Places derker Wants to Go

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

Space-age monument to an early 20th-century uprising.

A solar-powered primary school inspires hope and experimentation in a country ripe for energy innovation.

A 11-foot former president stands on a Kosovo street that also bears his name.

A gigantic statue of a Russian soldier watches over the ancient city of Plovdiv, a prominent reminder of the Soviet period in Bulgaria.

A magnificent, glittering building tucked into a tiny Bulgarian mountain town.

An unfinished complex built for children from around the world sits abandoned on the Black Sea coastline.

The tallest hotel in Europe.

Gargantuan home of Russian science.

A fairytale island floats in the middle of Italy's little-known Lake Orta.

A unique collection of Soviet military artifacts lies hidden away in a disused train, in the unrecognized Eastern European republic of Transnistria.

The largest wine cellar in the world is a 150-mile network of underground caves near the capital of Moldova.

A forgotten remnant of the Soviet Union, Transnistria is an unrecognized country hidden behind a heavily militarized border between Moldova and Ukraine.

This abandoned Soviet circus is slowly being restored to its Communist-era glory.

Shimmering sea-colored mosaics and Jesus statues cover this opulent building.

The oldest funicular in Lithuania has been climbing this steep hill since 1931.

The highest point in the state of New Hampshire, and while unlikely "the worst weather in the world," it sure seems that way to hikers.

A very big rock just plopped down in the New England woods.

Even Henry David Thoreau found this glacial pothole irresistible.

This narrow canyon has been carved by the river over thousands of years into spectacular and curious forms.

The vast chamber inside this abandoned cooling tower looks like something out of a sci-fi dystopia.

Once standing on solid ground, this slender beacon is a victim of the very shoreline it was charged with announcing.

Twice a day a speeding train passes only inches from the homes of this residential neighborhood.

Things aren't quite what they seem at this mind-bending museum.