Urquhart Castle ruins, autumn foliage, sunset, Loch Ness, Scotland

See any serpents?

As a mythic spectacle, maybe only a legendary local lurker can top this lochside ruin. Steps from the shores of Loch Ness, the now-headless fortress must once have been a great perch to search for a slippery back breaching the water's surface. Folks from the Bronze Age might even have watched for Nessie's great-great-great-great-grandserpents here—evidence shows this promontory's been occupied by humans for 4,000 years. The structure we see now was built much later, in the 13th century, and was the site of many a Scottish clan's skirmish. That is, until the jolly English blew it up in 1692. Since then it's stood guard in peace, with only an elusive lake monster to keep it company (well, that and literal boatloads of tourists).