Top of the world's most unusual hotels. Karostas Cietums Hotel Liepaja, Latvia.

The building was built at the beginning of the last century, and during the tsarist times it was used to hold political prisoners. During Soviet times Karostas Cietums was a real prison for war criminals. It was finally liquidated in 1997.

Unfortunately, the castle is in very poor condition, but every year - from May 1 to October 1 - tourists from all over the world come here to see the cells where political prisoners and war criminals were kept.

The service here is quite original: guests are dressed in prison clothes, all personal belongings are confiscated and, wearing the obligatory handcuffs, they are escorted to their cells through semi-dark corridors.

The interior of these casemates has not changed for many years: the same shabby bunks, tiny windows with indestructible bars, a prison menu of bread and water, and staff dressed in guards' uniforms.

No friendly attitude is to be dreamed of. Yet guests gain a valuable experience here, as an invisible time machine takes them from the present day to the distant past, which has long since become history.

The guests have an opportunity to fully feel the atmosphere of that time, which is facilitated not only by the gloomy walls of underground chambers, but also by the carefully restored entourage - Chekist leather jackets, seized cut glasses and portraits of Marxism-Leninism classics on the walls.

If you wish, you can stay overnight and listen to the heartbreaking screams of the “interrogated”, and if you are very lucky, you can meet the ghosts of former prisoners.