This once-derelict building is now one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

A charming 17th-century alley is lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops.

Sofia's legislative center is continuously reinventing itself.

A vast Communist-era exhibition space in the Bulgarian capital.

"Holy Wisdom" overlooks the city that became its namesake.

A striking symbol of the Bulgarian capital.

A Bulgarian monument to Russia's role in World War II is constantly being painted in pop culture protest.

The largest wine cellar in the world is a 150-mile network of underground caves near the capital of Moldova.

A sinkhole and now a swimming hole, too, full of dazzling turquoise water.

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

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

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

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

An outstanding piece of retro Sci-Fi architecture built into a sacred mountain.

One of the most ethnically diverse spots on the planet.

The world's second-tallest flagpole stands proud despite dropping rank.

The largest Lenin statue in Central Asia was moved to an empty field rather than being destroyed.

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

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

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

Where Stoddart and Connolly suffered in the infamous Bug Pit.

Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.

One of the largest public squares in the world, named after the former DPRK supreme leader.

Captured in 1968, the Cold War spy ship is the only U.S. Navy vessel being held by a foreign government.