The West's first incursion into the Afghan world lies buried beneath a military base.

A strip of neutral ground where the people of Tajikistan and Afghanistan come together to trade.

200-foot-high minaret and only remnant of Afghanistan's lost city of the Turquoise Mountain.

Rock-cut chamber at top of an outcroup, reached by a mountain stairway of forty steps.

Highly unusual subterranean stupa and adjacent cave monastery.

Museum dedicated to overthrowing the Soviets, complete with diorama of Soviets being beaten to death with shovels.

A sobering museum dedicated to landmines and the personnel working to remove them from Afghanistan.

The abandoned palace stands as a wounded but proud beacon of Afghan hope.

What was once supposed to be the symbol of a shining Afghan future is now a bombed-out ruin.

Afghanistan's first skatepark, located in war torn Kabul.

The last operating synagogue in Afghanistan is run by Zablon Simintov, the last remaining Jew in Afghanistan.

A horde of stray cats rule in this secluded Parisian cemetery under a bridge.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

Amid the bustle and noise of the Financial District hides a secluded garden oasis above the city streets.

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

A treasure trove of artifacts, books, and artwork from the "golden age" of exploration.

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

The very first subway station in New York City is beautiful, decked out in chandeliers, and ... abandoned?

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.