This half-forgotten fortress was constructed by the Ottoman conqueror of Constantinople.

Brawny guys rolling around in oil is the oldest regular sporting event besides the Olympics.

In a long-dry lake bed, these groups of massive stone pillars bear a striking resemblance to clumps of everyone's favorite fungi.

This historic black and white monastery is one of Bulgaria's architectural jewels.

Ruins of an early Roman Christian church dating back to the 4th to 5th centuries.

This field of half-buried stone crosses was the burial place of a sect of heretical gnostics.

Monasteries on rock pillars, once accessible only by frayed ropes.

This was the second largest mercury mine in the world and one of the oldest preserved mine complexes in Europe.

A crumbling World War I fort that is reached through a series of concrete tunnels.

An otherworldly alpine pasture with its own unique microculture that recalls Middle Earth.

This abandoned Slovenian military barracks has become a punky-political art squat.

This one-time health resort was used by aristocrats around the world.

The largest salt lake in the Sahara is mysteriously alluring.

A seemingly simple canyon that was the backdrop to a number of famous movies.

The ancient heart of Tunis is an enormous maze of narrow streets and alleyways.

This museum in the famously blue neighborhood of Sidi Bou Saïd showcases a traditional Tunisian lifestyle.

An abandoned film set location for a remote spaceport in a galaxy far, far away hides in the Tunisian desert.

A 15th-century granary that played the role of futuristic slave quarters in the world of 'Star Wars.'

Buildings from the fictional planet of Tatooine still litter the Tunisian desert.

According to local legends, the shallow sandbar that allows visitors to walk across Orhaniye Bay has a tragic backstory.

The only residents of this abandoned housing development full of identical castles are stray cats and dogs.

This Turkish cave boasts some rather bizarre associations with the King of Mount Olympus.

While not Turkey's deepest underground city, this subterranean redoubt is the largest.

Flames have been burning within this mountain for more than 2,500 years.