A dozen or so years ago, William Blacker ran off to live with the gipsies of northern Romania. That may not have been his original intention, but that is how it ended up. Wandering over the Carpathians into northern Transylvania he entered an enchanted world. Most travel was on horseback or by cart and sled, or feet clad in traditional laced boots, unchanged in design for centuries.

This chronicle of life in northern Romania, a place mercifully free of cars and television until very recently, is a jewel. It is a portrait of a complete world, with its glorious landscapes, its squabbling villagers – and above all the gipsies, whose main activities seem to be singing, fighting and procreation, and not necessarily in that order.

written by Robert Fox
sursa: telegraph.co.uk
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