Searching for Sarmizegetusa

is a travelogue based on my journeys in Romania from
1993-2002. It was begun while I was researching
Blue Guide Romania and ends with a description of the campaign to save the village of Roşia Montana and its unique surroundings from destruction by
gold quarrying in the Apuseni Mountains.

With a foreword by
Jessica Douglas-Home

170pp, paperback, illustrated with line drawings and maps by the author.
Published by Starborn Books in 2003,
ISBN 1 899530 11 8

Sarmizegetusa Regia: a part of the remaining protective wall, just about all you can see of the original buildings which the Dacians built to create a sophisticated, self-sufficient community high in the southern Carpathians. Once the capital of the Dacian leader, Decebal, the fortress was destroyed by the Romans in 106 AD when they invaded what is now Romania in their hunt for gold. Although many exciting archaeological finds have been made here, Sarmizegetusa Regia is now a woefully neglected World Heritage site.

I used it as a symbol for some of the tragic things that are happening in Romania now but also to show the brilliance of the Romanians’ imagination in spite of so many shattering disappointments and the rottenness of their own political class. In the chaos of the post-communist period some dreamt that Decebal and his followers would rise again and heal the country’s woes. In the book, I never actually find Sarmizegetusa.