Eastern Europe

In the southwest corner of Finland is one of Europe's oddest places: the Ahvenanmaa archipelago (Åland in Swedish). It has about 6,500 islands (about 80 are inhabited). Ahvenanmaa is roughly between the Swedish mainland and the Finnish mainland, but it officially belongs to Finland. But you wouldn't know it when you visit.

That's because if you want to speak Finnish on this Finnish island, then you should take a boat back to the Finnish mainland. We only speak Swedish in this part of Finland.

How did this turn out? In 1921, the League of Nations (the precursor to the UN) said that these islands belong to Finland. However, the island’s inhabitants lobbied the Finnish Parliament to pass the Autonomy Act in 1951 (and amended it in 1993), which granted this archipelago unusual independence:

In 2004 and 2008-2011, I traveled throughout Eastern Europe to write my 2nd book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. The book includes 60 photos. This page lets you download those 60 photos as well as see several more photos that don't appear in the book.

Download the 60 photos from The Hidden Europe

To see the 60 photos that are in the book, download one of these three formats and then see them in your favorite ebook reader:

1. PDF: Viewable on all PCs.
2. ePub: Viewable on all ebook readers except the Kindle. Just download the file and import into your ereader.
3. mobi: For Kindle users (download and import via USB, see below).

Read this if you have a Kindle: When you buy the Kindle version of The Hidden Europe through Amazon's website, photos are not included because Amazon charges publishers by the megabyte whenever they deliver a Kindle book (other ebook stores don't do this). Had I put 60 photos into the Amazon book, I'd make pennies on each book. To get around that problem while still letting you see the photos that appear in the hardcover version, we're making the photos freely available here. All you have to do is download the .mobi photo file and then import it into your Kindle (follow the USB instructions to do it for free).

The 50 best photos from Eastern Europe

The 60 photos that appear in the book aren't my best photos from Eastern Europe. Why not? Because I preferred putting photos of some of the people that I met or other photos that readers of the book would appreciate.

But what if you just want to see pretty photos from Eastern Europe? Below are my 50 favorite ones. Only a few of them made it into the book. 

Step into Dubrovnik and the rest of Eastern Europe....

Slovenia's Julian Alps are the toughest, most dangerous trails I've ever hiked. I've been in other dangerous situations (challenging weather, high altitude, lost without food or gear for 3 days), but as far as a "trail" nothing is harder than the Julian Alps.

To make it harder, it would have to be rock climbing, which, in fact, is easier than this because here you don't have the safety equipment (a harness, rope, carabiners) unless you bring it.

See video, photos, and story below. I encourage you to watch the video in full-screen and then in the lower-right-hand corner change the setting to 1080p, for very high definition. If YouTube is blocking this video, watch it in high definition on Vimeo. Turn up the volume. ;)

2009 was a busy travel year for me. I visited nearly all the European countries. However, I calmed down in 2010. About six countries are on the list: Italy + ex-Yugoslavia. Below are some photos from a New Year's Eve party in Izola, Slovenia. Below that you'll see photo of Crveni Vrh, Croatia, the seaside location of where I wrote 80% of The Hidden Europe.

The 2010 New Year's Celebration in Izola, Slovenia

New Year's Eve in Izola, Slovenia. Four of these Slovenians had done a roadtrip together in the Western USA. When they told me the story I nodded with my mouth full.

This is one of Slovenia's largest dance floors.

For some strange reason, the Slovenians gave the honors of popping the champagne at midnight to an American who doesn't drink alcohol.

New Year's Day 2010. My gracious and wonderful host, Tamara čelhar, is all the way in the back of this photo (just left of my head). She and many Slovenians tried to convince me that they drink a lot of alcohol, but I laughed and told them to go to Finland, Moldova, or Russia.

Izola is a 15-minute drive to the Croatian border. Then in another 15 minutes you will arrive at the perfect place to write a book....

Crveni Vhr, Croatia

I wrote most of The Hidden Europe in Crveni Vhr, Croatia. Below is the short story of how I got here and a few photos of the place.

In May 2008, I visited a Slovenian village at the base of the Julian Alps called Slap ob Idrijci. Slap in Slovenian means Waterfall, so the name of the village means Waterfall by the Idrijca River. There I met and stayed with Dušan Trušnovec's generous family. A few days later we went to his Croatian sea house, in a town called Crveni Vrh, whose hard-to-pronounce name means Red Summit.

While I was walking across Spain twice, Dušan, out of the blue, invited me to return and write my book at his house on the Adriatic Sea. It's every writer's dream: to write in a quiet seaside paradise. Indeed, as I type these words, out the window I see the Old Town of Piran, the Adriatic Sea, and the snowy Julian Alps.

This is the one snow fall this winter. Normally temps are 0-10 degrees Celsius. I've been here since mid-December 2009.

The view of the desk that I write on everyday. There's roof construction materials outside. On a clear day, you can see the Julian Alps.

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Piran is in Slovenia, but I'm staying in Croatia. All my friends are in Slovenia, so I cross the EU border often. Piran looks golden at sunset.

The Old Town of Piran is 5km away, about 90 minutes swimming across Piran Bay. However, be careful, Slovenia and Croatia are having a big fight over who controls this Bay, so the overly zealous Slovenian Coast Guard might harpoon you if they think you're a Croatian swimmer trying to get to Piran.

