Places jakechouston Wants to Go

A striped 12th-century basilica sits in the countryside of Sardinia.

Crushed coral and crystals give the sand its signature coloration.

A layered tribute to the work of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar.

There's a crumbling old mansion inside the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Come for the waffles, stay for more waffles.

Finally, you don't have to be a pious Swedish seaman to relax like one.

Storms, funding, and in-fighting have kept this Bermuda church from ever being completed.

Tucked away inside this concrete building is a church and its grand display of brutalist architecture.

Perhaps the most spectacular grotto along the Algarve coastline.

The verdant mossy ruins of a Franciscan monastery lie in the remote Sintra hills awaiting exploration.

This eccentrically decorated palace is replete with grottoes, fountains, tunnels, and caves.

In Portugal, a secluded stretch of untouched natural beauty hides at the bottom of a steep hill.

This unreal Portuguese palace looks as though it's made from a pile of different castles.

Legend says this sacred tree was a gift from goddess Athena.

A 2,000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.

This fairytale-looking castle is a wonderful example of Greek neo-Gothic architecture

What once sat in the world’s spotlight is today a largely disused ghost complex.

This pink watchtower served as the seat of the Greek government after independence from the Turks.

This abandoned caretaker's apartment is one of 13 left in the New York Public Library system.

A discreet little stairway on St. Nicholas Avenue leads to a quaint and unexpected cobblestone street of 19th century wooden rowhouses.

The front yard of an Upper East Side town house hides the last fragment of one of New York's most famous theatres.

New York's oldest and possibly grandest keeper of books.

Hidden in Central Park's Ramble is a troublesome cave buried just beneath the surface.

The famous facade of Grand Central Terminal hides a regulation tennis court—and it's not the first one.