This ornate Victorian marketplace was the setting for Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter films.

Amsterdam's former hotspot for public executions and dissections.

A beautifully eclectic mix of architectural styles.

A condensed piece of China floating in a Dutch harbor.

A historic observatory now an astronomy museum beautifully situated at the moat of the Middle Age city centre.

This triumphal arch celebrating the Sun King's conquest of Lille is a masterpiece of military architecture.

Tables of secondhand books fill the inner courtyard of this 17th-century stock exchange.

This statue honors the thousands of Allied avians that served and died for France during World War I.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

Paris' linguistic guide to the international language of, yes, love.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

This garden houses the remains of the ancient Greek port of Marseille.

"Drunken ship" sculpture memorializing the French poet in the city where he died.

This modern museum of Mediterranean culture is surrounded by a surreal concrete honeycomb.

Explore the 500-year history of silk-making in Lyon at this museum, workshop, and boutique.

Lyon's miniature version of the Eiffel Tower was built as a statement in support of French secularism.

The first modern cemetery of Lyon is complete with more than 200 chapels and monuments.

This abandoned church in central Lyon is missing its front stairs.