Visit the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities: the Umayyad Mosque, Straight Street and the Souq al-Hamidiyah.

Eleventh-century cathedral with original mosaics, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Remote 65-metre brick minaret, alone in a river gorge since the 12th century.

Eighth-century Buddhist temple of stone pagodas and painted halls, paired with the Seokguram grotto Buddha above it.

Rock-cut cave temples in Maharashtra, crowned by the monolithic Kailasa temple.

Sunken Byzantine reservoir under Istanbul, its columns rising from black water.

Towering 9th-century Hindu temple compound near Yogyakarta.

Colonnaded temple in the middle of Luxor, best at night when the pharaonic statues and obelisk are floodlit.