The largest medieval water tank on the Iberian Peninsula is preserved beneath the Cáceres Museum.

A collection of wonderfully preserved 19th-century creatures, as well as hunting trophies seized during a police raid.

A sublime medieval path adorns the marble floor of one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in France.

A charming 17th-century alley is lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops.

These unusual paintings give thanks to the saints and deities who granted people favors and miracles.

Those who own or stay at this 500-year-old, allegedly cursed house often meet terrible fates.

A lush oasis full of vibrant plants and striking geometric displays.

An otherworldly alpine pasture with its own unique microculture that recalls Middle Earth.

The ruins of an abbey believed to have been founded by Charlemagne in the 9th century.

Museum in a swimming pool where the water still flows.

Barça football fans might see the insignia hidden in a church window as a divine sign.

These underground shelters dug by the Japanese during World War II later helped East Timor achieve its independence.

The fierce beast perches atop a pedestal marking where the historic City of London gates once stood.

Travelers who fall victim to this mermaid's charms are destined to stay in Užupis forever.

Mysterious Incan ruins on a tiny island in Lake Titicaca.

A unrivaled and rather horrifying collection of wax dermatological models.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

Weird wax anatomical models reside here, as do other anatomical specimens.

The very center of Paris is surrounded by a bevy of strange good luck rituals.

The "lost friend” is the most famous of the six moai statues that were removed from Easter Island.

The fantastic charm of England's oldest botanical garden has made it a place of writerly inspiration for centuries.

This monastery built into a cliff hides a perfectly preserved hermit in a glass coffin.

This vast masterpiece of Moroccan architecture spreads across 20 acres.

A rather vulgar example of the transition from Latin to the Italian vernacular.