

he might find a place in any heart.

Brasov is the gateway to Transylvania.

It's surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains

at the meeting point of the three ancient principalities

of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia.

Bradshaw's draws my attention to the enormous parish church

of the 14th to 16th century

and the town hall with its tower 190ft tall.

I'm in eastern Europe and it doesn't feel like it.

The town was colonised by Saxons, so the architecture is Germanic.

It was protected against the Ottoman Turks by fortifications

and Transylvania was never Islamic.

In Christian Church terms, it was Western rather than Orthodox.

Brasov is a sort of gateway

between Occidental and Oriental Europe.

The immaculately well-preserved old town

has made Brasov one of the most visited places in Romania.

Here's a tip. Bradshaw's says that "From the mountain,

"which is now called the Timpa,

"3,153ft high on the west side of the town,

"is a very fine view."

That's where I'm headed.

I'm following my guidebook up to a point.

In 1913, reaching the peak would have entailed

a one-hour hike up the slope,

but that's because this splendid cable car hadn't yet been built.

What's so striking from up here is an immense contrast.

In the old town, the beautiful tawny roofs.

On the outskirts, the hideous white tower blocks of the communist era.

It is a tale of two cities.

I'm leaving Brasov and taking a regional train

further into the Carpathians.

I'm on my way to Bran Castle.

There's literary evidence that Bradshaw's Guide

was read in Transylvania a century ago.

After all, it is a book you can get your TEETH into

and the information it contains, you can COUNT on.

There was a storm overnight and because of that, the mountains today

are spectacularly clear and they just seem to come out of nowhere.

Set in a natural amphitheatre on a dramatic hilltop,

I find the magnificent Bran Castle.

It was built in the 14th century to defend Transylvania

from repeated Ottoman invasion.

By the time of my guidebook, it had become the inspiration

for one of the most popular of all Gothic novels,

Bram Stoker's Dracula.

THUNDERCLAP

In the shadow of this menacing fortification,

I'm meeting my guide, Mattei.

-Hello, Mattei.

-Hello, Michael.

Do you know, all my life I've wanted to see this castle

and I am not disappointed. It is marvellous.

Had Bram Stoker ever seen it?

Well, Bram Stoker, as far as we know,

he never visited Transylvania or Romania,

but he had lots of information at the Royal Library in London

and the British Museum.

What were Stoker's sources for his book?

Well, at the very beginning,

he had an idea to publish a book about a monster.

He used the name Count Wampyr at the beginning. It was a novel.

He didn't have the huge success, though.

Then he realised that the most important ingredient about the monster,

it's obviously the name.

And he discovered the legend of Vlad the Impaler,

better known as Dracula.

When he found out what Dracula means.

In Romanian, it's "Dracul", the devil.

"Dracula", the devil's son.

With a name like Dracula, you don't have to be a good writer.

Was there a vampire myth in Transylvania

from which Bram Stoker drew inspiration?

Oh, yes, in the dark period of the 18th-century,

it was a vampire frenzy in Transylvania.

The priest will decide that the person died.

The priest will come with the mirror, "Oh, he's not breathing. He's dead. OK."

A ceremony and then they put them in a coffin.

Obviously, some of them were not really dead.

A day later the person was coming out from the grave, digging -

it was easy to dig and they had enough oxygen -

coming back knocking at the door, "I'm home."

Imagine the family after so many stories

with creatures of the night. They thought, "He's a vampire."

So Bram Stoker collect all these legends and stories

about superstition in Transylvania

and it come out a great book.

First published in 1897, the book and subsequent films

became hugely popular throughout the world,

except in Romania.

Under communism, the book was banned,

as was any reference to the supernatural.

Today, the fictional associations of Bran Castle

are an important attraction to visitors like me.

Well, here we are in Count Dracula's library.

Yes, and I have a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula

and there is a line over here that I guess you will be interested in.

"The lamps were also lit in the study or library

"and I found the Count lying on the sofa reading,

"of all things in the world,

"an English Bradshaw's Guide."

I knew about this passage,

but do you know why he was consulting an English Bradshaw's Guide?

He had a plan to send from Whitby to London King's Cross Station

50 Transylvanian coffins with Transylvanian earth inside

for him to be able to survive

and he's looked inside the English Bradshaw's Guide

to find a schedule of the trains.

You see, in the 19th century, everybody needed a Bradshaw's,

even if you were a bloodsucking vampire.

