by hidden europe
There is a part of Russia that finds itself curiously isolated from the Motherland. hidden europe reflects on the Kaliningrad puzzle.
Consider, for a moment, the Kaliningrad puzzle! Here is a small detached area of Russia on the Baltic coast. It is about half the size of Belgium. In the days of the old Soviet Union, Kaliningrad citizens could travel overland to ‘Russia proper' with relative ease.
In Frombork, a tiny port on Poland's Baltic coast, the ferry terminal has closed down for the winter. A lone fisherman sits at the end of the pier and looks out over the lagoon to Russia. But the town where Nicolaus Copernicus lived and worked turns out to have a rare off-season appeal.
Join us to discover the Polish village of Wojnowo which was created from nothing almost 200 years ago. A community of devout Russians arrived on foot and settled on the reedy banks of the River Krutynia.
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Baltic port of Kaliningrad found itself strangely isolated from the rest of Russia. Hemmed in by the European Union, the city of Kaliningrad is rethinking its role in the modern world. It is a remarkable city in a remarkable region.
