What happens when you cross a mayor and a painter?

This ominous Albanian fortress houses tanks and downed planes as a reminder of their victories over Western imperialism.

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

A medieval bridge stretches over a sulfur-rich river that leads to year-round natural hot springs.

A naturally beautiful, seemingly bottomless deep blue spring.

A 11-foot former president stands on a Kosovo street that also bears his name.

A futuristic, brutalist masterpiece that is also strangely prison-like.

Gargoyle head that brings good luck.

This exclusive resort has completely covered a tiny Balkan island in a 5-star warren of guest rooms.

These historic defenses ensured the city within would survive hundreds of years of occupations, sieges, and invasions.

A beautiful mountaintop mausoleum devoted to a Montenegrin icon can't seem to make everyone happy.

An ancient knight and a symbol of the city's freedom.

A full figure 4th century incorruptible saint lies in a glass coffin in Croatia.

A memorial to a Swedish hockey player's "encounter" with aliens.

This Swedish astronomical clock was in storage for almost a century before its glorious workings were put on display once more.

A modern, secular take on a traditional Virgin Mary motif.

Swedish skyscraper with a 90° twist.

This chimerical bridge/tunnel appears to dead end right into the sea.

A little-known cafe in an old copper bridge tower with 360-degree views of the harbor.

Beneath Denmark's Højbro bridge, a bronze merman and his seven sons forever mourn for the mother and wife who left them for land.

The art museum is decorated with creatively remodeled pre-Nazi swastikas.

A collection of noses tucked inside an art museum reveals how times have changed.

It is said that each of the white stones in the red facade of this medieval house represents the head of a murdered Swedish noble.