Tourists Don't Come Here (Stranger's Invitation)

[Music] as a travel vlogger one of the top perks of my job is the community that i get to build around my work and my travels and as a result i get a lot of invitations from people all around the world telling me to come over to their country or even stay with them in their house so imagine my excitement when during my trip in romania i got this email i belong to the german minority among the romanians the saxons my aunt edith is now in this village and would love to show you around last year she walked by foot from hamburg in germany to this village in romania and slept most of the nights in her tent something about this message struck me as a really special and my god told me to go and see edith even though her village was not really on my way so i scheduled in a call with birgit and her aunt edith just to make sure that they were real people you know safety first and then it was a date edith and i decided that we would meet in her village on my way out of the countryside in transylvania and little did i know about the incredibly special gift that edith had prepared for me well this is the story of that meeting [Music] this here is viscree a small village where i spent a few days getting to know the area this village has such a serene atmosphere it's home to a small community of a few hundred people and sure it's a tight-knit kind of place but there's something about it that makes it extra special it's amazing to just see horses roaming around the streets this village i mean last night when i was coming back home from dinner there was just a horse walking along the road minding its own business i tried to strike up a conversation just ran away from me so before i came to this cree um i asked ursula because she's hosting me whether i need the keys to enter my accommodation usually said no you don't need a key because we don't lock anything up in whiskey not the houses and not the cars so our tour around the village of whiskey continues and where are we going now we are going to the village blacksmith oh there he is i've actually never seen a blacksmith at work so this is super exciting can you imagine doing a job doing a craft of five generations imagine the knowledge and the level of skill and experience that is passed on if you're a fifth generation blacksmith or anything absolutely anything i feel like that doesn't really happen very much in the world [Music] oh cool it has a very look at this what is what does this mean this is this for good luck it is the the horseshoe is definitely the symbol of luck but you need to hold it always upwards like this like there's never no like don't pull out the lock keep it in the hole so this nail and the horseshoe are part of one set to make sure the whole shoe is always looking up eventually it was time to leave the comfort of this village behind and head into the unknown right i'm finally in my car and i'm driving across transylvania to finally go and meet edith in person and i'm super curious to see how that meeting goes and what she's like well if there is one thing that you can count on while driving around in romania it's that most of the traffic you're likely to encounter is going to be alive and kicking this is amazing i think romania is the only country in europe where you still find organic traffic like that here it is altena aldson this is the town i'll be staying in you know the funny thing is that as a tourist you would never ever come to a village like this because it's completely ordinary there's nothing to see here so the fact that someone invited me here is really the only reason why i am here and that's kind of special it's a very unique experience if you think about it it's a different kind of tourism all right let's find our host so here i was about to spend a couple of days in the home of a total stranger in a remote village in transylvania and little did i know about the very special gift that edith was preparing to give me at the end of my stay hi hi yes yes yes yes all right this is the way this is the way eden is just showing me into my room and her beautiful beautiful traditional at home oh my god look at that wow oh my gosh this is gorgeous wow [Music] edith and i spent much of the day talking and getting to know each other she really did walk 1600 kilometers from northern germany to central romania at the age of 67. during the day she would walk and at night she would either camp or stay with people she met edis said the thing that gave her a spring in her step was the positive energy that she would receive from strangers edith here has cooked an amazing feast for me all vegetarian all tasty all vegetables from her garden i've i've just had such a wonderful welcome here it's feels like homemade is about to show us some of the traditional saxon clothes original things that come from her family i'm so excited about this that's a traditional coat right here in the village in artson in 1940 wow that's the shirt handmade also for men yes for men and this is the men's head my mother made it for my father and he wore it as a groom it was a tradition that the girls made you wore it like this you see and my mother embroidered it everything made in the village it's so beautiful and they're custom because it has your name on it and nobody else can wear it yes kind of a hat but [Laughter] just like a cylinder yeah you must go