Places escapementality Wants to Go

The Grand Mall in Varna hosts one of the biggest collections of Soviet-era paraphernalia in Bulgaria.

The bust of Romania’s most notorious ruler, Vlad Dracula aka "Vlad the Impaler," keeps watch over the ruins of his medieval court.

Monument to a brutal, ineffectual US bombing campaign and a sobering reminder of the human cost of the Vietnam War.

The tallest city hall in the world offers an excellent bento box.

The 400-year-old remains of the samurai invasion of Korea.

The taxidermy remains of the mighty beast made famous by a Crocodile Dundee film.

To enter the lower hall of this temple, you must first walk through a dragon.

This French colonial post office is arguably the grandest in all of Southeast Asia.

This sandstone plateau once served as a stronghold for Lesotho's King Moshoeshoe I and his subjects.

Not only does this shop sell mokorotlo, the traditional hat of Lesotho, the building is shaped like one.

The walls of this sandstone outcropping are covered with 2,000-year-old artwork.

An 18th-century hideout became a permanent and ongoing residence for one Lesotho tribe.

This odd little home was built right into an African rock face.

Just outside Lesotho's capital city, a rock formation takes the shape of a powerful predator.

Taxidermy of a famous hippo who spent three years walking over a thousand miles across South Africa.

An abandoned water park overtaken by the dunes.

This cave overlooking the Indian Ocean has been turned into a shelter and makeshift museum.

Nelson Mandela lived here with his family from 1946 until his arrest in 1962.

A memorial to the only dog ever officially enlisted in the Royal Navy.

A beautiful viewpoint on the Garden Route overlooking a naturally-occurring outline of Africa.

All that remains of a Japanese fishing vessel that ran aground in 1982.

A supply store for traditional healers, this shop sells the hair of a dog--and its skin, skeleton, and reproductive organs, too.

Two giant painted cooling towers make for one of the world’s most epic bungee jumps.

South Africa's postal service began with a letter left in a boot beneath this tree.