Shiraz, Iran
Tomb of Hafez
A dreamy mausoleum honors Persia's most famous poet.
Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Shiraz, Iran
A dreamy mausoleum honors Persia's most famous poet.
Isfahan, Iran
17th century mosque for Shah Abbas' harem.
Isfahan, Iran
These little castles each held thousands of pigeons.
Erbil, Iraq
An ancient fortified mound raised over the millennia from settlements built one on top of the other.
Fars Province, Iran
The ancient necropolis houses the immense rock-cut tombs of four Persian kings.
Aleppo, Syria
Amid the rubble of Aleppo's Old Quarter, part of a historic market has been restored and re-opened.
Yazd, Iran
Putrefaction plateaus in Iran, where the dead were sent for decontamination before going to their final resting place.
Shiraz, Iran
A spectacular rainbow of stained glass makes the "Pink Mosque" one of the most beautiful in Iran.
Fars Province, Iran
The palace of the King of Kings, burned by Alexander the Great.
Shiraz, Iran
Mirrors and glass shards cover every inch of this arrestingly beautiful mosque.
Bucharest, Romania
This memorial to the victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 is often compared to a potato on a skewer.
Bucharest, Romania
This communist behemoth is the heaviest building in the world and a legacy of a brutal regime.
Bucharest, Romania
A celebration of all things tacky, garish, and bizarrely creative in the Romanian capital.
Porto, Portugal
This restored Portuguese cafe may well be the most beautiful place in the world to grab a Big Mac.
Moscow, Russia
One of the world's tallest statues is also one of its most hated.
Petrovaradin, Serbia
Backwards hour and minute hands and a timing mechanism that fluctuates with the temperature led to this clock tower's local nickname.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.
Belgrade, Serbia
A towering spire in the fortress of Kalemegdan honors the victorious armies of Serbia during their struggles against the Ottoman Empire.
Belgrade, Serbia
A museum dedicated to the former country.
Mokra Gora, Serbia
An idyllic traditional timber village on a picturesque hill was built for a film.
Čačak, Serbia
This symbol of Yugoslav liberation decorated with 620 carved heads of mythical creatures is now a forlorn relic of another time.
Kruševac, Serbia
Curious carved stones and bird-like wings are a symbol of Serbian resilience and freedom on the site of a WWII massacre.
Belgrade, Serbia
A misnamed well, with a deep dark past.
Štulac, Serbia
Serbia's master of striking memorials erected a forgotten, hidden gem in the hills outside a tiny village.