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Hi I'm Laura Alexandra and welcome to Serbia.
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I'm exploring this beautiful European country and discovering its rich history,
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unique culture and of course its modern-day offerings.
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Last time I continued to explore Serbia's capital city Belgrade,
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with a great deal of time spent in royal company. I even met the Crown Prince and Princess.
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Our people are very welcoming people, they are warm hospitable people.
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There's a lot to do in Serbia, there's really no excuse, yes.
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I also enjoyed some exciting outdoor activities including kayaking through Belgrade's Nature Reserve,
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War Island.
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I'm now leaving the city and heading east to start a journey on an old Roman trail.
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In the territory of Serbia, 16 Roman emperors have been born here and today I'm in Viminacium,
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a Roman city. There’s remains of Roman Baths, also Mausoleums that have been found,
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and also coins and jewellery. But not only that a very special finding that apparently is over a
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million years old. I'm going to explore to find out more.
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This unique archaeological park covers an area of 450 Hector's and it's open to the public from February
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through to November. With so much to see I was told to start far back in the past.
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So I've now made my way down here to this archaeological dig site, well apparently anyway,
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but I can't actually see much down here apart from this door in front of me
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and I'm not sure what I'm meant to be seeing, what I'm meant to be doing.
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Let's have a little look behind here and see.
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Hello?
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Hello??
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Hello.
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Oh hi! Oh it's really cold in here isn't it? Compared to out there?
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Yeah it happens
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and really soily and musty inside here. Hi, I'm Laura.
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My name is Miloje
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What are we doing here?
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Well I'm your guide.
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Okay
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We are on our first archaeological site, right, and we are going to see the remains of a Mammoth here.
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So this is actually a Mammoth?
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Yeah it's actually a Mammoth
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Wow and how long ago would this have died?
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Well up to 1 million years before Christ.
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A million?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah
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I mean the first thing that strikes me, are these all her real bones?
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Yeah well, we had some recreation, some, but just some really. This is actually one of the, you know,
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most preserved skeletons of the Steppe Mammoth in the entire world what you see here.
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Why is that?
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Well the way she died, that was that story, that story, well we had here like a delta river right?
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And of course it would make swampy areas you know the field would be interesting type field,
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she actually stepped into the wrong kind of mud you know and, and it swallowed her yeah.
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Wow so that would have like, preserved her to what we’re seeing now?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, she would be like you know in vacuum basically you know
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and that is why we do not have any bite marks, scavengers and such
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I've never seen anything like this before and what kind of weight are we talking?
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Well she was quite the handsome lady you could say yeah, 9.5 tonnes yeah
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Wow
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4 metres high right? 4.5 metres long, yeah
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And what kind of stuff would she have eaten to maintain that?
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Well greenery basically that was on the menu of course since we had the river here yeah
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and how you know was she actually found here? Was she found a bit further away? Where did you find her?
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Well actually she was found 250 meters in this direction in year 2009
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Wow, So she’s literally, you laid her here but the interesting thing is I've sort of had a little look around
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and there's other remains around here as well have you got more mammoths?
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Yeah, yeah we've got plenty
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And you've only uncovered what is it three percent of this area at the moment?
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Oh well you could say three percent I mean this area is very scratched. I mean this is really, really interesting
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So starting with the fact we found this really well preserved mammoth, that might be a million years old,
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I don't know how it can get any better than this but you know what?
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We're gonna try so let's see what else you've got come on
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Yep
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Talk about starting off big.
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There are so many dig sites here, some of which are active, so I've asked Miloje to take me to his favourite.
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So Miloje, where are we now?
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Well actually where we are, at the Emperor's Mausoleum this is of one of our most interesting
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archaeological sites that we have in Viminacium of course
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And let me just say actually, just in case people hearing this squeaking going on do not adjust your sets.
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It's actually the protection that's over here that's squeaking in the wind,
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but this is really important isn't it? To protect all that we have under here.
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Right you're 100% correct I could not say more so we can go and check it out if you want?
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Ok are we actually I can't believe that we're allowed inside here
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Yeah well we can, we can.
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This is amazing!
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and it's quite interesting for people that come you know, for the first time and has no idea about
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Viminacium. They get you to know to be quite amazed, what what's, what's it? What's wrong with this place?
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Well we don't know
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Exactly I can't believe there's not loads of ropes around and that we can actually touch things inside here?
