Places NicholasManila Wants to Go

For decades, Hungary's Communist Party insisted this gulag had never existed.

A Hungarian optometrist's charming collection of Asian art and curiosities.

The room where Vincent van Gogh died.

This 1,400-year-old abbey was once a powerhouse for music and intellectualism known across Normandy.

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

This demon atop the Notre-Dame de Paris looks utterly bored.

The narrowest street in Paris.

Beggars were miraculously "cured" of their fake ailments when they returned home to this 17th century Paris slum each night.

The headless bodies of more than 1,300 guillotined victims of the Reign of Terror are buried here in mass graves.

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

The former home of France's controversial pop maestro is almost completely covered in ever-changing tributes and graffiti.

A popular shrine where the Blessed Virgin allegedly appeared in 1830, displaying a holy armchair and two incorruptible remains of Lady Saints.

One of the last umbrella repair shops in Paris upholds the nostalgic art of umbrella making.

Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

Exquisite wall sculptures carved in secret by an early quarryman in an obscure corner of the Paris Catacombs.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

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

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

A counter-culture bookstore like no other hides in plain sight in the streets of Paris.

A wunderkammer of mysterious objects and stories.

A modern-day cabinet of curiosities housed in a 300-year-old inn.

Hidden beneath the famous St. Peter's Basilica is a veritable city of the dead that may hold the remains of St. Peter himself.