We accompany the Dutch writer Auke Hulst on his hitchhiking journey across the waterways of Europe. His destination: Odessa, the famous port on the Black Sea. Auke has traveled the world, but his own continent is partly a mystery to him. He is European, but what is that? He wants to find out.

The path leads through the water world of the Dutch canals, the freight routes of the northern German rivers, into the idyllic waterways of Poland, as well as through the swamps of Belarus and the huge reservoirs of Ukraine. 2500 km of adventure in the middle of Europe. Well-known waterways merge into unknown, tranquil routes, into small, little-used rivers with idyllic jetties – time and space for special impressions. A “road movie” on the water. Auke is a guest on barges and pleasure boats, in a river fisherman’s barge or on board a police boat, on a catamaran or a historic clipper.

High skies, vast land and water. Auke experiences landscapes and places. The gas fields of his Frisian homeland, and the disappearing border between two German states, a famous airfield in Berlin, Warsaw’s rediscovered waterfront, Brest a European border town or Pripyat, the ghost town near Chernobyl, a square in Kiev and a famous staircase with a view of the Black Sea. Traveling on water allows us to see things from a special perspective. We become open to the unexpected, to meeting people. Rivers connect past and present and stories with history.

Director: Dagmar Brendecke
Script: Walter Brun, Auke Hulst
Camera: Deen van der Zaken (1-4), Susanna Salonen (4-5), Piotr Rosolowski (6-10), Dmytro Tiazhlov (9)
Editing: Viola Rusche (1-5), Lena Rem (6-10)
Music: Auke Hulst & Andere
Narration: Martin Bretschneider
Sound: Wouter Veldhuis (1-4), Alexey Fedorov (4-10)
Editorial Staff: Pit Lehmann (MDR), Sarah Elena Schwerzmann (arte)
Production lead: Brigit Mulders, Bernd Schwarzer (MDR)
Production: Andrea Ufer
Stations: MDR/arte
Idea: Walter Brun