A cave dwelling that was started by the Celts, expanded by monks, and finished by knights.

A 14th century bridge built as a fortress, where the devil lurks on one of its towers.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

One of the last umbrella repair shops in Paris upholds the nostalgic art of umbrella making.

One of the greatest maze designer’s greatest mazes.

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by William the Conqueror, dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution—these ruins have seen it all.

This Parisian fountain is a little bit fantasy and a little bit nightclub.

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

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.

"In the Dark" Restaurant in Paris offers dinner in complete darkness.

Behind the pink curtain, Au Bonheur du Jour, an art gallery of erotic archives.

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

Abandoned railway line circling the city of Paris.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

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

According to one legend, this bridge was crafted after monkeys formed a body-bridge across the gorge.

The site of Japan’s first archaeological excavation is also the birthplace of fingerprint forensics.

Nope, not the one in France. The only officially-recognized reproduction of Monet’s garden in Giverny is located in a remote corner of Japan.

Along the side of the road on a small Japanese island is an extensive garden of uniquely designed Shisa statues.

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.