Narva is the third-largest city in Estonia. It sits literally on the Russian border. You can watch people walk across the bridge over the Narva river between the two countries.

The street signs in Narva are in two scripts: Latin for those who speak Estonian or English, Cyrillic for those who speak Russian. We worried that there might be a bit of hostility toward Americans there, but like most worrying, it turned out to be a waste of time. People received us happily. There are signs in English where ever tourists might find them useful.

Narva castle

The biggest sight-seeing attraction in Narva is the castle. What makes it unusual is the enormous (if scary-looking) Russian castle just across the river from it in the city of Ivangorod: two castles in one view. The Estonian-side castle was started in the late 1300's by the Danes with extensions added off and on through the 1600's. The Russian castle was started in 1492, the same year Columbus discovered America. Inside, the Narva castle are exhibits that detail local history. There's also a tourist information spot nearby.

A memorial to a Soviet
hero on the banks of
the Narva River

We also love the long, tree-lined boulevard that makes up the city's main street. There are memorials to some of the heroes from Soviet times and some pleasant spots to just gaze out over the Narva river into Russia.

Trucks queue up on the side of road for
kilometers, waiting to get into Russia.

There's a customs station in Narva that, like those at every other entry to Russia we've seen, keeps the trucks waiting for days to pass through. Outside of town, on the main road, you'll see eighteen-wheelers lined up for kilometer after hopeless kilometer, waiting for someone at the customs station to let them through. It's a wonder that anyone ships anything to Russia.