Aleppo, Syria
Souk al-Saqatiya
Amid the rubble of Aleppo's Old Quarter, part of a historic market has been restored and re-opened.
Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Aleppo, Syria
Amid the rubble of Aleppo's Old Quarter, part of a historic market has been restored and re-opened.
Aleppo, Syria
One of the oldest and largest castles in the world.
Diyarbakir, Turkey
Balanced on four stone pillars, this historic tower was the site of a tragic political assassination.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A 125-meter long "tribute to the Brazilian people."
Urfa, Turkey
A sacred lake with thousands of sacred carp and a biblical history.
Jibchit, Lebanon
Modern museum, designed for Jihadi tourists.
Baalbek, Lebanon
The largest hewn stone in history.
Qom, Iran
One of the holiest Shi'i shrines in Iran honors the life and death of a learned noblewoman who became a saint.
Fars Province, Iran
Marked by the hand of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley.
Tehran, Iran
This circular Iranian jail was once a political prison run by the country's secret police.
Shiraz, Iran
A dreamy mausoleum honors Persia's most famous poet.
Isfahan, Iran
These little castles each held thousands of pigeons.
Isfahan, Iran
17th century mosque for Shah Abbas' harem.
Fars Province, Iran
The ancient necropolis houses the immense rock-cut tombs of four Persian kings.
Qeshm, Iran
One of the world's largest salt caves is filled with fragile salt sculptures, salt rivers, and huge salt megadomes.
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
A bloody history is captured in this former prison turned museum.
Erbil, Iraq
An ancient fortified mound raised over the millennia from settlements built one on top of the other.
Yazd, Iran
Putrefaction plateaus in Iran, where the dead were sent for decontamination before going to their final resting place.
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.
Akna, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani ghost town, decaying after a war left it an armed forces buffer zone.
Tatev, Armenia
The world's longest nonstop reversible cable car soars through spectacular scenery to the medieval Tatev Monastery.
Barcelona, Spain
A fantastic Christmas tradition where defecation meets the manger.
Ljubljana, Slovenia
This abandoned Slovenian military barracks has become a punky-political art squat.