This fort dates back to 1588 and was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English and sits prominently on the Indian Ocean where azure water lap the coast.

The tallest hotel in Europe.

A monument to Malchik, a stray dog who lived in a Moscow metro station until his tragic death.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Former headquarters of the KGB.

The oldest museum in Russia is home to a fascinating collection of nearly two million anthropological artifacts and anatomical curiosities.

Russia's giant concrete QWERTY keyboard is likely the largest in the world.

Church built on the site where the last tsar of Russia and his family were killed.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

A huge monument to a bizarre book written by Turkmenistan’s longstanding dictator.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

Giant cauldrons overflow with Uzbekistan's favorite rice dish at this cavernous dining hall.

Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.

Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.

This Soviet statue is based on a piece of propaganda that's been elevated to national myth.