12 incredible ruins to see in your lifetime

Ruins, despite what fedora-wearing archaeologists would have you believe, do not exist solely to be hacked and slashed so that you can acquire their sweet, sweet artifacts.

They actually have a lot of historical and aesthetic value! And only rarely will you fight Nazis there.

The world is full of ancient sites that are honestly pretty awe-inspiring, and while a lot of them can be tough to get to for one reason or another, there are some that remain relatively accessible to a normal person who just wants to see some shrines, please.

If you find yourself fiending for some truly old-fashioned adventure, seek out these 12 spots.

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Ajanta Caves

Maharashtra, India
A prime example of rock-cut architecture, the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra Province number around 30, and all of them are carved into the cliffside of a horseshoe-shaped valley. There are tons of examples of Buddhist sculpture and iconography in the caves, some of which date back to the second century BCE, and were most likely hand-chiseled by a bunch of monks over the course of several centuries, in order to teach others about the Buddhist tradition. Kinda puts your middle-school dioramas into perspective, huh?

Bagan

Mandalay Region, Myanmar
Myanmar (aka Burma, depending on who you're consulting or if you're Sylvester Stallone) has been opening up to international travel a lot more in recent years, with Bagan as one of its largest draws. The former capital of an ancient empire has been transformed over hundreds of years into a lush valley filled with thousands of pagodas and Buddhist temples. Some of these spiritual monuments date back to the 11th century, and each was constructed in a different style, a detail you’ll certainly appreciate as you fly over all of them in a hot-air balloon. Which you should.

Ephesus

Izmir, Turkey
Probably one of the best-preserved ancient Greco-Roman cities, Ephesus has been around for a while. Like, probably since the 10th century BCE. Which means it’s seen a lot of stuff: colonization by the Greeks, then takeover by the Romans, then the fall of the Roman Empire, and then centuries of neglect until it was “rediscovered” by European archaeologists in the 1800s. Now, it’s perhaps most famous for its majestic Library of Celsus, and because of the possibility that the Gospel of John was written there (the book of the Bible, not that joke tome your uncle has in his bathroom).