What really sold Kaliningrad Region as a destination to me was its complex identity as well as the beautiful scenery without the crowds typically found in the country’s South in the summertime. I wasn’t fooling myself by expecting to be able to duplicate my European trips. I’d been thinking of ways to process this trip … Continue reading Conclusion. Did I Find Europe in Kaliningrad Region?
Given the massive historic transformations over the last century, we can expect people living in Kaliningrad Region to have complex identities. When Königsberg was renamed into Kaliningrad, this region had already been German for about 700 years. At some point in its history, it was cut off from the mainland Germany and there were a … Continue reading Kaliningrad Region. People
In places with such a complicated history and identity as Kaliningrad Region, little details are really important to absord and process. While traveling, you don’t normally expect wherever you are staying to be of any great significance to the place’s or region’s character unless you are specifically on the lookout for something quaint. We weren’t looking for that, but as given the current popularity of Zelenogradsk, … Continue reading Kaliningrad Region. Man-Made Environment
Kaliningrad Region is a Russian exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. Where do these two EU members stand in the heterogeneous unit? Before Lithuania joined the EU, it had been part of the USSR. Can this European state sitting 'on the front line between Russia and the West’ fully embrace its Europeanness? Among the other two states with the … Continue reading Kaliningrad Region. Geography
PART 3. SOCHI Episode 8. A Morning in Central Sochi, 11.03am, April 22 Three days ago, excited for this final leg of the trip I got back to the sea. A long bus ride from Esto- Sadok took me to Sochi, the Russian Black Sea pearl, the country’s unofficial summer capital, the city that epitomizes a sea holiday in the minds of a lot … Continue reading 30-Minute Writing Sketches in Sochi
Arriving in the capital city of Belarus about 90 minutes later was really a breeze as there was no passport control or anything else I could see or hear to make me feel that I was somewhere even remotely foreign. Well, except for that welcoming sign reading Мiнск (in Belarusian). A photo I took of … Continue reading Linguistic Adventures in Minsk
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