AN EVER-EXPANDING MAP

A Guide to Europe’s Forgotten Adventures

From the Camino di Santiago, to the Iron Curtain Trail Cara Räker

We do not know what the future holds for the travel and tourism industry ‘after’ COVID-19. As stated by the World Travel & Tourism Council, considering that one out of ten jobs worldwide are related to tourism, 75 million people are at risk of losing their jobs while international travel is largely put on hold. While Europe has gotten a little bit out of fashion the last couple of years, certainly ranking behind Australia or Thailand amongst young travellers, there is certainly no shortage of exciting travel opportunities just around the corner. Of course, the hospitality industry does not have it easy these days. Hotels, museums, restaurants and other tourist attractions are forced to close, re-open just to immediately close again. A map of European countries shows most of them tainted in red or orange and travelling should really be left for the new year but, nevertheless, here is a list of 5 adventures you can embark on right now! Or at least very soon.

The E-paths

I admit, the E-trails are for deeply committed adventurers rather than casual travellers, but they are definitely worth mentioning. Spinning its web all over the continent, the European long-distance path network consists of 12 individual long-distance trails, numbered E1 to E12, which have been maintained by the European Ramblers Association (ERA) since 1969. The E1, for instance, starts at Nordkapp in Norway and stretches over 8,000 km down to Capo Passero, Italy, covering a total distance of 8,000 km. Three of these paths E2, E8 and E9, pass through the Hoek van Holland close to Rotterdam and can lead you to all kinds of different places.

The Iron Curtain Trail

Eastern European students, listen up! The Iron Curtain Trail might be your (wet) dream come true. Running alongside the Western border of the former Warsaw Pact States, the Iron Curtain Trail enables you to experience European history firsthand. The trail stretches 10,000 km from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea and has been recognized by the European Parliament as a model for sustainable tourism in 2005.

The Camino Routes

Building upon already existing long-distance trails, the ERA aims to provide a trail network which brings the traveller closer to the European countryside and its natural heritage. The trails are reminiscent of a tradition of long-distance walks which has been present in Europe for centuries. A prominent survivor of this heritage is an existing network of pilgrim routes, the Camino de Santiago, whose origins can be traced back to the 9th century. While vastly travelled during the 10th to 12th century for religious pilgrims, the route steadily declined in popularity until its rediscovery in the 1970s to 1980s. In 2019, the paths attracted over 347,578 registered pilgrims alone. All of the Camino routes lead to Santiago de Compostela, a town in Northern Spain, where an impressive cathedral awaits all those who have successfully completed the journey. Nowadays, people walk the Caminos for all different kinds of reasons be it religion, the longing for an ambitious outdoor holiday or the love for Southern European flora and fauna.

EuroVelo Routes

The European cycle route network resembles the E-Paths but it’s for bikes! The EuroVelo project is supported by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) which, in its own words, has ‘pledged to ensure that bicycle use achieves its fullest potential so as to bring about sustainable mobility and public well-being’. There are sixteen in counting, EV1 to EV16, bearing delightful names such as the Sun Route (EV7), which follows the above-mentioned E1 from Norway to Italy, or the Atlantic Coast Route (EV1), which stretches along the coastlines of Norway, the UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. Can you imagine starting your journey in the deepest forests of Northern Europe just to end up with a well-deserved beer in hand on some beach in Portugal?

Eurail Pass

Of course, no guide to European travel would be complete without highlighting the popular opportunities presented by the European rail network. While the program is currently paused due to the risks posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a good chance that travel within Europe will be possible again in the not-so-far future. A Eurail Pass can be purchased at rates as low as 185 euros and connects 40,000 destinations in 33 different countries. Different packages are available where the traveller can choose between fixed destinations or more flexible approaches including unlimited travel for an x-number of days.

Europe’s Culture Train An Interview with Anita Konkka Jyry Pasanen

Anita Konkka is a celebrated Finnish-Ingrian author who has written many books since her debut novel in 1970. Her work deals with feminist issues, Ingrian Finnish history, and the interpretation of dreams. One of her books – A Fool’s Paradise – has been translated into English. She is also my grandmother.

The Literature Express 2000 was a train journey where 103 writers from 43 countries travelled across 11 countries, visiting 19 European cities between June 4 and July 16. Many events – readings, discussions, and festivals – were organised to celebrate European literary culture and the new millennium.

JP: When we first discussed your experience on the Literature Express 2000, you talked about how it represented a sort of new era of hope and progress. Can you tell me more about that? AK: Yes, it was a very idealistic time. Apart from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Yugoslav Wars and the onward march of European integration, there was also great excitement about the internet. We could connect with people around the world, get to know and understand each other. People were so helpful on the internet back then. No one thought it could end up like this: full of hate speech and negativity. Although there were political extremist groups online, it was not like now. But I must say that writers were very suspicious of the internet simply because they feared people would stop reading books. A very correct fear of course. Russian authors were especially suspicious of it. I was asked to speak about the internet in many panels because I had been there for such a long time. I was even involved in pre-internet conversation forums in the 1980s. So, I had to speak about the internet and its relation to literature. I always said that I like to write on the computer. Some people disagreed and – already then – said that writing on the computer killed all creativity. So, there was clear opposition, but the young writers used computers with ease. It was the sort of time where you always had to find the internet cafe in this or that city. And even that took time. It was difficult sometimes; I was already tired just doing that. In Poland, I found a nice internet cafe in some basement. The caretaker spoke no English and was completely terrified as I asked them to use the internet. One machine was reserved for that; the rest were for games. She did not manage to set it up for me as she was so shocked.

So, these kinds of things. But yes, there was a great feeling of hope. A hope that everything would unify. That Europe would become this unified area, not only in terms of the economy or the absence of