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Danube

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00:27Welcome to Slovakia.
00:30On the second leg of our fabulous journey, tracking the Danube all the way through its countries, right down from
00:36the Black Forest to the Black Sea.
00:39In this episode, I'll be travelling in the heart of Europe, through the landlocked countries of Slovakia and Hungary.
00:48One of Europe's newest countries, Slovakia is home to just over five million people, stunning alpine vistas,
00:57diverse wildlife and an array of dramatic fortifications.
01:03I'm standing on the highest point of Djevin Castle.
01:08My starting point sits high over the Danube, with a history stretching back over a thousand years.
01:17The river running here is between Slovakia here. That's Austria.
01:23So this has always been a hugely important frontier.
01:30This was the northern limits of the great Roman Empire, but its really important moment came in the middle of
01:36the 20th century.
01:40After the Second World War, Slovakia, then part of Czechoslovakia, fell under communist rule.
01:48And this amazing river at the foot of Djevin Castle became an ideological border between east and west.
01:56Brano Hrenka has kindly offered to show me communism's lasting imprint.
02:01Brano. Hi, Joanna.
02:03With a rather special driving tour of the capital.
02:06That was my grandfather's car.
02:08Skoda?
02:08Yeah, 1974.
02:10Oh, it's beautiful.
02:13Oh, how comfortable, how lovely.
02:17It's gorgeous.
02:19Sorry.
02:20There were always such good cars, but there were lots of jokes made about them, weren't there?
02:24Yeah, there are a lot of jokes.
02:26For example, what is a Skoda on the top of the hill?
02:29I don't know.
02:30It's a miracle.
02:33I remember one which is a man drives into the garage and says, do you have a fan belt for
02:38a Skoda?
02:39And the garage man says, seems like a fair exchange.
02:43All right.
02:46All jokes aside, this car has stood the test of time and is an heirloom in Brano's family, having been
02:52passed down the generations.
02:55My father, he was 18 years old to drive all the way to Western Germany.
03:01And he tried to bring some LPs of Beatles and Amba.
03:04Oh, did he manage? No.
03:06It was actually found by the guards under the seat of the Skoda car.
03:11So actually, the guards kept the records.
03:13Oh, beastly.
03:16Although importing Western music was illegal, Bratislava didn't reject all creativity.
03:24Bratislava in the 70s and 80s became a playground for the architects.
03:28They could all come and try it out.
03:30Architects could fulfill their crazy dreams.
03:34None more so than the Slovak radio tower, which has been supplying the nation with daily broadcasts since 1985.
03:43It's pretty impressive, isn't it?
03:45I think it's very impressive.
03:46Despite the British paper, the telegraph, they made the list of ugliest buildings in the world.
03:52And this was one of them.
03:55I think it's very daring.
03:57Bratislava has six bridges over the Danube.
04:00And Brano is keen to show me the most famous one of all, the UFO bridge.
04:05One of the most special bridges in Europe.
04:08This futuristic bridge has become a symbol of the city.
04:12Built in 1972, it's formed of a singular asymmetrical pylon with a distinctive restaurant that hovers above the cityscape.
04:19It's spectacular.
04:22And it's called UFO because, like a flying saucer.
04:25Yeah, you have to imagine that this was the time of late 60s, early 7th piece, the space race.
04:30Oh, my God, yes.
04:32Spanning the Danube, the UFO bridge connects Bratislava's old town to Petrozalka, perhaps the largest prefabricated housing estate in Central
04:41Europe.
04:42It goes for miles.
04:44It's so huge that it was so easy to get lost.
04:49The name Petrozalka comes from the word for parsley.
04:52Planned in the 1960s to house 100,000 people, this concrete jungle was built on the site of a small
04:59garden village known for its fruit orchards, vegetables and herbs.
05:05Have you been in one?
05:06I also live in the prefab.
05:07Do you?
05:08Every fourth inhabitant of Bratislava lives here in Petrozalka.
05:12Gosh, gosh, gosh, Petrozalka, look at you.
05:15Little parsley apricot country turned into this extraordinary new city.