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Well it might not be really recommended to touch it you know
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I won’t, I'll behave myself
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yeah yeah
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This column here how tall would that have been?
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Well it would be 12 meters higher right even maybe in taller than this construction
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is right now so quite impressive
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Let's have a look all around here as well, what we what have we actually got here?
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Okay, so if we are talking about the emperor's Mausoleum? It is 251 after Christ right?
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Only two tombs are from that time period. All, all, all the rest of the tombs are from the period later on
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you could say and more of it the type of burial was really interesting.
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Yeah?
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Romans, it was actually a ceremonial type burial and it would last for a longer time period you know
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since Romans believe that the soul would still be in this realm you could say right?
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And in the end he would be burned right? The fire would come up from the podium right?
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And his remains fall into let's say underground crypt, in the instance of him being burned they would let an
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eagle fly towards, let's say the heavens, so that that would also have a symbolic.
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It would actually represent apotheosis or him becoming a God actually right?
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That’s absolutely incredible, that's the best type of burial one that I'd like to be honest not to be too morbid
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but I've noticed as well there's lots of different sort of stones that these are made up of why what is that?
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Well you know different time periods of course but let's say different beliefs. Different, different, different
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beliefs meaning different ways of maybe ways of burial You will see also that we have Christian skeleton here
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so Christians were also present here will be from the fourth century you know Milan and such.
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Interesting stuff you know, before that we had persecution of Christians and so on so forth.
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You know forty thousand tombs, graves, fresco tombs we have found you know like it's ten percent of,
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I believe ten percent of the necropolis itself.
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Looks like a hole in its head
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Yeah, well it might have been a specific type of a theological intervention actually, trepanation.
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It would take place when you, you would, when you would have blood pressuring
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Yeah
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Actually maybe making pressure I mean inside your head so they would use a specific instrument right,
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we thought we have one!
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Really?
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Found and excavated and then, then they would make a circular incision right?
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Unfortunately you know, that the wound would, the wound did not heal, so he would cease, I mean he died.
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So this fascinates me the fact that actually somebody
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You can be peak in, you can peak in right
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Exactly so somebody can actually come here
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Yeah
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And sort of, take a little look inside and it almost transports you back in time doesn't it?
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Yeah, yeah it's actually like a glimpse into the ancient world where
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it's totally amazing but I still would not recommend touching
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Yeah of course but the fact is that you are up this close and up this personal to it
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and that's the one thing that I just don't think you can get in any other places
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Yeah well you are, you know, in one rare archaeological site right now what can I say?
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It really does feel like a rare experience and as if this isn't enough they have another ace up their sleeve.
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Miloje we've had such a busy day and now we're somewhere really grand where are we?
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Actually this is the reconstruction of a Roman villa
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and this is as close to the real thing as you could get isn't it?
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As it gets, as humanly possible in Serbia at least.
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Do you know what? I've just had a little thought and if you don't mind waiting actually hang on here
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for like two minutes something like that
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Two minutes?
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Two minutes, I'll be back
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Okay, okay right.
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What do you think?
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Well I think you're quite a Roman lady
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Yeah?
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Yeah
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Excellent and tell me actually why am I dressed like this?
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Oh because it's part of our, let's say offer to the tourists right?
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You can dress up as a Roman lady, you can dress up I mean as an Heiress, there’s a General,
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I don't know if you would dress up as a general?
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Why not I mean people can do what they want to do and that's the great thing about here,
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it's somewhere you can come to relax but it's not just about you know
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coming and taking part in the Roman banquet,
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yeah
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You can also actually go out on an archaeological dig with experts?
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Yes there was, that's one of the unique things about Viminacium, you can basically,
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you can basically have Roman lunch here, you can eat like Roman, you can dress up as Roman right?
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You can stay over right? Sleep in Roman villa and also doing the digging right? With our archaeologist so yeah,
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living basically as close as it gets living a day as a Roman, right?
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This sounds really, really good. It's something I definitely want to come back and do,
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and come back and actually stay here because I think the rooms are only about 15 Euros a night?
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So Miloje I've had so much fun it's been brilliant, thank you so much for your company.
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and you're also a great company I must say I had fun
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Oh bless you I think I'm gonna be coming back to discover my very own mammoth that'd be so cool.
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See ya
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I'm exploring Serbia's rich history and following the path of the river Danube to a very special fortress,
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which happens to be just a stone's throw away from Romania.
