Cieszyn, Poland

Cieszyn has the kind of attractive market squares, cobbled streets and well-preserved buildings that most other towns of Upper Silesia conspicuously lack. It's also fairly unusual in being a town that's shared between two countries: with both Czechoslovakia and Poland laying claim to Cieszyn in the wake of World War I, the town was split in two, with the river Olza forming the frontier. The medieval centre, complete with Rynek and castle, fell to the Poles, while the Czechs had to make do with the suburb (now known as Český Těšín) on the opposite side of the river. The division cut across family boundaries and left estranged nationals on either side of the frontier. Nowadays, with both Poland and the Czech Republic belonging to the borderless Schengen zone of the EU, people are free to wander where they wish: in Cieszyn you can sightsee on one side of the border, and eat and drink on the other. It's also an excellent base for onward travel, with three daily trains running from the Czech side of town to Prague.