There is something deeply magnetic about a locked door, a sealed wall, or a staircase that vanishes into silence. Castles have stood for centuries as symbols of power and grandeur, but behind their ...

You could be sitting under a hefty stack of brochures, catalogs, and pamphlets suggesting sumptuous trips to far-off spots, the sorts of sparkly locations that, quite often, feature fabulous castles.

If I could time travel, I probably wouldn’t choose Japan during the late 15th- to early 17th-centuries. Those were times of great upheaval and constant civil wars, as feudal lords (daimyo) staked out ...