A Spanish Roadtrip for Photographers
By Alexander Belenky
The St. Petersburg Times
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
A stunning rocky landscape worthy of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy in El Torcal park near the town of Antequera. |
The St. Petersburg Times photographer Alexander Belenky travels to Spain, via Finland, to see what the country has to offer and to take some professional snaps. Why do Russians love to travel to Finland? Many Russians, Petersburgers in particular, love Finland — the lines of people queuing up for visas outside the Finnish Consulate have become a feature of the city’s landscape. The lucky recipients travel to Russia’s northern neighbor for a variety of reasons. The richer are visiting their own houses and dachas in Lappeenranta, Imatra or some other cozy little town not too far from the border. The less well-off head for the same places for the sales, buying not only clothing but also foodstuffs which are often of a higher quality and no more expensive than back in their hometowns. Some go for the downhill skiing — or fishing in the summer. Upon crossing the border you enter a different world, and not just because the landscape changes, the roads are better and the people speak a different language. Stress appears to melt away, and you find yourself in a mood of peace and calm. Once you’re in Finland, you get the feeling that you won’t come to any harm. And with a Schengen area visa, you also have the opportunity to journey across Europe...
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Donkey taxis in the mountain town of Mijas, near Malaga. |
Why do Russians love to travel through Finland? If you have a multi-entry Schengen area visa, then you will often find that it’s cheaper to fly to destinations in Europe via Finland. Budget airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair fly from Helsinki, and Finnair flights from the Finnish capital are often cheaper than direct flights from St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport. The Finnish Consulate has two unwritten rules: Firstly, anyone receiving a Schengen visa from them must both leave Russia and return via Finland; secondly, you should spend more days in Finland than in other countries. If the rules are broken, Russians risk being denied a multi-entry visa next time round. Flying to Spain
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
The Mesquita, once Europe’s largest mosque. |
A friend of mine — also a photographer — received two free weeks’ accommodation over New Year at the Club La Costa near Malaga, Spain, for four people. Tickets were quickly bought over the Internet via Easyjet from Helsinki to Malaga via London, priced at 250 euros per person return. In order not to miss the morning flight we headed off early, leaving the day before. There were no queues on the border, it being Dec. 25. We stayed in the Eurohostel in Helsinki and were treated to a Christmas Day breakfast. Our first disappointment was that our passports were stamped when we left Finland for our connection at Gatwick Airport in London. The bad news continued at Gatwick, where our passports were filled with enough stamps to fill a collector’s album, and on arrival in Malaga yet more were added. The message is: If you’re Russian, don’t fly via London if you want to keep your visa slate clean! In Spain Pure delight: Sumptuous apartments, waves lapping on the beach nearby; it’s warm without being oppressive. This comes as a great relief after the frosts of St. Petersburg, but we’re not here for a beach holiday — we’re here to drive around the country and take photographs. In December and January, in the south the temperature is about 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, making for perfect driving conditions, and a rental car costs just 180 euros for 10 days.
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
The town of Ronda, located on a dramatic canyon in Andalucia. |
The route we chose took us to Tarifa, Gibraltar, Cadiz, spectacular Ronda, the small town of Mijas, also known as the “The White Village,” Antequera and El Torcal. We saw a monument to Columbus created by the ubiquitous Georgian-Russian sculptor Tsereteli, the yachts of the rich and famous in Marbella, the famed Mesquita mosque in Coroba, and the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens in Granada. Each day and each town brought something new. We didn’t make it to the bullfighting in Mijas, but the previous day’s rain had ruined the field and we were told that the bulls hadn’t been able to get up any serious speed. In the evenings we would return to our club and my friend would go for a winter swim — entirely possible in the Mediterranean. We split our costs, and tried not to spend too much, buying food in supermarkets and cooking in our apartments. Dishes sampled included paella valenciana or paella de marisco, tapas, croquetas and, of course, the renowned jamon. We particularly enjoyed the croquetas in the fishing tavern of Tarifa and the tapas in a small cafe in Fuengirola, where the landlord himself takes customer orders. On average, the dish of the day costs about 7 to 9 euros, including coffee and dessert. We saw in the New Year in Fuengirola on the town’s central square among a multinational crowd. Everyone was drinking, but there were no drunks; everyone was in good spirits without being over the top. Unforgettable!
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
A 5,000-year-old dolmen in Antequera. |
Avoiding Trouble Some advice for foreigners visiting Europe on Schengen visas via Finland: Remember that delays on the border can be lengthy, so do leave in good time for your flight or ferry. It’s best to tell the truth about your destination to the Finnish border guards — they’ll let you through in any event, and you can make up the days on a future trip to Finland. When returning to Russia however, remove all airport luggage labels. And don’t drive too fast on Finland’s excellent roads! Going on a Budget The cost of such a trip isn’t excessive. The flights cost 250 euros per person, and four of us sharing the car, including fuel, worked out at 100 euros per person. Food in restaurants and cafes, shopping at the supermarket and tickets to the museums set us back another 160 euros per person. An unforseen bout of post-New Year’s shopping right at the end of our trip set us back another 120 euros. So, excluding accommodation, the grand total for our 10-day trip came to 630 euros per person.
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