6 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 6 hours ago by C C.)
PREVIOUS EPISODE: Yes, there are songbirds in the cold & dark of Svalbard
CIAO, IT'S GIULIA
https://youtu.be/wVCv280yCa4
VIDEO INTRO: This is Barentsburg, a small Russian settlement located on the Svalbard archipelago deep in the Arctic Ocean halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Even though Svalbard belongs to Norway, the islands are governed under the Svalbard treaty of 1920 which allows citizen and companies from different countries to live and work here.
That's why Russia still maintains a permanent community in Barentsburg today. The town was originally built by the Soviet Union around coal mining and much of it still looks almost exactly like it did decades ago. Unlike many places after the collapse of USSR, Barrentsburg changed very slowly because of its isolation and small population.
That's why Soviet era buildings, monuments, and symbols are still part of everyday life here. Barentsburg is also home to the last active coal mine on Svalbard which is still one of the main reasons this settlement exists today.
I'm walking now in the streets of Barentsburg where time is just suspended, where the time has stopped and everything has been the same since an era that now doesn't even exist anymore. We are talking about the Soviet era. So all the buildings and the people -- nothing has changed since then. So this is the only place here in the Arctic where you can basically travel back in time.
So here behind me we have a hotel, of course, in a Soviet style like every other building here. It's really hard to imagine a life here in Barentsburg. There's only 300 people living here, mostly Russian, even though there's also a South African girl who decided to move here. For pleasure, because she loved this place and she loved the community and the people that she met here to the point that she decided to move here for a period of her life.
Of course, we have to remember that here in the Arctic, we have four months of polar night, dark season, where it's completely dark 24/7. And being here is completely disconnected from the reality of the larger world, is a really hard life, especially during those times...
Time travel to Soviet supermarket ... https://youtu.be/wVCv280yCa4
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/wVCv280yCa4
CIAO, IT'S GIULIA
https://youtu.be/wVCv280yCa4
VIDEO INTRO: This is Barentsburg, a small Russian settlement located on the Svalbard archipelago deep in the Arctic Ocean halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Even though Svalbard belongs to Norway, the islands are governed under the Svalbard treaty of 1920 which allows citizen and companies from different countries to live and work here.
That's why Russia still maintains a permanent community in Barentsburg today. The town was originally built by the Soviet Union around coal mining and much of it still looks almost exactly like it did decades ago. Unlike many places after the collapse of USSR, Barrentsburg changed very slowly because of its isolation and small population.
That's why Soviet era buildings, monuments, and symbols are still part of everyday life here. Barentsburg is also home to the last active coal mine on Svalbard which is still one of the main reasons this settlement exists today.
I'm walking now in the streets of Barentsburg where time is just suspended, where the time has stopped and everything has been the same since an era that now doesn't even exist anymore. We are talking about the Soviet era. So all the buildings and the people -- nothing has changed since then. So this is the only place here in the Arctic where you can basically travel back in time.
So here behind me we have a hotel, of course, in a Soviet style like every other building here. It's really hard to imagine a life here in Barentsburg. There's only 300 people living here, mostly Russian, even though there's also a South African girl who decided to move here. For pleasure, because she loved this place and she loved the community and the people that she met here to the point that she decided to move here for a period of her life.
Of course, we have to remember that here in the Arctic, we have four months of polar night, dark season, where it's completely dark 24/7. And being here is completely disconnected from the reality of the larger world, is a really hard life, especially during those times...
Time travel to Soviet supermarket ... https://youtu.be/wVCv280yCa4