Longyearbyen, on the island of Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago is the northernmost inhabited place in Europe, while the southernmost one is La Restinga on the island of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary islands. Two distant islands, on opposite sides, which are the opposite of everything but can be the same thing. This is a journey in search of the essence of Europe seen from its extreme borders.