An Amsterdam street lined with antique shops each one dedicated to a different obscure collection.

This historic Amsterdam bar used to accept sailor's monkeys as payment.

An ancient passage filled with stalls selling used books, once frequented by Vincent Van Gogh.

This gorgeous reading room houses the oldest and largest art history library in the Netherlands.

A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.

The world's first zoo for microbes collecting the horrible and wonderful things living on and around us.

Cat art as far as the eye can see.

A musical instrument played by the sea.

Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.

Hanging within this medieval church are the bones of a beast allegedly slain by a fourth-century saint.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

Stockholm's last remaining paternoster elevator.

A Lycian city of the dead carved into the hillside of Southern Turkey, complete with startlingly human touches.

Roman ruins top white travertine terraces formed by ancient hot springs.

In this historic region, homes and churches are carved into ancient volcanic rock formations.

The library's graceful rotunda is like a bibliophile's temple.

A rare surviving Victorian greenhouse designed specifically to house giant water lilies.

This handsomely carved wooden church is more than 800 years old.

The world's northernmost botanic garden has 25 collections of plants from arctic and alpine regions.

An intricately carved Viking church overlooks a glistening fjord.

The world's largest underwater restaurant is submerged off the southern tip of Norway.

Norway has built what may be the world's most beautiful public toilet.

A serpentine highway twists and turns over the treacherous Norwegian Sea.