9. The Katskhi Pillar Hermit Cottage, Georgia
High above Georgia’s Imereti region, the Katskhi Pillar rises like a stone finger to the heavens; topped by a tiny hermit cottage and a 1,000-year-old church. For two decades, monk Maxime Qavtaradze lived there in solitude, climbing a steel ladder to his sky-high sanctuary.
Now closed to tourists, this gravity-defying pillar remains one of the world’s most awe-inspiring; and unreachable, spiritual retreats.