Come face to face with the ferocious visage of the serpent-headed mother goddess of the Aztecs.

This ancient jade mask depicting the Zapotec bat god was found in the ruins of the pyramids of Monte Alban.

An island filled with hundreds of hanging, decomposing, decapitated dolls.

Concentrated around the Dead Sea, these surprising canyons are filled with coursing water, fish, and even crabs.

Once a favorite playground for the world's most illustrious guests, Hotel Nacional's secret weapons and bunkers reveal a more menacing side to its golden history.

Ecuador’s historic seat of government has been quietly looted in recent decades, and no one knows how or by whom.

It took 160 years to complete the most ornate church in Ecuador.

Ecuador's largest Incan ruins show evidence of sophisticated irrigation and diplomacy among the ancient builders.

An ancient octagonal weather station named for the eight Greek gods of wind.

A minotaur, a labyrinth, and a dubious restoration pull in visitors from around the world.

This legendary city has been a tourist attraction for centuries.

The hallucinogenic center of the ancient world.

Monasteries on rock pillars, once accessible only by frayed ropes.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

A beautiful Victorian statue shows France's enduring love of the rhinoceros.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

Architect Le Corbusier built his friend a cubist house to match his impressive collection of cubist art.

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.

19th century pendulum and a clock restored by a rogue group of guerilla artists.

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

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

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

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