Radio România Internațional

Author: Eugen Nasta

  • Sports roundup

    Sports roundup

    Corona Brasov ice hockey team as part of the Erste Liga regional competition’s derby, in Budapest on Sunday defeated Hungarian opponents Ferencváros, 5-3, in a re-enactment of Erste Liga’s 2023 final. Scoring for Corona were Hungarian player Daniel Koger, the Russian Albert Zaghidulin, the naturalized Russian Evgheni Skacikov, who scored two goals, and US player Jared VanWormer.

    Also on Sunday and in extra-time, ACSH Gheorghieni secured a 3-2 home win against Ujpest Budapest. In their most severe defeat in recent years, Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc were outclassed, nil-8, by DEAC Debrecen at home.

    In men’s basketball domestic championship, CSM Oradea grabbed a 72-61 away win against defending champions U-BT Cluj Napoca. For the latter team it was the debut game in the domestic championship’s ongoing season. CSM Oradea’s best basketball player was the Romanian international, US-born Kristopher Jameil Richard, with 22 points and 4 recoveries. U-BT Cluj Napoca’s most efficient scorer was NBA team Oklahoma City Thunder’s former player, Zavier Marquis Simpson of the USA, with 20 points, 6 recoveries and 4 assists.

    Matches counting towards the Romanian Super league football championship’s 11th round were played at the weekend. On Friday, Petrolul Ploiesti secured a 4-1 home win against Fc Hermannstadt, then in Bucharest, Dinamo and FC Botosani drew, 2-all. On Saturday in Iasi, in the east, the local side Politehnica defeated Universitatea Cluj, 1-nil. UTA Arad grabbed a surprising 3-1 win against CFR Cluj, away. Also on Saturday, in Bucharest, the match pitting Rapid against Otelul Galaţi ended in a blank draw.

    In Buzau on Sunday, the local side Gloria grabbed a 1-nil home win against Farul Constanta, then FCSB defeated Sepsi OSK, 1-nil, away. Universitatea Cluj are still at the top of the as-it-stands-table, with 22 points. Following in descending order are Otelul Galati and Petrolul Ploiesti, with 18 points each. The former team have a pending match on their record sheet.

  • Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

    Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

    28Actor Niko Becker in 2024 scooped the Gopo Award in the Young Hopefuls category as part of the Gopo Film Festival, for Dumitru, his role in the film To the North, a film directed by Mihai Mincan.
    Niko Becker began his career on stage at the German State Theatre in Timisoara. When he was 15 he featured in One Step behind the Seraphim, a production directed by Daniel Sandu.

    In 2021, stage director Eugen Jebeleanu had Niko Becker on the cast for Treplev’s role as part Tchekhov’s Seagull, a stage production that would later be included in the I.L. Caragiale Bucharest National Theater’s repertory. Niko Becker also worked with director Carmen Lidia Vidu, in The Frail Feeling of Hope, playing the part of a youngster diagnosed with schizophrenia, equally fighting his mental condition and the social stigma. Since 2023, the young actor has become the youngest member of Bucharest-based Odeon Theater top-flight troupe. Niko was introduced to the public once with the premiere of An Open House, a stage performance directed by Teodora Petre.

    Mihai Mincan’s first feature-length film, To the North, is based on a true story. The five-country European co-production tells the story of Joel, a religious Filipino sailor working on a transatlantic ship. Joel discovers Dumitru, a clandestine passenger hidden between the containers. The discovery of Dumitru puts Joel in an extreme situation that forces him to reconsider his bond with friends and faith. In director Mihai Mincan’s own words, ‘To the North is a film about fear, a film about the confidence in the other one, a film about the ability or inability to put your life in the hands of an unknown person, but also about our relationship with God.’

    We sat down and spoke with Niko Becker about his passion for acting. We started off from his role in the psychological thriller, To the North, a production that scooped the Critics’ Award as part of the Venice Biennale, Bisato D’Oro, in the Best Film category. To The North is also included in the selection of major international film festivals.

    “I perfectly got along with the team and by that I do not mean the actors alone. Since it was my debut in a lead role, I was somehow in a discomfort zone, I had many uncertainties. Concurrently, I set my own standards very high. As for the experience I had in theatre, that was helpful, obviously, yet film and theatre are different arts and things do not overlap perfectly. There is this specific difference, especially in the way it is materialized in the end, since the movie remains on the film. That puts a lot of pressure on you, as an actor, when you think that what you do on the set remains imprinted. And it is a little bit stressful, the fact that the way you act remains, whereas in theatre, even if you may have a bad evening, you have the opportunity to recreate the role. But like I said, there are always risks in theatre because we can have less inspired moments, you know.

    I rarely get out satisfied after completing a performance, I always have the feeling that it could have been better, that I could have put up a better performance. And I believe it’s only natural to want each time more because if we want less, we limit ourselves and we can no longer make headway. And, coming back to the movie, if I know that the part I play – after a series of retakes – is being shot, I succeed in using my intuition and the other qualities. It seems to me that under the pressure of the moment, in a film I can achieve more.”

    Nico Becker told us how he contoured, with help from director Mihai Mincan, the part of Dumitru, the stowaway on the ship where Joel, the Filipino, works in ‘To the North’.

    “When I prepared the part, I focused on the separate elements the character was made of. I thought what it was like to feel all the things Dumitru himself felt, like hunger, cold, being scared by loud noises etc. And I was trying to express all that through my body by means of the techniques employed by actor Michael Chekhov, which were quite helpful. I also worked a lot on the character’s psychological background. Of course, the script helped me a lot as everything starts with the script, you know.

    For me, it is essential to better understand the script, what it is all about, the circumstances, situations, the characters’ reasons and the conflict between them and the rest but also the conflict with themselves. I believe that in this way you can better understand the part you have to play, by finding out the conflict in the entire storyline and the sections making it. Having identified that, I complete the character by using my imagination and expertise.”