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I found myself here such a scenic location at Golubac Fortress.
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Matija is here to tell me a little bit more about the history behind it
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Yes the Golubac fortress, which is located behind us, lies at the entrance to the Đerdap Gorge which
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sprawls all over the next 100 kilometres all the way.
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It is a medieval fortress that was built well, we don't know the exact date when it was built
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either, neither by whom.
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What we do know is that it was built somewhere around the 13th or 14th century and it was
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built by either Serbs or Hungarians.
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Now the Danube in those days was the border on the other side in today's Romania was Hungry
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and Hungarian Kingdom right on this spot we were located it was Serbian Kingdom.
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And this area, small area of the fortress, changed hands a lot of times and it was
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basically a border fortification and it was the site of many, many battles, many violent and turbulent events
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and generally it has a really violent history which can be attracted to people I think.
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Sounds pretty interesting and looking across I can't believe I'm saying this but,
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looking across to Romania and as I'm looking now it looks quite wide at this point.
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Yes this is the widest point of the Danube, it's about six and a half kilometers wide and at the entrance
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to the gorge it narrows all the way down to 200 meters.
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So you can imagine it's a pretty, pretty big wide narrowing I guess and it's actually one of the windiest
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spots in entire Serbia and it's definitely the best sailing spot because the wind here is constant.
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The wind called caution which blows from the southeast, is very, very violent as well as the history
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of this place. So there are very brutal things, very brutal location I guess but yeah
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And the reason you know, we've got Romania sort of to the side of us here. We've got the fortress behind us,
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what a lovely backdrop that is, and also in the National park. So in terms of tourists thinking about coming
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here, um, it's a great spot where everything comes together isn’t it?
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Yes, yes the National Park. The Djerdap national park is the site rich with cultural history, rich with nature, with
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natural spectacular, natural scenic locations and it's one of my own, in my opinion, the most beautiful
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National Park in Serbia and one of the most beautiful ones in the entire of Europe.
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And behind us, obviously getting back to the fortress itself, it's being restored at the moment,
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but I've read some interesting things that actually, normally you can kind of go up to it and sort of touch
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the walls and get really close to the history inside is that true?
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Normally yes, the fortress is undergoing reconstruction and it will be done pretty soon and when it's over the
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fortress will be closed to mandatory that will come also to many events with medieval themes,
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music, concerts, theatre, shows
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And where better to visit and come to an event here? A music concert or maybe a medieval themed event
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as well. Where you've got Romania one side, you've actually got the beautiful Danube River here,
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you've got the National Park and of course the backdrop of the fortress it's absolutely perfect isn't it?
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It's sensational, that's all I can say.
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I think it's safe to say at this point that Serbia is definitely a place to visit if you're into history.
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With such a rich variety of historical monuments and sites of natural beauty,
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it certainly adds to Serbia's attraction as a country to tour.
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My history tour started in Belgrade, before travelling east following the Danube River
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where I stopped at Viminacium, a Roman archaeological site.
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Then I continued eastwards along the river to find Golubac fortress of unknown origins,
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but estimated to be from around 13 or 14th century.
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Now I'm heading to another site which, apparently has artefacts from a prehistoric civilization
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it's called Lepenski Vir and I can't wait to find out more
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Hi
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Hi
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Thank you so much for having me at Lepenski Vir, I'm Laura
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Very glad that you are here, my name is Vladimir Malkovich.
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Nice to meet you
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I'm the general manager of this visitors centre and archaeological site
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So what's this place all about?
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Ah this is very unique and very old archaeological sites, representing the culture which is
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more than eight thousand years old
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Wow!
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and what you see over there are actually the dwellings of the houses which people made here in this time.
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Oh Really?
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This is considered as one of the oldest organized human settlements in Europe,
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because these people made this settlement in the period between 6500 and 6300 BC.
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Wow
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Yeah it's quite a long time ago and
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they will in that time Mesolithic culture which means they were still fisherman's hunters and food gatherers.
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I have to tell you that, this the archaeological site wasn't discovered here on this location where you can
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see it today. It was discovered just 100 metres downstream,
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Okay
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it was placed on small gang of terraces but unfortunately when this big dam was built downstream,
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50 kilometres downstream from here, our archaeologists decided to replace all archaeological
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site here to save it from flooding now original location is about 10 meters below the water level.
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Oh amazing I mean what sort of, looking around these houses or dwellings you know,
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what's the sort of central bit in the middle for example?
