The small cliffside monastery known as the Tiger's Nest is said to be the meditation site of an 8th-century Buddhist master.

This Himalayan airport provides one of the most difficult landings in the world.

Whitewashed mosque contains the world's largest carpet.

This ancient city—home to nine civilizations—is soon to be buried under 200 feet of water.

The granddaddy of English geoglyphs dates back to the late Bronze Age.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

The world's only international cryptozoology museum is host to an unrivaled collection of mysterious objects.

Venice's island of the dead.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.

A little piece of Paris in the sultry south of the U.S.

A sweet symbol marks the place where torturous executions were once carried out.

This 17th-century street hidden beneath Edinburgh was once a breeding ground for the black death.

A church that bred legends, and served as an inspiration for the Da Vinci Code.

The fountain marks the area where hundreds of accused witches were burned at the stake.

This penis-focused monastery is dedicated to Buddhism's "Divine Madman."

After a 2004 tsunami, this stranded boat was left in place.

The largest falcon hospital in the world, caring for over 6,000 feathered patients every year.

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.

Over the dunes of the Empty Quarter, the mysterious music of the desert.

First a horse rendering plant, then a 19th century landfill, this beach is full of glass from thousands upon thousands of broken bottles.

The loneliest island in New York.

"Gnome Chomsky" was once the largest gnome in the world, but is now simply tall for his kind.

Ruins of a Carnegie family mansion on Cumberland Island.