    One of the latest parts played by Nico Becker is that of journalist Krzysztof Zalinski in “Disquiet”, by Ivan Vyrypaev, directed by Bobi Pricop. “Disquiet”, a performance in which Nico Becker has as partner the extraordinary Dorina Lazăr is, first and foremost, “a show about the relationship between art and life, creation and creator, between love, God and everything we are trying to give a sense to (by means of faith, art or love). Just like life itself, the theatre is and causes disquiet; actually, every one of us is a mixture of disquiet, which art in all its forms is trying and maybe even succeeding in unravelling” Bobi Pricop says.

  • Via Danubiana

    Via Danubiana

    Work is in progress, in Romania, for an ecotourism route, meant to provide the explorer with one-of-a-kind experiences, ranging from the natural and cultural heritage to the landscapes, unique in Europe. The Danube Gorges, the Iron Gates, the islands and islets the river forms in its course, the Danube Delta or the spectacular areas where the river flows into the Black Sea, all these are but a few of the Danube’s attraction points. The project has been developed by the Greener Association. With more on the association itself, here is its PR director, Alexandra Damian.

    „We have been developing projects in several fields since 2008, when the Association was founded. We seek to build a culture of responsibility and of the volunteering for people and nature, in Romania. We plant trees, we get involved in combatting river Danube’s pollution with plastic, we have a large-scale program With Clean Water, where we carry activities of sanitation on banks of the Danube and its tributaries. We installed several floating dams in a bid to stem the flow of waste that are carried by the course of the river and its tributaries, and, basically, we promote the natural areas that can be found in Romania, so we somehow get closer to nature in a way we have forgotten to that, sort of, as of late. “

    Through the creation of a wide-scope ecotourism route along the Danube, tourists who love natural areas will discover the tremendous potential the area offers. Also, the local community will benefit from a sustainable economic development. With details on that here is the Greener Association’s PR director, Alexandra Damian. But how the idea of the Via Danubiana came about?

    ” The idea of the project has laid dormant for a couple of years now, with us, it existed in a drawer. We very much wanted to create this ecotourism route since we all know the Danube offers unique experiences. From the point where it enters Romania and all the way to the point where if flows into the Black Sea, we come across many beautiful places, a natural and cultural heritage, landscapes which are unique in Europe, reason enough for us to bring to the fore one of Romania’s less-promoted areas. “

    In the region, a series of protected areas and Natura 2000 sites have been identified, while the trail crosses forest areas along the shore, islands, canals and islets. As we speak, these are not accessible to the lay public because of the lack of infrastructure and poor promotion. We continue to map the more than one thousand kilometres river Danube flows in Romania.

    “We’re speaking about the mapping of the natural objectives, of the cultural and historical assets, of the local cuisine, all that can be found along the river. In the initial stage, we marked the segment flowing through Giurgiu County along a distance or around 100 kilometers, a zone which is rich in protected areas, in Natura 2000 sites, in cultural and historical objectives, which are very important yet very little promoted. The route we have mapped also goes through shore forests, islands, canals, islets lovers of nature will definitely want to discover. In September we placed the first milestone in Giurgiu County’s commune of Gaujani, at the Youth Educational Centre. It is one of the milestone points along the route. We’re next going to place two other milestones, in two other strategic points along the route. “

    The route offers a great many ways to spend your leisure time, only one hour’s drive from Bucharest. For the lovers of nature, the area benefits from an attractive list of species and can become the perfect place for birdwatching and the observation of the fauna and flora that are typical for river Danube. Along the route, we come across several natural protected areas, with more than 300 species of extremely rich flora and fauna, with very important invertebrate species, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

    From a cultural and historical point of view, there are several points of interest, which are nonetheless unbeknownst to the lay public and hitherto un-signalled, such as the ruins of Mircea the Elder’s fortress in Giurgiu, a period half-buried house or the range of bunkers in Slobozia. Also, for those who love the local cuisine, some of the culinary traditions can be revitalized, such as the pies that are specific for the Romanian-Bulgarian space, riparian to the Danube Delta, the pepper salads or the salads prepared with aubergines baked on glowing embers, or the goose thick soup. All the details needed for the journey along the Danube have already been published in a Traveller’s Guide you can access at viadanubiana.ro.

    “We have already launched the site. There we have GPS coordinates for those who want to walk along the trail, at viadanubiana.ro. We’ve also published a Traveller’s Guide in Giurgiu County. We very much want those who love nature, those who are into outdoor walks, those who love the Danube and the Delta, we want them to come join us. Given that, as we speak, we only map a segment, 100 out of the 1,000 kilometres, they can get involved in all sorts of ways so that we can extend the route, so we can map just as we’ve mapped Giurgiu County and the other regions along the Danube. Also, donations are welcome, products can be bought in the shop that has especially been created for Via Danubiana. They can obviously get involved as volunteers in the activities we are going to stage and can of course become ambassador of the new route. “

    At vianubiana.ro you can access the whole range of options for the lovers of nature to get involved, in a bid to support the project. So far, appeals to volunteering have been successful, said Greener Association’s PR director, Alexandra Damian. Volunteers from outside Romania have also joined in.

    “We’ve had, we’re open and, of course, we shall continue to have volunteers from many countries, especially along the river. We had volunteers from Germany, Austria, Ukraine who helped us in the activities we have staged so far. That’s for sure, we wait them to join us in the future as well. “
    Who has walked a segment along the Danube at least once, they’re sure to have unforgettable memories, related to the impressive landscape offered by the river in certain areas, or to the historical vestiges people come across along the route or to the traditional food carefully prepared by the locals. Added to that are the species of birds and animals that are typical for the region and which, on the banks of the river, they can find food, resting or nesting areas. Furthermore, the Danube’s Romanian segment flows through 11 of Romania’s main 28 protected areas.”

