Kazanlak, Bulgaria
Rose Museum
Said to be the only museum in the world dedicated to the most classic of all blooms, the rose.
Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Kazanlak, Bulgaria
Said to be the only museum in the world dedicated to the most classic of all blooms, the rose.
Kazanlak, Bulgaria
UNESCO-protected ancient burial ground.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
A gigantic statue of a Russian soldier watches over the ancient city of Plovdiv, a prominent reminder of the Soviet period in Bulgaria.
Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
An homage to the medieval rulers of Bulgaria.
Shumen, Bulgaria
This massive concrete sculpture is said to be the heaviest communist monument on Earth.
Karlukovo, Bulgaria
The ceiling of Prohodna Cave in northern Bulgaria affords a peek at the sky via two deity-sized-eye-shaped holes.
Krusevo, North Macedonia
Space-age monument to an early 20th-century uprising.
Laconia, Greece
The historic tower houses of this nearly abandoned Greek town have been compared to the spikes on an iguana's back.
Andros, Greece
Perched on a spindly rock spire in a Greek archipelago, this lighthouse would make a perfect wizard's tower.
Kea Kithnos, Greece
This smily stone feline is meant to represent a mythical lion that almost destroyed the island of Kea.
Zakinthos, Greece
Hidden in a secluded Greek cove is a pristine beach marred only by the rusting smuggler's hulk stranded on its shores.
Nisi, Greece
Poseidon? No one seems to know.
Mesopotamos, Greece
Ancient Greek oracle of the dead.
Argolis, Greece
This legendary city has been a tourist attraction for centuries.
Greece
The hallucinogenic center of the ancient world.
Volos, Greece
This little-known, 35,000-specimen collection in Greece is a lepidopterist's dream.
Kalabaka, Greece
Monasteries on rock pillars, once accessible only by frayed ropes.
Athens, Greece
This gem is often wrongly overshadowed by the larger, newer Metropolis church in Athens.
Laconia, Greece
This town named for the ancient God of War is home to fewer than a thousand people, but it's the birthplace of the Greek Revolution.
Kato Kastania, Greece
This remarkable cave was discovered after a shepherd watched bees enter and exit through a small fissure.
Santorini, Greece
A Bronze age settlement on the Greek island of Santorini might have been the inspiration for Plato's Atlantis.
Heraklion, Greece
This famous archeological mystery may be an ancient example of movable type.
Tropea, Italy
A fairytale-like medieval church perched atop a rocky cliff on Italy's "Coast of the Gods."
Urbania, Italy
Eighteen mummies have stood guard behind the altar of this tiny church since 1833.