This ancient monastery complex was transformed from an island to a peninsula when the lake was partially drained.

The world's longest nonstop reversible cable car soars through spectacular scenery to the medieval Tatev Monastery.

The most visited pilgrimage site in Armenia once held a saint in a pit for 13 years.

This Armenian monastery was carved out of cliffs and named after the spear used to stab Jesus.

A scenic UNESCO site that doubles as a habitat for various forms of wildlife.

Gigantic water vessel, permanently grounded in Southern Albania.

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism.

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

A naturally beautiful, seemingly bottomless deep blue spring.

This Arctic storage facility is a secure backup for agricultural biodiversity.

In the northernmost city in the world, it's illegal to be buried because it’s too cold for bodies to decompose.

This small roadside eatery exists in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, as the equator runs right through it.

The largest salt lake in the Sahara is mysteriously alluring.

The best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa.

Made famous by 'Star Wars,' these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.

This rare volcano spews the strangest and (literally) coolest lava in the world.

A salty red wasteland in Tanzania is a breeding spot for endangered flamingos.

This vestige of Seychelles’s colonial past now resides in a busy intersection and didn’t chime for its first 96 years.

A British general, a suggestive tree, a map of paradise.

Traditional 11th-century outdoor tannery.

An awe-inspiring mosque in Morocco with one of the tallest minarets in the world.

Fortune tellers, snake charmers, poets, and storytellers all gather on this historic square in Morocco.

It took 40 years to build this Eden-like garden in Marrakech, later restored by Yves Saint-Laurent.

Morocco's Argania trees are infested with nut-hungry goats.