Yes, I guess you are right.

I've escaped unscathed and journey on

on a form of transport which would have been familiar

to the 1913 traveller.

Still a common sight in Transylvania.

My guidebook says of the Carpathian Mountains,

"Snow-clad granite peaks,

"mountain gorges,

"ranges of forest,

"delightful valleys with numerous beautiful small lakes

"combine their charms in this romantic country."

In all my travels, I never saw a place less changed

from the Bradshaw description.

It is so unspoiled and achingly beautiful.

It's a land defined by tradition and regional customs.

Shepherds' villages perch on remote slopes.

I've come to Magura to meet wildlife guide Dan Marin,

whose family has lived in these mountains for generations.

These villages in the Carpathian Mountains,

they seem to be sheltered from the passage of time.

Yes, they are. They are quite isolated

and the villagers have been somehow forced

to stick to a certain way of life.

And what do they live off here?

Most of the families in the village own a small number of sheep,

one or two cows.

It's a sort of an annual cycle with this way of life.

There's no artificial fertilisers that people use here.

No pesticides.

So it's really good quality.

So you do have, really, a very natural environment?

Romania has become one of the cleanest countries in the whole of Europe.

One of the results of this traditional way of managing the land

is a huge variety of wild flowers, especially orchids.

We have 41 different species of orchids

growing in hundreds or thousands on the meadows around here.

Many wild flower species long since lost to the rest of Europe

still flourish here, thanks to small-scale farming.

Dan is taking me to meet a local shepherd, Ioan.

At 70 years old, he continues to tend his flock of sheep.

Ah, that's where he sleeps.

That is one of the typical shepherds' huts.

Oh, my goodness. That's tiny.

Do you fit in there?

He does fit in there. He does fit in there.

'In summer, the shepherds wheel these portable huts

'up to the high pasture and stay in them for up to five months.'

Wake up! Morning!

It's morning!

Hello.

Did you sleep well?

The shepherd must stand ready to protect his precious flock

of 20 sheep from wolves and bears.

Aaah!

Beautiful creature.

And in the summer how high up will you go?

1,300, 1,400 metres.

Even up to the top, that's about 1,800 metres.

When Ioan's not up in the high pasture,

he must maintain his land and, of course,

it is done in the traditional manner,

by hand

with a scythe.

-No, no, no.

-Like that?

Is that good?

'I sense that Ioan's not impressed with my technique.'

Ah, OK. Now, that is effective.

OK, let me try that method.

-Try to keep it to the...

-To the ground.

-..to the ground.

Better?

No?

He just keeps shaking his head.

No?

I'm not sure that I'd last long out here. It's a hard life.

But the lack of mechanisation

results in a wonderfully unspoiled environment,

one of this continent's last wildernesses.

This, the most extensive tract of unbroken forest in Central Europe,

is the habitat of one of the world's largest carnivores.

Dan takes me to a forest hide, where, if I'm lucky,

I may see a wild brown bear.

In between the town that we have just left

and this side of the Fagaras Mountains

there are no human settlements.

There is no tourists.

It's a perfect place for different wild animals,

especially wolves and bears.

It's dusk,

when both wolves and bears approach in search of food.

Look.

What luck.

What a beautiful specimen.

Romania has the largest number of bears and wolves

in the whole of Europe.

6,000 bears and about 3,000 wolves

compared to, for instance, 20 bears in France.

I feel really very privileged

because, you know, at one time, Europe was covered in bears

but now, really, you have to come to somewhere like Romania, that

has maintained its wilderness,

to see this magnificent animal in the wild.

Thank you very much.

This morning, I'm taking one of Romania's regional trains

along a well-travelled route.

My next stop will be Sinaia,

which the guidebook tells me is "an attractive spot

"in the Carpathians with villas and hotels

"where the King has a palace."

I believe the royal residence is about 3,000ft above sea level,

so I'm going up in the world.

Built in 1883, Sinaia Station was on the route of the Orient Express.

Amongst the distinguished passengers who alighted here

were guests of Romania's king.

For it's here that he built a magnificent royal palace,

Peles Castle.

I'm meeting Daniela Voitescu, who will be my guide.

Daniela, it is a fantastic castle.

Who built it?

Well, this fairytale castle was built by the first Romanian king,

Carol I, a German one,

who came to Romania in 1866.