05:27After over four decades of communist rule, Slovakia emerged as an independent nation in 1993, making Bratislava one of Europe's
05:37youngest capitals.
05:40Now it's a vibrant city full of creative people.
05:49Look at this fabulous headdress, all its ornate intricacies, its flowers and ribbons and adornments and baubles and beads.
06:03Ethnologist Katarina Sabova is inspired by Slovakia's rich folk past and is leading a project that is transforming traditional Slovak
06:13headdresses from forgotten historic relics into beautiful pieces of art.
06:18Katarina, were these wedding headdresses or were they just for finery or what were they?
06:24It's for wedding, for celebration.
06:26Every headband is different.
06:28Every village has a different traditional parta.
06:30We call them the Slovakia parta.
06:32It's just for unmarried young lady.
06:35So this is only for virginal young brides?
06:37Yes.
06:38So I can't wear one.
06:41And do you make these yourself now?
06:44These beautiful headdresses?
06:45We borrow from people from a village.
06:49Today we have this girl from Horne Opatovce.
06:52She bring her for us today.
06:54Her own one?
06:55Yes.
06:56Look at you, honey.
06:58Hello, darling.
06:59I'm Joanna.
06:59I'm Vivian.
07:00You look so beautiful.
07:02These are so unbelievably attractive for a bride to have something to make you feel special.
07:08It's almost like a crown.
07:09May I, will you turn around, honey?
07:12Look how enchanting that is.
07:14So you get the beautiful back, her lovely plait, and this gorgeous, gorgeous net falling down.
07:20But this gives you like a tiara, like a crown.
07:27This beautiful parta hairdress originates from a village that no longer exists.
07:32Oh!
07:35I wanna look at that.
07:37In the 1960s, the village of Horne Opatovce was abandoned due to the pollution from the local aluminium plant.
07:45An ecological disaster that turned a village into Slovakia's Chernobyl.
07:52This is extraordinary because it looks almost metallic.
07:56It's aluminium.
07:57Because she's got aluminium tears falling on her face to mourn the loss of that village.
08:02It doesn't exist anymore.
08:05It's a beautiful parta.
08:08It's a beautiful parta.
08:10It's a beautiful parta.
08:10Oh, look, it looks stunning.
08:12Yeah.
08:13We like it.
08:14It's lovely.
08:21Nearly all of Slovakia, about 96%, lies within the Danube's basin, meaning nearly every stream rising here flows into the
08:31mighty river.
08:38Three hours from Bratislava is one of Europe's last wildernesses.
08:46Most of the Tartus Mountains are so high that they're inaccessible to all but the most experienced climbers.
08:51But there is one I'm hoping to get up today onto the very top, but only if the weather is
08:57on our side.
09:09In northern Slovakia, water from the formidable Tartus Mountains feeds into the Danube via its many tributaries.
09:24These are the highest peaks in the Carpathians.
09:28Where I'm trying to get up to has completely disappeared.
09:31It's up there with those cable cars going.
09:33It's called Lomnisky Stied.
09:37We're going right up there.
09:42The route to the top involves multiple cable cars.
09:46The final leg is a perilous ascent that's at the mercy of the unpredictable mountain weather.
09:54It's nearly 900 metres from the cable station right up to the top.
10:01This is very thrilling.
10:07Maybe we wouldn't be able to get this last cable car because of the wind, but actually it's dropped at
10:11the moment.
10:14People have got stuck up there.
10:16So we've brought with us provisions of all kinds of snacks and stuff like that.
10:22When I was doing the Bond film in Switzerland as a Bond girl, we used to go up to the
10:26location on the top of the mountain.
10:27And it was completely thrilling.
10:30We were all dressed up with eyelashes and plenty of lipstick.
10:33Up we got in the car like a cage of little songbirds.
10:37And they always said, be careful when you get there, walk slowly because the air is thinner and you might
10:43feel a bit giddy.
10:48Look, I think I can see the shape of a hut up here.
10:51Perched at the very top of Lomnisky Stied is an observatory.
11:00At 2,634 metres above sea level, it's a vital research station in the fields of astronomy and meteorology.
11:12I can hear people.
11:14The observatory is the highest permanently inhabited place in Slovakia.
