Places shellylally Wants to Go

One of the greatest collections of coins in the world is housed in the former mansion of an archeological pioneer.

Scars of this building's past life as a violent prison still cover its walls.

According to legend, this cavern holds the passage that Persephone used to travel to and from the underworld.

The rocky remains of an ancient Greek forest.

This open air archeological site houses almost as much wildlife as it does classical religious artifacts.

What once sat in the world’s spotlight is today a largely disused ghost complex.

A sprawling collection of books and manuscripts about ancient Greece that would have put their famed libraries to shame.

Ruins of a 13th-century fortress perched above a breathtaking Mediterranean bay.

An ambiguous ambience emanates from this centuries old leprosy quarantine.

The oldest standing Byzantine church in Athens is tucked within a monastery in the middle of an upscale shopping district.

The ghost town where the villagers refuse to leave.

Temple complex that once housed the famous statue of Nike.

This town named for the ancient God of War is home to fewer than a thousand people, but it's the birthplace of the Greek Revolution.

A Byzantine-era church hidden in a wooded area below the Acropolis.

This field of half-buried stone crosses was the burial place of a sect of heretical gnostics.

This 13th-century monastery chiseled into the side of a mountain is equipped with a bridge that can be lifted to protect against raids.

This 15th-century island fortress later served as home to the executioners no one wanted to live near.

An abandoned Byzantine fortress and notorious prison.

The hermits of Karoulia protect their asocial lifestyles by living on the vertical face of a treacherous precipice.

Swarms of dainty flying insects swarm into the Petaloudes Valley to get busy.

This secret coastal village is studded with pastel-colored houses all piled on top of one another.

Seventeen oak trees sprout from the roof and walls of this tiny chapel without any visual evidence of roots.

A two thousand year old brothel uncovered in Northern Greece.

One of the largest single-span stone-arch bridges in the Balkans looks like something straight out of a fairytale.