The Romanian people decided Romania needed a king

and he was the only one who had accepted it

and the country became a monarchy.

Why did he build this fairytale castle?

He has chosen this place because of the view through the mountains.

The royal family used to live here only in summer time

and it was built for many guests.

And almost all the crowned heads from Europe at that time

have been invited here on holiday.

King Carol wanted a palace to impress his peers and courtiers.

The new monarch was keen to show that under his rule,

newly independent Romania was a powerful, progressive

and modern kingdom.

Peles Castle was to be a showcase for the latest technology.

This castle was one of the first private residences in Europe

to have central heating.

This is the original boiler.

And then the central heating was by means of radiators, was it?

Yes, which are still working.

This is extraordinary.

I mean, clearly King Carol had very advanced ideas.

He was absolutely at the forefront of modern technology.

What else did he put into the palace?

Well, modern bathrooms.

I mean, running water, hot and cold.

An electric elevator and a central vacuum cleaner

which is still working.

That I have to see!

With 160 rooms, including 80 bedrooms, to service,

the housemaids could attach a newfangled cleaning contraption

to a central suction system.

This 100-year-old vacuum cleaner is today used with modern fittings

and remains surprisingly effective.

Look at that!

'But I don't want to get sucked into housework.

'There's more to explore in this castle of surprises.'

Daniela, this is really a spectacular room.

Tell me about this.

This is the main hall of the castle.

The skylight was the King's idea,

which can be opened and it slides electrically.

And when it was inaugurated more than 100 years ago,

it was already an electric roof?

Yes. The castle had electricity since 1884.

He was very proud to gather with the guests here

to push the button himself.

-Does it still work?

-Yes.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, that's beautiful.

That enormous roof just swishes aside.

And allows in the daylight.

It's wonderful.

King Carol's desire to modernise

naturally led him to push the development of Romania's railways.

He undertook not to go abroad until he could do so by train.

So for the first three years of his reign, he was tied to home.

By 1869, the first line was built

and the network that emerged allowed the country's cheap

agricultural products to be exported to Western markets,

linking Romania to the European economy.

I'm approaching the halfway point of my journey, which will continue

with the industrial city of Ploiesti, the capital, Bucharest,

and finally the country's main Black Sea port.

Ploiesti is one of Romania's most important industrial cities.

And it doesn't take long to spot why.

Oil.

I'm surprised to discover that Romania

has been refining oil since 1857.

It was the first country in the world to have its crude oil output

officially recorded.

In that year, the world's first oil refinery

was built at Ploiesti and I'm visiting one of its successors,

the Vega plant, to meet the project manager.

So oil production goes back a long way in Romania.

How long has this refinery been here?

-This refinery was born in 1905.

-That is amazing.

More than a century ago, and that is older than the guide book I'm using.

What is the main product from this refinery?

The main product from our refinery is bitumen.

Made from petroleum, bitumen is most commonly used for surfacing roads.

-I spend a lot of my life waiting for a train.

-Yeah?

The raw material arrives by rail from Vega's sister refinery

and is unloaded here before being processed.

From here, we unload the raw material, we pump through the tanks.

-Put this nozzle on?

-Yes, yes. Yes, please.

-Match these up.

-And turn?

-Yes.

-You must open the valve.

-Open the valve.

MACHINE STARTS

OK, done.

The bitumen enters the plant to begin a process of oxidation,

which will make it rubbery and more durable.

Here we have the oldest equipment under operation from the refinery.

It's a very old compressor, who was started in 1922.

We use this compressor in order to supply the air for the

oxidation on bitumen.

-Number two compressor. 1922 style!

-Yeah!

After 12-18 hours of oxidation,

the bitumen is ready to be loaded into road tankers.

-Is the loading arm in position?

-'OK.'

We're going to start loading, thank you.

-Right, how do we start?

-OK. OK.

Michael, to push here on the red button

to start the loading.

-OK, Michael. You can see also on the truck with that smoke.

-A result!

The result of the loading, yes, exactly.

Products from this refinery are destined for markets in

Europe, North Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent.

And I'm destined for my bed.

Today, I'm leaving the industry of Ploiesti to continue south to

Romania's largest city.

DOG BARKS

DOG CONTINUES BARKING

My next stop will be Bucharest.

Bradshaw's tells me that it's... "The capital of Romania,

"often swept by strong winds, a very unsettled climate.