11:19Hi, I'm Joanna.
11:22For the past nine years, this high altitude research station has been Rustislav Mačurá's office.
11:31Look at this. It's fantastic.
11:36Tell me, what is the work that you do up here?
11:40This is a project of the Hydro Meteorological Council,
11:45from which we send every hour a message of the weather.
11:49Rusty, I can't help noticing that you've got a bed up here.
11:53Have you ever been stuck up here because the weather's been so bad?
12:06The highest recorded wind speeds up here are 137 miles per hour.
12:13I've been working at the time.
12:15So, the whole building has fallen.
12:17What?
12:19When it comes to making detailed weather observations,
12:22digital sensors can't compete with the human eye.
12:25So, every hour, Rusty has to brave the cold to take manual measurements.
12:30Good, this looks like a little outside bread oven or something.
12:32In the meteorological station, we have the original equipment that shows the density,
12:39maximum and minimal.
12:40Oh no.
12:42I've put a bit of warm hand that warms it up here.
12:46You don't touch it.
12:49I've altered the weather pattern now across Europe.
12:52So, I'm so sorry, just say it was a mad woman.
12:56No instruments were harmed in the making of this film.
12:59But these little thermometers play an important role in monitoring the climate.
13:04I feel that we are so far from the Danube here, but there is a connection, isn't there?
13:10I'm sorry.
13:12I feel that this, which is where you go from now,
13:13I mean, that this snowman goes down
13:15to the siren, it's very close to Dunaja.
13:17In our statistics, we have seen that climate change.
13:23And it's so much that can't be it,
13:25because, if there is colderness,
13:26it's more than we're going to be attending.
13:28But it's not a good thing.
13:30And this snowman goes in very soon.
13:33So, for Dunaj, to be really not.
13:35It's not quite simple.
13:40Scientists like Rusty are finding weather patterns you could once set your watch to
13:45are now in flux.
13:48The snow and ice up here used to melt gradually through the spring.
13:52But it's now happening much more unpredictably.
13:55Across the whole Danube basin, more extreme conditions like sudden floods and prolonged
14:01droughts are becoming the norm.
14:04It's almost unworldly being up here with the snow drumming down.
14:08It's almost like a hailstone on my hat.
14:11And you can't have any sense of where you are.
14:14And yet I know that if this goes too badly wrong,
14:17all life on Earth is going to change.
14:20All these meteorological studies are so hugely important.
14:28None of the research at Lomiski Stitt would be possible
14:31without the cable car.
14:36Completed in 1940,
14:38the engineers overcame a height difference of nearly 900 metres
14:41in one single stretch.
14:46The real heroes of this daring feat, though,
14:48are the local porters who climbed up the mountain
14:51with the first rope to get the construction going.
14:58And, incredibly, mountain portering is a tradition
15:01that continues in Slovakia today.
15:04I'm Steve. Nice to meet you.
15:06Steve Bako is one of Slovakia's last mountain porters.
15:09Oh, look at this, Steve.
15:11You've got briquettes and logs and...
15:14Yes.
15:14We use the heating all of the year.
15:16We are in the mountains, you know, so it's...
15:18Nowadays, most of the porters make their money
15:20carrying supplies to a number of chalets
15:22dotted across the Tatra Mountains,
15:24which are only accessible by foot.
15:26Oh, my gosh, Steve, look at that.
15:29What do you call this, a frame?
15:30We call it the Krakse.
15:32Krakse.
15:34Oi.
15:34Hi.
15:35It's for school yesterday.
15:39Ciao.
15:40He's going from the Zbigneska mountain hut.
15:42And how long did it take him to come down?
15:4519 minutes.
15:46The time for the tourists is about two hours,
15:48so it's...
15:51Two hours for the tourists and 19 minutes for a porter.
15:57It's time for Steve to begin the careful art
16:00of loading up his Krakse.
16:03Normally, it's recommended that hikers
16:05don't carry more than 20% of their body weight.
16:08How much does that weigh?
16:0972 kilograms.
16:10And the Krakse is about eight,
16:13so it means 80 kilograms.
16:17Steve, how much do you weigh?
16:20After a good lunch, 72.
