Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

Thousands of tourists and residents in Cologne affix "love padlocks" on the Hohenzollernbrücke Bridge to symbolize their affections.

A church filled with the bones of hundreds of virgins martyrs—or so they say.

This beautiful example of Victorian engineering is the oldest water-balanced funicular anywhere in the world.

Made famous by "Star Wars," these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.

The original film set of Luke Skywalker's Tatooine home from the 'Star Wars' trilogy.

This picturesque horseshoe weir was first built in the 1600s to prevent flooding in the town of Bath.

This sculpture commemorates a naturalist and an illustrator whose work was a forerunner to modern field guides.

This century-old grotesque has a mysterious history and may not actually be a rabbit.

These fly sculptures are scattered around the city and represent the patron saint of Girona.

Kissing the ass of this stone lioness has become a rite of passage in the city of Girona.

This tiny traditional smokehouse is the only one left in this historic fishing port.

The view that inspired the scenes of Dracula's first landing in England.

The much-beloved mascot of a local museum.

These 20-foot jaw bones honor a time when the leviathan bones were a sign that whalers survived the hunt.

A monument to the real explorer and bear who inspired characters in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials.'

These planks were originally installed to hold the dead.

The gloomy ruins that inspired Bram Stoker to bring Dracula to life.