Head to Eastern Europe for an offbeat holiday on a budget

1. THE WINDMILLS OF PYROHIV

Kiev, Ukraine

I stumbled across a picture of one of these on social media and thought, why not! So, off I went to Kiev and spent 70 minutes between two modes of public transport; an ultramodern, brisk metro ride followed by a clunky, slow, small, old bus that looked like a relic from the USSR.

Eventually I was deposited in the middle of nowhere, with no signage and no windmills on the horizon.

Google maps pointed me in the right direction and a 30-minute walk later I arrived at Pyrohiv - The Museum of Ukrainian Folk Architecture - that has recreated ''travel back in time" villages, showing life during the county's past. It was neglected, but this made it more authentic.

2. VÝTOPNA RAILWAY RESTAURANT

Prague, Czech Republic

Výtopna is a unique, small craft brewery set in the hub of Old Town. What sets it apart is the that the ''waiters" Erik, Marcel and Nela, who delivered my liquid refreshments, were model trains.

Since 2009 at the three Výtopna restaurants in the Czech Republic the ''waitrons" have travelled more than 10km of tracks daily and served more than 6million patrons.

The Palladium branch has more than 400m of tracks laid so that the train can chug into your seating area and then smartly reverse out. They serve traditional, hearty food with a small but interesting choice of beers on tap.

3. LOVE STORY MONUMENT

Kiev, Ukraine

The best spot to watch the Kiev sunrise is up the hill near the Friendship of Nations Arch overlooking the Dnieper River.

The arch sprouted from a thick woodland containing such treasures as the Kiev Academic Puppet Theatre, the Museum of Water, the Mariyinsky Palace and, deep in the woodlands alongside the Park Bridge, an endearing statue entitled Lover's Embrace.

It symbolises the true story of how Italian prisoner of war Luigi Pedutto fell in love with Ukranian worker Mokryna Yurzuk at an Austrian concentration camp.

When the camp was liberated in 1945, Yurzuk was sent back to Ukraine and Pedutto was not allowed to join her. The couple were reunited in 2004 . The bronze statue of two elderly people hugging is an ode to love.

4. STREET ART

Warsaw, Poland

Globally ''street" or public art is growing in popularity - it's free, topical and often of Banksy quality. Warsaw's street art is spectacular.

There are impressions around Old Town reflecting the "before" World War2 Warsaw; installations of chairs that look like open booksin the quad near Central Train Station; a parking bollard resembling a seemingly forgotten pump with tools dangling from it.

My favourite was an aural garden called The Whisperers. The installation of 16 metal candy cane-like chimneys rising from the ground is at the Copernicus Science Centre along the Vistula River.

The structures are embedded with sensors that spark off natural sound effects as you wander past - rolling thunderstorms, gushing rivers and even an echoing drip.

5. THE EXECUTION SITE

Tallinn, Estonia

X marks the spot, or in this case, two tiles in the shape of an "L" in the town hall square. It marks the exact location of the public execution of a priest named Panicke in the late 1600s who walked into an inn and ordered an omelette.

Unhappy with the omelette, he sent it back claiming it was as "hard as the sole of a shoe". After the third attempt, so the story goes, the priest got into an argument with the waitress and made his point.driving it home using an axe.

His violent crime resulted in him being hauled to the square and beheaded.

• This article was originally published in The Times.