The romantic botanic tunnel feels like a well-kept secret.

A giant portrait of an ancient king looms over the river.

This once-derelict building is now one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

The legendary cliffside castle of three-time Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad the Impaler.

A small town Romanian cemetery filled with darkly humorous gravestones.

This solitary monastery may hold the remains of Vlad the Impaler (but probably not).

This elaborately decorated, fairytale-like Romanian royal palace is one of the most striking castles in Europe.

The possible imprisonment of Vlad the Impaler here earned the medieval castle its nickname, "Dracula's Castle."

Some call this eerie forest of crooked trees the "Bermuda Triangle of Romania."

This massive underground salt mine now holds a sci-fi theme park in its depths.

Moss and stone turn this waterfall into an otherworldly liquid veil.

This fairy-tale castle would make Dracula (who is said to have been imprisoned there) jealous.

A dragon-shaped fountain that is said to dispense healing water—unless you're evil.

At this 16th-century monastery in rural Bulgaria, visitors can also spend the night.

The Grand Mall in Varna hosts one of the biggest collections of Soviet-era paraphernalia in Bulgaria.

Rock carving created 1,300 years ago 75 feet off the ground.

These cascading falls resonate throughout the Bulgarian forest.

A gigantic statue of a Russian soldier watches over the ancient city of Plovdiv, a prominent reminder of the Soviet period in Bulgaria.

The remarkably well-preserved final resting place of a powerful ancient Thracian king.

A magnificent, glittering building tucked into a tiny Bulgarian mountain town.

A mountain pass in Bulgaria's Balkan Mountains was the site of four historic battles.

A vast Communist-era exhibition space in the Bulgarian capital.

Mysterious standing stone formations looks like a petrified forest.

"Holy Wisdom" overlooks the city that became its namesake.