A small peaceful park and waterfall tucked amid the urban grind of Midtown Manhattan.

A charming "tea atelier" hidden away in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Blighted Irish field and the ruins of a 19th-century cottage on the edge of urban Manhattan.

Just your average Marie Antoinette–themed speakeasy in an abandoned 19th-century subway tunnel.

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

The middle finger of modernity.

Drink wine handed out through a window as part of an age-old tradition.

The highest rapid transit station in the world.

This Russian bar-restaurant lies within a three-story underground bathhouse.

A historic neighborhood church is reborn as a psychedelic arts collective.

Every dish is blessed in this basement eatery beneath a Hare Krishna temple.

The sixth of London's "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries, and a source of unlikely inspiration to Beatrix Potter.

The cuisine at this Sheepshead Bay spot tells the story of a displaced Muslim Chinese community.

The Corinthian columns that towered over Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration stand proud.

This enormous banquet-themed artwork honors over 1,000 notable women throughout history.

One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.

The largest university building in the West is a gothic masterpiece containing dozens of theme rooms based on different countries.

It took 40 years to build this Eden-like garden in Marrakech, later restored by Yves Saint-Laurent.

Fortune tellers, snake charmers, poets, and storytellers all gather on this historic square in Morocco.

Once a ferry dock, radio transmitter, and now a new Greenpoint park.

Constructed in the 1920s, this former pencil factory is now an office building.

Nondescript elevator doors open to reveal a stunning, surreal world.

Some of the best Persian food in New York comes from the front window of an unassuming pizza shop.

Mexican food and folk art.