Places elef21 Wants to Go

This intricately carved and hilariously huge bed was such a famous symbol both Shakespeare and Byron used it in their writing.

This shop and gallery is a modern-day cabinet of curiosities, unassumingly positioned along an urban thoroughfare.

Where Aleister Crowley taught magick in "La Chambre Des Cauchemars," his "Chamber of Nightmares."

This Arabesque Italian castle was built with a primitive, if ingenious, air-conditioning system.

Every inch of this chapel is covered in craftsmanship from across the world.

These tombs were built into the side of a mountain so that ancient angels could reach the dead.

This former Imperial summer home was the venue for a royal slap that once echoed 'round the world.

Exquisite examples prehistoric bas-relief carvings.

Beautiful carved tunnels.

These fantastically named natural pools look like something out of a Scottish myth.

The mystery of this small, brick pond eluded its possibly only investigator until his death.

This castle was established by the 4th Duke of Montrose and is connected to the Buchanan Clan.

This family tattoo parlor has been inking religious pilgrims in the Middle East for 700 years.

This Navarrese cave's history of witchcraft and pagan ritual is not just embraced, but recreated each year.

This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

These gutted monastery ruins still stand proudly in the middle of the Italian countryside.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

Water and windows define this defensive Italian well.

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

Medieval town turned hippie commune, once home to the secret foreskin of Jesus Christ.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

This ancient Roman prison is decorated with an upside-down cross not as blasphemy but as saintly tribute.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.