Must-see attractions in Eastern Europe
Tirana
Just 25km east of Tirana is Mt Dajti National Park. It is the most accessible mountain in the country, and many locals go there to escape the city rush…
Hvar Town
Mentioned in Venetian documents as ‘the most beautiful and the most useful building in the whole of Dalmatia’, the Arsenal once served as a repair and…
St Petersburg
This innocuous house on the corner of Stolyarny per (called ‘S… lane’ in the book) is one of two possible locations of the attic apartment of Rodion…
Minsk
For a taste of post-Soviet Belarus, head north of the centre to the new national library, a ghastly piece of Lukashenko-approved hubris. You'll need your…
Central Montenegro
It’s a case of four times lucky for the Cetinje Monastery, having been repeatedly destroyed during Ottoman attacks and rebuilt. This sturdy incarnation…
Hvar Town
Overlooking a pretty cove, this 15th-century monastery has an elegant bell tower, built in the 16th century by a well-known family of stonemasons from…
Podgorica
They may not be the thundering cascades so beloved by honeymooners in North America, but these waterfalls make for a fantastic day trip from Podgorica…
St Petersburg
Built between 1741 and 1751, with input from a slew of architects, including Rastrelli and Rossi, the Anichkov Palace is now officially known as the St…
Tirana
Sheshi Skënderbej is the best place to start witnessing Tirana's daily goings-on. Until it was pulled down by an angry mob in 1991, a 10m-high bronze…
St Petersburg
Right outside the Moskovskaya metro station you’ll see the House of Soviets, a staggeringly bombastic Stalinist beauty. Planned to be the central…
Lviv
On the way between the city centre and the train station stands the historic and sacred centre of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, which was handed…
Moscow
This monastery was founded by Boris Godunov in 1600, although the church was built in 1660. The name means ‘Behind the Icon Stall’, a reference to the…
Lviv History Museum – Black House
Lviv
Occupying the conspicuous Black House with its seemingly sooty facade, this is possibly the least interesting of the four pl Rynok branches of Lviv's…
Serbia
Founded in 1 AD and sacked by the Huns in 5 AD, Viminacium was the capital of the Roman Empire's Moesia province and a military base during the Dacian…
Kyiv
Although not one of Kyiv's most important churches, St Volodymyr's Cathedral arguably has the prettiest interior. Built in the late 19th century to mark…
Kyiv
Starting by the National Museum of Ukrainian History, the alley skirts around a large ravine offering great views of the city. It's always full of people…
Serbia
Smederevo's huge, 25-tower fort on the Danube was constructed between 1428 and 1430 by Despot Ðurađ Branković, the last of Serbia's medieval rulers. Once…
Minsk
Independence Sq, formerly pl Lenina, is dominated by the 1930s constructivist Belarusian Government Building (behind the iconic Lenin statue). The red…
Schloss Fall & Keila-Joa Castle
Western Estonia & the Islands
Flat Estonia isn't known for its waterfalls and, at 6m, this one in Meremõisa isn't all that high. It's particularly picturesque, however, partly due to…
St Petersburg
This striking red-and-white 18th-century Gothic church is east off Moskovsky pr. Designed by Yury Felten, it was built between 1777 and 1780 in honour of…
Moscow
The obelisk in Alexander Garden has been restored to its original purpose, as a monument to the House of Romanovs, erected to commemorate the tercentenary…
Moscow
The little church occupying this site is a 1993 replica of the original 17th-century beauty, which was built in thanks for the 1612 expulsion of Polish…
Lviv
Residing in one of Lviv's grandest 19th-century palaces, this sometimes confusing museum (too many doors, ticket rippers, sections, prescribed routes) has…
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik's newest museum showcases the remains of a medieval foundry unearthed from 2005 to 2008 in the space between this 1346 tower and Fort Minčeta…
Kyiv
Lying behind the Universytet metro station building, the landscaped gardens are best visited in spring when just about everything there is blooming.
Belgrade
Established four decades ago, this sparse memorial museum is housed in the apartment where Ivo Andrić lived from 1958 until his death. The author of The…
Dubrovnik
This small offshoot of the city's main gallery unites three friends beyond the grave: local artists Ivo Dulčić, Antun Masle and Ɖuro Pulitika, who all…
Kyiv
Prince Volodymyr ordered the Desyatynna Church built in 989 and devoted 10% of his income to it, hence the name (desyatyn means 'one-tenth'). The church…
Bucharest
From the centre of Piaţa Unirii, look southwest to the Patriarchal Cathedral, the centre of Romanian Orthodox faith, built between 1656 and 1658. It…
Friendship of Nations Monument
Kyiv
The Friendship of Nations Monument is a giant metal parabola celebrating the 1654 'unification' of Russia and Ukraine. It's on an elevated plaza with…
Kyiv
The fascinating history of the St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is explained in great detail (in Ukrainian and English placards) in a museum located in…
Serbia
Kovačica village (population 6000) in Vojvodina's east is internationally renowned for its native art. Since 1939, self-taught painters have produced more…
Dubrovnik
In a small, cavelike room in the Fort St John, the former studio of the painter Đuro Pulitika (1922–2006) looks like a moment paused in time, with his…
Lviv Art Gallery (Pototsky Palace)
Lviv
Lviv's main art repository has two wings – one in the lavish Pototsky Palace (Палац Потоцьких), the other around the corner on vul Stefanyka. This one…
National Museum of Literature of Ukraine
Kyiv
A must for aficionados of Ukrainian literature, this museum is housed in the former main building of the Pavlo Galagan Collegium, built in 1871. It…
Moscow
The Kutafya Tower, which forms the main visitors’ entrance today, stands apart from the Kremlin’s west wall, at the end of a ramp over the Alexander…
Former Residence of Enver Hoxha
Tirana
This simple three-storey villa was the home of Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha for decades, and his wife continued to live here for years after his death in…
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