Legend says if you stick your thumb in the hole and it gets wet, your wish will be granted.

A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

A cluster of historic bathhouses built on the famed hot springs that gave the Georgian capital its name.

The charmingly disheveled clock tower of Tbilisi's puppet theater.

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

You'll find just about anything in this funky Tbilisi flea market.

Luxury hotel turned into a refugee camp, then turned back into a luxury hotel.

Unusual building appears to be haphazardly built from randomly piled bricks.

This mysterious but iconic tapered tower appears in many Azeri fairytales and legends.

A shrine of fire worship built on top of a natural flame.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.

Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.

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

This Soviet statue is based on a piece of propaganda that's been elevated to national myth.

Time capsule of a museum, in which the Soviet Union remains alive and kicking.

340-foot statue built to honour the Heroes of the Soviet Union.

The dining hall that nourishes workers in Chornobyl's Exclusion Zone is also open to visitors.

The ghost town left by the worst nuclear disaster of all time is being taken over by nature and urban explorers.

Padlocks cover this rickety footbridge with love.

A monument to Lenin has been transformed into a statue of everyone's favorite black-helmeted, fool-choking Sith Lord.

The eerie burnt-out remains of a prominent building where 30 protestors lost their lives.

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

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