The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

The remote island home of the overlooked explorer who co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection.

This whimsical seashell-shaped place of worship was designed to blend into its surroundings.

A lake with hundreds of ancient skeletons surrounding it. The surprise is what killed them.

For nearly 2,000 years this church has been waging war on local snakes by importing cats.

On Japan's Tashirojima Island, cats are king.

A French valley with forests so lush it was nicknamed "the Small Amazonia of the Pyrenees."

The statues commemorate the legendary mass killing of escaped circus monkeys.

Where the leftovers of love affairs can live on forever.

Down a cobblestone alleyway is a museum dedicated to Romanticism, with a secret garden.

Hidden away in a modern library are the remains of one of the 18th century's most celebrated wunderkammers.

The first green space constructed on an elevated viaduct.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

Stroll through retro Paris while shopping for old postcards and discarded doll heads.

A grotto-like lodge decorated with gilded mosaics, rocks and a noisy waterfall was the setting for the most sumptuous pleasure house of 1900s Europe.

A museum which takes visitors to the côté obscure of Paris.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

A museum of magic with a Sadist past.

An all-American grocery store in Paris sells U.S. "cuisine" like Pop-Tarts and Heinz ketchup to homesick ex-pats.

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

A counter-culture bookstore like no other hides in plain sight in the streets of Paris.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

A modern-day Lascaux cave underneath Paris.