Communist relics

Always wanted to visit a nuclear missile silo? Look no further, at the Museum of Cold War, you have a chance to do just that visiting its four underground silos. This base was the first underground silos in the Soviet Union. Between 1960 and 1978 it held enough firepower to destroy most of Europe, and it was the base that delivered the missiles to Havana during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today is open for history buffs and everybody else. You can roam around inside the secret bunkers, stare down into the silos themselves or just appreciate that the ancient equipment, which has been left behind, did not suffer any civilization-ending malfunctions. The base itself is hidden deep in the forests of Žemaitija National Park, itself a beautiful detour.

Tiraspol is, besides being the second biggest city in Moldova, the capital of the unrecognized republic of Transdniestr. It is a true ex-soviet city with a wide main boulevard, Strada 25 Octombrie, vacuumed for traffic, but lined with odd military monuments and crowned with a fine Lenin statue. There are hardly any restaurants or shops in town, so shopping can be a difficult task unless you are looking for a bottle of Kvint, the quasi-famous local Transdniestran cognac. There is a small market in classic Eastern-Bloc style behind the main square on Strada Karl Marx, but otherwise the main attraction is just to walk around and soak up the strange Soviet-era atmosphere.

Falowiec is a wavy apartment block from the early 1970s during the communist era. Falowiec literally means wavy in Polish. There are eight of those in the otherwise drab district of Przymorze in Gdansk. The block at Obrońców Wybrzeża street is apparently the longest with 860m, which also makes it the longest apartment block in Europe. With more than 6000 people living in that one block, what a street party they could have.

A small arty park packed with contemporary sculptures mixed with old Soviet statues and relics. You can meet a long line of famous Russians like Stalin, Lenin and Brezhnev and some odd non-Russians like Albert Einstein. It is a funky place to chill out and rest those tired legs. Right outside the park, the giant 94-meters tall nautical statue of Peter the Great rises into the sky.

A name like The State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after I.V. Savitsky (more commonly known as the Nukus Museum) may not be the most public relations geared moniker. But what the museum lacks in naming finesse, it more than makes up for in all other ways. What makes the museum special is the 82,000+ pieces of Soviet era art. Some may think, "Soviet era art?". It's true. Although the powers that be at the time attempted to destroy the art community, it somehow found refuge in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. The museum is wonderfully well designed and run. It is rare to have such a great opportunity to see collections of art that simply should not exist.