This abandoned island off the Venetian coast has been a radical monastery, a political prison, and a secret Nazi base.

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

A tribute to Richard Feynman is carved into the land he planned to see but never got to visit.

Colorful curls of hand-blown glass form a captivating tower in San Antonio's Central Library.

The bizarre headgear looks like it was made for a fool, not a king.

A monument to the thrice mayor of London who according to lore made his fortune by selling his rat-chasing cat.

Memorials at a Florence railway station remember the citizens who were deported from Italy and sent to extermination camps.

The largest crypt ever constructed in France was built in the 11th century on an ancient Druid sacred site.

Formerly Fire Station No. 27, the museum is a hidden gem in the heart of Hollywood.

The last manually operated turntable ferry in the world.

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

This gorgeous beach hides behind two headlands in Oregon's Ecola State Park.

A Byzantine church containing the holy remnants of three saints sits atop the site of an ancient temple.

Don't bother sending any mail to this ghost town.

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

A fully functional, 200-year-old remnant of the time when Brixton was mostly fields.

The 2,000-year-old beam is tucked within the pedestrian entrance to the old London Bridge.

One of the greatest movie directors of all time lived and worked in this London flat from 1926 to 1939.

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

This small 16th-century church in Athens is almost entirely surrounded by a modern building.

There are many Byzantine-era churches still standing in Athens, but this is the only one with a 2,500-year-old column rising through its roof.

Hidden in one of the skyscrapers on Bunker Hill, this museum features an 1895 stagecoach and peers into California’s gold-lined history.