Places pleiades Wants to Go

Abandoned castle was once a grand example of Russian privilege, built exclusively to win a frivolous bet between noblemen.

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

A remote forest of stone pillars along the Lena river.

Former headquarters of the KGB.

The reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of these "drunken" pine trees in Russia is still a mystery.

Its front wall is striped with a menagerie of fantastic beasts and magnificent monsters.

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

Legends of time travel and magical woodland creatures bolster the natural charm of this verdant sanctuary in the midst of Moscow.

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.

Palace where the nearly un-killable Rasputin was murdered.

It took over half a century but a Russian monument to a famous and tragic space pup finally stands in Moscow.

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.

This Russian religious complex is a Frankenstein's chapel that includes influence from almost all the major faiths.

Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.

Thirteen sculptures in central Moscow graphically depicting vices of the modern world.

It's hard to believe the dizzying patterns covering this abandoned mine are completely natural.

The gorgeous entrances into the city's underbelly look more like grand halls than subway stops.

Dr. Strangelove-esque tours reveal the inside a bunker once reserved for Stalin himself.

This ancient village and its adjoining cemetery have a beautiful history of death and remembrance.

Spanning the El Chorro gorge, this pathway used to be one of the most dangerous crossings in the world.

Despite its grandiose name, this enigmatic first-century void under the town is no cave, and it's possibly not a palace either.

This sanctuary is home to donkeys who finally get to rest after a life of toil.

Reaching this rock formation involves a hike through rocky rapids and springs where wild turtles reproduce.

One of the two original gateways into the Kasbah, this gateway is a nesting site for storks.