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Following a powerful earthquake in February 2011, the Christchurch Cathedral was severely damaged, and while there is an ongoing ideological and economic debate over whether or not the Gothic-style church can, or should be, repaired, the Anglican parishioners of New Zealand‘s second-largest city can now worship in this fascinating edifice made of, among other things, 96 giant cardboard tubes. Designed by Shigeru Ban, a Japanese architect who specializes in building temporary structures following natural disasters, the Cardboard Cathedral (formerly called Christchurch’s Transitional Cathedral), was erected in less than a year. Its excellent acoustics are also regularly utilized for concerts and events.

One of the best places to visit in Houston, Texas was the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - the first traditional Hindu Mandir of its kind in North America. We got there at 11.30am thinking it’s the time of the opening so we can go inside. Little did we know it was worship time so we took part in it. We took our shoes off and sat down. It’s very short, 15 min or so and extremely interesting. I caught myself staring a bunch of times. I had to sit in the back with the women while my husband sat in front with the men. At the end we took turns going inside the Mandir, first the men, then the women. We had to wash our hands before entering and then grab a little silver cup of warm water and poured it over a little gold statue of Murti. The whole experience was pretty amazing, I love discovering new cultures. Photography was not allowed inside but it’s INCREDIBLE. It’s all Italian marble, sculpted in the finest of details in India and shipped back to the US. The outside is limestone from Turkey. The whole Mandir is incredible. Outside the Mandir there is a little exhibit showing India’s contribution in the world and also a little shop where you can eat traditional food. Sooo yummy!! Go if you have the chance!!!

Built in 1953 on the site of Aruba‘s first Roman Catholic church, this humble chapel, whose name means “high view” in Spanish, earns its moniker and then some. Make the winding trip up the hill to see the best sunset of your life, enjoy breathtaking vistas of the entire island, or sit and meditate in the stone pews. On your way up, be sure to note the white crosses dotting the path. They mark the 14 stations of the cross and are the reason locals make pilgrimages to this chapel every Good Friday.

Another Lisbon survivor, the baroque Church of São Domingos not only stood its ground during the 1755 earthquake, but also endured a bloody anti-Semitic massacre in 1506 and a devastating fire in 1959. The gorgeous cathedral, which dates back to 1241, is not without its scars, however—its interior is rife with gouged pillars, decrepit walls, and battered sculptures, all of which look even more ethereal when lit by a sea of candles. It feels like a house of worship in constant mourning, and will leave you in a very different mood than most other churches. If you can stomach it, stop outside at the Star of David memorial, which honors the hundreds of Jews that were killed in the 1506 Easter Slaughter.

You run across a lot of churches while driving around Antigua. Modest, majestic, and everything in-between, there’s a house of worship to suit most every style. Then, there’s St. Barnabas… Upon first seeing St. Barnabas, though, I just had to stop. It’s just so… umm… striking. Yes, that’s the word: striking, both in its seemingly random mishmash of structural additions and its color *ahem* scheme. It’s the green that really struck me the most; a most unnatural hue (or so I thought) that called to mind the horror of Frankenstein, or the slime from that old Nickelodeon slime. At least that would be someone’s first impression. Upon learning a little more about the structure, you’re bound to hear about something called Antigua green stone. Indeed, the structure and its color are as natural as can be! The unique stone comes from the Liberta area of Antigua, where the Church is found. All around here you see homes, walls, and other buildings sporting the same green hue.

The Basilica San Marco is Venice‘s crown jewel. Situated at the eastern end of Piazza San Marco, the cathedral was built around 1078 on the site of an earlier house of worship. It is famously the home of the remains of the apostle Mark, which were said to have been smuggled from the Holy Land by Crusaders in a barrel of pork. The basilica is not just a wonder from the outside; its glittering gold mosaics make it one of the most breathtaking examples of Byzantine design in the West.