16:22So you're carrying far more than you weigh?
16:24So you should be efficient, yes.
16:27I mean, just when I thought that was a colossal pack,
16:29he just puts his backpack on the top.
16:34Okay.
16:35Let's go.
16:38Okay.
16:39Oh, my gosh.
16:42Bye-bye.
16:42Bye-bye.
16:50Porters know the mountains like the back of their hand,
16:53but it's not without risk.
16:55Is it dangerous?
16:56Have there been accidents?
16:57Yes, of course.
16:58We are in the mountains in the winter,
17:00the avalanches.
17:02We organized two races through the year,
17:04and one race is on this trail.
17:07Yeah.
17:07It's a memorial.
17:08We remember one very good Sherpa.
17:10He died in an avalanche in 2000.
17:12Yeah.
17:12And he was a very good friend of ours,
17:15the same age.
17:16Oh, God.
17:17And it's a race with 100 kilograms, okay?
17:21And if you want to win,
17:24you must run on this trail.
17:29I should have offered to carry your backpack at least,
17:32couldn't I?
17:32I could have offered to do that, Steve.
17:35It's okay.
17:39Steve's destination today is Rhino-Rover Chalet.
17:43We're here, Steve.
17:44Yes, welcome in the Rhino-Rover Hut.
17:49It's the oldest mountain hut in the Tatras,
17:52and run by fellow mountain porter Peter Patras.
17:54So, come on.
17:56Oh, lovely.
17:57Ciao, Peter.
17:58Oh, no.
17:59Three decades ago,
18:01Peter converted Rhino-Rover from a ruin
18:03into a cozy stop off, a weary hikers.
18:07When you first came to the hut,
18:10what condition was it in?
18:12There were windows,
18:13there was a wall falling down,
18:14there was a wall falling down.
18:17And what did your wife think
18:18when you said that you wanted to take this ruin?
18:21When I first learned it,
18:24it was very hurt.
18:27So, we wouldn't let it go to some good friendship.
18:33But I told you that it would be a shame
18:36to let this house completely fall down.
18:39But we're talking about bricks and tiles and wood.
18:43Everything we see.
18:43It's carried by you.
18:47Peter has been portering since the 1960s
18:50and has a personal record of carrying 120 kilograms.
18:55Are you still carrying?
18:57The wearing?
18:58The wearing?
18:59The wearing?
18:59The wearing?
19:00The wearing?
19:01The walking?
19:02The way I am I am happy that I have to get up.
19:04I would like to tell you that I am going to get up.
19:07That I would like to say to the older people,
19:09let they don't get up with the income.
19:12Let they have something to do.
19:13Let they have a joy.
19:16Let they have a joy.
19:25the way to hell, because it was a wild.
19:34Peter is obviously a legend in the whole community.
19:37We are made to work. We are much stronger than we think.
19:41And it's important to preserve this tradition of Portridge,
19:45so that we don't all just become fat slobs sitting on the sofa,
19:48watching television and complaining.
19:50These are men of the mountains, and every day they get up,
19:53There's slightly different weather. There's something majestic to look at. There's extraordinary snow or blazing sun
19:59Birds and the sound of water running. This is what restores the soul
20:04Nothing, but the pad of a walking man with a great pack on his back and an old woman's sipping
20:10tea
20:23After flowing steadily eastwards for nearly 800 miles
20:27It's in neighboring Hungary that the Danube turns dramatically south
20:36Hungary's earliest settlers were drawn to the rich Danube Basin lured in by its fertile soil and abundance of water
20:45Today no other capital city embraces the Danube quite like my next stop
20:51Budapest
21:06It's
21:07It's so thrilling to be back on the reason for our whole journey on the Danube
21:18And here is Budapest it's called the pearl of the Danube and you can see why
21:23It's fabulous
21:25So
21:41Can you see why we're here?
21:54the eastern side of it, and this became Budapest.
22:03This is the Parliament.
22:05It was inspired by the Houses of Parliament in London,
22:07and the architect, Neymar Steindl, said,
22:10I want to make it as grand as possible, and he did,
22:12but sadly he went blind and he never saw it completed.
