A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

In this historic region, homes and churches are carved into ancient volcanic rock formations.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

Giant cauldrons overflow with Uzbekistan's favorite rice dish at this cavernous dining hall.

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

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

The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

A huge monument to a bizarre book written by Turkmenistan’s longstanding dictator.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A memorial to the thousands of Turkmen soldiers and civilians who died in a bloody 1881 battle.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

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

Red sandstone structures dominate this landscape, which has been inhabited for some 5,000 years.

Men in rubber-soled boots serve as your "brakes" on this toboggan ride Hemingway described as "exhilarating."

These small, triangular, colorful houses are a staple of Madeira Island.

Established hundreds of years ago, Gandan remains the premier Buddhist monastery in Ulaanbaatar.

The monastery survived the Communist revolution in Mongolia as a religious museum.

Dinosaur eggs were first discovered at these fiery red cliffs.

The grassy landscape is home to the world's last truly wild horses.

These wire animal sculptures commemorate the exotic inhabitants that once called the Tower of London home.

Sculptor Antony Gormley used chaos theory and fractal growth to design his tallest creation.

The watery entrance for condemned prisoners heading to the Tower of London is still visible along the Thames.