Places roffels Wants to Go

A building facade covered with the statues of 11 giants of Tajik literature.

This cavernous swimming spot doubles as a home to the largest known colony of bats in Central Asia.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

Former island in the Aral Sea used to be a top-secret Russian bio-weapons facility.

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.

This ominous Albanian fortress houses tanks and downed planes as a reminder of their victories over Western imperialism.

The elliptical citadel resisted the advance of the mighty Ottomans several times, thanks to the military prowess of the "Dragon of Albania."

A medieval bridge stretches over a sulfur-rich river that leads to year-round natural hot springs.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

A solar-powered primary school inspires hope and experimentation in a country ripe for energy innovation.

Space-age monument to an early 20th-century uprising.

Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.

A boulder carved into the shape of the cosmonaut's head.

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

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

A scenic canyon with thick forests and historic ruins.

A quirky house created entirely out of glass bottles combines a collector's spirit with an artist's flair.

A shrine of fire worship built on top of a natural flame.

This hidden fortress has been coined the "City of Ghosts."

Like something out of a bad acid trip, this Ukraine hallway has been covered in hallucinatory phantasmagoria.

This Ukranian fortress is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe.

A subterranean Holocaust refuge within one of the world's longest cave systems.