Places Edited by Samir S. Patel

The western face was supposedly left clock-less to snub the Welsh.

A group of glacial erratic boulders are improbably balanced on white limestone pedestals.

Children's author May Gibbs's beloved stories about the tiny, human-like "Gumnut Babies" are immortalized in bronze.

A collaborative art project that transformed a neighborhood in NYC's Queens.

A 16th-century monastery boasts a lush array of plants native to Mexico’s most biodiverse region.

Gnarled canopies of pink and purple wildflowers arch over the trail to the summit.

The land is full of geologic eye candy, such as otherworldly spires, mushroom-shaped hoodoos, and prehistoric fossils.

The house where the pulp fiction writer and Conan the Barbarian creator lived.

This kaleidoscopic mural shows Bob Dylan throughout his transition from young troubadour to Nobel laureate.

This medieval castle was painted pink as part of a now-abandoned children's theme park.

A fresco in this magnificent palace is said to have been the first depiction of the Taj Mahal's design.

Roughly 17 million letters to Santa have found their way to this Arctic Circle post office.

A Byzantine church containing the holy remnants of three saints sits atop the site of an ancient temple.

A creepy, deserted mock Arabian village can be found in the middle of the Qatari desert.

A swath of France so devastated by war it is still forbidden to go there.

This humble hole-in-the-wall is home to an incredible pig ear sandwich and serious civil rights history.

At this research institute, the chile is king.

The giantess welcomes travelers to a small Saskatchewan town with a traditional Slavic greeting of bread and salt.

This sculpture garden is a serene oasis wedged in the middle of a busy highway.

A circle of giant painted vases in the former pottery capital of the United States.

Six tiny houses built for working class people form the largest intentional cluster of Wright homes anywhere.

This dam in the woods, built by Henry Ford with only manpower and oxen, holds no water and serves no purpose.

A former factory hosts an amazing collection of Mexican marionettes.

The bizarre headgear looks like it was made for a fool, not a king.