The world's second-tallest flagpole stands proud despite dropping rank.

An art museum inside an active factory.

This effigy of Peter the Great is greatly disproportionate.

The past, present, and future of Russia's signature alcohol is remembered in the world's only museum dedicated to the starchy spirit.

One of the most well-preserved mammoth specimens in the world.

Once frequented by heavyweights of the Russian arts scene, this café is stuck in the 1800s.

A city block packed with whimsical sculptures that seem to be plucked from a tiled fantasy world.

This Russian museum stresses the importance of keeping clean and even holds one of Pavlov's dogs.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

The gorgeous entrances into the city's underbelly look more like grand halls than subway stops.

This retro, UFO-like structure is a remnant of the Soviet-era circus.

Nicknamed Kazakhstan's Grand Canyon, this natural wonder lies east of Almaty near the Chinese border.

Submerged trees jut ghost-like out of an idyllic turquoise mountain lake.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.

This Soviet statue is based on a piece of propaganda that's been elevated to national myth.

In Kazakhstan, a colorful cathedral with many lives once survived the most powerful earthquake in the region.

This peculiar lake of pitch is so thick and viscous that one can walk on its surface.

This giant Cold War satellite dish has become a symbol of Trinidad's need for sovereignty.

Come for the springs; stay for the mud bath.

The larger of two volcanic peaks rising out of the crystalline waters of the Caribbean.

This group of small islands on Lake Nicaragua formed after an eruption of the Mombacho volcano.

A crumbling cathedral condemned by an earthquake.