Places mrowestmiddle Wants to Go

An ancient Egyptian temple in the middle of Madrid, Spain.

A curious carving hides on a marble column in the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.

The ruins of an 11th-century Norman castle with a rare, perfectly circular shape.

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

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

Ordinary art transforms to extraordinary thanks to locals' quirky sense of humor.

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by William the Conqueror, dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution—these ruins have seen it all.

A French museum of wrought iron.

This medieval tower is all that remains of the castle where Joan of Arc was held before being burned at the stake.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

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

Legend says this rock was once a chopping block for public executions.

The steel cable lets adventurers zoom between two mountain towns at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour.

In a quiet north Chicago neighborhood rests a stunning relic of the golden age of earthenware design.

These magnificent city walls rise from the barren sun-baked Spanish plains like something straight out of a fairytale.

An otherworldly alpine pasture in Slovenia with historical ties to WWII and architecture that recalls Middle Earth.

After years of slow decline, a derelict Gothic castle is now being restored to life.

This giant urban staircase was built to keep the city's brave fighting men from getting waylaid in the red light district.

The "stairway to heaven" lookout tower was built to resist weather, arson, and the laws of physics.

One of the deepest indoor swimming pools in the world.

The city of Palestrina was built around this magnificent terraced sanctuary dedicated to the pagan goddess Fortuna.

This cafe offers a curated collection of treats and tipples made by monks and nuns.