Border Crossing Ivangorod Tamozhennyy, Russia | Narva, Estonia
IVANGOROD, Russia — Little divides the Russian town of Ivangorod and its Estonian twin, Narva, but a fairly narrow river. That, and a vast cultural chasm.
If any more proof were needed, it came when the European Union decided to give the two Russian-speaking towns money to build promenades on each side of the river, with the idea of promoting cross-border harmony and tourism.
When the work was done Narva, which got about $830,000, had a promenade almost eight times as long as the one built in Ivangorod, which received nearly $1.2 million.
What accounts for the difference? Topographic challenges, say Ivangorod officials. Systemic problems, say those in Narva — and probably a little corruption, as well.
“It is a different world over there,” said Sergei Stepanov, the former longtime editor of Narvskaya Gazeta, a Russian-language newspaper in Narva. “You see and feel the difference as soon as you cross the bridge across the river — the roads, the bureaucracy, the mentality.”
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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