Albums from Eastern Europe | Karl-Ove Vindenes' Photoblog

2008 – Eurovision tour

I drove with a friend from Oslo to Belgrade in Serbia to see the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. On the way, we stopped in Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Timisoara.

Bratislava, Slovakia

We stopped in Bratislava for a few hours on the way from Prague to Budapest.

8 photos.

Budapest, Hungary

We stayed two days in Budapest.

14 photos.

Timisoara, Romania

We also stayed a night in Timisoara in Transylvania, Romania.

8 photos.

Belgrade, Serbia

The southernmost stop on the trip was Belgrade in Serbia, host to the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

14 photos.

2007 – Ukraine

In December 2007, I visited the second largest (by area) country in Europe - Ukraine.

Kyiv

Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has about 2.7 million inhabitants.

18 photos.

Chornobyl

I visited the site for the worst nuclear accident in history. 55,000 people were living here before the accident. Now the city is empty.

20 photos.

2007 – Czech Republic

I visited Prague again in 2007, 11 years after my last trip to the city.

Prague

Prague is a wonderful city for anyone interested in architecture and photography.

26 photos.

2007 – Bulgaria

I visited Sofia in Bulgaria for a few days in early May.

Sofia

Sofia is one of the oldest capital cities of Europe, and has today over a million inhabitants.

25 photos.

2006 – Moscow, Russia

We were in Moscow a week in September/October.

By day

Moscow has lots of churches, Stalin skyscrapers and corrupt policemen.

21 photos.

By night

Moscow by night also has its share of corrupt police officers.

8 photos.

Kremlin

Russia is ruled from inside the walls of the Kremlin.

11 photos.

2006 – Georgia

I arrived in Georgia by train, and what I saw made me sceptical... until I saw the center or Tbilisi, which is a charming city.

Tbilisi

The capital and biggest city of Georgia is full of churches.

22 photos.

2004 – Moscow, Russia

I visited Moscow in February 2004. The thing that impressed me the most was the metro. The stations are wonderfully decorated with marble floors, paintings, statues and chandeliers.

The city

Behind the Italian-built walls of the Kremlin, some old men once held the world's destiny in their wrinkled hands. Another famous landmark is the St. Basil Cathedral, with its colorful cupolas.

14 photos.

The Metro

What impressed me most in in Moscow, was the Metro. The contrast to the underground in cities like London and New York is striking. And it is inexpensive, too.

8 photos.

From July 31 to August 24, I drove around the Baltic sea, through 10 different countries, and staying in 8 different cities; Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Minsk, Kaliningrad and Copenhagen.

Stockholm, Sweden

The first stop on my trip was in Stockholm, where I stayed for 3 days. I was there at the end of Stockholm Pride week, and got to see the parade that Saturday.

19 photos.

Helsinki, Finland

From Stockholm, I took the over-night ferry to Helsinki in Finland.

14 photos.

Tallinn, Estonia

From Helsinki, a short ferry trip took me to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Tallinn is a charming city, with a well preserved old town.

14 photos.

Riga, Latvia

Riga is about 4 hours drive from Tallinn. Riga is a relatively large city, with almost a million inhabitants, and there is a charming old town here as well.

17 photos.

Vilnius, Lithuania

Lithuania is the most populous of the three Baltic countries, but there are still less than 4 million people in this country.

17 photos.

Minsk, Belarus

Vilnius is only a 30 minutes drive from the border of Belarus, so I had to make a visit there too. Belarus is one of the few communist countries still around, and the bureaucracy was evidend from the first contact. The border crossing formalities took 90 minutes.

17 photos.

Kaliningrad, Russia

Kaliningrad is a Russian city of almost half a million people, in a small piece of land between Lithuania and Poland, separate from the rest of Russia. This is one of the ugliest cities I have ever seen.

18 photos.

Copenhagen, Denmark

From Kaliningrad I drove to Gdansk in Poland and took a ferry from there to Copenhagen, where I spent the last few days of my holiday, before driving back to Oslo over the Øresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden.

11 photos.

1996 – Central and Eastern Europe

In August 1996, I spent about two weeks travelling throgh Europe by car with some fellow students from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

Italy

We started by driving from Bergen to Oslo, then going by ferry to Kiel in Germany, and then driving more or less non-stop until we arrived in Italy.

4 photos.

Former Yugoslavia

After a night in expensive Venice, we decided to travel east, where everything is cheaper.

8 photos.

Czech Republic

We stayed a few days in Prague on the way back home.

3 photos.

1991 – Poland

Together with a Norwegian classmate and friend, I stayed in Poland for a month to participate at an English language course in for Polish students. After the course, we traveled around the country.

Puławy

UNESCO organized a summer camp for Polish students in Puławy. I was there 3 weeks as a teacher's assistant.

12 photos.

Around the country

After the summer camp was over, we went on a one week bus trip around the country, visiting Krakow, Zakopane and Warsaw.

10 photos.