The upstairs reading room is packed with millions of rare books, literary manuscripts, and historical treasures.

The oldest bookstore in Iceland.

A fantastic reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking longhouse.

This beautiful, historic church looks like something out of a simpler past.

A giant red chair bolted to a rock on a remote mossy hillside in Iceland.

A stratovolcano located in the south of Iceland, with a long history of charted activity and a rich mythology attached.

The oldest church in Iceland is one of the few to feature ornate decoration.

The Icelandic Sea Monster Museum explores the area's history of aquatic cryptid sightings.

Staves, storm-calling, and of course, necropants.

Iceland's largest lagoon is home to stunning multi-colored icebergs.

This eye-popping Icelandic crater lake is surrounded by red volcanic rock.

Looking for a unifying history, Uzbekistan finds its answer in a 14th Century Turco-Mongol conqueror... despite the fact he wasn't Uzbek.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

On the shores of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul Lake, a family cooks a feast that tells the sad tale of a people's exile.

In Kazakhstan, a colorful cathedral with many lives once survived the most powerful earthquake in the region.

Nicknamed Kazakhstan's Grand Canyon, this natural wonder lies east of Almaty near the Chinese border.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

These ancient pecked images are among the oldest and best-preserved in Mongolia.

Hidden treasures belonging to Mongolia's most revered and multi-talented monk spent decades buried in the Gobi desert.

Dinosaur eggs were first discovered at these fiery red cliffs.