"The trade of the city continually increases.

"Improvements have swept away most of the old, squalid, Oriental

"districts, and occasionally the city

"is mentioned as a smaller Paris."

I shall be very interested to see it because during the communist

period, President Ceaucescu also did a lot of sweeping away.

For early 20th century tourists, alighting in the capital of

this new kingdom would have been exciting,

even daunting.

Although the seasoned European traveller might be reassured

by some familiar touches.

The very first reminder of Paris is the name of this station,

Gara de Nord, and it's not just the name - it was built in 1872 at

a time when French cultural and architectural influences

were very strong.

And then, just imagine all the French people who were arriving

by train at the station, bringing with them all their influences.

The city of Bucharest flourished during the reign of

King Carol I, between 1866 and 1914.

New boulevards were created in the style of Haussmann's Paris.

Most of its major buildings were designed by French or

French-trained architects.

The city has its own Arc de Triomphe.

At the time of my guide book, King Carol's Romania was gaining

in confidence and seeking greater influence.

Two Balkan wars gave Romania bargaining power.

In 1912, a group of Balkan countries took advantage of Turkey's

weakness to seize most of its remaining territory in Europe.

But Bulgaria's jealous neighbours thought that it had gained

too much and a second Balkan war broke out in 1913.

Romania contrived to host the peace conference,

here in Bucharest later that year.

And gained a city on the Black Sea and another on the Danube and

an increase in population of a quarter of a million.

But if any of the delegates came to this late-19th century

Gothic-themed restaurant to celebrate,

their rejoicing would have been very short-lived because events in

the Balkans precipitated World War I.

And that brought untold suffering to all of Europe.

Romania had become a significant player in the region.

Her allegiance would be eagerly courted by both sides during

the conflict to come.

Early 20th century Bucharest was a cosmopolitan city, where art,

architecture and music flourished.

George Enescu, Romania's greatest musician and composer,

was hugely popular in his home country and across Europe.

The Cantacuzino Palace holds a museum dedicated to him.

And I feel privileged to be shown around by Romania's most

celebrated violinist, Alexandru Tomescu.

Maestro, here is George Enescu.

What kind of an inspiration has he been to you?

George Enescu is a complete artist for me.

He was not just a great composer, a great violinist,

maybe one of the greatest of the century,

not just a great teacher,

who could memorise a piece just sight-reading it for the

first time and then he would put it beside him and then would be

able to reproduce every single note.

But besides all of these artistical qualities, he was very

intensely preoccupied with the fate of the young composers of Romania.

He established an award for the young composers.

He did so much for this country.

You don't happen to have a violin with you today, do you?

I always travel accompanied by my violin, even when I'm on holidays.

So it's with me, yes, indeed.

Born in 1881, George Enescu was a prodigy,

admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at the tender age of seven.

In later life, he gained international acclaim for his

orchestral compositions, including his Romanian Rhapsodies.

Well, Alexandru, what violin have you brought today?

The very best violin, from Romania.

It's a Stradivarius, built in 1702, during his golden age.

It was purchased by Romanian state back in 1955 and may be the

best ever investment that the Romanian state made.

It's a true beauty.

It is priceless. It is one of the few remaining ones.

No amount of money, regardless how big, can replace it.

Would it be possible to hear something by Enescu on

-a Stradivarius?

-Not only possible, it will be a great joy for me.

HE PLAYS

Alexandru Tomescu, George Enescu, a Stradivarius - it's overwhelming.

-Thank you so much.

-A great pleasure.

And a further privilege - that's not all I'll hear of his music.

The Enescu Philharmonic is rehearsing for

a performance in the Athenaeum,

offering me an insight into their work.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

The visitor to Bucharest a century ago,

could have come to the Athenaeum and seen

Romanian history represented in the round.

And perhaps through Enescu's second Romanian Rhapsody,

I've glimpsed the Romanian soul as well.

MUSIC CONTINUES

I'm staying in the elegant Continental Hotel,

mentioned in my Bradshaw's Guide.

And, overall, I've been surprised how many

old buildings have survived in Bucharest.

I like to think of these historic structures all across Europe

as being like silent, outraged spectators

to the events of the 20th century.

Two world wars and the depravities of Nazism and fascism and communism,

waiting patiently for sanity to be restored.

If you choose your route carefully, Bradshaw's 1913 Bucharest

is much in evidence.