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Yeah in the middle of the house was fireplace
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Okay yeah
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Generally people in prehistorical period were very practical if I may say so
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Yeah, yeah
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They were just considering how to cover the fire and to save it from the rain, or snow,
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so basically that is how first houses have been made.
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And the thing about this house is that they have very specific shape it the first site it's like trapezium shape,
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yet it is a 1/6 of the circle.
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With cutted peak which means that they had some knowledge about geometry since they have could
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made the same shape of the house on a different size, so they had some kind of measurements in that time.
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But they might not of called in geometry in that time because they didn't know
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Yeah so they build the houses, which all of the houses were looking towards to Danube,
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but because there is east side, an early morning Sun should go directly into the house.
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In the middle of the house fireplace, behind fireplace small stone with the hole inside we
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suppose this was a sacrificial stone
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and also they kept very unique and interesting sculptures inside of the house.
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All the houses were covered with wooden construction, covered with leaves, straw and above everything big
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skins of some big wild animals because it was only appropriate material of that time.
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And did they sort of live in these communities,
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there's a couple of sort of dwellings that really close together there, would they live quite close together?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah when you take a look like this it looks like that.
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Yeah
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But archaeologists left only the best examples of the dwellings.
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And they left like this because they want us to see that people lived here constantly
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and they built that, they built one house over the older one.
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Yeah
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So this community lived here for almost two thousand years on same location this is absolutely rare situation.
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So they built one house over another and again and again, so they had here archaeologists discovered here
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50 years ago seven cultural layers so from different periods yeah.
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And this is why when you take a look you see house over another or dwelling over another dwelling
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but generally probably this local one is older than the others
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and there's a little example of course of all the rocks formed over there as well.
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Yes, yes,yes this is just for visitors to have a little bit clearer picture how
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How it lays out sure, so obviously you found these on the original site
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there was something like this what else have you found?
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Oh very interesting, very interesting artefacts and I would like to show you them
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Oh please, ok let's go
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The exhibition room is filled with objects and artefacts from the Mesolithic period,
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with rudimentary tools on display, mostly made of wood or animal bones,
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these people used whatever they could to assist their lives.
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Life for the natives was very much focused around the river as it provided them with fish to eat.
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The locals started seeing the river as a source of life and so there are early attempts of religion appearing
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amongst these findings, with stone sculptures representing humans with a fish look to them
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being quite common.
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In fact these findings represent the oldest stone sculptures in Europe at 8,000 years old.
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Skeletons were also found here which has sparked some interesting research.
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All of them had full sets of teeth,
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none appeared to have been killed by injury
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and they are all much bigger than the rest of Europe measuring in at 2 meters 3 centimetres tall.
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These were big people.
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So this is how we try to make reconstruction
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of Lepenski Vir house in normal size we were always wondering how it looks like.
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There are many theories because wooden material literally burned under the soil for this thousands
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of years, and we came to this idea that house looked exactly like this.
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That it had wooden construction rising up from the dwellings. It was covered with straw in this case
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but above everything they for sure, using skins of big animals
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because it was waterproof material as I mentioned and it was protective material.
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Inside of the house we can see that there is enough space for one average family
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Yeah.
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to spend time but they didn't spend time inside of the house,
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they were just sleeping and burning fire and maybe eating inside of the house.
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So if we considered they slept in contracted position in this house
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maybe four or five people could sleep in one home.
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That's brilliant, I love the fact there’s a little window area, it's almost like there's an upstairs as well.
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It's just fantastic and, do you know what, I wouldn't mind living in something like this
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because it's so lovely and so quiet here as well.
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Yes it's colder in the summer probably warm during the winter if
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we burn fire I think that they, they really knew what they did, they were doing in that time.
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Thank you so, so much Vladimir it's been absolutely brilliant and culturally,
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the scenery, I definitely want to come back for another visit.
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Yeah I would love to see you again here you and the other people who are interested in this
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ancient, prehistory of human’s thank you
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Thank you so much
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Thank you
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It's been a long day exploring Serbia's vast history.
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And as the Sun starts to set I'm in the ideal place to experience the moment.
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I'm here at Djerdap National Park it's 64 thousand hectares to explore
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and I'm told it's one of the most beautiful places to watch the sunset alongside the Danube.
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I'm meeting with Djerdap Park Rangers who are taking me off road to a perfect spot to witness the sunset.
