Places buckblaze Wants to Go

This shuttered power plant is now Turkey's first industrial archaeology museum.

This mysterious cliffside carving of an ancient Hittite deity has baffled scholars for centuries.

These ruins once flourished as the capital of the Lydian kingdom, often credited with the invention of metal coinage.

This church houses the tomb—but not the remains—of St. Nicholas, the likely progenitor to Santa Claus.

A small mountain at the crossroads of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria that some believe was the landing point of Noah's Ark.

Quite possibly the oldest love poem known to humankind.

Thousands of artifacts tell Mongolia's military history, from the Bronze Age to the present.

A nondescript dirt lot hides an intriguing center of shamanic healing.

Hidden treasures belonging to Mongolia's most revered and multi-talented monk spent decades buried in the Gobi desert.

People have been scribbling on this massive chunk of granite for more than 1,500 years.

A jagged silhouette of shamanistic stone heaps rises from the shore of this dazzling mile-high lake.

An exceptional assortment of fossils recovered from private collections.

This spiritual landmark for practicers of Shamanism is drenched in milk and vodka and covered in blue scarves.

Mongolian Buddhists believe this monastery in the Gobi desert to be the center of the world's spiritual energy.

Dinosaur eggs were first discovered at these fiery red cliffs.

A huge communist-era propaganda monument and mural that offers stunning views of the Mongolian capital.

The oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia has survived centuries of invasions, political shifts, and religious purges.

The grassy landscape is home to the world's last truly wild horses.

Enormous statue of the Emperor of the Mongols.

This was once the largest city in Kazakhstan, and a major stop on the Silk Road.

This sprawling market is a one-stop shop for traditional Kazakh foods, from mare’s milk to sheep’s head.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

World's oldest and largest space launch facility, once a secret missile testing site.

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.