Kandalaksha

This place isn’t easy to get to, but it’s worth visiting if you’re in the area. It’s a town on the White Sea (called the White Sea because of the ice on it much of the year). It’s inside the arctic circle, so summer is the best time to visit and it doesn’t get dark at all in summer. I didn’t see any other foreigners there. I wandered around until I found a “hotel”—an old Soviet crumbling place. They were quite surprised to see me walk in the door. I liked this place because it was a good chance to see the real Russian life in this area, and the birds on the shore of the White Sea were amazing. I walked on closely packed icebergs (only for about 15 feet) to get to an island and check out the birds, seals, etc. When I came back the tide had risen and the icebergs were spaced out and unstable! I didn’t want to weather a night on the island, and briefly considered trying to jump from iceberg to iceberg. Thank God I had a moment of clarity and didn’t try that! Instead I decided to walk further around the island and found out there was actually a land bridge. This place felt wild and remote and foreign, and very off the beaten path.