Once frequented by heavyweights of the Russian arts scene, this café is stuck in the 1800s.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.

The giant Siberian crater known locally as the "doorway to the underworld" is expanding every year.

Stalin's prisoner-built rail line sits in ruin, never having a single car ride its tracks.

An ever-growing literary collection housed in the apartment where the Russian author penned his final novel.

What was once the base for Russia's first nature reserve is now a ghost town, right on the shore of Lake Baikal.

Siberian ghost town built by gulag prisoners.

A remote forest of stone pillars along the Lena river.

Site of the largest impact event to occur over land in Earth's recorded history.

Rare documents, old instruments, and gruesome specimens showcase the history of military medicine.

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

Legends of time travel and magical woodland creatures bolster the natural charm of this verdant sanctuary in the midst of Moscow.

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.

It's hard to believe the dizzying patterns covering this abandoned mine are completely natural.

The "Mystery and Company of Merchant Adventurers" is an Elizabethan-era hangout in Moscow.

Dr. Strangelove-esque tours reveal the inside a bunker once reserved for Stalin himself.

A subterranean Holocaust refuge within one of the world's longest cave systems.

This ruined fortress was the stronghold for a persecuted medieval leader and his infamous Assassins.

This Ukranian fortress is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe.

A half-mile-long stretch of medieval forts built after a devastating pirate attack persists amid the modern port city.

This underground church is topped with a 500-foot cross that is seen by many as a beacon of fascist hubris.

These magnificent city walls rise from the barren sun-baked Spanish plains like something straight out of a fairytale.

An ancient tomb that still stands in Portugal.

The medieval town's star-shaped walls are geometrically dazzling, though not entirely impenetrable.