Finnish Lapland's Reindeer Safaris The Travel Show

Clive Coleman, BBC News.

Now on BBC News it's time

for The Travel Show.

Coming up on this week's show, we

travelled to Georgia to pay a visit

to a town that is the birthplace of

one of the 20th century's most

controversial figures. We meet an

artist in Dubai creating a unique

fusion of traditional Arabic or

graffiti and street style graffiti.

I always try to bring a message of

peace and tolerance and try to bring

people together. We are all

connected and calligraphy is to

connect people.

And I discovered

that Santa makes it look easy when I

hop on a sleigh for an early slice

of Christmas. Let's go!

But first, this week we are going to

Georgia. With its Black Sea

coastline, forested landscape and

world-famous wine, it's not hard to

see why tourism is booming in the

once the Soviet state. But one city

there is attracting tourists for a

very different reason. In many ways

Gori is an unremarkable post-Soviet

town. Tourists do calm and in their

tens of thousands every year and

today that includes me. In 1939, my

great-grandfather, a Polish

official, was arrested as the

Soviets invaded under the leadership

of Josef Stalin. Like so many other

people from Poland, my

great-grandfather was sent to oppose

Labour camp and died, leaving my

family to flee, eventually reaching

the UK. Today, in Gori, a flower bed

lies in a place where a statue to

the city's most famous someone's

powered. But some locals wanted put

back up. So I came here, to the

former hometown of Stalin, where he

remained such an important but

quantum of -- controversial figure.

For many in the former Soviet Union,

Stalin was a great leader. Over his

30 year rule he brought victory

against the Nazis and respect on

international stage. But he also

oversaw the starvation,

imprisonment, execution and ethnic

persecution of millions of people

across the USSR.

At this guesthouse, Stalin is good

for business.

But for many here Stalin represents

far more than potential profit. He

is still an icon. 100,000 visitors

came to the Stalin Museum last year.

You can see here furniture from

Stalin's first office.

Given my

family history, I have mixed

feelings when I walk around the

museum. For me it is an

interpretation of style and --

Stalin's life which feels too

positive. Apparently the guides in

the museum to tell the groups about

Stalin's victims, this room is

dedicated to his victory in World

War Two and there's a similar room

in the museum -- and there isn't a

similar room talking about his

oppression and mass famines. By the

museum officials maintain that they

are faring their representation of

how many suffered under Stalin.

This is supposed to be museum, but

in this room it feels more like a

shrine. It's actually quite

reminiscent of the Lenin Museum in

the Red Square. In 2008 a

long-running dispute with

neighbouring Russia over the south

is building the war. Gori suffered

Russian bombardment. Following the

war, the pro Western Georgian

government began removing Soviet

symbols from public spaces. In 2010

the statue of Stalin was removed

from outside the government

building, at many other locals are

proud of Stalin and is nostalgic for

the old days and they want the

statue put a cup.

-- back up.

For some of the younger generation,

however, Stalin should be consigned

to history, not lauded.

I'd heard that a local taxi driver

knew where the Stalin statue had

been dumped, facing the elements in

a scrapyard next to a military base.

He agreed to take me.

In many ways, Georgia has yet to

decide for itself how to remember

Stalin. Although he statue remained

hidden away, the museum which

seemingly venerates him is actively

promoted as a tourist destination.

But while the nature of Stalin's

future in the city remains unclear,

what does seems certain is that for

better or worse he will continue to

bring travellers to Gori for some

time to come.

Stay with us because coming up... We

meet the man making his artistic

mark on Dubai. And I take a magical

reindeer safari through Finnish

Lapland.

If you are watching our special show

from Dubai a few weeks ago, you

might remember we featured an artist

who is based there. He has displayed

his unique form of art all over the

world. So Rajan has been back to ask

him about his travels and where he

gets his inspiration from.

Calligraffiti is the art of

beautifying script and it is an art

that has been mastered by a master

calligrapher. I am not a

calligrapher because I did not learn

from a master.

I was born and raised

in France and I had this kind of

idea. This is how I started to learn

to write Arabic. I was looking for a

teacher who could teach me Arabic

calligraphy but I could not find

anyone. So I started twisting the

letters or extending them and

creating my own style.

And that

style is eL Seed's mix of Arabic

graffiti, bright colours and street

style lettering dubbed

Calligraffiti. And he believes his

work is the most powerful on the

street, bringing his message of

tolerance to streets around the

world from New York to South Africa.

I always try to bring a message of

peace and tolerance and bring people

together. We all connect and this is

what I am trying to do with Arabic

calligraphy, to connect people. I

was lucky enough to experience this.

All the projects my team and I have

done around the world we have seen

people and created relationship and

links with people.

Today, this is

his biggest project. And immense

peace of work painted on 50 walls in

an area of Cairo where a

marginalised and poor community of

Coptic Christians collect and sort

the city's rubbish. It took over one

month to complete and gives a

different perspective to an area

many locals feared or ignored.