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On route I'm learning more about this area.
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So Sanja, we're going on our way to Djerdap National Park, what kind of things can we expect to see?
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Now we will visit one of the most beautiful parts of Djerdap National Park.
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The viewpoint called Ploce and it is above the Iron Gate that part of the Danube.
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That's the narrowest part isn't it?
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Yes it is, yes that is the narrowest part of Danube
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And the prettiest?
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Maybe we can say that, but there are also beautiful parts in Djerdap National Park.
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And I've been reading up I’ll be honest, I have been swatting slightly on the fact there’s 1,100 plant species
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Yes it is correct yes.
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The diversity of habitats has affected the diversity of fauna and flora
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and at Djerdap National Park you can find more than 1,100 of plant species.
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Also there are more than 50 species of mammals for example there you can see
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deer, doe deer, Wild Boar, Wild Cats.
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Like Lynx?
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Lynx yes, the Djerdap National Park is the biggest habitat of Lynx in Serbia
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really?
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Yes and Lynx are very rare in Europe and as I said there are more than 170 birds also, bird species.
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And Steep cliffs of cousin that that is Iron Gate on Serbia we call it that Gorge cousin and the on steep
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cliffs of cousin you can see also Chamois, Mountain Goats, Falcons and Eagles.
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Oh wow I'm looking forward to it as I heard there is a chance there could be a bear here
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but they're pretty rare aren't they?
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Yes
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Okay
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So we've started on the actual trail and
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I wish you could appreciate how sort of death-defying this is to be honest.
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It's quite thrilling because we're going up like a mountain, that's actually really steep so basically,
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if you look down the side there's no barriers or anything
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and there's nothing to stop you really well from rolling straight down.
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Apart from the drivers amazing driving skills, which I'm so glad that we've got a fresh driver with us
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in fact just speaking to one of our guides saying actually this particular company are the only ones
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that have the cars they're able to come up here and also if you walk up here
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you've got to be accompanied by a special ranger.
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So it's basically being policed all the time and all the wildlife up here is protected as well
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So yeah we're here we're gonna watch something quite spectacular right?
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Yes and I am thrilled to see your reaction when you get there
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Okay
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Okay and then we'll be dark.
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I'm a little bit scared because I feel sort of under pressure now
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Don’t worry no, no, no, no just be careful
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Okay,
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So let's have a little look through I can't quite see what I'm going through apart from a clearing hit with loads
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of rocks but it sounds really quiet suddenly you can't hear anything at all.
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Half taking in the views and just I can't believe it.
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It’s so, it's so eerily quiet you can see absolutely everything
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and it's almost like I know that we are up really, really high but it kind of feels surreal doesn't it?
356
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Sanja there's just no words for this I mean the fact that when you're looking down
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at Danube itself all you can see there's not even any ripples it's just so still.
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You can meet Djerdap from, from the water and here as we want to say oh like to say
359
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from the birds perspective isn't it
360
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I can't quite believe it.
361
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Wow
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So just enjoy.
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Those views were so spectacular but this morning, I'm waking with a burning desire to see more.
364
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It's early morning here in Lepenski Vir and I've decided I want to see the Iron Gate close up.
365
00:28:36,580 --> 00:28:40,880
There's no better way than to have a relaxing boat ride down the Danube
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Having found myself a boat and a captain, I'm off to see the famous Iron Gate for myself
367
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So I've been on my boat journey for about 20-ish minutes
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and the views are just next to nothing they're magnificent.
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To the side of me this side I've got Romania, on the other side I've got Serbia
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with the 64,000 hectares of the National Park just rolling alongside me.
371
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It's one of these experiences that actually, I don't believe you can get anywhere else, it's so relaxing.
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I could quite happily go to sleep, the sun shining, I'm just about to approach the iron gate which I'm told
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is one of the deepest parts of the Danube between 85 and 100 metres
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and, right now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
375
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So this is Sacha, he's been driving the boat for us today on our journey to the Iron Gate.
376
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Sacha can you tell us a bit about the iron gate?
377
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:16,420
Yeah Iron Gate is long, 10 kilometres and 2 partition.
378
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This is the big chasm, in first partition, and go there down in the second partition in the small chasm
379
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and the big chasm it's very interesting because it's top in the, of this mountain, it's
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Ploce, a very good point to see.
