Kavala – A travelogue

When I first boarded the plane bound for Kavala, it was with a nagging hesitation. Why, I wondered, would I travel so far away? The reluctance gnawed at me, but as soon as I set foot in the Greek city, everything began to fall into place, as if the pieces of a puzzle suddenly found each other.

I had imagined that I would work on some of my ongoing projects during my stay. But those thoughts faded as soon as I stepped into the Swedish House in Kavala. "No," I thought, "this is not the place for that work." Instead, I would follow another, more personal longing. I decided then and there – I would just photograph. Analogue and in black and white. No projects, no obligations. Just freedom.

It was as if everything fell into place.

I rented a bike, or rather, Elisabeth helped me rent one. With the camera placed in my backpack, I cycled through the surroundings of Kavala, each roll of film filled like pages in a diary, each image a sketch of days that floated by in a timeless fog.

With Elisabeth’s help, I also met two people who quickly became my best Greek friends – Demitris and Elisabeth. There’s something special when you meet people you immediately feel a connection with, as if you’ve known them forever. Together we explored the surroundings of Kavala – far east for birdwatching, through forests with deep ravines, and at dinner tables where families gathered for late dinners. In the meantime, I continued to photograph, and the rolls of exposed film slowly but surely filled the plastic bag I brought from a store with a red logo ICA EKO Mellringe.

It was a time of return. A return to photography as it once began – for the pure pleasure, for the inherent desire to express oneself through images. I cycled lap after lap around Kavala, visiting ruins and nunneries, villages high in the mountains and bird sanctuaries where I let the birds overshadow the camera. Eleonora’s Falcon, Balkan Woodpecker, Eastern Mediterranean Stonechat, Cetti’s Warbler, Southern Nightingales, Alpine Swifts and Spur Lapwings followed each other like notes in a visual impression.

The city became my living landscape that I explored at all hours of the day. I met people on late-night bar visits, greeted acquaintances on early morning walks, and exchanged words with the uncle on the corner every time I passed.

Towards the end of my stay, I gave a lecture about my photography to the Kavala Photographic Society. It was an evening filled with warm meetings and conversations that enriched my time here even more.

So if the beginning of my journey was filled with hesitation, it dissolved the moment I set foot in Kavala. Here I found a place that felt like home, for real. Kavala became the place for me, and I know that I will return here again and again, to continue my sketching, just photographing simply with the desire and need to express myself in images. And I look forward to seeing my newfound friends, Demitris and Elisabeth, who are now a part of my life.

I am grateful to Elisabeth, the manager, for helping me meet the people I needed to meet to land smoothly in Greek Kavala. Thanks also to all the other staff at the Swedish House in Kavala for all the nice things you do, and thanks to all the other guests in the house. You made my two weeks here something completely different than what I imagined when I left Sweden.

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