It was the Romans that first piqued my interest in Romania, when I learned at school that Romanian – rather mysteriously – is a Latin language. In all my years of exploring the country, that sense of curiosity and wonder about Romania has never left me. I read Classics (Literae Humaniores) at Oxford and later took an MA in Byzantine Art from the Courtauld Institute, London, after I had fallen in love with Romania and wanted to understand more about its post-Byzantine art and architecture. I wrote my dissertation on a miracle-working icon at a monastery in Oltenia. I have been organising and leading tours of Romania since 2001. My book Transylvania with photographs by Dan Dinescu, was first published by Frances Lincoln in 2008. I first spoke at the Transylvanian Book Festival (about the Dacians) in 2016 and was asked to become its director in 2019. We are now looking forward to the 5th edition in September 2024.
I am fascinated by the transition between the Classical pagan world and the Christian era, something I have been thinking about constantly while researching my book about Egeria’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the fourth century. But nearer to home, I had great fun devising a tour which combines these worlds: ‘Romans into Christians Walking along Hadrian’s Wall and the Northumberland Coast’.