A hotel masquerading as a medieval castle overlooks a Mexican city.

A sapling of the legendary tree where conquistador Hernán Cortés sat and wept after an Aztec uprising.

This church, buried halfway in lava rock, is all that remains of a Mexican village destroyed by a volcano.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

Colloquially known as “piss alley,” this narrow street filled with tiny bars and barbecue stands looks like it was pulled straight out of “Blade Runner.”

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

One of the most elaborate displays of Jellyfish is on display at the aquarium.

This Navarrese cave's history of witchcraft and pagan ritual is not just embraced, but recreated each year.

A museum dedicated to the Spanish occult in a town that was terrorized by the Inquisition.

Mexico City's largest market contains a Willy Wonka-esque wonderland.

This foreboding building was the headquarters of the terrifying Spanish Inquisition in Mexico.

It took 40 years to build this Eden-like garden in Marrakech, later restored by Yves Saint-Laurent.

A giant open-air sculpture made of over 200 full-sized boats.

James Turrell's total color immersion art installation, hidden on the top floor of a luxury handbag shop.

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

This massive geographical sculpture is so subtle, it's possible to pass by it without noticing.

Dramatic river bend surrounds a natural red-rocked pedestal.

Most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest.

Bootleggers ran booze beneath this building before (and after) Route 66 appeared beside it.

This Arizona observatory is famous for investigations into Martian life, and as the place humans first spotted Pluto.

A modernist landscape of water and sci-fi concrete.

A view-altering observatory at the University of Texas.