Places flblom Wants to Go

A celebration of all things tacky, garish, and bizarrely creative in the Romanian capital.

Tables of secondhand books fill the inner courtyard of this 17th-century stock exchange.

This small Catskills village has six independent bookstores and more bookshops than restaurants.

This once-derelict building is now one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

An Argentinian businessman facing terminal cancer built this whimsical medieval village using salvaged materials.

Honor one of Argentina's most prolific writers at his historic home.

A neo-Gothic castle in the Argentinian countryside.

The first (but not only) upside-down house in Germany.

This historic estate on the east shore of Lake Tahoe was home to an eccentric millionaire (and his pet elephant, Mingo).

An unlikely neo-Gothic castle in the Paraguayan countryside.

Gilded heaven for philatelists and architecture freaks, still in full working order despite sitting atop tremulous ground.

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

No one knows who built this strange cave of worship or exactly why.

Some call this eerie forest of crooked trees the "Bermuda Triangle of Romania."

A giant portrait of an ancient king looms over the river.

This solitary monastery may hold the remains of Vlad the Impaler (but probably not).

A medieval church built up to defend its village.

This Romanian village may have been drowned, but it is long from forgotten.

Nine centuries-old fortresses guard the walls of this medieval Romanian city.

This small museum in a 17th-century building honors three iconic Scottish writers.

This lone tower casts an outstretched shadow over the site of a once-wealthy Knights Templar preceptory.

Legend says this demonic carving inside a medieval cathedral was one of Satan's minions.

This theme park presents 5,000 years of Shanghai history and includes a "sunken" exhibition hall.

This enchanting natural park is a magical example of a temperate rainforest in Europe.