An ancient capital city that dates back 3,000 years old and harbors many surprises.

A monument hidden in the woods built in 1938 as a getaway for a Dutch museum curator.

This complex of vertically-excavated Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu monolithic temples in India's Maharashtra providence illustrates a spirit of tolerance characteristic of ancient India.

The 953 windows undoubtedly make this the world's most beautiful screened porch.

Thousands of exquisitely carved stone water storage wells, hundreds of stone steps fill this exquisite medieval stepwell.

Underground monastery and fortress.

Rock-hewn monastery complex with hundreds of cave structures tucked away into the mountainside.

270 million year-old forest of stone.

Dedicated to improving the plight of the rare scaly anteater.

Once an impressive link to Afghanistan’s Buddhist past, now a sad reminder of intolerance towards other cultures.

Rock-cut chamber at top of an outcroup, reached by a mountain stairway of forty steps.

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

This cavernous swimming spot doubles as a home to the largest known colony of bats in Central Asia.

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

Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

Reputedly haunted sandstone necropolis with exquisite stone carvings.

Massive fortress bastions in the desert of Cholistan.

This lost city belongs to one of the earliest civilizations in the world.

The grassy landscape is home to the world's last truly wild horses.

Extremely isolated Silk Road caravanserai in the middle of nowhere.

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.