In the remote Indian wilderness, miles from the small town of Ajanta, ancient man-made caves sit nearly 250 feet above a valley stream. It is the type of wondrous destination Westerners would expect to see in an adventurous Indiana Jones movie. Far from fictional however, the mysterious Ajanta Caves are a sacred complex of temple…

Rastatt Favorite Palace, located near Baden-Baden, Germany—where Romans discovered healing hot springs—served as a pleasure palace for the Margravine Sibylla Augusta (1675–1733). It is a short carriage ride from Schloss Rastatt, the oldest Baroque residence in the German Upper-Rhine. The oldest of Germany’s so-called porcelain palaces—home of one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese…

If there was ever a monument of architecture dedicated to the feminine soul, Château de Chenonceau should be that testament. The medieval castle that dominates the right bank of the Cher River in France’s Loire Valley exists only because of the women who loved this regal residence. Built upon the ruins of a 12th-century medieval…