Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

An alpaca is seen near the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Cusco December 2, 2014. Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is Peru's top tourist attraction, with the government limiting tourists to 2,500 per day due to safety reasons and concerns over the preservation of the ruins. (Photo by Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters)

An Afghan boy plays in the ruins of a house that at one point belonged to the 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif on November 25, 2015. (Photo by Farshad Usyan/AFP Photo)

These pictures show the beautiful ruins of abandoned temples. The incredible shots, taken at temples in Angkor, Cambodia, show the striking yet haunting temples as they crumble to ruins. While they may have lost some of their former glory, the stunning temples show the beauty of the Cambodian landscape through the historic architecture. Here: Sun rises over the 5 towers of Angkor. (Photo by Alex Teuscher/Caters News)

Zhu Jianqiang, or “strong-willed pig”, famous for surviving more than a month buried in the ruins after the magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, feeds on food sent by admirers wishing it a safe winter in Jianchuan Museum, Chengdu city, southwest China's Sichuan province, 11 January 2021. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A blue tit comes face to face with its reflection in a car wing mirror in east Yorkshire in the last decade of July 2022. The photographer said: “I sat watching this little blue tit for 30 minutes as it fought with its own reflection”. (Photo by Dave Newman/Solent News)

Castle rising in the mist on April 14, 2022. Castle Rising is a ruined medieval fortification in the village of Castle Rising, Norfolk, England. It was built soon after 1138 by William d'Aubigny II, who had risen through the ranks of the Anglo-Norman nobility to become the Earl of Arundel. (Photo by Terry Harris/The Times)

A resident looks at a parade marking the 496th anniversary of Panama City, Panama August 15, 2015. Modern-day Panama City includes the historical ruins of the original Panama Viejo settlement founded on August 15, 1519 by Spaniard Pedro Arias Davila, according to local media. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)