This 14th-century temple is also known as the "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" for its gorgeous gilded reliquary hall.

The quintessential Japanese rock garden has existed for more than 500 years.

This remarkably well-preserved Egyptian plinth is pretty well traveled for a giant piece of stone.

This crumbling medieval basilica once attracted pilgrims by the thousands to collect a miraculous dust that formed above the saint's tomb.

The ancient latrines of the Greeks, in all their public glory.

Ancient serpentine sacrifice holder that has stood the test of time.

A fountain standing as a testament to a doomed alliance.

While not Turkey's deepest underground city, this subterranean redoubt is the largest.

Legend says if you stick your thumb in the hole and it gets wet, your wish will be granted.

The deepest underground city in Turkey was designed to protect 20,000 people behind massive stone doors.

A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

In this historic region, homes and churches are carved into ancient volcanic rock formations.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

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

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 controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

A huge monument to a bizarre book written by Turkmenistan’s longstanding dictator.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A memorial to the thousands of Turkmen soldiers and civilians who died in a bloody 1881 battle.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

This famed Silk Road oasis was one of the largest cities in the world before it was destroyed by a Mongol horde.