381
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And here down and the white boat is there it, it's small it's only 170 meters
382
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and a very good hiking road in this area.
383
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Two hours and go and very easy road to hiking and two hours and go up and come down and very hard rolled in
384
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:06,080
top in the mountain in here and six hours you must take and go up and down and you must prepare.
385
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:12,840
and I mean also it teaches us a lot coming down the river about the history because you just touched on
386
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,800
there about a couple of different dates, you know going along and the sculptures
387
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:23,680
Yeah, in this area too many different countries living there.
388
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:29,840
Now it's Romanian but before it's Dakia, now it's Serbia, before then the Yugoslavia.
389
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:35,280
After that it’s Roman Empire and Turkish Empire too many castles,
390
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:40,960
too many cultures monument is stay in this area.
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00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,560
and also you know why would you say the tourist wanted to come here.
392
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,980
I mean the Iron gates been used in films hasn't it, it's iconic
393
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:57,780
You must take to see. And feeling, and taste, and the food and the natural.
394
00:31:57,780 --> 00:32:01,160
Yeah it's a brilliant experience, thank you so much Sacha
395
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:01,860
Thank you
396
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:16,960
Behind me you can see the Tabula Traiana, it dates back to the first century and it's here to commemorate
397
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:22,720
the Roman Emperor Traianus and his many battles that were fought here in Serbia.
398
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:29,280
It's a really important part of Serbian history and below it you might even be able to see the traces of
399
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:33,300
the Roman road that's actually now sunk to the bottom of the river.
400
00:32:33,300 --> 00:32:34,100
Incredible.
401
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:50,620
I was drifting off on this boat journey along the Danube River, because it is so relaxing,
402
00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:53,800
but you can't because there's just so much to see.
403
00:32:53,800 --> 00:33:02,060
The first thing is the fact there's two countries either side of the river and you're going through this,
404
00:33:02,060 --> 00:33:05,400
it's just something I've never experienced before, the fact
405
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:11,520
that culturally you've got so much to see on both sides, the Romanian side and the Serbian side as well
406
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:17,100
you've got fortresses, you've got the fact that there's different rock formations on each side,
407
00:33:17,100 --> 00:33:24,360
the different height of the different mountain ranges, the national parks again on both sides as well
408
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:31,860
and the fact that the architecture is so interesting. But not only that it's actually a little journey through time,
409
00:33:31,860 --> 00:33:39,900
a brief history through time as well as you explore all the different periods along the river that are dating
410
00:33:39,900 --> 00:33:46,680
back to a completely different times and with different cultures as well and one thing that really interests me,
411
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:52,000
is the viewpoints at each point are just incredible.
412
00:33:52,000 --> 00:34:00,180
When you look up all you can see is greenery all around, absolutely beautiful.
413
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:11,020
In case you can't tell I highly recommend this experience to anyone coming to Serbia it takes a while
414
00:34:11,020 --> 00:34:15,960
but it gives you the perfect excuse to relax and just enjoy the natural beauty.
415
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:43,680
What a great way to take in history culture and architecture of Serbia along the
416
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:49,340
banks of the river Danube right now I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
417
00:34:52,240 --> 00:34:55,940
I'm back on the road and on my way to a smaller historical village
418
00:34:55,940 --> 00:34:59,260
that dedicates itself to the production of one of my favourite things.
419
00:35:02,620 --> 00:35:06,040
I'm here at this UNESCO nominated World Heritage Site
420
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,960
to discover more about this old traditional wine village so let's go
421
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:16,080
Rajačke is located in the very East of Serbia and was once a bustling village filled with people committed
422
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:21,280
to winemaking they built their houses here over 200 years ago to be closer to the vineyards
423
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:22,040
where they worked
424
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:28,620
Resident winemakers have started occupying the buildings once again making it a unique place to visit.
425
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,660
Unfortunately nobody here speaks much English not to worry I'll manage.
426
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:39,200
So I've been wandering around this very beautiful and very rustic wine village,
427
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:46,720
and I found myself a local expert to help me out Gorjana so nice to meet you, thank you so much,
428
00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:50,560
um can you tell us a little bit about this wonderful wine village?
429
00:35:52,960 --> 00:36:00,000
This is actually Rajačke Pivnice, it's village into the village, because every family from Rajac village
430
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:11,840
get some kind of winery here actually, here at this site, so they had more than 200 houses and four homes
431
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:20,000
in the village Rajac and now they we have a remains of maybe some about 50 houses here.