San José—the largest and most impressive of the San Antonio Missions—has evolved not only into a historic monument, but also a well-preserved part of modern local life. Part visitor center, part parish, part museum, and part natural space, it’s operated by both the National Park Service and the church. The community was established in the 1700s by Spanish missionaries, who converted many Native Americans and taught them how to farm and work the land in exchange for protection. Today the buildings and grounds are open to the public for tours, wandering, and worship. The active parish holds a lively and popular Mariachi Mass at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays that’s not to be missed. The parks service offers walking tours and a great short film about mission life. If you’re feeling energetic, ride a B-Cycle bike to visit all four missions and park it at convenient kiosks placed throughout the parks.

Balinese people have taken ritual baths in the waters of Tirta Empul since it was founded in 962. The waters are believed to have healing powers, both physically and spiritually, so people come from all over the island to purify themselves under spouts of cool water in the long stone pools. Worshipers place offerings or say a prayer at each of the spouts from west to east. Nonworshipers can bathe, too, and the experience can be very moving (be aware that the last of the spouts in the first pool are reserved for purification after funerary rites). As at any Balinese temple, you must be respectful of Hindu rules and traditions. Menstruating women should not go inside any temple, and all visitors must wear a sarong and sash while on temple grounds, even while bathing. Men can go shirtless in the pools. There are changing rooms, so don’t forget to bring an extra set of clothes. Tirta Empul, 25 minutes outside of Ubud, is very close to Gunung Kawi, another religious site worth a visit.

Few people think of history or architecture when it comes to the Maldives, what with the pristine beaches and luxurious overwater bungalows typically getting all the glory. So it might come as a surprise that Male’s crown jewel is the Islamic Centre’s Grand Friday Mosque, an impressive whitewashed building marked with a sweeping staircase and a gleaming golden dome. This place of worship can host about 5,000 people, though it’s worth noting that non-Muslim tourists can only explore the interior outside of prayer times, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. A dress code is also strictly enforced, with men required to wear long pants and women a long skirt or dress. It’s worth stopping by the nearby Hukuru Miskiy (Friday Mosque), the city’s main place of prayer prior to the construction of the Grand Friday Mosque.

Much is made of Tokyo’s Michelin stars, particularly the sushi kind—thanks to mass media reviews and documentaries such as “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.” Just about every raw fish fan around the globe is familiar with such big-name sushi eateries as Jiro Sukiyabashi and Sushi Mizutani. While they unquestionably deserve every bit of their legendary reputations (both in terms of quality and degree of wallet busting), there are other, lesser-known temples of ichythiodian idol worship that are equally deserving of such lavish attention. They offer very similar levels of gastronomic bliss but at less exorbitant prices. One of these unsung heroes is Sushi Yuu, located on a quiet backstreet of the fashionable Nishi-Azabu neighborhood. The owner-chef, Daisuke (who at 40 is positively a youngster in a food genre dominated by old men), is fluent in English and Russian and is a master at his craft—he expertly prepares his creations with an admirable diligence while engaging customers in lively conversation across three languages. One of the specialties at Sushi Yuu is tuna—it is generously served in every conceivable form, from melt-in-your-mouth otoro (fatty tuna) to filet seared with a blowtorch (aburitoro). It also has an extensive wine list, which is a relative rarity among Tokyo sushi places. Incidentally, you may find yourself sitting next to the likes of Hollywood celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Lady Gaga, who love to discreetly pop in for some tender morsels when they’re in town.

Many islands have laws with steep fines against wearing beach wear when not on the sandy shoreline and while you may have heard of folks going au-naturel on St. Martin, that’s certainly not the norm throughout the region. On St. John, however, things were a little different. About a mile walk from a parking lot on the edge of Cruz Bay along what’s called the Lind Point Trail, through typical island bush and over a hill and down through more bush past a fork (where either choice gets you to the same place) intrepid travelers are rewarded with a tiny strip of sand, only around 25 yards long, unofficially known as the island’s only nude beach: Salomon Beach. I’ve been to this secluded sandy alcove a number of times and without fail the maximum number of sun worshipers was never above four or five. In fact, most times, the beach was deserted. So, for years this is where those with a passion for enjoying nature to the fullest could go to let it all hang out in relative privacy… Until recently. Since my last trip to Salomon Beach back in 2007, there’s been a crackdown on this unofficial naturist haven. Suddenly being a free spirit isn’t so free due to the stiffness of fines—around $110 for those caught with their pants down (so to speak). But, hey, doesn’t mean you can’t press your luck!

