Places kosmostasis Wants to Go

Spring that emits water and fire at the same time is said to have remedial properties, and sparked its own religion.

Colorful mineral deposits turn these mountains into an Impressionist fantasy.

Naturally protected city carved from a rock face.

This mysterious cliffside carving of an ancient Hittite deity has baffled scholars for centuries.

The only residents of this abandoned housing development full of identical castles are stray cats and dogs.

A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

1513 Turkish world map, full of European state secrets and snarky commentary.

An Art Nouveau gem hides beneath the layers of city grime obscuring this once-magnificent building.

Have tea in a cemetery with a dazzling view of Istanbul.

This museum was invented in a novel before being made real by the author.

A meow-velous tribute to a beloved street cat, made famous on the internet.

A plaque marks the site directly below the mid-air detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

In 806, Kobo Daishi began meditating on Mount Misen. The Buddhist monk lit this holy fire, which has been kept burning for 1,200 years.

The statue's head is one of the few fragments of the original Urakami Cathedral to survive the atomic bomb.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

An ancient church on a tiny island covered in stone bible stories has controversially been turned into a museum.

This ancient city—home to nine civilizations—is soon to be buried under 200 feet of water.

The most visited pilgrimage site in Armenia once held a saint in a pit for 13 years.

Natural rock formation, or biblical artifact that saved Earth's wildlife two by two?

Standing proud atop a Turkish bluff, this Ottoman palace has retained its grandeur despite being abandoned for centuries.

A small mountain at the crossroads of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria that some believe was the landing point of Noah's Ark.

One of the largest caverns in the world has a maw large enough to stack cathedrals in.

This massive sculptural work outside of Paris was four decades in the making—and it's still not quite complete.

Bask in the 19th century grandeur of an eccentric Freemason millionaire's private gardens.