This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.

This enormous "shamoji" means more to the people of Miyajima than just a way getting rice onto a plate.

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

Go through the looking glass in Tokyo's Wonderland-themed shop.

Once a black market electronics marketplace, now an otaku shopper's paradise.

A plaque marks the site directly below the mid-air detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

After a profound show of devotion for his master, a dog becomes the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.

This 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.

The 10,000 Torii shrine.

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

This historic island prison holds one of the dungeons from the Count of Monte Cristo even though it is a work of fiction.

A quaint medieval millhouse hovers surprisingly above the waters of the Seine.

At Monet's beloved home you can still see the Japanese bridge, waterlilies, and weeping willows that were the subjects of some of his most iconic paintings.

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the century.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

A turn of the century building boasting some of the most beautiful art nouveau architecture in Prague.

This tipsy office building in downtown Prague was originally called “Fred and Ginger.”

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Potato-peeling mannequins, Inca art, and a dangling tuber mobile help trace the history of fries at this Belgian museum.

This gruesome biblical parade celebrates the one day a year that a bit of Jesus' blood turns to liquid.