As the sun sets on the Malecon in Havana on Friday January 23, 2015, Surenis Angulo de la Paz, 24, center, dances as group of locals play music around her. Behind her is Fidel Lopez, 55. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the first battle of the Somme, 1916. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

A runner participates in the Santa Run 10K race in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, December 19, 2021. This is the first Santa Run since the start of the pandemic. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Students wearing masks as a precaution amid the spread of COVID-19 put away a Cuban flag so it does not get wet in the rain on their first day of school after months without face-to-face classes in Havana, Cuba, Monday, November 8, 2021. As Cuba approaches the announced date of Nov. 15 for the reopening of the entire country to the world, getting children back to school is one of its priorities. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Sparkler fireworks are created by Palestinian children in the al-Zaytoun district on the east of Gaza City on March 28, 2023 during Ramadan. The fireworks, which are made with steel wire wool, are part of the celebrations in the Palestinian enclave during the Muslim holy month. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/IMAGESLIVE via ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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.

A voter wearing protective face mask shows off her finger marked with ink indicating she voted as she leaves a polling station Sunday, November 8, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. Voting was underway in Myanmar’s elections on Sunday, with the party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi heavily favored to retain power it had wrestled from the powerful military five years ago. (Photo by Thein Zaw/AP Photo)

Festival goers blow soap-bubbles at the 28th Sziget (Island) Festival on Shipyard Island, Northern Budapest, Hungary, 15 August 2022. The festival is one of the biggest cultural events of Europe offering art exhibitions, theatrical and circus performances and above all music concerts. (Photo by Marton Monus/EPA/EFE)