The secular incarnation of a religious meditation.

This 15th-century island fortress later served as home to the executioners no one wanted to live near.

This legendary city has been a tourist attraction for centuries.

Local lore says two enemy dragons live within these breathtaking mountain lakes.

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

This open air archeological site houses almost as much wildlife as it does classical religious artifacts.

This ancient theater, restored in the 20th century, lives on as a venue for dramatic and musical performances.

A gigantic statue of a Russian soldier watches over the ancient city of Plovdiv, a prominent reminder of the Soviet period in Bulgaria.

The partially submerged ruins of a white marble quarry used in ancient Greece for over 1,200 years.

Temple complex that once housed the famous statue of Nike.

This ancient statue of Dionysus lies unfinished and abandoned in one of Greece's oldest quarries.

The Greek island's old British cemetery feels like a forgotten garden.

Hidden in a secluded Greek cove is a pristine beach marred only by the rusting smuggler's hulk stranded on its shores.

A spectacular cave and a beguiling lake.

The ruins of an abandoned medieval city where the last Byzantine emperor was crowned.

A sharp sculpture made of thousands of pieces of jagged glass.

A sprawling collection of books and manuscripts about ancient Greece that would have put their famed libraries to shame.

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.

This ancient hydrological marvel is now the base of a modern outdoor cinema.

The ruined doorway is a portal to the building's turbulent and torturous past.

This beehive tomb built for royalty sat hidden for over 3,000 years.

What once sat in the world’s spotlight is today a largely disused ghost complex.

The abandoned summer estate of the former Greek Royal Family.

The hallucinogenic center of the ancient world.