Some Syrian refugees have found a cheaper, safer, though much more roundabout way of reaching Europe than crossing the Mediterranean — heading to the Arctic Circle and entering Norway from Russia, sometimes by bicycle.
As world attention focuses on migrants cramming into trains in Hungary or onto flimsy boats headed for Greece or Italy, Norwegian police say about 170 mostly Syrian refugees have used the Storskog border crossing in the far north of Norway so far this year, up from just a dozen in all of 2014.
Warm relations between Moscow and Damascus mean that it is relatively easy for Syrians to get visas for Russia. From there they move on to Norway, one of the world's richest nations and a member of Europe's passport-free 'Schengen area,' though not of the European Union.