We decide to go north for once, after spending the last few days mostly in and around Kolkja. So we visit Raja, where we manage to film beautiful winter motifs of houses and people and the winter mood; also we visit the wonderful cemetery that's located right at the lakeside. As we go around Raja, we call Osip, the lay preacher of the local church. He's happy to see us again as we meet him for a talk near his house, and agrees to let us into his church again to complete our film and photo material on the icons and ceremonial items in there, as well as his photos and books, and of course the Frolov icons Osip loves to talk about, and which indeed are impressive pieces of art.
Not only are we as usual impressed by Osip's knowledge and intelligence, by the way he talks and by the gentle and positive attitude he simply has - also visually, Osip is the kind of man who could probably make a good career as a testimonial face in advertising, be it for some alpine chocolate or fish fingers.
Finally we head on to Mustvee, since we realized that despite of having visited the small town a few times, we didn't really have any material on it, and hadn't discovered anything nearly as interesting as in the villages down south. We drive and walk around, and again can't really find too much that's interesting either from a visual or from a storytelling perspective. There's a small Old-Believer's community and its church, as well as a local Old-Believers' museum, but at least from the outside, none of the places we can find provides interesting visuals. The town feels rather interchangeable, and lacks the specific character and mood of the smaller villages. So we decide that with its Statoil gas station, its regional bus station, a few cafes and an ATM, Mustvee would rather be our administrative place where we go to refuel, recharge, and deal with life's necessities. Still when going past the lakeside, we find at least a few nice motifs for photography.
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