This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.

100 year tradition of fist fights, marked by marble footsteps.

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

This abandoned coliseum was intended to be a grand Nazi rallying ground before it was halted at the end of the war.

This postmodern apartment block was designed to be a vertical neighborhood.

Nicknamed the "Spirit of Paul Klee," this colorful apartment building features an array of multicolored panels.

An exact replica of a colossal Olmec head sits atop a pyramid within a Madrid traffic circle.

This Art Nouveau gate still stands at the former entrance of a 20th-century Spanish writer's colony.

The oldest building in Madrid.

Meant to resemble a massive tree, the building is the best example of Spanish organicist architecture in Madrid.

This cuddly-looking statue symbolizes the bond between Spain and China.

A neighborhood represented by an apparent geocentric and flat-earth model of the Solar System is hidden in the subway of Madrid.

This fascinating and poignant museum chronicles every imaginable aspect of Spanish colonialism in the Americas.

This grand gate once marked the entrance to a military barracks.

Shrapnel scars and bullet holes from the Spanish Civil War can still be seen in this monument to Spanish doctor Federico Rubio.

Inaugurated three times, this tower offers some of the best views of Madrid.

Madrid's last horchata kiosk is a blue-and-white beacon of refreshment.