The area around Petra has been inhabited since 7000BCE, but these rock-cut ruins date back to the Nabataean Kingdom of the 1st Century.

Bedouin nomads have long associated the valley with spirits known as Djinns. Click to enter, if you dare...

These travellers may be risking their lives! The Farafra Desert is known by local tourguides to be haunted by the cursed ghost of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who angered the ancient Egyptian priests when he abolished and desecrated their traditional gods.

Make your way through the woods towards the break in the Vltava and Otava rivers and you'll find a spooky surprise.

Zvíkov Castle, haunted by spectral dogs and the Zvíkovský Rarášek, a kind of magical imp. There are frequent reports of cameras breaking, fires extinguishing, and animals behaving strangely. It's said that people who sleep in the tower will die within a year!

No records survive to tell us when Agrasen Ki Baoli step well was first built, but it must be at least 600 years old. Its shadowy arches and crevices are now home to bats and insects. It's said that people coming to collect water were often called by a disembodied voice.

The ruins of the Hell Fire Club on Mount Pelier Hill are those of the first Freemason lodge in Ireland. Originally there was a prehistoric passage grave on the summit. Perhaps unwisely, stones from the grave were taken and used in the construction of Mount Pelier lodge.

A real bone chiller. Snaking underneath the city of Paris is a network of small, dark tunnels, cut by hand and lined with the bones of millions upon millions. 

Beyond the beaches, Brazil is a rich cultural cornucopia. Scroll on to explore some of the country's treasures.

Built between 1922 and 1931, Christ the Redeemer stands on top of the granite peak of Mount Corcovado, high above the city of Rio de Janeiro. It's a colossal monument to Catholicism, but it's also become a symbol of Brazil itself.

It's incredible to think that this enormous tiled artwork was made by just one artist. Jorge Selarón moved to the Lapa neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s. In 1990, he started decorating the stairs with colourful tiles, but it took 20 years to see his vision completed.

The city of Brasília was founded in 1960 as the new, planned, modernist capital city of Brazil. At its centre was the Cathedral of Brasília, a curving concrete structure that resembles a crown. But inside is where it really shines, with the stained glass shining under the sun.

Housed in the colonial-era Santiago Fort, the National Historical Museum holds some of the most important cultural artefacts and documents relating to the pre- and post-conquest civilisations of Brazil, including the Imperial throne of Pedro II of Brazil.

The Imperial Museum occupies one of the former summer palaces of the royal family. The classical building, its formal gardens, and its extensive collection of oil paintings reflect the Portuguese heritage of the Brazilian royal family, and their desire for all things European.

Few buildings are more ostentatious than the Amazon Theatre of Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. This Belle Époque masterpiece if built of Italian Carrara marble, Glasgow steel, and French furnishings, all paid for by the notoriously lucrative rubber industry.

Of course, no visit would be complete without seeing the Brazilian Amazon, a precious habitat for many species and a true wonder of nature. The Amazon covers around 60% of the country, even if it is increasingly threatened by the logging, mining, and farming industries.

When you're tired of trekking, take a break on the Baia dos Porcos. This beach is one of the most beautiful in Brazil, but it's also fairly inaccessible. Take a boat across the turquoise waters, or head there at low tide by hugging the coastline.

If you'd rather stay closer to home, try Red Beach, only a short drive from Rio de Janeiro. You'll have shops and restaurants nearby, an excellent view of Sugarloaf Mountain, and every evening you'll see the glorious sunset from which the beach takes its name.

High in the Central Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria, Buzludzha Peak is the site of many significant events in Bulgarian history, including the first congress of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party in 1891.

In 1974, the Buzludzha Monument was constructed here, in concrete and shining glass mosaics, to commemorate that moment of history and the people who made it possible.

Even today its architecture feels futuristic, like a space ship from another world. Though it's officially closed, the monument remains a favourite of urban explorers in Eastern Europe.

The former German colony of Kolmanskop became the centre of the Namibian diamond rush in 1908, when a worker named Zacharias Lewala found a small rough diamond.

Over the next few years, the town and its wealth grew. There was soon a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theatre and sports hall, casino, ice factory and the first tram system in Africa.

When the diamonds ran out, and a new patch was discovered some 270km south, many of the town's inhabitants simply packed up and left. In the years since, the desert sands have swamped the town.

Nicknamed the 'Chicken Church', this iconic prayer hall in the Javanese jungle was left unfinished, abandoned for years, until it found Internet fame.

Daniel Alamsjah devoted his life to building the multi-faith prayer hall after a religious vision. Designed to resemble a holy dove, many locals thought it looked more like a chicken.

Alamsjah ran out of money and faced ridicule for his design, until the strange structure was picked up by international media in 2015. The tourists his unique building attracted allowed him to carry on construction.

The dry, dusty town of Uyuni, Bolivia, has long been one of South America's most important transport hubs. But today it's best known as the final resting place of hundreds of steam engines.

Many of these were imported from Britain during the 19th Century, when there were plans to expand the continent's transport network.

But the collapse of the mining industry left many bankrupt and those plans in disarray. Instead of paying to move the the trains, they were simply left to be eaten up the harsh winds of the salt flats.

All is not as it seems at this ominous castle near Łapalice, Poland.These rotting ruins are actually still under construction.

Artist Piotr Kazimierczak only started building this structure in 1971. It was planned to be his personal studio, complete with swimming pools, ballroom, and twelve towers.

However his lofty ambitions met with some major problems: he ran out of money shortly after building the walls, and it turned out he'd built part of the castle on land he didn't own. Construction stopped, and local curiosity grew.

Built in 1971 and designed by architect Boris Magaš, this luxurious hotel on the Croatian island of Krk last welcomed guests in 2001. Today, while the building remains intact, the sci-fi interiors are destroyed.

The high, geometric ceilings, and white curving concrete mark this building as a modernist marvel. The hotel's casino, cocktail bar, swimming pools and saunas defied western expectations of eastern European hospitality.

Unfortunately, as the Yugoslav Wars broke out in the 1990s, the tourism industry collapsed. Throughout the conflicts, the hotel became home to refugees. The business never recovered, and closed in 2001.

This small British island in the southern Atlantic Ocean, not far from Antarctica, is quiet today, but was once the site of major sealing and whaling stations. Thankfully, the ships are now gone, and the wildlife is safe again.

At first sight, this lone 14th-century bell tower, found near the village of Graun in northern Italy, doesn't appear like much...

...but it's the sole surviving building of the old village which, along with the nearby village of Reschen, was deliberately flooded in 1950 during the building of the artificial Lake Reschen.

When water levels are low or when ice covers the lake in winter, you can walk all the way up to the tower itself. Local legend says that on quiet nights you can still hear the ghostly ringing of bells.

The hill town of Craco in southern Italy, dates back nearly 1000 years, but was abandoned at the end of the twentieth century after a series of devastating landslides.

The evacuation of the town began in 1963 after a number of landslides, with many of the inhabitants moving down into the valley. In 1972 a flood damaged even more buildings, and in 1980 an earthquake destroyed what little was left.

The striking silhouette of the hill town and its eerie ruins have since become a sight for tourists and film crews.

This artificial hill overlooking the city of Berlin was made shortly after the Second World War, when an unfinished technical college was covered with demolition rubble. The US military then built a radar station on top of the hill, to spy on Soviet communications.

The listening station, officially known as Field Station Berlin, was constructed in October 1963, and operated until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. The equipment was removed, but the structure and protective domes remained, waiting to be explored.