22:15But look at it, it's got something like 200 spires,
22:18and that great central dome is 96 metres high,
22:23and that's to commemorate Hungary, which was formed in 896.
22:28How divine!
22:38Built by British engineers in the 1840s,
22:41the Great Chain Bridge paved the way for unification
22:44between Buda and Pest, officially merging in 1873.
22:49Bye-bye.
22:50Bye-bye.
22:51This was a time when Budapest was a capital city
22:54within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
22:58The late 19th century was the golden age of construction in the city.
23:05Andrasi Avenue, in the centre of Pest,
23:07emerged as one of Budapest's most opulent streets.
23:11One building in particular is a hub for Hungary's elite musicians and performers.
23:24George?
23:25Joanna, welcome to the Hungarian state of France.
23:27Thank you so much.
23:29Well...
23:32Let me show you where the magic begins.
23:39This is out of this world, George.
23:44It's spectacular.
23:49The architect was a genius,
23:51and he designed this intimate space with a thousand seats all around.
23:56Look at all this decoration, and then the ceiling.
24:04The ceiling depicts the apotheosis of music by Hungarian painter Karol Lotz.
24:11And Apollo is the central figure.
24:13All the gods and goddesses of the Olympus mountain are listening to him
24:17because it's the most important thing, music.
24:20All the cherubs are playing. Isn't that adorable?
24:24On stage tonight is the opera Aida, written by Verdi,
24:28and I've been given access all areas.
24:34This is magic.
24:35This is just coming onto the stage,
24:38just to feel the sense of the stage.
24:40When you're performing, you own it.
24:42This is yours. You're not an alien.
24:43You go, I've been here before and I belong to it.
24:45You want to make sure that you recognise the steps,
24:47your legs with muscular memory.
24:49Remember if they're slightly high, slightly low.
24:51You've got to get all this into you.
24:54You can't really get it in rehearsal rooms.
24:55You can see this is made of wood.
24:58Flaster or, you know, but this is the whole point.
25:01The whole point is it's an illusion.
25:03This is ancient Egypt.
25:06Hi, John. I'm Judith. Lovely to meet you.
25:08Oh, my God.
25:09Judith Kotashi is a Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano,
25:12and tonight she's playing Amneris, one of the leading roles.
25:16This is a huge opera tonight.
25:17This is four hours, isn't it?
25:18Yes.
25:19What we call a big sing, isn't it?
25:21Yes.
25:21It's a big sing.
25:22It's true.
25:23It's a big sing. It is.
25:24Have you sung in this house before?
25:26It's my first time, actually.
25:27No.
25:28Your first time.
25:30They are so lucky to have you.
25:32They must be thrilled.
25:33What are the last minute things you do?
25:35I always love to take a moment for myself,
25:38to find myself calm and surrounded by the smell of the theatre.
25:44Toy, toy, toy.
25:45Toy, toy, toy.
25:46I must explain to her what toy, toy, toy is.
25:48They used to spit three times.
25:51And we still do it.
25:53And you still do it.
25:53But only when I'm wearing the costume.
26:01That applause is the conductor coming into the orchestra pit.
26:07There's nothing quite like the moment
26:09just before you step out onto the stage.
26:11And tonight's show is a sellout.
26:43The Danube is the beating heart of Budapest.
26:46But this magnificent river has also been at the centre
26:50of some of the city's darkest moments.
26:58This is the most poignant little memorial I've ever seen.
27:01Shoes on the edge of the river Danube.
27:04Now, this is the grim story of this.
27:06During the Second World War, Nazi Germany invaded Hungary
27:09and began purging the Jews and purging anybody
27:12who was standing up against them.
27:14What they did was they brought them down here
27:16to the edge of the Danube.
27:18They shot them dead and pushed them into the water
27:21and let the river carry its grim burden away.
27:24But before they killed them, they made them take off their shoes
27:27because the militiamen knew that shoes were very valuable
27:30and they could sell them for money.
27:34And so much, much later, here, these little shoes are standing,
27:40kicked off, just heartbreaking.
27:44In 1944, the Danube became a Jewish graveyard.
27:49Across the city, those who were not killed
27:52or forced to live in a ghetto were deported.