432
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:25,880
Actually this is not houses this is wine cellars and houses for production of wine.
433
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:30,240
These homes were obviously for the wine producers here.
434
00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:36,600
Tell me a little bit more about the wine production itself and the heritage that is left behind in this area?
435
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:46,800
The most important thing for wine production here is of course soil we have and the configuration of soil also,
436
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:57,160
so we have here some sunny hills and they may be the most important reason and also
437
00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:05,960
there are many sunny days during the year. So grapes can be ready for wine production at the same time each
438
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:13,540
year because of that. We have tradition in maintaining our local stores and production of the same
439
00:37:13,540 --> 00:37:15,000
wine for years.
440
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So what is so special about the wine of this region?
441
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Wines here are good because of sorts of wine we are growing here, and everything is natural and of course
442
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naturally these sorts have big concentration of natural sugar. Of course the most important thing here is Sun
443
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and these sunny days we have in this part of Serbia.
444
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I understand there's still wine cellars that are still in production can you tell me a little bit about these?
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As you can see here some houses are open, and it's traditionally a job for one family. But now young people,
446
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they are keeping tradition they have in their families for years, or let's say for more than 100 years.
447
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And of course they are keeping tradition and their own recipes for producing wine
448
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and maintaining these houses.
449
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Gorjana thank you so much for telling me about this beautiful wine village
450
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Thank you very much and please come again
451
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:37,120
Serbia's cultural offerings continue and this time I'm exploring somewhere that is both a UNESCO World
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Heritage Site and a Roman archaeological excavation.
453
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:47,680
I'm here at Felix Romuliana. It's a Roman site that dates back to the third or fourth century and apparently it was
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made for a Roman Emperor. I don't know which one yet but let's go and find out.
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I found myself a tour guide, Sasja, who can hopefully answer my question about who the Roman Emperor
456
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was that I was trying to find out who this site was dedicated to earlier?
457
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This site was actually built as an imperial palace in the late Antiquity period in the, in the early 4th century AD
458
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and it was built in the birthplace of one of the Roman emperors his name was Galerius.
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Galerius.
460
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:29,840
Yes so that's the Emperor who was born here actually 16 Roman emperors were born on the territory of
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modern-day Serbia and the most famous of those emperors for everyone is Constantine the Great,
462
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who was born actually not so far from here in modern-day city of Niš
463
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So what does this actually mean to Serbians themselves, is this the site that's got real significance?
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00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:52,080
Well Serbia is very rich in late antiquity heritage actually, this site is and I'm saying this not because
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I work here, because but because it's true this site is presently the only site in Serbia archaeological site
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in Serbia inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List.
467
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and what can we see around us?
468
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Well actually to your left and to my right, we can see the ruins of once complex of halls of ceremonial halls,
469
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and also the ruins of a Basilica in the central part of once a complex of holes
470
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The Basilica is from the 6th century, early Byzantine period, it was probably used as a part of a church
471
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property and then it was in the during the Middle Ages it was a part of the Slavic medieval settlement
472
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up until maybe a thousand years ago, when it was deserted and no one has ever lived here ever since
473
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:40,380
and what else can we see around here?
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There are the ruins of two temples, one is to my right over there,
475
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the other one we cannot see it from here but it's over there.
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00:40:48,060 --> 00:40:58,260
There are public baths, banqueting halls with the under floor heating system, we have mosaics here but
477
00:40:58,260 --> 00:41:04,400
unfortunately the mosaics are buried under the sand on the site because of the climate here we have very hot
478
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summers, very strong sun in the summer period, and then very harsh winters.
479
00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:14,780
So we protect the mosaic, the original authentic mosaics from that period by burying them
480
00:41:14,780 --> 00:41:24,660
under the sand so, we have displaced from the site a few more representative fragments of those mosaics
481
00:41:24,660 --> 00:41:31,400
into the museum in the neighbouring city of Zaječar, so our visitors can see them in the museum.
482
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:35,040
That's incredible thank you so, so much Sasja you've been brilliant.
483
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:35,800
thank you you're welcome
484
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:43,120
It seems that there's no end to ancient Rome's influence over Serbia's heritage.
485
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As I approached the city of Niš there's one more site waiting for me to discover.