  • Speleological tourism in Romania’s Anina Mountains

    Speleological tourism in Romania’s Anina Mountains

    Romania is home to roughly 12,000 caves, actually being one of Europe’s top countries in terms of the number and the diversity of the caves. Being of a very special beauty, the caves stand out thanks to the uniqueness of their karstic formations and the great length of the galleries, with some of them even being longer than ten kilometres. Actually, in the early 20th century, Romanian explorer Emil Racoviță laid the foundation of the world’s first biospeleology institute. At that, Racovita began the mapping of the subterranean universe. If we look again at the most beautiful caves, one of Europe’s most beautiful such caves can be found in western Romania, in Anina Mountains. It is called the Comarnic Cave.

    The Comarnic Cave is one of Romania’s most beautiful and wildest caves. It is 6,203 meters long, lying at an altitude of 100 meters, with a three-level development. Of them, tourists can only see the upper level, stretching along 1,750 meters. The lower level is crossed by Ponicova rivulet’s subterranean segment.

    Bogdan Badescu is the president of the Resita-based Explorers Speleological Association. At national level, Bogdan is a well-known speleologist and a former president of the Romanian Speleology Federation. Bogdan Badescu is our guide today and it is from him we found out that, in order for a cave to be formed, a soluble rock is needed. We’re speaking about limestone. As for the Caras-Severin County, there are many calcareous areas there.

    “The limestones are formed at the bottom of the seas or at the bottom of lagoons, there where there are many sea creatures, which, after they die, they remain at the bottom of the seas, while all those shells of snails and bones make a bed which gets thicker in millions of years. And that’s how we get to have the present-day situation, where we have the Anina Mountains, which are more than 1,000 high, all of them being formed of limestone.

    Three elements are required for a cave to be formed. We need a soluble rock. We also need water, I mean water that can flow through the soluble rock, thereby dissolving it so the space can thus be formed. Then we also need the course the water can flow through. Having the rock is not enough, unless a couple of seeps exists, for the water to flow through. In a very long period of time, the water, as it flows, dissolves the limestone, more and more. If, initially, a gallery had a one-centimetre-wide seep, now it is 10 to 20 meters wide and high. “

    Interesting to note is the fact that there are no stalactites in the Comarnic Cave, yet there are deposits of calcium carbonate, the cave’s earliest such deposits. With details on that, here is the president of the Resita-based Explorers Speleological Association, Bogdan Badescu:

    “ As we advance into the cave, we notice many more such calcium carbonate formations in various stages and shapes, all of them very beautiful. And, towards the middle of the cave, there where it is around 200 meters deep, as against the surface of the ground there are some huge basins which right now are even full of water. In popular terms, they are known as the Chinese walls. Their charm is very special. Another strong point of the cave is made of its silex formations. On the walls, we can see some stripes of a darker, black-brownish colour. Those are the silex interlayers. Of them, in the past, tools were manufactured, by the primitive men. It is the staple rock used for the manufacturing of the first tools.”

    Unfriendly as it may seem, and with life circumstances being very difficult, the environment of the cave is home to adapted forms of life. A true subterranean universe. With details on that, here is the president of the Resita-based Explorers Speleological Association, Bogdan Badescu:

    “There is a series of invertebrates which, as a rule, are one, two millimetre-long, or even less than one millimetre. Those invertebrates permanently live in the deep environment of the cave and they feed on one another, or on the trophic resources sometimes brought by the water from the surface. Apart from those invertebrate species in the cave, around one hundred, there are also the species that reach the cave accidentally.

    The Ponicova rivulet, especially when the river flow is high, can mostly bring crabs or frogs in the cave. Those species, for a while they live as long as they can find food and the time comes for them to die, yet they manage to survive for quite a long period of time. There also are the butterflies and the spiders who you’re most likely to come across in the first dozens of meters, at the entrance of the Comarnic Cave.

    The symbol-species everybody knows are the bat species. They are mammals entering the cave permanently, there they have both the birth habitat but also the hibernation and sheltering habitat. Especially in winter they form quite large colonies in the Comarnic Cave .”

    Practical info on how to visit, providing it is the director of the Semenic-Caras Gorges National Park, Nicolae Ifca, who is also the administrator of the Comarnic Cave.

    “I recommend tourists to access the official site of the park, at www.pnscc.ro, where they can get all the info on the visiting hours for absolutely any objective that can be found in the park. In the cave we come across several halls, bigger or smaller, a great many stalactite-type formations, stalagmites, columns, but for each and every one of them we have a name given by the administration, that’s for sure. Our daily timetable begins at 10:30 am with the first admission, while the last admission is at 15:30. From Monday to Friday we provide a guide to the visit, with a request to be made in advance, yet on Saturdays and Sundays we provide a guide on a permanent basis. “

    In the Semenic-Caras Gorges National Park we find eleven nature reserves, but also 65,000 hectares of virgin and old-growth beech forests, included, in 2016, in the UNESCO world heritage list. And it is also here that we can find a rare specimen of Sequoia, whose circumference is 5.7 meters and whose estimate age is 200 years. The giant tree has been included in a route starting off right from the Comarnic Cave.

    Actually, the Semenic-Caras Gorges National Park Administration provides guiding services for seven tourist programs, in the protected area. The guides are the park rangers who know the area, they can offer numerous pieces of info on the local history and culture, flora a and fauna species, or ecosystems. The fee per persons for a guided programs is 70 Lei (14 Euros).

  • Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody

    Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody

    The 2024 session of the baccalaureate exam in Romania has seen the highest promotion rate in the last decade, accounting for 76.4%. Notwithstanding, the maturity exam has been frightening for many of the candidates. Reason enough for a couple of students in Cluj, central Transylvania, to have an initiative meant to make the experience easier for those colleagues who were lass lucky. The students successfully passed the baccalaureate exam with high grades and started Baccademia, a project that seeks to help candidates pass the baccalaureate exam with no trouble at all.

