Narva, Estonia

Narva, which was once called the baroque pearl of the Baltic Sea but was almost completely destroyed in 1944 by the Soviet air force, offers its visitors curious experiences. On the bank of the Narva River that has for centuries been regarded as the border between the Eastern and Western civilisations stands the powerful Hermann Fortress.Now a museum, it faces Ivangorod Fortress on the opposite side of the Narva River. A few kilometres upstream is the historical Kreenholm Manufacture, one of the largest textile factories in Europe in the second half of the 19th century.