This mysterious but iconic tapered tower appears in many Azeri fairytales and legends.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

Once a luxurious flagship of the Soviet Union, this Brutalist structure remains a landmark of Tashkent’s communist past.

Prowl through this sprawling bazaar under a massive Soviet-era dome for delicious eats.

This dark, damp, perilous tunnel is the only passage from north to south Tajikistan.

The world's second-tallest flagpole stands proud despite dropping rank.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

Controversially restored in the 1970s, this giant 15th-century mosque is shrouded in legend.

An outstanding piece of retro Sci-Fi architecture built into a sacred mountain.

A sculpture of graceful storks sits atop this fountain in Independence Square.

A beautiful and moving memorial set on a little island in the middle of the river in Minsk.

Remnants of the city's Soviet history hover over this modern fast-food outlet.

Once part of an ancient international harbor, it's now an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet for flamingos and other water birds.

This Italian stadium makes liberal use of fascist statuary to evoke classical sporting arenas.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

100 year tradition of fist fights, marked by marble footsteps.

Something's missing between the arcades of the Palazzo della Ragione in "the city of the three withouts."