Every nation has a place it regards as its birthplace, a spot where its story is felt to have begun. For Portugal, that place is a hill in the north

On a low hill above the town of Medina del Campo, in the heart of the plains of Castile, rises a great fortress of red brick: the Castillo de la

High in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, clinging to a great outcrop of grey rock, stands one of the oldest and most complete castles in all of Spain: the

Not far from Madrid, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, stands one of the most beautiful and best-preserved castles in all of Spain: the Castle of Manzanares

From the plains of Castile, in the heart of the great Spanish wine country of the Ribera del Duero, rises one of the most extraordinary castles in the world. The

Are China’s pyramids a secret hidden under trees? The real story of the emperors’ earthen tombs, the Terracotta Army, rivers of mercury, and why the greatest tomb stays sealed.

Rising from the very center of one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, the Citadel of Aleppo is not merely a castle but a mountain of memory. For

Rising on a rocky spur beneath the Mokattam hills, dominating the skyline of Cairo, stands one of the great medieval Islamic fortresses of the world: the Citadel of Cairo, the

In the northwest corner of the ancient walled city of Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, stands a great medieval fortress that has guarded the Syrian

High on the cliffs of Cap Diamant, looking down over the mighty St. Lawrence River and the rooftops of one of the oldest cities in North America, stands the great