Places Clur Wants to Go

The Syrian headquarters of alleged hashish-smoking assassins.

A 1,500-year-old ghost settlement is slowly fading away.

Mysterious lost empire of the Silk Road.

Ruins of the Crusaders' headquarters.

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq until ISIS blew it up twice and then drove over it with bulldozers.

Qshla Koya is an Ottoman fortress located on a hillock in the central quarter of Koya.

This former monument to an invented Iraqi victory was turned into a military camp during the subsequent invasion.

An ancient sanctuary that has long been a holy site for the Chaldean Christian Church.

This ancient stone bridge is a hub for daredevils.

An ancient fortified mound raised over the millennia from settlements built one on top of the other.

A shrine on the shores of the Tigris.

Salt cured mummies continue to turn up in this Iranian mine.

A dreamy mausoleum honors Persia's most famous poet.

This vast, water-filled underground labyrinth can only be toured by boat.

One of the world's largest salt caves is filled with fragile salt sculptures, salt rivers, and huge salt megadomes.

The vertical-axis windmills of ancient Persia have been grinding flour for 1,000 years and counting.

Iran's colorful terraces are a rare geological masterpiece.

This equestrian statue of Constantine the Great has been the subject of criticism for centuries.

The Vatican's secret porn-festooned bathroom was painted in erotic murals by one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.

If you want to talk to the Pope you will have to stare down this surreal vision of Jesus rising from a nuclear hell.

Hidden beneath the famous St. Peter's Basilica is a veritable city of the dead that may hold the remains of St. Peter himself.

Breathtaking and huge 430 year old maps of Italy.

A beautiful but deteriorating monument of Soviet architecture.

When the Soviets destroyed the historic Armenian monastery they somehow left its bell tower intact.