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Hello and welcome to Wild East, the Eastern Europe travel blog! We are the first and so far the only blog about travelling in Eastern Europe. So we are specialized in East Central Europe, Eastern Europe and South East Europe. Our authors either live in these regions or travel there frequently. On Wild East we publish Eastern Europe travel reports, travel tips and of course many photos from our trips through Eastern Europe to give you a lasting impression.
Why is the travel blog called Wild East?
We actually wanted to start as Wilder Osten (Wild East). But since we know a lot of people who don’t speak German and we also want to make our articles available to them soon, we decided to build a bilingual, German-English blog. That’s a lot of work, but we can reach many people..
Our blog is called Wild East because in the minds of many people, especially in Western Europe, the East is still something foreign. For many West Germans, the GDR was a no man’s land, a jungle, in other words, so to say, wild. And when we talk to some people even today about our travel countries, there are often many prejudices. For many, the East has remained “wild” to this day. We want to play with these prejudices a little and make you curious. So we can show you that the East can also be totally modern, that the people are very nice and that in many places you can eat better than in the West. That’s why we see the Wild East with a wink and hope that no one feels stepped on their toes.
What regions and countries do we write about at Wild East?
It was difficult for us to choose some particular countries, but in the end it was obvious for us, which countries Wild East should be about. We have always been interested in the countries behind the former Iron Curtain – those that were controlled by socialist and communist governments and were under Soviet influence. But we also include the countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania, which were non-aligned. Instead, we didn’t include the countries that were located too far away in the former Soviet Union. For us the border of the blog is the geographical border of Europe. The only exception is Russia, where we do not want to exclude the Asian part. However, it is quite conceivable that at some point we will include the “Stan” countries of the Soviet Union. But we already have enough to do with the 27 countries we have so far. If you are interested in some particular countries, this list will help you.
Why are there no articles available for each country?
We work according to a time schedule. In fact, we really want to highlight all countries in our country list. You can find the information about when a particular country is scheduled to be published here:
However, some countries require up to 25 articles. This takes a lot of time, that’s why we always present one country per month. But sometimes we also look at a country for two months, as will be the case with East Germany in the beginning. Yes, we know that this sounds like the SED’s five-year plan. But we have to plan so that we also manage to realize all this.
By the way, if you know a country well and have some writing experience, you are welcome to contact us. We are looking for authors who can help us to introduce our planned countries.
What topics can you find in the Eastern Europe Travel Blog?
Wild East is not a normal travel blog. We already have a topic that is rarely covered in the mass media and other travel blogs – namely Eastern Europe. And even there, we still choose some niche topics, but we think that they might be interesting for many of you. In the coming months we will publish articles on specific topics, for which there will be topic pages. We are especially passionate about:
- Soviet history / History of the countries under Soviet occupation
- Architecture in socialism
- Holocaust and History of the Second World War
- Jewish sights
- Culinary traditions of Eastern Europe
- Lost places and urban exploration
- Hiking and nature
- Industrial culture
- Eastern culture and languages
As you can see, we have set ourselves quite a lot of goals. And you won’t find it all at once. But we hope to be able to offer you more and more in regards to these topics.
Special concern - East Germany
It was for me, Peter, the co-founder of Wild East, also very important to include East Germany to this blog, because we write a lot about architecture and the history of communism here. The federal states of the former GDR still have a lot to offer today. I originally come from Saxony-Anhalt and I think that especially many “West Germans” still know very little about the “new federal states” – and that 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall! This ignorance has been particularly noticeable in recent years, when the East often made the headlines. I personally think that everyone should visit the East at least once. Because the East is one of the best travel destinations in Europe also because of various sightseeings in East Germany. We’ll keep up a good work for you. Look forward to it!