But take a turn off that route and the brutalist tower blocks

tell the story of Bucharest and Romania

in the latter half of the 20th century.

Bradshaw's had prepared me for

the cupular-shaped church towers of Bucharest.

But this is the architecture of tyranny,

the sort that flattens everything that gets in its way.

It was build in the 1980s on the orders of a megalomaniac -

President Ceausescu.

It was intended to be a monument that would last 500 years.

But he was shot before the decade had ended.

Backed by the Soviet Union, the communists had

seized power shortly after the Second World War.

Between 1965 and 1989, Romania endured the despotic regime of

Nicolae Ceausescu, which scarred the nation.

Despite economic mismanagement resulting in widespread poverty,

Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, pursued grandiose projects,

such as the building of the Palace Of The Parliament in Bucharest.

At 365,000 square metres, it is the second largest

administrative building in the world after the Pentagon.

I'm meeting Adrian Iordachescu, whose father emerged a hero

as a result of this extravagant project.

-Hello, Adrian.

-Glad to meet you.

Very good to see you. Well, here we are,

virtually in the shadow of the Palace Of The Parliament.

What was in this area before?

A pretty nice quarter, with old houses.

Very quiet. There were a lot of churches, small streets.

What happened to those houses and those churches in this quarter?

Totally demolished.

The property was not, uh, the major concern of the regime.

More than 40,000 residents were given

just days to vacate their homes.

And one-fifth of Bucharest was flattened to make way

for Ceausescu's vanity project.

Did anything survive?

Yes, a couple of churches were saved by my father.

My father is a civil engineer, and he had that great idea

to relocate buildings.

What do you think was the most important thing that was saved?

Probably Mihai Voda church -

it's one of the most important buildings, which was relocated.

To save the 16th-century Mihai Voda church from demolition,

Adrian's father, Eugen, came up with an ingenious method of moving it.

The building was cut from its foundation at ground level,

raised, supported by hydraulic jacks,

before being transported on railway bogeys along train tracks.

To the amazement of crowds,

the church was moved in one piece,

289 metres away from Ceausescu's bulldozers.

It took two weeks for the church to reach its new location.

So, Aidan, it is a beautiful church,

and this is where it ended up after its 289-metre journey.

But now it's hemmed in by blocks of flats.

A couple of years ago, the chief architect and the mayor

asked my father to think of a solution

to relocate the building on the initial site.

-Can we go inside?

-Sure.

When I see the church, I'm struck by its simple beauty.

And now I fully appreciate the audacity of the operation.

And to my delight, Eugen Iordachescu is here to meet me.

My father. That's the man I told you about.

What a great honour to meet you, sir. This is fantastic.

-Thank you very much.

-You are the man who saved this church,

and so many other buildings.

HE SPEAKS ROMANIAN

Are you a religious man? Was that an important part of your motivation?

Congratulations. What you've done here is really almost incredible.

I'm leaving the capital, to continue my journey eastwards.

I'll soon be arriving in Constanta which, the guidebook tells me,

"..is on a steep tongue of land running into the Black Sea.

"It's acquired importance as the sea harbour of Romania,

"with the outer works of the harbour completed in 1903."

I imagine there's been a lot of development still,

because Constanta remains, for Romanian products,

the gateway to the world.

I'm excited to glimpse the mighty Danube,

which, like me, is wending its way towards the Black Sea.

I shall explore Constanta tomorrow.

The city of Constanta stands on the western coast of the Black Sea,

in the Dobruja region, whose control returned to Romania in 1878,

after war between Russia and Turkey.

The country thus regained a sea port,

and access to international trade routes.

Looking around, I see faded grandeur.

Especially evident at Constanta Casino,

where I'm meeting historian Cosbin Yoniza.

-Hello, Cosbin.

-Hi, Michael. Very nice to meet you.

This is obviously a splendid building. A casino.

When was it built and why was it built?

It was built just before the First World War, in 1909-1910.

And it was a building meant to bring the elite of the city together.

Constanta used to be a city of fishermen,

but then, after this region became part of the kingdom of Romania,

you have a great splendour in the city.

I'm very interested in the origins of the First World War.

Does Constanta play any part in the political developments?

Constanta has a very important role in the build-up

to the First World War.

It's actually the place the visit of the Tsar, Nicholas II,

with his imperial family, happened on 14th June, 1914,

when he visited the royal family of Romania.

