GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy -- Engineers on Monday succeeded in wresting the hull of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia from the Italian reef where it has been stuck since it capsized in January 2012, leaving them cautiously optimistic they can rotate the luxury liner upright and eventually tow it away. Never before has such an enormous cruise ship been righted, and the crippled Concordia didn't budge for the first three hours after the operation began, engineer Sergio Girotto told reporters. But after...

Inside an abandoned Soviet nuclear arsenal located underground in the town of Krasnokamianka in Crimea, Ukraine. (Sam Namos/SamNamos.com) Russian photographer and urban explorer Sam Namos traveled to the town of Krasnokamianka in Crimea, Ukraine to capture photos of a subterranean Soviet bunker that used to hold an arsenal of nuclear weapons. The results are eerie images of the bunker, now abandoned and left to decay. Most abandoned buildings crumble as weather does unrepaired damage and other life forms create new...

A Tibetan woman uses her cellphone to take photos of a flight that touched down at Yading airport. (AP Photo) BEIJING -- China has begun flight operations at the world's highest civilian airport in a bid to boost tourism and tighten political control over the country's restive west. At an elevation of 4,411 meters (14,472 feet) above sea level, Daocheng Yading Airport replaces the previous champion, Bangda Airport in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which sits at 4,334 meters (14,219 feet)....

The Ise Jingu, Japan's largest collection of Shinto shrines, looks almost untouched by time, considering it was first established in the 5th century. But it's not the prayers and the spirits who are keeping the shrines looking new -- it's the worshippers, who have been rebuilding all the shrines from scratch every 20 years for the last 1,300 years. The ceremonial process of rebuilding the shrines is a practice called the Shikinen Sengu and is taking place for the 62nd...

The Grand Hotel in Kupari, Croatia. (Ben Fredericson) Located in Croatia's Dubrovnik Riviera, known for its scenic bays, sandy beaches, steep cliffs and forested islands, the village of Kupari was once an idyllic summer getaway for the high-ranking military officers of the Yugoslav People's Army. Today, the tourist complex lay in ruins, shell-scarred from attacks during the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s. Water damage and rust have marredKupari's once-majestic hotels, now overgrown with vegetation. One of the...

View of ancient temples in Bagan, central Myanmar on Aug. 15, 2013. After closing its doors to the West for half a century, Myanmar has reopened, inviting all to come and discover its treasures and palaces. With ill-equipped roads and railways, there is no better way to explore than by river. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) MANDALAY, Myanmar — After closing its doors to the West for half a century, Myanmar has reopened, inviting all to come and discover its treasures,...

(NEIL SANDS/AFP/Getty Images) WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- New Zealand's flagship airline plans to fly planes to Antarctica that pilots would land on an ice runway. But tourists wanting to travel to the frozen continent will need to keep their hopes in check. The chartered Air New Zealand flights would be for scientists and their support crews, and the airline said Tuesday it has no plans to begin commercial trips. Many countries already fly scientists to Antarctica. But those flights are...

Paro Taktsang, Bhutan Around the world, sacred sites continue to be popular travel destinations for pilgrims and tourists alike. Not only do they offer a glimpse to a country's culture, these architectural wonders -- from monasteries built on mountain tops to temples carved into cliff faces -- stand in harmony with nature, bringing visitors to places of immense beauty and spiritual solitude. Also known as the "Tiger's Nest Temple," Paro Taktsang is a Himalayan Buddhist sacred site and temple complex,...

This picture taken on Aug. 7, 2013 shows a replica of the Eiffel Tower in Tianducheng, a luxury real estate development located in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) The lush gardens, clear fountains, and slope-roofed apartment buildings are all reminiscent of a western European city. Add a central plaza called "Champs Elysees" and the towering spire of the Eiffel Tower, and you'll think you've found yourself in Paris. But this is Tianducheng, a Chinese city thousands of miles...

The Bent Pyramid in Dashur, Egypt. (Thinkstock) It might seem logical to bury the recently deceased with the dead from past generations, but a sudden boom in the construction of tombs in Egypt is causing a clash between modernity and antiquity. Since January 2013, around 1,000 tombs have been built across the protected land of the Necropolis of Dahshur, home to the world's oldest pyramids. The lack of space and full cemeteries forced local villagers to strike out into UNESCO...

A Norwegian town that has been living in the dark will receive its first ever rays of winter sunlight this year as locals complete a project to light up the main square with mirrors built in the mountains. Rjukan in southern Norway has rugged terrain and picturesque waterfalls that make it a popular destination for skiing and ice climbing, but nestled deep in a valley floor in the shadow of the majestic Gaustatoppen mountains, the industrial town is completely ,...

With its deep canyons, majestic waterfalls, and sandstone-quartz pillars towering over 650 feet high, in China's Hunan province looks straight out of a 3D science-fiction film. So it's no surprise that one of the park's rock formations -- the3,544-ft"Southern Sky Column" -- inspired the fictional world of "Pandora" in James Cameron's blockbuster film "Avatar." The park is , a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to National Geographic, and it's also one of Hunan's most popular tourist destinations. in 2012, Zhangjiajie...