This subterranean funicular is one of the world's smallest subways.

The forgotten mummies of Dakhla oasis.

Sitting right on the border between East and West Jerusalem this modern art museum is in itself a symbol of Israel's hoped-for unity.

The home of the Dead Sea Scrolls is an abstract modernist dream.

A magical oasis in the middle of the Negev Desert.

One of the few guarded stops along the great spice route.

A massive, heart-shaped, wind-carved crater in the middle of the Israeli desert.

An autonomous community living in the southern Negev desert.

One of the oldest and largest castles in the world.

The Syrian headquarters of alleged hashish-smoking assassins.

This ancient village is peopled by a religious minority and is still using some of the same materials it was built with thousands of years ago.

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

Natives of this mud-brick desert village use an ancient irrigation system to grow sweet, seedless grapes.

This famed Silk Road oasis was one of the largest cities in the world before it was destroyed by a Mongol horde.

This human-made cave is one of the many snow storage chambers that supported the ice supply industry in the Sierra Mariola area.

Stunning views over Ontario's old-growth pine forests.

Dedicated to a colonial woman who was hanged for being a Quaker.

A Cajun-style Christmas on the river also involves sky-high pyres and explosives.

A small artistic "graveyard" where clichéd expressions have been buried.