No telescopes, no power, no gift shop: The Observatory of Chichen Itza, one of the world's oldest observatories, takes astronomy back to basics.

Every equinox this Maya pyramid puts on a spooky ancient light show.

This natural wonder is disappearing at an alarming rate.

A surviving remnant of the thick ice mass that once mantled most of Western Canada's mountains.

Few other hotels can rival the grandeur of the Castle in the Rockies.

This historic Victorian hotel has a scandalous history of affairs and murder.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.

Europe's highest peak is a key pillar of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.

Dozens of padlock-trees along the Moscow River.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

This Industrial Age architectural and engineering gem helps visitors and residents alike traverse Lisbon, “The City of Seven Hills.”

A tribute to the Polish insurgents who fought in the failed attempt to end their city's Nazi occupation.

After the famous composer died in Paris, his sister snuck his heart out of the country to honor his wish that it be buried in their native country.

These historic defenses ensured the city within would survive hundreds of years of occupations, sieges, and invasions.

Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

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

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.

The picturesque birthplace of Icelandic democracy is drenched in the blood of its brutal past.

If a glacial river suddenly diving into a sheer chasm via a dramatic, multi-stage waterfall isn't peak Iceland, it's certainly close.