Travelling Blog

Travelling Blog · 16.06.2025

Jouni S. Laiti presents his latest art objects at the Sami Museum in Inari. He uses materials and techniques that the Sami have used for centuries and places them in a new context. Among other things, he is showing a wooden drinking vessel, which the Sami traditionally make from burls - growths on birch trunks. However, this cup has two handles decorated with reindeer antler work. Laiti calls the work ‘I'm madly in love with you’. He also shows an object that looks like a knife at first...

Travelling Blog · 14.06.2025

I'm staying at Porotila Toini Sanila in Sevettijärvi, about 15 kilometres south of the Finnish-Norwegian border. I have chosen this address to learn about reindeer and reindeer husbandry. ‘Porotila’ is the Finnish word for reindeer farm. It's an idyllic place, about a kilometre off the main road. The farm is located right next to a lake. A few small wooden huts are grouped together in the forest. I receive a friendly welcome and am immediately invited to dinner. There are few guests at the...

Travelling Blog · 12.06.2025

Michael Cramer is the initiator of the Iron Curtain Trail. Over the past 20 years, he has worked with cycling enthusiasts from various European countries to develop the 10,000 kilometre route from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. We met in Harbke, Saxony-Anhalt, last summer when he gave a lecture to mark the anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. Now we arranged to meet online between Berlin and Kirkenes. It all started for Michael Cramer with the Berlin Wall Cycle Route. ‘I cycled...

Travelling Blog · 10.06.2025

Georgii Chementirov, 39, is an exiled journalist from Russia. He has been working and living in Kirkenes with his family for almost three years. He is one of around 1,500 Russian journalists who left their home country after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. ‘Many Russians fled after the war began because they were afraid of having to go to the front themselves,’ explains Chementirov in a conversation in Kirkenes. For him, mobilisation was not the decisive reason for leaving...

Travelling Blog · 09.06.2025

Where Norway seems to end, the Iron Curtain begins: in Grense Jakobselv. The view is of the vastness of the Barents Sea. Small beaches alternate with rocks that reach into the sea. Some tourists enjoy the impressive natural surroundings while a family has a picnic on the beach. Four young people in uniform sit relaxed in the sun on wooden benches. They are members of the Norwegian border troops who are on duty here. They are immediately ready to talk, as one of their tasks is to inform people...

Travelling Blog · 08.06.2025

Sometimes political events can destroy a life's work overnight. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made this a sad reality for Rune Rafaelsen. He spent most of his life in Kirkenes, Norway, right on the Russian border. He firmly believed in cooperation with Russia, that friendships, cultural exchange and economic relations across systemic borders could make a shared future possible. "It's sad for me. But it's worst of all for the people in Ukraine," he says thoughtfully. Rafaelsen...

Travelling Blog · 30.05.2025

The preparations for my journalistic cycle tour along the former Iron Curtain from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea are in full swing. I have been researching for months, making contacts and roughly planning the route. And now it's getting serious. I will soon be starting in Kirkenes in Norway and would like to make it to the Curonian Spit in Lithuania on the first section. Today I did some trial packing. What do you need for about ten weeks? Clothes for every temperature, equipment for rain, a...