Where the high court feasted, frolicked, and high courtesans put their royal lovers' diamonds to the test.

The first green space constructed on an elevated viaduct.

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

Down a cobblestone alleyway is a museum dedicated to Romanticism, with a secret garden.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

This bridge is so steep it looks like a rollercoaster.

These Japanese gardens are blankets of light for dark winter nights.

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."

Elaborate series of tunnels where traces of mass suicide are still visible.

A network of sandy streets lined with verdant fukugi trees weaves throughout this tiny seaside town.

This network of conjoined cellars was riddled with traps and supposedly allowed the townspeople to pretend their homes were deserted.

Cherry blossom season comes early in this Japanese town where pink flowers line the streets and riverbanks.

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.

An astounding annual light display honors the victims of one of Japan's most devastating earthquakes.

Children's literature inside, forest all around.

A steaming, boiling hellscape sources Hokkaido's thermal baths.

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.

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

Abandoned Japanese ghost town gives a glimpse into what our own metropolises may leave behind.

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

This tiny Bulgarian town offers a stunning location in the mountains and a storied history.