    Bianca Ionescu is the founder of the Baccademia project. Here is what she told us:

    “Our story actually began as early as 2022. That year I passed the baccalaureate exam, with a 10 in History and a 9.80 grade in the Romanian Language and literature test. Even though I competed in the National Romanian Language and Literature Olympiad ever since secondary school and I still competed all throughout the high school years, I was still stressed out as a 12th-grade, senior high-school pupil since the baccalaureate exam was drawing near. And then, having taken the exam, I opted for digitizing the materials I myself had been structuring.

    It took me a good six months to structure the subject matters all by myself. In 2022 I started helping pupils online. I shared those materials, free of charge, on an Instagram account and practically the generation that passed the exam in 2023 was the first one I helped. And then the idea of Baccademia began to take shape only when the pupils sent me their Baccalaureate exam grades. For instance, of the roughly 3,000 pupils I helped, most of them passed the exam with a grade above 9.50. Some of them even got a neat 10. There even were people who got very high grades having sat in for the exam 10 or 20 years later in life! And, practically, that very moment I realized my materials did have a positive impact on them.”

    Bianca Ionescu has been a high-school student until recently. Here is what she went on to say:

    “Pupils got fed up with bulky books, with a typical black-and-white print and full of details that were not required for the baccalaureate exam, and I could understand their frustration since I had been there before. We’re in a country where we can nonetheless see the situation ahead of the exams did not change that much, it does not improve as against the previous years. 10 months have passed since I founded Baccademia and we make the difference, somehow, as our team is only made of students who got a 10 in the baccalaureate exam or in some of the subject matters. And, also, all our collections are coloured and synthetic. It also includes, for instance, pieces of advice, solved tests or jokes, sometimes, jokes today’s generation is sure to understand very clearly. “

    Irina Selagea is the author of the Geography handbook. Also, she is responsible for the interactive videos on the social media. I asked her what Baccademia was, for her:

    “I am the kind of person who likes to help and I am keen on bringing in a new perspective when it comes to learning for the baccalaureate exam, since most of the people think it is just a test for which you only have to swot. But I should like to come up with the idea and the solution that any baccalaureate test could be passed with flying colours only though understanding, through jokes and in a much funnier way, rather than resorting to pricey materials or to very long materials. I have come up with the solution for the Generation Z pupils, who somehow have a different understanding of how to learn for certain subject matters. And I just wanted to bring in a new version, in a bid to motivate pupils, perhaps to read Romanian literature in an off-the-beaten-track way “.

    In terms of feedback, the Baccademia team has told us several pupils confessed that with the help of these materials, they could memorize the entire content of a subject matter that was taught in one class, in one minute

    As for the team, they continue their work! Bianca Ionescu:

    We’re still in short supply of the IT, Chemistry and Physics exercise books, and that’s what we’re working won at the moment. They will be brought out sometime in September, in mid-month, we hope. Our success, to a great extent, is provided by the Tik Tok platform. It is there that we’ve gained our popularity with the clips we created using AI, for instance. We’ve so far gathered 1,000,000 views all told, in our account. “

    We can only wish candidates to be efficient in their learning efforts, now that everything has become easier for them.

  • Romania’s wine story

    Romania’s wine story

    The itineraries and the tours taken around Romania’s wine cellars are focused on one single eventual aim: getting acquainted with the regions dedicated to the production of wine and to wine tasting. Tourists can take part in wine-tasting sessions, can make guided tours in wine cellars and vineyards. Not the least, they can make the most of of their extraordinary culinary experiences. Any time of the year has its charm yet the most sought-after timeframe is between May and October, when the temperature outside allows tourists to enjoy having experiences other than the wine-related ones.

    Alexandra Gălbează is the founder of Romania’s Enotourism Association. There has been a growing trend in recent years as regards this form of tourism. Moreover, the offer has become more diversified. Or at least that’s what Alexandra Galbeaza told us.

    “Of course that, strictly speaking, enotourism means visiting a wine cellar, yet in recent years, especially after the pandemic, the vine growing tourism also has other connotations. It does not only mean visiting a wine cellar but also the opportunity to enjoy a different experience, apart from the wine-tasting proper. We’re speaking about staging musical live concerts in a vineyard, picnics, also in the vineyard, musical evenings, plays, concerts, theme parties with camp fires that carry on late into the night, especially if we speak about the wine cellars that also have accommodation capacity. So tourists can stay the night at the wine cellar, having visited it. “

    Accompanied by the founder of Romania’s Enotouriosm Association, Alexandra Gălbează, we start our journey from the Dealu Mare vineyard, which lies very close to Bucharest.

    “We began with this region become it is very close to Bucharest where we have very many people. Those who want to escape the capital city have the opportunity to go, at a stone’ s throw away, to a place where they can enjoy a enotourism experience. It also is, arguably, the region with the greatest number of wine cellars. It is a dense area, with the wine cellars lying quite close to one another. So the enotourism activities can also be diverse and many. It is also at this point that we can speak about the recently-built wine cellars, but also about wine cellars with a rich history. We’re speaking about the wine cellar known for the production of the sparkling wine but also for being the purveyor of the Royal house. Also, here we have accommodation facilities. We can start off with a tour of the cellar, with a wine-tasting session and it is also in this region that we can speak about another wine cellar as well, whose history is also rich, which used to be a royal property and which is now owned by Prince Nicolae of Romania and his wife. This wine cellar has developed very many enotourism packages. We have accommodation, theme parties with wine and food pairing can be staged, there also is the personalized partying that can offer a personalized experience. These are initiatives the wine cellars took the liberty to have, yet there are also initiatives that started from the region’s wine cellars uniting their forces. “

    We continue our journey and we’re heading to eastern Romania, in Moldavia, and here our stopover is the Vrancea region. Here we can find a wine cellar with a long-standing tradition in wine production, whose premises have nonetheless been modernized in recent years, and which are placed in a dreamlike landscape. This wine cellar offers accommodation as well, while those who wish to spend more time here can benefit from multiple experiences.