Every culture seems to have its own ways of making wishes and prayers. I’ve tossed many a coin into many a fountain and blown out many a candle on a cake. In Mongolia, the tradition revolves around the ovoo, a large stone cairn. Ovoos serve mainly as religious sites, used in worship of the mountains and the sky as well as in Buddhist ceremonies. They are also used as landmarks – important on the Mongolian steppes where there are few paved roads, let alone street signs! The tradition for travelers is to walk around the ovoo three times, in a clockwise direction to wish for a safe journey. Three rocks are picked up from the ground and added to the pile each time you circle around the mound. Ovoos will have tree branch or stick in the middle. Worshippers tie a blue khadag, a ceremonial silk scarf that is commonly white in color in northern Buddhist cultures, to the branch. Some of the cairns were large enough that we could actually drive around them and others were far away enough from the road that all we did was honk the horn three times. Apparently, honking the horn is acceptable if you don’t feel like getting out of the car. I’m not superstitious but who doesn’t want to wish for a safe journey so I took every opportunity that I could to walk around the ovoo. Besides, it was really interesting to see them up close. It’s not uncommon for worshippers to leave items behind like animal skulls, bones, and utensils. I even saw bottles of vodka and a crutch!

The belly button of the world lies eighty miles northwest of Athens, where the southern slope of Mount Parnassus, cut deeply by cascades feeding the River Pleistos, drops precipitously into the Gulf of Corinth. High above the ravine in a cleft between the Phaedriades, or “Shining Rocks,” a natural amphitheater was shaped by wind, erosion, and tectonic turbulence over the intersection of two underground faults. This is the omphalos—the spot believed by ancient Greeks to be Gaia’s own navel. Homer called it “Pytho,” because it was here that the Earth Mother gave birth to a female serpent. “Why is it the serpent is always a woman?” The goddess/serpent appears in everyone’s mythology, I remind KB as we approach six massive columns re-erected where the western pediment of Apollo’s temple once stood. “Yeah,” she replies, kicking a loose a chunk of limestone across the weathered foundation, “along with the ‘hero’ who kills her.” KB’s sinewy, suntanned legs straddle one of the pedestals at the entrance to the sekos—Apollo’s inner sanctum—and her belly button taunts me between the waistband of low-slung hiking shorts and the hem of her tank top. “Both Apollo and his twin sister, Artemis, whacked the serpent goddess,” I remind her. “Naturally, the locals erected a temple here to commemorate his bravery. It was named after a cult that worshiped the sun god in the form of a dolphin—Delphinios—Delphi for short.” “How do you remember all this stuff?” KB asks.

No matter where you are staying in the UAE, you can’t leave without visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The mosque, the third-largest in the world, is the final resting place of Sheikh Zayed, the nation’s founder. Even on the hottest summer day, the white marble floors—inlaid with mosaic flowers and vines—remain cool underfoot, and the scale of the space will impress even the most casual observer: The main hall can hold about 7,000 people. Take a tour and learn about the iconography of the intricate tiles and mosaics. Marvel at the huge rug that covers the floor in the main worship space; it’s the largest handmade rug in the world. If you happen to be visiting during Ramadan, you could consider joining one of the community iftar dinners, which sometimes serve as many as a thousand people in an evening.

Older than both Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt, the monument at Newgrange was built around 3,200 B.C.E. Its use is a mystery, although it was most likely a place of worship, and there are legends that it was used as a burial chamber. The main circular mound has a passage with small chambers off it, and each year on the winter solstice, the sun travels along the passage and lights up the main chamber. Many of the curbstones at the front and stone slabs lining the passage have decorative examples of megalithic art, with zigzags, spirals, and other geometric designs. Access to Newgrange is by guided tour, and it’s part of the Brú na Bóinne complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which also has the passage graves at Knowth (on view by guided tour) and Dowth (not open to visitors).