This museum offers a journey back to the Belle Epoque era of Romania.

Packed to the ceiling with antique taxidermy and hunting arms.

A celebration of all things tacky, garish, and bizarrely creative in the Romanian capital.

This once-derelict building is now one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Once an opulent Art Nouveau hotspot, the Constanța Casino is one of Romania's most beautiful abandoned buildings.

This solitary monastery may hold the remains of Vlad the Impaler (but probably not).

The oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia has survived centuries of invasions, political shifts, and religious purges.

Enormous statue of the Emperor of the Mongols.

A preserved oasis with traditional Andalusian-style architecture and beautiful views of the Nile.

A secluded fortress from the days of the Crusades that offers breathtaking views.

A modern-day cabinet of curiosities housed in a 300-year-old inn.

An extraordinary house museum and cabinet of curiosities in the heart of Florence.

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

A medieval weapon rumored to have been used by the brilliant poet himself.

The middle finger of modernity.

A tower devoted to — and modeled after — the Divine Comedy.

A monument to Malchik, a stray dog who lived in a Moscow metro station until his tragic death.

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

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

This frozen-in-time summer home outside Moscow provides a look at Russian life in the 1950s.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

This cheese shop also houses a museum devoted to Dutch dairy.

The world's oldest Jewish library was founded by Sephardic Jews in 17th century Amsterdam.

This impressive collection of rare books on ancient mysticism inspired author Dan Brown.