Wicked places in Europe

In 1935, a local wood carver started to make artistic crosses for the local graveyard in the small town of Săpânța. He succeeded turning the otherwise sad symbol into a cheerful monument by painting the crosses in bright colours and pictured the deceased in either their occupation or what they liked to do (which could be drinking). A funny poem or a small story from the deceased's life is carved under the picture and is often written in the first person, as if the deceased himself/herself were telling the story. Other stories on the crosses describe how the person died and one even warns visitors not to wake up a dead mother-in-law. When you see some of the pictures among the 800 crosses, you wish you could read Romanian.

Kaliningrad Oblast isn't blessed with that many amazing sights, so the few oddities have turned into local stars. The Dancing Forest on the Curonian Spit is just one of the those. It's a section of the forest where pines have curled into natural knots and loops at the ground. There is no scientific explanation for this strange natural phenomenon, but wind and sandy soil have been some candidates. Due to the growing popularity, some of the most famous pines were fenced off to protect them from posing tourists. A necessity, but it unfortunately ruins the illusion of walking in an enchanted forest.

Alhough Kalyazin lacks the sheer concentration of glittering golden domes, centuries-old monasteries and traditional wooden cottages that several other Golden Ring towns boast, its one site is among the most unusual yet least known in the whole region. This lonely bell tower, taking up almost the entire surface of a pancake-flat island in the middle of the River Volga, is all that remains of the 15th-century Makaryevsky Monastery that once stood on the site. Under Stalin the monastery and most of the old 12th-century town were flooded during the creation of a nearby reservoir, as happened at more than one location along the Volga. Perhaps not worthy of a trip from Moscow especially unless you find it particularly intriguing, Kalyazin nevertheless makes an interesting and unusual addition to any Golden Ring trip.

When Russia was the Soviet Union, the grand building at Lunyanka square served as the headquarters for the feared secret police KGB. The chiefs sat on the third floor while the prison was on the ground floor, where captured foreign spies and other unlucky people were interrogated and tortured. Today, the building houses the headquarters for the FSB (Federal Security Service) and is as unwelcoming as in the old days. There is a KGB museum somewhere in the back, but it is apparently only open for tour groups with the right connections.

Lenin died in 1924 and was embalmed, against his own wishes, as the fashion of the Soviet time dictated. His preserved body was then put on display for the public in a hastily built mausoleum right on the Red Square. The mausoleum was later upgraded to the granite and marble version you see today. When Stalin died in 1953, his body got the same treatment and joined Lenin in the mausoleum, but only shortly, for in 1961 he was removed and buried along the Kremlin Wall where other important men of Russia are buried. There are now talks about giving Lenin the burial he wanted, so hurry up if you want to have a look at the pickled Lenin.

During the 18th century, one of the greatest mathematicians of all times, Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), lived in Kaliningrad, or Königsberg at the time. He solved a problem known as the "Seven Bridges of Königsberg", which was to decide whether it was possible to find a walk through Königsberg that would cross each of the seven bridges once and only once. Euler figured out that it wasn't possible - and invented a new branch of math, graph theory, along the way. The seven bridges connected the two islands Kant Island (formerly Kneiphof) and October Island (formerly Lomse Island) with the north bank and south bank of Pregel River. Today, there are only five of the seven bridges left (if you count the new highway bridge, Leninskl prospekt, as two), where only two are "originals" from Euler's time (High Bridge and Honey Bridge). Mathematically, that means it's possible today to walk a route, where you cross each of the remaining five bridge once and only once.

During the Cold War of the 50s and 60s, the USSR feared an atomic attack from USA and built secret underground bunkers. Bunker 42 is such a bunker aimed for the military communication unit. Placed in a residential area underneath a dummy apartment block, it sits 60 meters underground and was staffed by more than 2500 people at its peak. After the Cold War and the fall of USSR, the bunker was no longer useful and got auctioned off. Today, it is turned into a Cold War museum where you get taken 18 floors underground and walked through the armored tubes and halls - and if you ask nicely, you might get to hold an AK-74.

Jakriborg is a strange looking community. From the distance Jakriborg looks like an old town of colourful houses rising up from the flat surrounding fields. However, when getting closer you realise the houses are not old, but new and modern. The housing estate is the brainchild of two brothers, Jan Berggren and Krister Berggren, who began the construction in the 1990s. The architectural style is very non-scandinavian (something you might find in one of the old Hansa towns in northern Germany), and has been designed to look like it has a long history of alterations. There are no straight streets, some are with cobblestones, and all of them are car free.

How to describe Nimis. It’s a crazy labyrinth slash sculpture made of driftwood and a shedload of nails located on a deserted beach. The construction was started in 1980 by the artist of Lars Vilks, who declared it an independent nation with the name of Ladonia. The local government has never been very happy about it - which explain the lack of road signs leading to Nimis - others have also tried to burn it down, but nevertheless the construction has grown over the years. Today, it has become semi-famous and the local government must now appreciate the flow of visitors it creates. It’s an art piece you move around it, through its narrow corridors and up into the high watch towers, some looking and feeling dangerously frail. There is another art piece, Arx, by Lars Vilks 100 m further down the beach from Nimis. The walk from the parking lot to Nimis and Arx is about 1 km through forest on a steep slope (again no signs).

The site for the 1986 nuclear disaster is a rather dark place, both historical and to visit. It is possible to get as close as 200 metres from the melted reactor as well as visiting the ghost town of Pripyat. A city that used to house the plant's workers and their families, a total of 50,000 inhabitants. Between the ghost town's structures are a school, an amusement park, high rising apartment blocks and an indoor swimming pool.
Chernobyl and Pripyat can not be visited independently, but plenty of companies arrange day trips from Kyiv to the site. It is not cheap, but it is a must-see site for anyone with an interest in dark tourism or Soviet history.