Places Aksel Wants to Go

One of the largest pagodas in Nepal is a 13th century testament to regional craftsmanship.

This pilgrimage site was built to honor an incarnation of Buddha who sacrificed himself to save a tiger and her two cubs.

Lake Phewa is home to the only island temple in Nepal.

At 16,627 feet above sea level, this unstaffed station is the highest in the world.

This millennium-old site reflects a time when sugar was a treasured commodity.

An early Christian basilica modeled after an Egyptian temple showcases some the best-preserved frescos from late antiquity.

Ozymandias’ time-keeping temple.

This flagpole ranks among the world’s tallest and can be seen from three countries.

Perched above the bustling town of Kerak is a sprawling, ruinous castle that has witnessed nearly a millennia of Levantine history.

These ruins by the Dead Sea is where John the Baptist met his untimely end.

Rabanadas, the Portuguese answer to French toast, are reborn here with a glassy sugar crust and a center as light as whipped cream.

When this former hospital pharmacy closed in 2013 it already looked like a museum, so they turned it into one.

One of the most beautiful bookstores in the world hides a neo-Gothic interior behind an art nouveau facade.

The stunning interior of this Gothic church is covered in ornate gold details.

A hidden three-foot-wide house separates these two regal churches.

Africa's Venice on stilts.

This subterranean town of over 50 dwellings lies thirty feet beneath the Earth's surface.

A giant chameleon, with a fascinating purpose.

Hidden dwellings in the cliffsides of North Togo used by local Moba tribes to evade 18th-century slave traders.

The unique building practices of the Batammariba reflect the community's deep reverence for and connection to the earth.

At Ghana's largest wildlife refuge you feel like you're right in the animals' backyard.

The first mosque in Ghana is known as the "Mecca of West Africa."

On the grounds of a hospital in Ghana, a legendary sword said to have been plunged into the earth hundreds of years ago.

Topless shrine of northern Ghana.