486
00:41:47,860 --> 00:41:55,040
I'm here in Mediana today, the Palace of Constantine the Roman Emperor. He commanded for luxurious
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villas to be built here way back in the early fourth century and actually the remains span over
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40 hectares, which just show how grand they really were. I've actually managed to find myself a local
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00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,160
expert Marco, who's going to tell us a bit more. Thank you so much Marco.
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00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:15,160
Thank you for visiting and welcome to this great house of Roman emperors.
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00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:21,480
Well this house was built by a busy military and civil road that connects Belgrade and Istanbul, ancient
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00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:28,380
Singidunum and Constantinople. Used by Constantine and six additional emperors as temporary residence
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00:42:28,380 --> 00:42:32,940
on their long journeys to east and the military campaigns.
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00:42:32,940 --> 00:42:44,820
Villa covers 6,000 square meters and it was of great importance for Romans and also citizens here that
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live in Nysos, Nysos present day Niš, is the birthplace of Emperor Constantine one of the most important
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European leaders.
497
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,920
And for Serbians themselves, I mean that sounds like he'd be really important to them,
498
00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:00,260
and this particular place would be important as well is that right?
499
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:07,920
Of course very important because it is a proof of continuity of civilization here,
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unbroken continuative civilization, from way behind even from pre-roman times
501
00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:18,320
because we have we found findings from pre roman period.
502
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But the most important is late antiquity, three Roman emperors were born in our city and 18 in Serbia
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00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:30,900
so we ruled over Roman Empire for 200 years you can say that.
504
00:43:30,900 --> 00:43:31,840
wow
505
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:38,880
and there is proof of great engineers work here in Mediana also
506
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:44,360
It's actually really interesting, we talked about engineering, architecture, but another thing I've noticed
507
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:51,340
is really important to the Romans was the fact we found sculptures here, artefacts
508
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:56,360
Well Laura I have one big surprise for you let's have a look follow me
509
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:57,640
Okay interesting
510
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:03,320
I'm literally walking up a plank at the moment look at this though
511
00:44:04,100 --> 00:44:08,820
We're now in the reception room of the Roman villa and room for parking.
512
00:44:08,820 --> 00:44:12,940
Okay and lots of important people would come here for parties?
513
00:44:12,940 --> 00:44:19,740
Including Emperor and his important guests they organized dinners here
514
00:44:19,740 --> 00:44:23,280
and along the way entertainment for the guests.
515
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:28,880
and one thing I noticed as we've walked in here we're obviously standing on so quite a primal
516
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:33,120
scaffold piece at the moment and what's the reason for this?
517
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:43,040
Because conservation and exploration is undergoing so archaeologists removed some parts of this room,
518
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:51,160
separated, numbered and after the conservation and after the work they will return the exact place
519
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:58,960
So let me have a look just over here and just clarify that, we've actually got tons of plastic pots are just
520
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:06,040
around this area and there's loads of tiny stones they actually get even smaller than this one here
521
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:07,320
they're all numbered up
522
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:08,000
Yes
523
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:12,880
How much longer do you think the process will be just of this room uncovering it?
524
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,380
I think we're talking about months
525
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:16,460
Months? Really?
526
00:45:16,460 --> 00:45:16,960
Really.
527
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:17,900
As soon as that?
528
00:45:17,900 --> 00:45:18,400
yes
529
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:23,540
That's very exciting and in terms of the patterns here were these significant?
530
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:34,200
There are lots of interesting patterns here they've, Romans put those patterns all the way from Belgrade
531
00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:40,220
all the way to Niš you can see them but the most important and
532
00:45:41,420 --> 00:45:45,400
you can say interesting are those swastikas.
533
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:46,440
Okay wow
534
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:56,780
So that is testimony that swastika is not painted first by Hitler but that is then all symbol used here in Europe,
535
00:45:56,780 --> 00:46:03,680
before the Romans and during the Roman period and also Indian symbol from Hinduism and Buddhism
536
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:09,880
Wow it's absolutely beautiful and so worth seeing. Marko thank you so much for showing us around
537
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,700
Thank you for visiting and come again when work is done
538
00:46:12,700 --> 00:46:13,460
I will do.
539
00:46:15,260 --> 00:46:17,340
Next time on Serbia Old and New.
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00:46:17,340 --> 00:46:22,360
I take a break from ancient history and experience Serbia's modern offerings as I go shopping,
541
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mountain biking and just relax.
542
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:30,340
And I marvel at one of Serbia's natural wonders, the scarily named Devils Town.
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