Places elainemellis Wants to Go

An unusual sculpture, an interesting history, in a strange place, for a good cause.

A creepy tree with a local legend that inspired a nearby theme park ride.

A famed artist's inspiring work of peace and tolerance.

A well-studied colony of endangered bats roosts in this abandoned Victorian Gothic mansion.

Unscathed for almost 2,000 years, the best preserved Roman triumphal arch is in a small southern Italian city.

A 150-year-old steam locomotive crosses the southern half of the island daily.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

This medieval mountain town is also known as the "Village of Streams."

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

What started as a way to address damp basement walls turned into a house filled with intricate hand-carved designs.

In the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, a statue memorializing a prolific bull elephant.

A narrow opening between the mountains of the Amalfi Coast creates a scenic hidden beach.

A little theme park full of miniature monasteries and churches, made by hand.

A Museum with a collection of 40,000 matchboxes.

Deep below the dry landscape of Bahia, a cave with intense blue water to float in.

This 19th-century museum inside of a lighthouse is only accessible during low tide.

This townhouse was once the original home of the Scottish Football Association.

Like stepping into a spooky fairy-tale, this shop carries the dark ideas of artists and other makers.

An exploration of a small ethnic group’s heritage through their exquisite folk art.

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

An off-the-beaten path cave with an underground lake.

A striped 12th-century basilica sits in the countryside of Sardinia.

Brace yourself for the slowest, scariest, most spectacular drive, down the Drakensberg Escarpment.

Vibrant paintings stretch across 600 feet of derelict railway.