When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it destroyed not only Pompeii but also the smaller, wealthier seaside town of Herculaneum. Buried under a different kind of volcanic material, Herculaneum

In western Turkey, perched above a hillside of dazzling white terraces, lies Hierapolis, an ancient spa city built beside one of the most extraordinary natural wonders in the world. Below

Rising in a cascade of gleaming white walls and gracefully curving roofs above the city that shares its name, Himeji Castle is widely regarded as the most beautiful castle in

Poverty Point in Louisiana shows hunter-gatherers built massive earthworks and traded across a continent, thousands of years before farming arrived.

Rising from the golden sands of the Thar desert like a great sandcastle brought to life, glowing tawny by day and honey-gold at sunset, Jaisalmer Fort is one of the

Off the southern coast of Tanzania lies a low green island scattered with the ruins of domes, arches, and courtyards built from blocks of coral. For several centuries these were

On the island of Crete stand the ruins of Knossos, the great palace of the Minoans and the centre of the first advanced civilisation of Europe. More than three and

Some castles are famous for their history, and some for their beauty, but Kronborg is famous for a ghost that never existed. This great Renaissance fortress on the northern tip

In the mountains of northern Ethiopia stands a group of churches unlike any others in the world. Rather than being built up from the ground, they were carved downward into

On the coast of Libya, half-buried for centuries beneath drifting sand, lie the ruins of Leptis Magna, one of the most magnificent Roman cities anywhere in the world. Its arches,