Places Ell Hughes Wants to Go

A new sculpture calls attention to climate change in the centuries-old city it threatens.

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

Scattered monuments in the middle of the Sahara dedicated to the late Egyptian actor and desert explorer.

Egyptian treasure trove of fossils documenting the whale's transition from land mammal to sea creature.

Birthplace of the Tendai sect and home to the marathon monks.

This pond is so stunning it looks like you've stepped into one of Monet's masterpieces.

Japan's largest collection of Western-style mansions in the port city of Kobe includes a recreation of Sherlock Holmes' 221B Baker Street quarters.

A small Japanese village claims to be the final resting place of the son of God (and God's other son's ear).

The world's shortest escalator doesn't seem to have any reason to exist other than to hold a world record.

450 dead and frozen fish, proudly on display in Japan.

A statue erected on an infamous cliff where young boys would hold dangerous "pee offs" to prove their mettle.

Burial mound for the ears and noses of thousands of mutilated Korean soldiers.

As the aging humans of this Japanese village die off one local artisan is replacing them with eerie homonculi.

The bartenders at this crime-fighting theme cafe are actual private detectives by day.

The Hanshin Expressway goes right through its 5th, 6th, and 7th floors.

White beach sands made of the remains of tiny, star shaped creatures.

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."

A Buddhist temple to honor insects that died for science.

A Japanese cat island also populated by the descendants of a band of banished samurai.

The growing stones of Romania.

Naked scientists race around the pole in the frigid cold to try to join Antarctica's exclusive 300 Club.

The half-mile long structure is so impressive, it even shows up on satellite images.

A Gothic-style abode built to accommodate the church's three resident peacocks.