The journey begins in the geographical center of Europe – in the Carpathians. On endless highways, the photographer leads us east to the Crimea and creates a picture of the people from a country that still lies on the edge of Europe. Although measured from Vienna, the distance to the former Lviv is no greater than to Lake Constance. Ukraine – a country of surprises. The photographer Reiner Riedler has visited Ukraine in eight journeys in the last four years and got to know it thoroughly. Partly out of his own interest and often on behalf of humanitarian aid organizations whose work he documented, he has gained an insight into the culture of life in this country that goes far beyond that of a visitor. Pictures of people in the “country on the edge”, which despite the economic struggle for survival and problems such as unemployment, alcoholism, drugs, AIDS seems very open and friendly. Pictures that make us smile, because the people themselves can laugh a little about themselves. The route leads from the Carpathians to the Crimea, the “Pearl of the Black Sea”, famous for the mild climate of its resorts and as a base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.