Despite their macabre past, these hooks are said to bring good luck to those who touch them.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

As can be expected from a centuries-old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

An island on the Venetian Lagoon hosts this stone chair that has nothing to do with the King of the Huns.

Stare out over the lagoon and beyond from this 10th-century campanile on the island where the city of Venice began.

The small peaceful island off the Venice tourist circuit is where the city began more than 1,500 years ago.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

An iron dragon with a long neck covered in feathery scales perched above one of Venice's most popular squares.

Venice's island of the dead.

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

Martin Bricelj Baraga's monolithic sculpture measures the blueness of the sky, and changes color to match it.

Strange rumors surround the artist who created these solemn metal guard dogs.

This abandoned Slovenian military barracks has become a punky-political art squat.

A relic from the Industrial Revolution got a second life as a contemporary performing arts space.

Inspired by the Rialto Bridge in Venice, these three clustered bridges were just one part of a Slovenian architect’s grand vision.

A trough of 700 strange bronze faces runs through a narrow alley in Ljubljana's old town.

Buy raw milk from a 24/7 vending machine or pick up tomb candles at this local market.

A cemetery for Slovenian notables also serves as a popular recreation space.

A public work of art that also provides some relief from the summer heat.

When this monument to Slovenia's national poet was erected, it's said to have sparked the ire of nearby church authorities.

A whimsical bridge adorned with decorative dragons.

A monument dedicated to a lone, brave invader.