Matmatat-Al-Qadimal, Tunisia
Matmata Underground Houses
Made famous by 'Star Wars,' these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.
Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Matmatat-Al-Qadimal, Tunisia
Made famous by 'Star Wars,' these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.
Brussels, Belgium
Belgium’s famous peeing statue has worn many hats (and coats, and pants), which are on display at this small museum.
Faroe Islands
The largest lake in the Faroe Islands seems to be held hundreds of feet above sea level thanks to an optical illusion.
Turkmenistan
A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
The world's second-tallest flagpole stands proud despite dropping rank.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
This sprawling market is a one-stop shop for traditional Kazakh foods, from mare’s milk to sheep’s head.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.
Raiymbek District, Kazakhstan
Nicknamed Kazakhstan's Grand Canyon, this natural wonder lies east of Almaty near the Chinese border.
Kyrgyzstan
A stunning blue-green lake located in the Terskey Alatau mountain range.
Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Built entirely of interlocking pieces, construction of this Chinese Muslim house of worship required zero nails.
Yrdyk, Kyrgyzstan
On the shores of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul Lake, a family cooks a feast that tells the sad tale of a people's exile.
Kyrgyzstan
According to myth, there's a bloody explanation for the beautiful bright red color of this rock formation set amidst alpine vegetation.
Kyrgyzstan
Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Looking for a unifying history, Uzbekistan finds its answer in a 14th Century Turco-Mongol conqueror... despite the fact he wasn't Uzbek.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.
Bukhara, Uzbekistan
This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.
Xiva, Uzbekistan
Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.
Thingvellir, Iceland
The picturesque birthplace of Icelandic democracy is drenched in the blood of its brutal past.
Thingvellir, Iceland
This natural Icelandic fissure allows divers to swim right between two volatile tectonic plates.