Wismar, Germany

Wismar is a Baltic Sea port of roughly 43,000 residents in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, founded in 1226. Together with Stralsund, its intact Hanseatic Old Town earned a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2002. The skyline is anchored by three medieval churches: the 1380 Brick Gothic Saint George's, the 1260 Saint Mary's (now 69 m after partial destruction in 1960), and the 1339 Saint Nicholas'. A Dutch Renaissance palace from 1602, the Fürstenhof, carries 1555 terracotta reliefs by Statius von Düren, and the 1810 Wasserkunst pumping house supplied drinking water for two centuries. Sweden held the town from 1648 until 1803, leaving a record still etched into its streets.