This abandoned church in central Lyon is missing its front stairs.

Antique cinematography artifacts fill this museum dedicated to the inventors of the moving picture.

A colorful piece of contemporary art cheerfully clashes with Lyon's historical architecture.

This modern museum of Mediterranean culture is surrounded by a surreal concrete honeycomb.

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

For hundreds of years, automatons moving to metallic music have been marking the passage of time.

This historic island prison holds one of the dungeons from the Count of Monte Cristo even though it is a work of fiction.

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

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

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

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

This statue was given to France by the United States to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution.

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 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.

The smaller of the three towers of San Marino is a former prison inaccessible from the ground level.

Two geological phenomena in one precarious locale: a towering stone window, and a deep blue void.

At more than 5,000 years old, these structures are among the oldest free-standing stone buildings in the world.

Burial grounds for more than 1,000 bodies deep under the modern town of Rabat.

Stone Age solar temple is aligned with the sun on each equinox and solstice.

First founded in 1472, this is the oldest bank in the world. Its history may explain why we call financial institutions "banks."

The Adriatic's most famous wind can be reliably experienced in the city's Marina.

This Renaissance palace features a unique architectural design and is now home to the Ferrara National Art Gallery.

Tourists to the mountaintop Sicilian town often overlook its ancient fortifications.