27:56In just eight weeks, 424,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz.
28:05In Budapest's seventh district, the old Jewish quarter of the city,
28:10stands the magnificent Dohan Street Synagogue.
28:15It's the largest synagogue in Europe.
28:18John, Tibor.
28:20Tibor Rosenstein is one of Budapest's best-known personalities,
28:25a celebrated chef and Holocaust survivor.
28:28Tibor, even though you were only a tiny child during the war,
28:33the events of the Holocaust have changed and shaped your life.
28:51So, Tibor, who looked after you?
28:56So, Tibor, who looked after you?
29:13How did you become interested in cooking?
29:16How did you become interested in cooking?
29:33Oh, look, Rosenstein.
29:36Oh, Tibor, isn't that wonderful?
29:39Driven by his family history,
29:41Tibor is preserving traditional Jewish-Hungarian cuisine.
29:47So, I'm going to show you the Jewish eggs.
29:50Jewish eggs.
29:55So, we've got butter and onions, hard-boiled eggs,
29:58diced and re-diced.
30:00Do you remember your grandmothers making this dish?
30:03How many?
30:04How many times do we eat this?
30:07Paprika.
30:08This is Hungarian.
30:10Tibor, in Hungary, paprika is very important.
30:13It's very important.
30:14We'll try everything together.
30:15Let's see.
30:16This is the tradition.
30:19Ah.
30:20Ah.
30:23Gosh, that's good.
30:23Ah.
30:24Ah.
30:29Tibor, how proud your parents and your grandparents would be
30:33to see what a huge success you've made of your life
30:36and how much joy and pleasure you're bringing
30:39with your world-class cooking.
30:46Tibor is not just preserving his family's heritage,
30:49but the history of a whole community
30:51that was almost wiped out of Budapest.
30:59As Hungary came to terms of the aftermath of the Second World War,
31:03like much of Eastern and Central Europe,
31:05the country fell under communist rule.
31:10In the rolling Buda Hills on the western portion of the city
31:14is a curious railway line that's a hangover from this period.
31:20Hello.
31:21May I have one ticket?
31:23One way.
31:24OK.
31:24That's 1,000 forint.
31:28Hello.
31:29How old are you?
31:30I'm 13.
31:31My name's Vincent.
31:32How long have you been working here, Vincent?
31:34Two and a half years.
31:35Ah.
31:36You were a little kid?
31:37Yes.
31:38After purchasing my ticket from the incredibly young Vincent,
31:42it's time to find the platform.
31:44These people, look, official little people.
31:49This is extraordinary because this is actually the beating heart
31:52of the railway.
31:53And here the whole thing is being run by children.
31:55It's really, really impressive.
32:01Oh my gosh, I've got to get the train.
32:03Hurry, hurry, hurry.
32:05Hello, little one.
32:06Hi, hi.
32:12It's time.
32:20The project was seen as a way of training little ones with practical skills.
32:31Can I see you?
32:32Sure.
32:33It's essentially unpaid work experience,
32:36and only students with the best grades can apply for roles.
32:39Thank you so much.
32:40Like Daniel and Vero.
32:42Daniel, how many children work on the railways?
32:45About 700.
32:47700.
32:48Vero, tell me what you love about working on the railways.
32:51I really like to work here,
32:54because it's a very nice place,
32:57and it's a very nice place.
32:59It's a great place,
33:00and it's a lot of fun.
33:00I can do it in my career.
33:01I can do it in my career.
33:01I can do it in my career.
33:02I can do it in my career.
33:03I can do it in my career.
33:07How impressive to start,
33:09work on the railways when you're 10.
33:11Wearing their uniforms,
33:12clipping tickets,
33:13selling tickets,
33:14making announcements,
33:15noting things done.
33:17The only thing the children don't do
33:19is actually drive the trains.
33:21Well, some things are best left to grown-ups.
33:30The next station is Janos.
33:34It takes me so long to remember the word for thank you,
33:37which is...
33:38Kusinam.
33:40Wherever you go to a foreign country,
33:41try to remember,
33:42please, thank you,
33:43hello, good night.
