Rock-cut chamber at top of an outcroup, reached by a mountain stairway of forty steps.

Beautiful carved tunnels.

Artist and musician Will Menter creates musical sculptures.

The world's largest drain sits below the city of Kasukabe, Japan.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

Hideout of thieves, monks, and goat-footed gods.

An ancient capital city that dates back 3,000 years old and harbors many surprises.

The stoutest tree in the world.

The small cliffside monastery known as the Tiger's Nest is said to be the meditation site of an 8th-century Buddhist master.

The world's second largest salt mine, said to have been discovered by Alexander the Great's horse.

Cold storage for agricultural biodiversity.

Location of the most powerful laser in the world, and the potential birthplace of tiny stars.

Think you have a tough job? Try carrying 200 kilos through a cloud of sulfur down the side of a volcano.

Bizarrely shaped rock formations in northwest Bulgaria come with equally bizarre legends.

Keshwa chaca, among the last handwoven Incan bridges, crosses Apurimac Canyon in Peru.

A beautiful and classically designed villa, with an hourly infestation of monsters.

The Syrian headquarters of alleged hashish-smoking assassins.

Thousands of exquisitely carved stone water storage wells, hundreds of stone steps fill this exquisite medieval stepwell.

These little castles each held thousands of pigeons.

A Parisian exterminator's shop whose storefront displays stuffed rats hanging from traps.

The world's most famous cheese caves.

A sacred lake with thousands of sacred carp and a biblical history.

A nearly unconquerable island-fort in the Indian Ocean.

An art world insider finds himself battling for his artistic home.