    ” Apart from the fact that they can enjoy the tasting and the local wines, they can stay there for a couple of days, they can cycle all the way to the vineyard, sports aficionados can even stay over night for a game of tennis, if the weather is friendly, we also have a swimming pool. Then travelling further to Moldavia, in the Iasi region we can find a wine cellar with a rich history. It is the cellar where wines are made of indigenous sorts alone: Frâncușă, Grasă de Cotnari. So enotourism cannot be limited to the wine-tasting proper. I am not the only one to say it, also saying it are the European initiatives starting the Wine Road, Iter Vitis, the cultural road of the wine. That means we blend the wine into the cultural story of the place. In Moldavia, we speak about the local wines, however, the Cucuteni civilization can be found close by. Tourists can visit, can find out the story of the place, of the Cucuteni civilization, which is known to be Europe’s oldest civilization. “

    The schedule of a visit to the wine cellars needs to be made well in advance. It is a kind of tourism that can be made all year round. For instance, if we want to enjoy the landscape, the vineyard, the best period would be autumn or spring, where we can enjoy the scent, the fragrance, the green landscape. Also, we can go there in the cold season, yet the tour of the wine cellar will be limited to the interior experience. With more on that, here is the founder of Romania’s Enotourism Association, Alexandra Galbeaza.

    “Those who want to go the wine cellar and enjoy the experience need to make a call and schedule a visit in advance so they can make sure that at the wine cellar, there is someone who can welcome them. Also, having reached the wine cellar, the story begins with the tour of the cellar, with the story of the place. Specific info is being offered on how the wines were obtained, on the way the wine is produced, starting from the vineyard and all the way to the end product. A point the visit also covers is the bottling area so that visitors can see how wine is bottled, and, not the least, there also is the eagerly-awaited visit to the barrels area, while the tasting oftentimes also takes place in the barrels area or the hall especially dedicated to tasting. That depends on each wine cellar yet it also very much depends on the experience the tourist wants to have “.

    The founder of Romania’s Enotourism Association, Alexandra Gălbează, has organized the Enotourism Forum. Here she is once again, this time breaking the news about other interesting projects.

    “The next event, it will be in the spring of 2025, most likely. It is an event exclusively dedicated to this particular sort of tourism where we seek to invite representatives of the wine cellars tourism agencies, but also tourist guides, in a bid to think together of what actually happens and what it is required so that this segment can develop in Romania. Also, we intend o create a wine route at national level, accessible, of course, according to the country’s major regions, so that in the future we can integrate this route into the European cultural route. “

    A great many tourists are in pursuit of authenticity, of the peaceful life and are happy to discover that, in Romania, there are still traditions and local cuisine. They are delighted with the Romanian wines, especially with the indigenous sorts, all that and the high-standard accommodation offer turn the visit to the wine cellars into an unforgettable experience.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    The third edition of the Ţiriac Foundation Trophy tennis tournament has recently come to end in Bucharest. Hosted by the National tennis center in Bucharest, in 2024 the WTA 125 tournament had 115, 000 USD up for grabs. All the 8 seeded tennis player of the tournament were some of world’s top 200 players. Among them, great names of Romanian tennis, such as veteran tennis player Irina Begu and the surprise of the 2024 edition, Anca Todoni.

    However, the winner was a player who, before her remarkable feat in Bucharest, was not one of the 200 players according to world rankings. Miriam Bulgaru is WTA 202nd tennis player. Her win in Bucharest is her career-peak so far. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Miriam Bulgaru the Athlete of the week.

    As part of the Ţiriac Foundation Trophy, in the first round Miriam Bulgaru outclassed Italy’s Nicole Fossa Huergo, cu 6-1, 6-3. In the second round, Miriam Bulgaru defeated Serbia’s Dejana Radanovic, 6-4, 6-4. In the quarterfinals Miriam defeated Alevtina Ibraghimova of Russia, 6-2 , 6-2. It was not until the semi-final confrontation that she lost the first set, when Bulgaru played Georgia’s Ekaterine Gorgodze, eventually winning the match, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

    In the final, Bulgaru went against Liechtenstein’s Kathinka von Deichmann, who, in the quarterfinals, outclassed the top-seed tennis player, Argentina’s Marie Lourdes Carle. Miriam Bulgaru won the first set, 6-3. von Deichmann won the second set, 6-1. However, the decisive set was won by the Romanian, 6-4. The winner was rewarded with 15,000 USD, also skipping 24 places according to world rankings. So far Miriam has reached her career peak, the 178th-position.

    Miriam Bulgaru was born on October 8, 1988 in the central Romania town of Alba Iulia. Miriam made her debut in the WTA circuit in 2018, at the Bucharest Open, where she was granted a wild card. However, in the first round she lost to China’s Wang Yafan. So far Miriam has won three ITF tournaments. Her net income so far amounts to more than 300,000 USD.

  • The early days of BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting

    The early days of BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting

    In the world of radio broadcasting, the BBC needs no introduction. The BBC is one of the landmarks without which the history of radio broadcasting cannot be written. In its centenary existence, holding a special place is the BBC’s Romanian-language service.

    The early days of the BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting are linked to the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, so in September 2024 we celebrate the service’s 85 years of broadcasting. We should emphasize, at this point, Great Britain’s extremely important influence which justified the very existence of the BBC, given that after 1945, at the end of the war, the world’s geopolitical stage became even more complicated that it had been before.

    In 1997, Radio Romania’s Oral History Canter interviewed one of the first journalists who used to work for the BBC’s Romanian-language Service, Liviu Cristea. He was a BBC anchorman from 1939 to 1971.