When

you go to a place to create art. But

then you realise that art is a

pretext to create a human

experience. We went to Cairo and the

people welcomed us like we were

family. I saw those people living in

the garbage. That they live from the

garbage. They taught us how to be

tolerant and the human because it is

not the easiest way to live.

Could

we go through how you approach your

Calligraffiti?

The only rule I have

is from right to left. And then I

play with the words and the letters.

So let's write your name. This is

the letter R, this is the alif. In

Arabic there is no capital. But what

I do is I consider every letter as a

capital so I separate this level. So

in this one in calligraphy you can

do it like this. This is the letter

are. And now the alif like that. And

then this letter takes this shape

here and then this is the letter N.

This is typography, this is

calligraphy.

And someone who is

Arabic can read that?

Yes. They can

decipher that. Arabic calligraphy is

what made me realise that identity

is not unique. I am French, Tunisian

and Arabic calligraphy made me

except my French call it a Mecca

identity. I could not do what I do

today if I were not French. If I had

learnt Arabic from a young age I

would not have this freedom to do

what I do with it. -- Arabic

calligraphy made me accept my French

identity.

Finnish Lapland is as

close as it gets to wear winter

wonderland. Over half a million

people come here each year in search

of Father Christmas and his

reindeer.

You can not see you have truly

experienced the delights of Lapland

until you have been on a reindeer

safari. And that is what I'm about

to do. I have been told that if I am

good, I may be able to ride my own

sleigh with my own reindeer. Before

I do that, I need to learn how to

use one of these. Eric is my

instructor today. Is there anything

specific I should know?

Do you have

a tip? Just be careful. Move slowly,

not quickly.

How do we start?

Take a

seat.

Who is your number one

reindeer?

This guy is 11 years old.

He knows his place.

He knows where

he is going? That's what I need. How

are you?

For my lesson, Eric takes

me on a ride.

, my days! Like many

herdsmen here in Lapland, Eric

supplements is income with tourism.

He takes small groups of tourists

into the forest on a reindeer

safari. This is a proper winter

wonderland. It is so beautiful out

here. Everywhere you look at is just

a postcard. It is getting close...

Oh, he shook me off. He does not

like me. He is staying away. There

are more reindeer in Lapland than

people. Around 200,000 of these

animals and most of them roam free.

Some of them, like these ones, I

tamed and specially trained for the

reindeer safaris. -- are tamed.

Reindeer of a powerful and that is

why I am not allowed to use them on

my own yet. They would run off and I

would be unable to control them.

Eric is guiding us at the front and

controlling the sleigh. It shows you

how hardy these people are. Eric

tells me that if I am lucky, I may

see some wolves or brown bears

roaming around. So far, it is just

me and the reindeer. Were travelled

around 20 minutes into the woods and

come to a clearing. Eric will start

a fire. We will drink something

nice, chill out and he would teach

me to use one of the slave. I have

had a taste of the power of the

reindeer and I'm a little worried.

Do you get more people coming around

Christmas time?

Yes. It is one of

the seasons. It is a high week,

Christmas week. They want to spend

their Christmas holiday in a winter

world.

Today, reindeer sleigh

safaris in tourist like me a taste

of what life used to be like here

before cars and snowmobile. Finally

it is my turn to have a go.

If you

want to go you just say go.

As

simple as that? Go! Reindeer, go! He

is not listening to me. Go,

reindeer! Daewoo! He is not

obedient, this reindeer. Eric said

he has given me the safe one because

he does not want me to have any

problems. I think he has given me

the slow rain -- reindeer. What is

going on?! You will be left behind!

You will be Billy no mates! Eric! He

is not going anywhere! At the next

roundabout, take a right. In 200

yards, make a left. I can't say I

didn't try but this reindeer is just

not interested.

Maybe we will try

the next one.

OK. We would trade the

next one. For a set of, Eric gives

me a last few tips.

Bullet and he

will stop in an emergency.

So this

is my emergency brake? We're going!

Look at this. Controlling this

powerful beast. Oh my god, he is

picking up speed. Go, go! This is so

spectacular. My first-ever sleigh

ride. I don't know how much this

sleigh weighs. It is probably around

half a ton, maybe a little less, but

that reindeer is pulling it as well

as myself so easily. Such a powerful

beast. Let's go, son, let's go! It

still may not be the fastest of

rides but it seems to be the

smoothest and most magical way to

enjoy this landscape. It feels quite

Christmasy. Very Christmasy.

That is it for this week. Join us

next week when... I take a look back

at some of my personal highlights

from this year's travel show

including my trip to Ghana where I

met some other country's cheekiest

residence. They are not shy. Look at

him here. So that its next week. If

you want to see what we're doing on

the road between now and then,

signup to our social media feed. The

details should be on your screen

right now. But for now from me and

the travel show team here in Finnish

Lapland, farewell.