Siberian ghost town built by gulag prisoners.

A small part of Russia that does not touch any other part of Russia.

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

A Marxist summer camp full of fantastical statues lies tucked away and forgotten in the forests of Moscow.

The tallest hotel in Europe.

Abandoned castle was once a grand example of Russian privilege, built exclusively to win a frivolous bet between noblemen.

A remote forest of stone pillars along the Lena river.

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

Moscow's imposing monument to the Space Age.

Site of the largest impact event to occur over land in Earth's recorded history.

The world's second-largest excavated hole.

Once frequented by heavyweights of the Russian arts scene, this café is stuck in the 1800s.

Moscow's most popular cemetery includes the graves of numerous cosmonauts.

Secret Soviet city once home to Russian cosmonauts and space training facilities.

Former headquarters of the KGB.

The villagers of the coldest inhabited place on Earth adjust to unique challenges presented by day-to-day living.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

The reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of these "drunken" pine trees in Russia is still a mystery.

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing.

Its front wall is striped with a menagerie of fantastic beasts and magnificent monsters.

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

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

Legends of time travel and magical woodland creatures bolster the natural charm of this verdant sanctuary in the midst of Moscow.

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.