    Liviu Cristea reminisced the beginnings of the service and the tests that were made to that effect

    ”At this radio station trials were made like some sort of test time, carried by people who had been recommended by the Romanian Legation. Some of the Brits’ radio stations where thereby checking if the broadcast was audible in Romania, at once checking whether the voices behind the mic were suitable or not. However, the first team that took over the editing work was made of four people: a Finance Ministry official, Niculae Gheorghiu, who was in London on a training stage, a history professor, Ion Podrea, who was sent by the Iorga Institute to do his research, a legal expert furthering his comparative law studies, that was me, and a young student of the London Polytechnic, Jose Campus.”

    In the beginning, the Romanian-language broadcast was a 15-minute news bulletin. It kept Romanian listeners informed with news from the international and British press. The war had broken out and the Poles, officials or ordinary people, were withdrawing to Romania, in a bid to reach the West. The slot was broadcast from the Broadcasting House in Portland Place lying in central London, it was from there that, for the first time ever in Romanian, the announcement was heard: “This is Radio London.”

    When the German bombs damaged the building, the service was relocated to a hotel and from there to a skating rink. Liviu Cristea also said that fairly rapidly he and his colleagues adapted to the demands of the job. Here he is once again, giving us details on how the editorial work was organized.

    ”Shortly afterwards, the anchormen’s voices had become a reliable and identifiable source of information that also provided a gleam of hope in the grim days. At the same microphone science specialists offered their opinions, but also columnists, professors, trade union members, writers, army people, underground frontline fighters, refugees and prisoners who had escaped from the labour camps, or prisoners of war. The materials received by the editors of the Romanian section had already been processed in a central editorial office. The stuff had to be translated and commented upon by the Romanian editors so that it could become as accessible as possible to the average listener. The pieces of news after the outbreak of the war were checked but not censored by diplomatic and military bodies. The press commentaries were selected for each zone the broadcasts targeted, the talks given by prominent journalists sought to place the event or the news of the day against the backdrop that appeared at that particular moment. “

    The state of war demanded that the BBC broadcasts in Romanian, just like in the other foreign languages, be closely monitored. Liviu Cristea:

    ”Available for us from the very beginning was a so-called monitoring service, that is a service listening to the broadcasts from the country and from other parts. Those who closely monitored the broadcasts proper in front of the mic were supposed to monitor closely that, behind the mic, we should not read something different than what was written in the news bulletins, we should not improvise anything even with one single word, we should not stray away from the text that had been approved of by the section head prior to going to the mic. And those gentlemen who kept an eye on us were George Campbell, doctor Morrison and a gentleman who back in the day used to be a high-ranking employee of an oil company in Romania and whose command of Romanian was excellent. “

    In the building of the BBC, Liviu Cristea also recalled his seminal encounter with a character that would make history in the troubled 20th century.

    “ As I was passing by the janitor’s desk, there was a French officer there who was somehow embarrassed because he and the janitor could not understand each other. The man was a French army officer, wearing a French uniform so offered him my help right away and I asked him to tell me what it was all about. He was extremely blunt and kind of vexed as he answered me: ‘ I am colonel de Gaulle, I come from the front line and I have a meeting. I am already 5 minutes late and I don’t understand why I am being kept here and why nobody welcomed me at the reception’. I was deeply touched when later on I discovered that the one-star colonel was general de Gaulle who, as we know, led the French resistance and then he was the one who created the first post-war political structure in France.”

    The BBC’s Romanian-language service is now 85 years old. All along, the BBC was one of the citadels defending human rights, until 1989. It still is, to this day.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    Romanian women’s handball team Gloria Bistritsa grabbed a 24-22 away win against Rapid Bucharest. The fixture counted as the derby of the National Women’s Handball League’s third round. Florentin Pera’ s trainees had the lead all throughout the game, so much so that in the first half Gloria Bistritsa were six goals clear of Rapid. Gloria Bistritsa’s top player was Brazilian goal keeper Renata Lais De Arruda, with 18 saves. Gloria’s most efficient scorer was another Brazilian, Tamires Morena, with 5 goals scored. Rapid’s top scorer was the French Aissatou Kouyaté, who scored 5 goals. Gloria is fresh from another great win they grabbed on Saturday in the Champions League, against CSM Bucharest. In the domestic championship, 2023 title holders, CSM, in Bucharest on Wednesday grabbed a 38-24 win against Magura Cisnadie.

    In news from football, Emil Săndoi is Politehnica Iaşi’s newly-appointed head coach. Sandoi’s debut match is this coming Sunday’s fixture pitting Politehnica Iasi against Universitatea Craiova, the team where Emil Sandoi made a name for himself in domestic football. The match counts towards the Romanian Super League’s 9th round. The round’s debut fixtures on Friday will see Sepsi OSK Sfantu Gheorghe playing FC Botosani on home turf, while in Bucharest, in a match hosted by the Triumphal Arch Arena, Dinamo Bucharest faces Unirea Slobozia.

    The Romanian athletes who in 2024 walked home with medals won in the Olympic and Paralympic games, on Wednesday were decorated by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Among them, swimmer David Popovici and rowers Ancuţa Bodnar, Simona Radiş, Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache. A couple of sports officials and head coaches have also received distinctions. The many-time rowing champion and currently the president of the National Sports Agency, Elisabeta Lipa, was granted the Star of Romania Order in the rank of Grand Officer. The Olympic fencing champion in 2000, the President of the Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, was granted the Star of Romania National Order in the rank of Knight.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    The Summer Paralympic Games drew to a close in Paris on Sunday. Every four years, the competition is organized immediately after the Olympic Games. The system has been operational since 1988, when the Korean edition of the Games was held. However, the history of the Paralympic competitions dedicated to the disabled began earlier, in 1948, with a series of competitions dedicated to the WWII British veterans.

    Officially, the inaugural edition of the Paralympic Games was held in Rome in 1960. The competition has evolved ever since, so much so that in 2024 in Paris the event gathered almost 4,500 athletes and more than two million spectators.