The highest of those snowy peaks is Triglav, Slovenia's tallest mountain at 2,864 meters. I climbed it five years ago in sneakers and got yelled at for such brazenness.

This is the only photo that was NOT taken from the room that I write in. To see this view that I see everyday when I go for my run on Crveni Vhr (Red Summit or Red Hilltop). There's a dirt path on the crest that overlooks Piran Bay to the north and woods to the south. I loop back by dropping down to the sea level and running along a trail that hugs the water. It's a nice break between writing.

Photo credit: my New Zealand friends at CreativeShotz took this when they visited me.

There are no distractions. I have no car; only a bike. The nearest town is 10 km away. There is no Internet. The TV gets just a couple of Italian, Slovenian, and Croatian channels – I never turn it on. The village is a ghost town in the winter: 95% of the houses are empty. In short, there's nothing for me to do except write, write, write. As a writer, I've never been so productive in my life! It's amazing what a view and lots of peace and quiet can do for an author!

Photo credit: my New Zealand friends at CreativeShotz took this when they visited me.

My most productive writing period in my life was here in Croatia, overlooking Piran Bay and Slovenia.

Photo credit: my New Zealand friends at CreativeShotz took this when they visited me.

I'm going for a stroll next to Piran Bay. I would run by here on my daily run.

The Most Controversial Statue in Eastern Europe: Estonia's Bronze Soldier

The 7-minute video below is a combination of photos and video of the statue, plus some music and my occasional narration. Although it won't win an Oscar, it's cheaper than a movie ticket.

After World War II, the USSR placed a bronze statue of a common soldier in the center of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a small country next to Russia. For Russians, the Bronze Soldier represented the triumph over the Nazis. Russians wanted to remind the Estonians that the Soviets had liberated the Estonians from the Nazis.

On the other hand, Estonians felt the Bronze Soldier symbolized the Russian domination and occupation. Every Victory Day (the anniversary of WWII), Russians would wave the Russian (or Soviet) flag around the Bronze Soldier.

By 2006, patriotic Estonians had enough. They wanted the Bronze Soldier removed. Ethnic Russians who live in Estonia disagreed.

In April 2007, protests reached a crescendo when two days of riots erupted in the streets of Tallinn. When the dust settled, one had died, millions of dollars of property damaged had been caused, and the statue was moved to the Military Cemetery in the outskirts of Tallinn.

Officials from the Russian government demanded that the Estonian government resign. Fear of war mounted. Ultimately, it didn't happen. At least, not yet.

Video tour of Tallinn, Estonia

I made this 8-minute video at the end of 2008

In 2009, I went to a costume party for New Year's Eve in Parnu, Estonia. Everyone was supposed to be either a movie star or an animated character. I dressed up as a thru-hiker, using my sexy Jacks 'R Better convertible sleeping bag and its stylish green hood. The sleeping bag does double duty as a serape, but what its designers don't know is that it has a third use: a make-shift costume for a party. When asked what I was, I replied, "A green M&M."

Recommended reading

Read up about Estonia in Wikipedia and the CIA Factbook.

Travel deals to Estonia

Check my favorite travel sites:

• Kayak
• Hipmonk
• Bing
• Last Minute

Interactive map of Estonia

Video Tour of Six Russian Regions to the Sound of Russia's National Anthem

Russia, like any big country, has many faces.

Unfortunately, most people only see Russia's two biggest cities.

In this video, you will see six Russian regions:

1. St. Petersburg
2. Yekateringburg (site of the execution of the Tsars and near the continental border between Europe and Asia),
3. Pskov (near the Baltic)
4. Porkov (and the village of Plovdiv)
5. Kazan (capital of the Tartar region)
6. Moscow

Five regions are located in the western Russia.

Yekaterinburg is (barely) in eastern Russia since it is 30km on the east side of the Urals, which divide Russia east-west.

Russia is the biggest country in the world and this video just covers part of the western portion, which is only 20% of the whole country.

East of the Urals is a completely different Russia, the Russia that is in Asia, home of Siberia. It will be a few years before Francis does a video of that enormous region.

I will devote a chapter on Russia in my upcoming book, The Hidden Europe.

If you enjoyed this video, you might like my videos from Estonia.

Video of the Europe-Asia border by Yekateringburg (Ekateringburg)

Francis Tapon stands on the border that divides the Asian and European continents. It is the eastern most point of Europe, deep in Russia, about an 18 hour train ride EAST of Moscow. It just goes to show how far Eastern Europe really goes. This was filmed in Russia in late 2008. Francis is the author of the upcoming book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. Visit FrancisTapon.com for more details.

The Europe and Asia Border near Yekaterinburg (Ekaterinburg) in Russia with Francis Tapon from Francis Tapon on Vimeo.

My Estonia blog from 2004

Let's get back to basics: Does Estonia even exist or is it just some made-up country?

Does Estonia really exist?

Like Albania, Estonia just doesn't sound real.

I mean, c'mon, have you ever met someone from those two countries?

Do you ever see those countries mentioned in the news?

I didn't think so.

They can't be real.