33:45Sometimes you're allowed to say,
33:46may I have a large gin and tonic,
33:48but honestly,
33:49the first four words are much more important.
33:51I have a plan to do it in my career.
34:05Look how flat this countryside is.
34:07Such a change from the great Buddha Hills.
34:10and we're on our way to see possibly the longest river
34:14you've never heard of, ever.
34:15It's called the Tiza.
34:17Had you heard of it?
34:20No, neither had I.
34:25The river Tiza is the longest tributary of the Danube,
34:28starting its life in Ukraine and flowing through five countries
34:32before joining the Danube in Serbia.
34:36At Hungary's largest dam, there's an extraordinary man
34:40who's dedicated much of his life to keeping the river Tiza clean.
34:46Attila.
34:47John.
34:48How lovely to meet you.
34:49Attila Molnar is the founder of an organisation
34:52whose volunteers are known as the Plastic Pirates.
34:56Each spring, hundreds of tonnes of plastic
34:58are washed down by floodwaters from upstream countries,
35:02leaving the river and surrounding forests strewn with rubbish.
35:06For over ten years, their mission has been
35:08to clean up plastic pollution in the river Tiza.
35:22With all the plastic drifting into the rivers,
35:25it must go down into the sea.
35:27Yeah.
35:28It's recently been discovered
35:30that nearly 80% of all plastic pollution in oceans
35:36comes from rivers into the sea.
35:39That's a terrifying, terrifying statistic.
35:42That's what I was taught in school.
35:44Plastics will stay intact for hundreds of years.
35:48And very recently, it turned out that once sunlight reaches plastic,
35:52then it starts to break up into small pieces.
35:55That's when it's at its most dangerous.
35:57Yeah.
35:57Because then it's ingested.
35:59Yeah.
35:59And it goes into the food chain.
36:00Well, into fish which feed other fish,
36:02but also feed human beings.
36:04Exactly.
36:04And it's very important to catch out the plastics
36:07before they turn into microplastics.
36:15Today, Attila's targeting an area close to the Kishkore Dam at Lake Tiza.
36:20My God, look at that.
36:21There's an absolute mass of it in here.
36:23So we are going to clean up this little area.
36:26Okay.
36:32Do I take the stuff out of it?
36:34First you smell.
36:35Because if it's oil, then we are not allowed to pour it out.
36:38I think it's cooler.
36:40Then it goes out.
36:44We used to do posters when I was small.
36:46Keep Britain tidy.
36:47And we'd do drawings of happy little hands tossing stuff into rubbish bins.
37:00Do you know, it's unbelievable.
37:01This is five minutes.
37:02And it's just jammed with plastic and old bottles.
37:06Well, you saw it.
37:07It's so depressing.
37:09There's masses more.
37:11That's our catch.
37:12Thank you very much for doing this.
37:14No, don't.
37:14Honestly, I haven't helped at all.
37:19When there isn't me in a film crew here,
37:21these guys collect a colossal amount of waste.
37:24Up to one tonne at a time.
37:32But there's hope.
37:33Almost 75% of plastic produced globally is recyclable.
37:38Welcome, Joanna.
37:39This is the plastic pirate headquarter.
37:42Yeah.
37:43What we do is separate all the plastics.
37:46Because otherwise, all these things would go to the landfill.
37:49And we just don't want that.
37:51Because it's just, you know, cleaning rivers to pollute soil.
37:55Exactly.
37:55Makes no sense.
37:57To date, Attila and his team have collected 317 tonnes of plastic waste,
38:03which is sold off as a raw material and also used to produce items like kayaks.
38:11Why are you doing this?
38:13Because this is all sort of unpaid work, voluntary work, isn't it?
38:18Believe it or not, now it pays off in the way we are able to have employees.
38:23But, of course, we do not raise profit.
38:25No.
38:26Every euro we have goes back into river.
38:29So why am I doing it?
38:31Because every day I have a feeling that I did something right.
38:35For me, when I hear these plastic bottles crashing and cracking, then I hear that, okay, there is hope.
38:43We have a chance.
38:44We have a chance.
38:45As soon as we have this pile of plastic ready for transport, then I feel like, wow.