    In 2024, representing Romania were two visually impaired judokas, Alexandru Bologa and Daniel Vargoczki. Joining them were Eduard Novak and Theodor Matican in cycling, as well as Camelia Ciripan and Bobi Simion in table tennis. The star of the Romanian delegation was the 2012 Paralympic champion Novak. At the opening ceremony, the Romanian delegation’s veteran athlete, 45-year-old Camelia Ciripan was the flag bearer. However, the Romanian delegation’s top performer was judoka Alexandru Bologa, who walked away with gold in the 73-kilogram category.

    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Bologa the Athlete of the Week.

    Alexandru Bologa was born on November 7, 1995, in Salaj County, in the north. He was diagnosed with a complete visual impairment at the age of 7. As an athlete, he first took up swimming, then he moved on to judo. His first great performance occurred in 2013, when, at the age of 18, Bologa walked away with silver at the World Juniors’ Championships held in Eger, Hungary. In 2016 he won the Open in Heidelberg and the Grand Prix in Birmingham. Bologa made his Paralympic debut at the 2016 edition of the Games in Rio de Janeiro, winning bronze in the 60-kilogram category.

    In Tokyo in 2021, Alexandru Bologa reiterated his performance, while at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 he exceeded everyone’s expectations and won gold. He entered straight the semifinals, defeating Uzbek opponent Shohruh Mamedov, through ippon. In the semifinal, Bologa outclassed, through waza-ari, Brazil’s Harlley Damiao Pereira Arruda. In the final, Bologa defeated, through ippon, Kazakhstan’s Yergali Samei.

  • Olympic Update

    Olympic Update

    Romanian athlete Alina Rotaru – Kottmann came in 7th in the long-jump final held on Stade de France nearby paris. Alina Rotaru’s best jump measured 6 meters and 67 centimetres. US athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall won gold with a jump of 7 metres and 10 centimetres. The silver medal went to German athlete Malaika Mihambo, the Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, whose jump measured 6 metres and 98 centimetres. Another US athlete, Jasmine Moore, won bronze, with a jump of 6 metres and 96 centimetres. Romania last won an Olympic medal in Athletics in 2008 in Beijing, when Constantina Dita won gold in the marathon.

    Also on Thursday, rowers Ilie Sprîncean and Oleg Nuţă won the B Final of the C2 men’s 500m race. According to the final rankings, Sprincean and Nuta came in 9th, clocking one minute, 43 seconds and 80 hundredths of a second. The Romanian C2 rowers on Thursday came in 5th in the second semi-final. The bottom-of-the-table position denied the Romanians participation to the A Final.

    In a repechage confrontation this past Wednesday Romanian wrestler Andreea Beatrice Ana in the 53-kilogram category was defeated by North-Korea’s Hyo Gyong Choe. A three-time world champion in the 55-kilogram category, in the round of 16 Ana defeated Republic of Moldova’s Mariana Drăguţan, yet in the quarterfinals Ana sustained a defeat by Lucia Yepez Guzman of Ecuador. The South-American wrestler reached as far as the finals so the Romanian competed in the repechage. However, Ana was clearly dominated by her North-Korean opponent who went on to win bronze, having defeated Annika Wendle of Germany in the decisive confrontation.

    Romanian athlete Annaliese Drăgan has wasted the opportunity to qualify to rhythmic gymnastics’ all-around final. Dragan ranked 21st in the qualifiers. 18-year-old Anneliese Dragan, a first-timer at the Olympic Games, was Romania’s only representative competing in rhythmic gymnastics in Paris.

  • Olympic update

    Olympic update

    Weightlifter Mihaela Cambei on Wednesday walked away with silver in the 49-kilogram category. Combined, Cambei succeeded a deadlift of 205 kilograms. In the final attempt in the competition, Cambei was outperformed by defending Olympic champion, China’s Zhihui Hou, whose reported combined deadlift stood at 206 kilograms.

    In the snatch style, Cambei had a deadlift of 93 de kilograms succeeding 112 kilograms combined. Winner Zhihui Hou’s 117-kilogram clean-and-jerk deadlift was a new Olympic record. With a combined deadlift of 200 kilograms, Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao walked home with bronze. In the 71-kilogram category, Loredana Toma will prove her mettle on Friday. Romania last won an Olympic weightlifting medal in Atlanta, in 1996, when Nicu Vlad won bronze.

    Cătălin Chirilă on Wednesday advanced to the C1 men’s 1000m final, Chirila won the third heat of the qualifiers, clocking 3 minutes, 44 seconds and 75 hundredths of a second and set a new Olympic record. A world champion in 2022 and a vice-world champion in 2023, Chirila broke a 20-year-old record set by Spain’s David Cal at the Athens Olympics. The semi-finals and the finals are scheduled on Friday.

    In the Olympic discus throw final hosted by Stade de France on Wednesday, the Romanian athlete Alin Alexandru Firfirica came in 11th. His best throw measured 64 meters and 45 centimeters. The winner was Jamaican athlete Roje Stone, with a throw of 70 meters, thus setting a new Olympic record.

    Also in news from athletics, Andrea Miklos wasted the opportunity to advance to the 400m final. In the semifinal she competed in, Miklos ranked 15th, clocking 50 seconds and 78 hundredths of a second, eventually coming in 5th. Romania last won an athletics Olympic medal in athletics in 2008, when Constantina Dita won gold in the marathon.

  • Olympic update

    Olympic update

    Romanian athlete Bianca Ghelber came in 9th in the hammer throw finals held as part of the Paris Olympics on Tuesday. Ghelber’s best throw measured 72 de meters and 36 de centimeters. Bianca had claimed her place in the final with the 11th throw in the competition, standing at 71 meters and 42 centimeters. World title holder, Canada’s Camryn Rogers, compelled recognition with a throw of 76 de metres and 97 centimetres.

