Ukraine

With its amazingly well preserved Gothic, Renaissance, neo-classical, rococo, and baroque architecture, gently bending streets and hidden ancient niches,

Lviv is proud of its citizens, both the wicked and the holy. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is remembered for the clinical term for morbidly obsessive behaviour, and is one of the darker characters of the Habsburg Empire.

Modern-day Kyiv is part Kyivan Rus, part Soviet, part Ukrainian-nationalist and part capitalist mayhem. Its churches and trees and architecture and parks and history are captivating.