Whitewashed mosque contains the world's largest carpet.

Planned as the world’s first zero-carbon city, it had lofty ideals—but is only 5 percent completed and aiming for 50 percent carbon-neutral.

Billed as the "largest natural flower garden in the world" this Middle Eastern show field has little competition at 45 million flowers.

This indoor ski resort has a mountain contained inside a mall.

An abandoned desert hamlet swallowed up by sand.

The most alien-looking place on Earth.

This ornate mosque is said to hold the remains of Muhammad's granddaughter beneath its dome of pure gold.

This giant volcanic crater holds its very own field of salt.

These towering cliffs jut dramatically from the middle of a barren desert.

Village of slate houses, built on a white marble outcrop.

This mix of Islamic art, vintage vehicles, weaponry, architecture, and history is an ode to eclecticism. 

The enormous diamond-shaped building packs a trove of academic and literary treasures into one futuristic space.

The building is a gigantic piece of art inspired by the shape of a desert rose.

Some 20,000 dust-covered unwanted vehicles languish in the desert.

This spectacular mosque houses the second-largest chandelier in the world.

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

Beirut's thinnest building was the result of feuding brothers.

A monumental underground karstic wonderland is also the water source for over a million citizens of Beirut.

Kuwait City's uniquely designed water towers look straight out of a retro sci-fi cityscape.

Wander among the ghostly ruins of an island where civilization flourished for thousands of years.

Lived-in building, bedecked with an astonishing array of mirror mosaics.

This road earned its macabre nickname after hundreds of Iraqi troops died along it in 1991.

A ghost village sits atop a mountain within Jordan’s largest biosphere reserve.

This cascade of mineral-rich hot springs and waterfalls is an oasis in the Jordanian desert.