    It is for the 4th time around when 34-year-old Bianca Ghelber participates in the Olympic Games, In Tokyo in 2021 Ghelber was 6th-placed accordion got the finbal rankings. in the final. At the London Olympics in 2012 Bianca Ghelber ranked 17th, while in 2008 in Beijing Bianca Ghelber was unable to go past the qualifiers. We recall that Romania last won an Olympic medal in athletics in 2008, when Constantina Dita walked away with gold in the marathon.

    Also in news from athletics, on Tuesday Alina Rotaru – Kottmann advanced to the long jump final, with the 9th performance in the qualifiers. Alina’s best jump measured 6 meters and 63 centimeters. World vice-champion, US athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall, managed a jump of 6 meters and 90 centimeters, the best performance in the qualifiers. She was followed by Italy’s Larissa Iapichino with a jump of 6 meters and 87 centimeters. Defending Olympic champion, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, jumped 6 meters and 86 centimeters. In 2023 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. lina Rotaru – Kottmann won bronze with a jump of 6 meters and 88 centimeters. The women’s long jump final is scheduled on Thursday.

    On Tuesday, Romanian rowers Ilie Sprîncean and Oleg Nuţă advanced to the 500m men’s pair race, having come in second in the first quarterfinal. Ilie Sprîncean and Oleg Nuţă clocked one minute and 40 seconds, being outclassed by Brazil’s Jacky Jamael Nascimento Godmann and Isaquias Guimaraes Queiroz, who clocked one minute, 38 de seconds and 78 hundredths of a second. The semifinals and the final are to be held on Thursday. Romania last won a kayak canoe medal in Sydney in 2000 when Florin Popescu and Mitică Pricop won gold in men’s 1000m pair race and bronze, in the 500m race.

  • Olympic Update

    Olympic Update

    The women’s gymnastics contest as part of the ongoing Paris Olympics drew to a close on Monday, August 5, with the last apparatus pieces finals in the beam and floor events. Romanian gymnasts took the start in both events.

    Competing in the beam event was Sabrina Maneca Voinea, who had advanced to the finals with the 5th mark in the qualifiers, 14. 000 points. However, in the final, Voinea fell off the beam and was eventually 8th-placed, the bottom-of-the-table position, with 11. 733 points.

    The winner was Italy’s Alice D’Amato, with 14. 366 points. The floor final followed, with two Romanian gymnasts competing, Ana Bărbosu and yet again Sabrina Maneca Voinea. Ana got the 8th mark in the qualifiers, 13.600, while Sabrina Voinea got the 4th mark, 13.800. With a flawless exercise in the final, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won, with 14. 166 points.

    Stepping onto the second step of the podium was US gymnast Simone Biles. The American got a surprisingly high mark, 14.133 points, having stepped off of the mat several times. At the end of her exercise, third-placed was Ana Bărbosu, who initially got 13. 700 points. Also 13.700 points got Sabrina Voinea who came in 4th because of a flaw in her exercise. Fifth-placed was US gymnast Jordan Chiles who filed an appeal to which the referees agreed.

    With a raised number of points, 13.766, Chiles won bronze. Therefore, the Romanians were denied the opportunity of stepping onto a step of the podium. Sabrina Voinea filed an appeal targeting the starting mark of her exercise but her appeal was unsuccessful.

    Romania last won an Olympic medal in gymnastics at the London Olympics in 2012. We recall back then Sandra Izbaşa won gold in the vault event, Cătălina Ponor walked away with silver in the floor event. While Romania stepped onto the third step of the podium in the nations’ competition.
    Twelve years on, as part of the Paris Olympics, Romania came in 7th in the nations’ competition.

  • Olympic Update

    Olympic Update

    Swimmer David Popovici on Wednesday won the bronze medal in the 100m Olympic race. The winner of the race was China’s Chan Zhanle, who set a new world record 46 seconds and 40 hundredths of a second. The runner-up competitor was Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, who clocked 47 seconds and 48 hundredths of a second. David Popovici came in third, with a timing of 47 seconds and 49 hundredths of a second. For David, it was the second medal he scooped as the ongoing edition of the Olympic Games in Paris, having won gold in the 200m race.

    In rowing, Florin Arteni and Florin Lehaci also on Wednesday advanced to the men’s double sculls final. Arteni and Lehaci already won the first semi-final. The Romanian crew had the lead three quarters of the race and hit the finish line two seconds earlier than the British crew. The final is scheduled on Friday. Romania last won a men’s double sculls Olympic medal in Tokyo, in 2021. Back then the silver medal went to Marius Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosă.

    Also qualifying to the final was the lightweight women’s pair, made of Gianina van Groningen, nee Beleagă, and Ionela Cozmiuc. On Wednesday, the Romanian crew succeeded a laid-back win of the second semifinal, arriving more than a second earlier than the Greek crew and also succeeding the best timing of the semifinals. The final is scheduled on Wednesday. In the lightweight women’s pair, Romania last won an Olympic medal in 2004 in Athens, when the gold medal went to Angela Alupei and Constanţa Burcică.

    Also on Friday, the finals are scheduled, of lightweight women’s double sculls, with Ioana Vrînceanu and Roxana Anghel representing Romania. Vrinceanu and Anghel on Wednesday came in second in the first semifinal. Romania last won a lightweight women’s double sculls Olympic medal in Beijing in 2008. Back then Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu won gold.

    Romania’ s representatives in table tennis have all been eliminated from the individual competitions. The last Romanian table tennis player to have competed individually, Bernadette Szőcs, was eliminated in the round of 16. 5th-seeded Szocs was defeated by the 15th-seeded competitor in Paris, Moldovan-born Austrian player Sofia Polcanova, 4- nil. We recall that in the mixed doubles, pairing up with Ovidiu Ionescu, Bernadette Szocs came in 5th.Romania will carry on fighting in the nations’ competition, taking on India in the round of 16, on August 5.