Stelae-eyed stones greet visitors to a corner of Kirov Park.

This was once the largest city in Kazakhstan, and a major stop on the Silk Road.

A collection of Lenin busts and other Soviet Era statues sit idly behind the Semipalatinsk Hotel.

One of the most horrible legacies of the Cold War is a site where the Soviet Union tested nuclear bombs on civilians.

Mysterious spherical rocks in the semi-desert of western Kazakhstan.

This unique wooden mosque resembling a Chinese pagoda was said to be built without the use of nails.

An abandoned Soviet-era mining town in the mountains of South Kazakhstan.

The lovely lake that was naturally dammed, then naturally destroyed, then unnaturally saved.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

Granny Smiths and Fujis can both be traced back to Kazakhstan, where apples still grow wild.

Submerged trees jut ghost-like out of an idyllic turquoise mountain lake.

Once the largest rope factory in Greece, this abandoned plant now stands like a ghost of industry past.

This quaint farm in the Peloponnese countryside hides an astonishing cache of antique curiosities.

This black sand beach was crafted from volcanic explosions including the historic Minoan eruption.

The partially submerged ruins of a white marble quarry used in ancient Greece for over 1,200 years.

This slumbering beast honors the Bavarian soldiers who died in Greece during a 19th-century typhoid outbreak.

This smily stone feline is meant to represent a mythical lion that almost destroyed the island of Kea.

This ancient statue of Dionysus lies unfinished and abandoned in one of Greece's oldest quarries.

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 200-meter-high waterfall marks the site of Achilles’s immortal baptism at the mouth of the River Styx.

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

A small island with shimmering pink sands, home to loggerhead turtles and rare plants.

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

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