A tiny mosque decorated with mosaics using an early form of recycling.

This memorial to the victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 is often compared to a potato on a skewer.

This Transylvanian church has changed its denomination four times.

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

One of the most controversial statues in Romania is an emperor with no clothes.

This communist behemoth is the heaviest building in the world and a legacy of a brutal regime.

Romania's triumphal arch looks out over Bucharest.

A fire once nearly devoured this gorgeous 14th-century Gothic cathedral.

Something's watching you.

This snug medieval lane is one of the narrowest streets in the world.

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

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

Once an opulent Art Nouveau hotspot, the Constanța Casino is one of Romania's most beautiful abandoned buildings.

This fairy-tale castle would make Dracula (who is said to have been imprisoned there) jealous.

This massive underground salt mine now holds a sci-fi theme park in its depths.

There is a mouldering Jewish cemetery hidden away in the capital of Moldova.

At less than four inches in height, this iconic fictional character is the smallest public statue in all of Moldova.

This abandoned Soviet circus is slowly being restored to its Communist-era glory.

This sign marks the entrance to a tiny proto-state within the small country of Moldova.

A unique collection of Soviet military artifacts lies hidden away in a disused train, in the unrecognized Eastern European republic of Transnistria.

A forgotten remnant of the Soviet Union, Transnistria is an unrecognized country hidden behind a heavily militarized border between Moldova and Ukraine.

An homage to the medieval rulers of Bulgaria.

Sofia's legislative center is continuously reinventing itself.

A vast Communist-era exhibition space in the Bulgarian capital.