walk very upright you have to be super upright and it's super straight and dignified dignified yes because the position if you go like that it looks important and what if it falls off does that never happened or never happened never but would that be embarrassing for a girl of course so this is the room that i'll be staying in tonight and you know it's been so lovely today to learn a little bit more about it's family and her home and the village itself and the whole history and culture but also just to kind of i don't know you know we're taught to be wary of strangers and not to accept strangers invitations but actually when traveling this is kind of how you meet friends and how you get to have truly special experiences and learn about communities that you didn't know about make friendships i think this is probably one of the purest forms of travel and on that note i'm gonna switch off the camera for now and enjoy the rest of the day and i'll see you tomorrow the church bells are just striking eight a.m on a sunday morning and i've gone out for a run around the village and i'm realizing that this village is really the kind of village that people just drive through you don't stop here there's nothing to see here in a traditional sense in fact the moment you step away from the main road and i just did because i just reached the end of the village of my run you kind of go into the secondary roads which are just dirt tracks nothing is paved so really this is the kind of village that you would never visit if you're just looking to kick off the top 10 sites in a country now this is the kind of village that you would only visit if someone invites you except their invitation [Music] after breakfast we decided to call up edith's niece birgit who was the person that brought us together in the first place her two sons were super excited to meet me since they all watch my vlogs together as a family [Laughter] i'm here taking a walk with edith around the village of altena so edith has your family always lived here how many generations is that oh the name bengal is documented from 1406. but not in our village but it was one of the oldest names german names in transylvania so maybe from 14 and something 600 years though it could be i don't know it's not the oldest house in the hardbach valley and you can see it's built in 1508 so eat it at home you speak german and there's it seems a lot of german speakers and german culture here in transylvania so what exactly is going on well this german culture here in transylvania i would say the transylvanian saxon culture is about 800 years old wow people who afterwards who are called transylvanian saxons came here in the 12th century called by the then hungarian king gaza ii he needed colonies because he needed defenders for the borders just before i was due to say goodbye to edith she said she had a very special gift for me and sure enough i had never in my life received a gift like this before whatever you can do or dream you can repeat whatever you can do or dream you can dream you can oh whatever you can do or dream you can whatever you can do or dream you can no you dream you can whatever you can everything you can do or dreams or a dream you can whatever you can do or dream you can or dream you can begin it just beginning begin it just begin it whatever you can do or a dream you can begin in it just beginning now the next two we're learning a song i'm really bad at learning songs or memorizing things so let's see how this goes boldness has genius boldness has genius power and magic power and magic in it whatever you can do or dream you can begin it just begin it boldness has genius power and magic in it now once again together all together then we're ready all right i'm gonna put this camera here whatever you can do or dream you can begin it just begin it boldness has genius power and magic in it that's my gift for you because it suits your personality perfectly thank you [Music] finally it was time to leave i signed edith's guestbook where she collected little messages from family and friends who visited her over the years and that was it it's time to say goodbye which is always really sad and i didn't like saying goodbye but here's my car so you better go [Music] down [Laughter] [Music] okay cheers don't accept invitations from total strangers if you do if someone invites you make sure that you have a chat with them up front talk to them get to know them a little bit but don't shy away from people because you know what the world belongs to the brave thank you so much for watching i hope you enjoyed this vlog i hope it inspired you to rekindle some human connections here and there and i'll see you in the next vlog make sure you subscribe my channel see you next vlog bye [Music] you

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 516,449

Keywords: romania, romania travel, romania travel guide, saxon history, saxons romania, who are the saxons, transylvania, transylvania travel guide, transylvania travel, is romania safe, solo travel, woman solo travel, how to travel alone, romania travel vlog, romania vlog, transylvania travel vlog, travel vlogger solo, travel vlogger girl, altana romania, altana village, village romania, beautiful village romania, europe solo travel, staying with strangers

Id: NbZWLfecaXQ

Length: 15min 16sec (916 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 08 2020