-Are we able to go inside?

-Sure.

In 1914, Europe sensed that war was brewing.

Tensions were high between opposing alliances.

The Russian imperial visit, which drew huge crowds,

and concluded with a gala in this casino,

was more than a courtesy call by a neighbouring monarch.

Cosbin, it was clearly once a very grand building,

and I daresay a suitable place to receive the Tsar of Russia.

What was the political purpose of the visit?

It was very important because in Europe at that moment,

you have two main alliances.

You have Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy on one side,

and then on the other side you have France, Russia and Great Britain.

Romania was part of the first block,

together with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy.

And the others were trying to pull Romania out of this alliance

and to bring it to their side.

More things happened apart from the imperial visit.

You have also the foreign minister of Russia visiting Romania,

and this has a very important political message.

He was here in Constanta as well during the visit, but he stayed more in Bucharest

and they were able to talk further on, on the political, er...

..ideas connecting the two countries.

With the ostentatious welcome for the Russian Tsar,

Romania was claiming her place at the top diplomatic table,

and was being courted because of her strategic location.

In 1916, Romania eventually entered the First World War,

on the side of France, Britain and Russia.

To the south of the Casino lies the port of Constanta

which, during the 1860s, was open to international trade

with a railway built by a British company.

King Carol further modernised and improved the port

to accommodate large cargo ships.

Bradshaw's remarks that grain is Romania's chief export.

I want to find out whether that's still the case,

from Antonio Stoye, who works for a freight company here.

Antonio, I'm very struck by these very beautiful buildings.

When were they put up?

So they were build more than 100 years ago.

They started in 1904 with the first silo,

then the second one followed in 1911 and the third one in 1914.

All together, they are 100,000 tonnes capacity.

This is all about grain. Where is it going from and to?

Mainly from inland Romania,

the cargo is going further on the Black Sea.

In Turkey, North Africa and, today, it's going also to Far East.

The port of Constanta has undergone further expansion recently.

Handling nearly 20 million tonnes of cereal a year,

it's emerging as Europe's biggest grain transport hub,

and is on course to become the largest grain terminal

in the Black Sea region.

Enormous floating cranes transfer cargo

from river barges to seagoing ships.

The crane is controlled from a small operator cabin 100ft up.

(Don't look down, don't look down.)

Ah.

Made it to the top, and what a view.

The control centre.

Yes, here we are, on top of the world.

I'm looking down into the grain storage area of the ship.

It is, er, it is a vast cavity, isn't it?

Yeah, indeed.

Wow.

Now the, er, the fairground ride really does begin.

Ah, the whole crane is spinning around, wow.

This is... Whoa! This is scary.

This is moving in every conceivable direction.

I'm glad he wasn't driving it when we came up the ladder.

I've got the shakes.

If you look down, you will see that

-now he is grabbing from the barge.

-Oh, yeah.

Much more shaking as we grab. The wires come up, the grab is rising...

We're swinging round towards the ship.

Ahhh... We're now over the ship.

This vessel could hold up to 86,000 tonnes of grain,

and is bound for Belgium.

That's your first 26 tonnes, operated in Constanta.

Ah.

Oh-ho-ho!

If I was terrified before, I think this takes the biscuit.

I'm peering through an open space here, down to the enormous grab,

which must be 70 or 80ft beneath me.

When I think of the responsibility of these operators,

I mean, it's really terrifying!

This thriving venture in Constanta

signals Romania's ambitions for the future.

100 years ago, the railway traveller in Romania

would have noticed its poverty.

I've been taken aback to discover that it was a major oil producer,

whose king had a castle full of the latest electrical gadgets.

Similarly today, I am surprised that in

one of Europe's least developed economies,

there's an enormous and growing port here at Constanta.

Transylvania was joined to Romania only after the First World War,

and so it's still a young-ish country

that had a very unlucky 20th century.

Romania has now driven a stake into its communist past,

and I hope that this friendly nation will seize the new opportunities.

'Next time...

LOUD BANG

'..I enter a war zone with the Red Cross...'

Hurry, go!

A most extraordinary turn of events!

'..put my faith in St Bernard...'

Michael Portillo's the name.

Last seen somewhere in the Alps.

'..and salute the bravery of a Swiss pioneering pilot.'

Only when you go up in a small plane like this

do you realise what a formidable obstacle the Alps would have been

a century ago.