38:53Well done.
38:54You touch my heart so much.
38:56You touch my heart so much.
38:59Attila's enthusiasm and dedication to keeping Hungary's waterways clean is infectious.
39:10The river Tisa flows through Hungary's Great Plains.
39:14It's an area rich with folklore and home to a community who are preserving a traditional way of life.
39:20I think this is the place.
39:23I've been told to come to Hortobagi National Park.
39:29Whew!
39:31Look at this vast flat land.
39:34It's like prairies.
39:38This is the largest protected area in the whole country and one of the most extensive natural grasslands in Europe.
39:48I'm eating a sort of cowboy.
39:50I mean, we're in Hungary and they're not cowboys, but they tend livestock and they're fabulous horsemen.
39:57Oh, I think that's him.
40:02Peter?
40:03Hello, John.
40:05Hello.
40:06Get out on them.
40:08Chicos, like Peter, are Hungary's mounted herdsmen.
40:12A tradition that can be traced back to the nomadic tribes who brought their animals to graze on these great
40:18plains almost 900 years ago.
40:27Chicos can still be seen today, riding their muscular Nunios horses, which are part of a breeding program here at
40:35the National Park focused on gene conservation.
40:40Known for their unique riding style and distinctive attire, Chicos are also able to pull off some tremendous acrobatic stunts.
40:49Come on!
40:51Come on!
40:52Come on!
40:55Come on!
40:56Oh, Peter!
40:58Come on!
40:59Just to ride a horse is difficult.
41:01To stand on two steered by three.
41:04It's fantastic.
41:06It's fantastic.
41:08It's fantastic.
41:09It's fantastic.
41:11It's fantastic.
41:23And he's as still as a cat, his head like a skier.
41:26So the horse is moving differently and separately.
41:37Peter, how long have you been involved with horses?
41:47Do you think that this tradition is going to continue in Hungary?
41:53Yes, of course.
41:54I think it's possible to continue in this world in a stronger world.
41:58It's much harder.
42:07That was rather touching.
42:08Peter just gave me this flower and I thought, it's fantastic.
42:12And he's in it just to demonstrate our whipping skills.
42:17I mean, thanks, Peter.
42:24Yay!
42:26My flower's gone!
42:28Janos, thank you so much.
42:30That shows, once you've got your eye in, you can get anything.
42:42Peter's father, Peter Senior, is a seventh generation cowherder.
42:48Tending 200 Hungarian grey cattle, an ancient breed with horns up to three meters across.
42:56Traditionally a man's world, Peter's mother, Marika, is the first female cowherder on the plains.
43:05They've kindly invited me to sample a traditional herdsman dinner.
43:10Good morning, Bianca.
43:12Good morning, Bianca.
43:12Nice to meet you.
43:12Hello, darling.
43:13On the menu is schlombutz, a meal made with thin pasta and potatoes.
43:18Gorgeous.
43:21Look!
43:22Oh, lala!
43:23That's beautiful.
43:27This is so good.
43:31Marika, you've been...
43:33Goyas means that you've been looking after cattle.
43:36Would you have chosen any other path in life?
43:39I didn't understand that we could do anything else.
43:45This meant the living of life.
43:47This meant the family.
43:50Peter, big Peter, grand Peter,
43:54would you ever consider living in a city?
44:13It's been such a privilege being here,
44:16seeing all your skills,
44:17seeing the beauty of the animals.
44:20Köszönöm, köszönöm, thank you for it, all my heart.
44:33Köszönöm, köszönöm, köszönöm, köszönöm, köszönöm.
44:33Well, what a fantastic place to end the second leg of our journey,
44:36here on the great plains of Hungary.
44:39And in the next episode, the final episode,
44:42we're going to be following the great Danube
44:44as she winds her way across the country
44:46and empties herself into the Black Sea.
44:48And that country is Romania.
44:53Home to grisly inhabitants.
44:57What are you looking for?
44:59A bear drink.
45:02Gruesome Transylvanian legends.
45:06Dracula.
45:08And the wild beauty of the Danube Delta.
45:12Oh, look at them, aren't they fantastic?
45:41Transcription by CastingWords
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