This charming Latvian lane doubled as Baker Street on the Soviet Union’s version of Sherlock Holmes.

This ornate church has survived Nazi and Soviet occupation, including a short stint as a Soviet-era gymnasium and cinema.

The mile-long pier stretches from a ruined fortress out into the Baltic.

This impressively complicated radioastronomy research center was once a tool of Soviet spies.

These abandoned vessels are destined to be reclaimed by the forest.

Surreal works of unreal stone and metal dot the landscape of this Latvian art park.

A railway bridge leading nowhere stands lonely in the middle of a meadow.

This Estonian watchtower looks like a big tree with two giant bird nests on it, complete with a "golden egg."

Only a fragment of this 15th-century Dance of Death survives today.

Rusted cars, trucks, and buses form a fascinating collection of Soviet-era machinery.

This behemoth bovine guards an Estonian town and is a memorial to the lost species.

A line of disused military bunkers built to defend against Nazi invasion lies hidden on the outskirts of the city.

Once a year, local students "clean" this statue with a champagne shower.

The official meeting point for the oddly named governing assembly of ancient Sweden.

This remote sandstone cliff has one of the richest collections of Livonian petroglyph marks.

This giant subway sculpture celebrates the fruit that inspired the theory of gravity.

This 11th-century castle sits so low you can't see it behind the surrounding buildings.

A ghost village sits atop a mountain within Jordan’s largest biosphere reserve.

The enormous isokinetic structure hangs within a science center in Estonia.

This disappearing geyser has been attributed to witchcraft, but really it's all about rainfall.

A historic scientific breakthrough that crosses nine borders.

Ring the bell to enter a bar that looks equal parts museum and old curiosity shop.

Known as the "Valley of the Moon," this Jordanian wadi is one of the most amazing desertscapes on Earth.

This former KGB building is now a museum memorializing the people who suffered during the Soviet regime.