You will never go to Butte, Montana

When doing a research on American Landscape I stumbled upon Wim Wenders' movie Don't Come Knocking. It was a visual masterpiece, shot mostly in places I once already visited or was planning to. But the most fascinating thing I saw were the streets and old brownstone buildings of Montana's beautiful mining town Butte. This year I finally got there. And boy, what a trip it was.

Driving 2000 kilometres from Los Angeles just to see a small mining town with -22 degrees centigrade freezing temperature must really sound crazy, but this is one of those unique gems you rarely see in the world. Although mostly depressive and nearly abandoned during winter, Butte is such a fascinating place that I wanted to stay there for weeks, taking in street by street of uptown historic district and absorbing every inch of Hopper-esque urban scenes this town has to offer. Its most beautiful moments must be when it is bathed in the sun and the walls become reddish canvases only a true artist can fully appreciate.

Surprisingly the only real movie (besides a documentary on Evil Knievel, who was born there) shot in Butte was by Wenders. You can read his ode to this Montana town here. He has been visiting since 1978. Just like me, he is a fan.

(See the full Butte album here).