Places Ancient Dan Wants to Go

This Gallo-Roman sanctuary is dedicated to Serápis, god of the underworld.

This mountain fissure hides a secret path to a secluded mossy grotto within the rock itself.

This beautiful, historic church looks like something out of a simpler past.

The picturesque birthplace of Icelandic democracy is drenched in the blood of its brutal past.

This eye-popping Icelandic crater lake is surrounded by red volcanic rock.

This natural Icelandic fissure allows divers to swim right between two volatile tectonic plates.

Iceland's "Smoky Valley" is a beautiful river that is shrouded in a constant cover of steam clouds.

Climb right into the heart of this colorful Iceland volcano.

The summer tourists on these cliffs are thousands of seabirds.

A popular Icelandic children's story comes to life inside this cave.

This wild explosion of color on a disused water tower tells the whimsical tale of a curious puffin.

This oceanside Reykjavik spot is speckled with recycled sculptures and large stones.

A winding, blood-red tunnel of hardened lava navigable by foot.

The largest whale museum in Europe allows visitors to walk among life-size giants.

This monument to one of the largest science fiction games of all time bears the names of hundreds of thousands of players.

A bit of the Berlin Wall was gifted to the Icelandic capital to commemorate the 25th anniversary of German reunification.

An encyclopedic collection of mammal penises.

Iceland's tribute to its thankless civil servants.

One of the tallest buildings in Iceland, and perhaps, the most visually impressive.

The final resting place of the controversial chess champion.

A lonely beacon, precariously perched atop a remote sliver of rock.

Icelandic folklore says this giant boulder was ripped from the mountains and placed at its current location, where it became home to elves.

A modern Nordic Pompeii on the Icelandic island of Heimaey.

Every summer local children form "pysja patrols" to save young birds that have wandered from their nests.