Places Hootenanny Wants to Go

A museum dedicated to the Spanish occult in a town that was terrorized by the Inquisition.

Giant cauldrons overflow with Uzbekistan's favorite rice dish at this cavernous dining hall.

An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

The first version of this stalwart construction appeared around 3,000 years ago.

One of the most ethnically diverse spots on the planet.

Witness traditional silk production in the Uzbek city that's been a hub of sericulture for over a thousand years.

Time capsule of a museum, in which the Soviet Union remains alive and kicking.

Built entirely of interlocking pieces, construction of this Chinese Muslim house of worship required zero nails.

This mysterious complex of abandoned yurts and fading murals was meant to be a center of science and spirituality in Kyrgyzstan.

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

This sprawling market is a one-stop shop for traditional Kazakh foods, from mare’s milk to sheep’s head.

In Kazakhstan, a colorful cathedral with many lives once survived the most powerful earthquake in the region.

Granny Smiths and Fujis can both be traced back to Kazakhstan, where apples still grow wild.

Housed in an old church, this hunting museum holds a collection of mythical bird-rabbit creatures.

In one of the world's smallest countries, a royal's personal winery is open to the public.

Zurich's evolution museum hosts a unique collection of skeletons among its natural history treasures.

Museum dedicated to wax representations of disfiguring diseases.

A small marionette collection located within the dark cellars of an 11th-century Austrian castle.

Amidst medieval and baroque buildings, five human-sized gherkins stand tall.