Places Shastified Wants to Go

Finnish lake, and scene of an infamous murder mystery.

This irregularly shaped sea fortress has defended not one but three different sovereign states.

No matter how many times this community-run sauna gets destroyed, it always rises from the ashes.

This building featuring Brutalist architecture has a rich media production history.

This restaurant combines two Finnish traditions in one place: warm-weather relaxation and outdoor carpet-cleaning.

An abstract monument to a symphonic composer.

A lovingly curated curio shop in which the taxidermy wear newspaper party hats, and peanut shells are spread across every surface.

Architecturally stunning library serves as the hub of Finnish scholarly life and culture.

An alien church provides much needed silence in the midst of a Finland shopping center.

A subterranean house of worship carved right out of the bedrock.

A giant concrete Brutalist water tower in suburban Johannesburg.

A safari-themed castle in the South African bush with the largest maze in the southern hemisphere.

Local lore says a serpent-like beast lurks in the deep basin below the falls.

Brace yourself for the slowest, scariest, most spectacular drive, down the Drakensberg Escarpment.

A rustic place to spend the night, complete with amazing quiver trees and outsider art.

A rare cluster of alien-like plants grows along a dusty highway.

Tiny pyrophyllite spheres from 3 billion years ago.

A seemingly desolate park that belongs to two countries actually supports all kinds of wildlife.

Largest cave system in Africa.

“The oddest pub in South Africa,” inspired by a practical joke.

This small monument marks the divide between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans at the southernmost tip of Africa.

All that remains of a Japanese fishing vessel that ran aground in 1982.

The haunting beauty of this little-visited wreck makes it a true hidden treasure.

The South African dialect's complex history is immortalized in stone, in one of the world's only monuments dedicated to a language.