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Towns cut in two by an international border

3 August 2026 · Cartographer expedition

Each stop is a single urban area with a frontier running through it — down a river, along a street, or straight through somebody's living room.

The five stops

Stop 1 · Cyprus

Nicosia

The Ledra Street crossing reopened in 2008 after 44 years. Inside the buffer zone, a car showroom still holds 1974 models with the price tags on.

Stop 2 · Estonia

Narva

Hermann Castle and Ivangorod Fortress face each other across the border river — the closest pair of opposing medieval castles anywhere.

Stop 3 · Italy

Gorizia

Its twin, Nova Gorica, was built from nothing after 1948. In 2025 the pair became a joint European Capital of Culture — the first across a border.

Stop 4 · United States

El Paso

Together with Ciudad Juárez it forms one of the largest binational metropolitan areas in the world — around 2.7 million people sharing a single desert valley.

Stop 5 · Netherlands

Baarle-Nassau

The most complicated border on earth. When shop closing hours differed between the two countries, some businesses simply moved their counter across the line.

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