Places stenaavel Wants to Go

An unfinished complex built for children from around the world sits abandoned on the Black Sea coastline.

These natural cliffs look like they are a part of an old castle complex.

Not far from a popular beach, an unfinished, abandoned mansion for Bulgaria's last communist dictator.

A gigantic statue of a Russian soldier watches over the ancient city of Plovdiv, a prominent reminder of the Soviet period in Bulgaria.

Ruins of an early Roman Christian church dating back to the 4th to 5th centuries.

A magnificent, glittering building tucked into a tiny Bulgarian mountain town.

A vast Communist-era exhibition space in the Bulgarian capital.

Mysterious standing stone formations looks like a petrified forest.

"Holy Wisdom" overlooks the city that became its namesake.

"Unity, Creativity, Beauty."

In a long-dry lake bed, these groups of massive stone pillars bear a striking resemblance to clumps of everyone's favorite fungi.

Eastern Bloc nostalgia, anybody?

This ancient theater, restored in the 20th century, lives on as a venue for dramatic and musical performances.

Outstanding, eerie frescoes and decorations fill this 19th-century monastery.

This once-grandiose behemoth of a monument from the socialist era now sits quiet and closed up.

UNESCO-protected ancient burial ground.

The second-largest Jewish temple in Bulgaria was deserted after World War II, seized by the communist government and then abandoned again.

The site of many battles and tragedies, including the 40 maidens who leapt into the sea.

An ancient Thracian city where fire rituals were practiced on the largest cult altar in Southeast Europe.

A spectacular Bulgarian cave resembling a devil's head with a waterfall rushing down its throat.

A striking symbol of the Bulgarian capital.

A flamboyant five-story building in Bulgaria resembles a crawling snail.

A collection of art from Bulgaria's time as a communist state.

The ceiling of Prohodna Cave in northern Bulgaria affords a peek at the sky via two deity-sized-eye-shaped holes.