Places Edited by Sam O'Brien

Amidst medieval and baroque buildings, five human-sized gherkins stand tall.

An underexplored, 130-foot tropical waterfall that you will have all to yourself.

Eat a tasty meal in the house where John Steinbeck was born.

Dance on a hand-hewn log floor padded with bouncy boxcar springs at a saloon built in 1883.

The headquarters of a pioneering cast iron and cast aluminum cookware company is in ruins, but still standing.

The first patented shaved-ice machine heralded a snowy wonderland of iced treats at a favorite New Orleans summer shack.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

This architectural onion has an original 1930's Jerry O'Mahony dining car at its core.

These small stands sell Malian snacks to worshippers and passersby after Friday prayers in Harlem.

Serving Central Asian breads that range from cracker-crisp to warm and fluffy, this bakery brings Bukhara to Queens.

Found: Garden of Eden in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

A hidey-hole sandwiched between cellphone, DVD, and jewelry stores features Tibetan delights.

Everything from miniature biblical scenes to life-sized statues are almond-based at this sweet and nutty gallery.

This historic pub has maintained much of its 1906 decor, including a small sequestered room for women, where orders were slipped through a tiny window.

In the mid-20th century, a tamale-slinging juke joint attracted a diverse clientele in the Mississippi Delta.

This 1,700-pound edible sculpture is way better than your average chocolate mousse.

Explore the history of Mexico's lesser-known ancient alcoholic beverage.

Monks in the empyreal Alazani River valley have preserved their 1,000-year-old winemaking tradition.

Built in the 1970s, this curious modular home found new life as a sundae-shaped ice cream stand.

Worship at the altar of seafood at this shop housed inside the town's oldest stone church.

A statue honors the genius who allegedly first took a meatball and made it into a hamburger.

Rumored to have been frequented by Vincent van Gogh, it's the only remaining genever producer in the Hague.

Megapodes incubate their eggs using the heat of an active volcano on this Pacific isle.

A hidden bar inside an ad agency has a deliberately misleading name, so employees can stay late under pretext of paperwork.