I find sacred landscapes and majestic ruins fascinating. Channeling the wisdom of the ages, such places have the power to move and change us from within. Here are three of my dream destinations:
Takstang, Bhutan

Poised on a ledge 2,625 feet above the Paro Valley in Bhutan, Takstang, or the Tiger's Lair, seems closer to the sky than the ground, and quite inaccessible to earthbound mortals. But it was here that, according to legend, the Indian saint Guru Rinpoche flew on the back of a tigress in the eight century. After prolonged meditation in a cave, he overcame obstructive demons and converted the valley to Buddhism, an event commemorated by the monastery.
Tai Shan, China

Of the five Taoists mountains, Tai Shan is the most revered. Its craggy, 5069-foot profile towers above the North China Plain, close to Tai'an in Shandong Province. Local legend states that anyone who climbs to the top of Tai Shan wll live to be 100.
Machu Picchu, Peru

As day breaks, shafts of sunlight fall across the ruins of Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas perched 7,107 feet above sea level on a ridge overlooking the Urumbamba Valley in southeastern Peru. Legend tells of the Incas, or "children of the sun," founding the empire that, by the 15th century, under their leader Pachacutec, was as large as the Roman Empire had ever been.
(The descriptions above were taken from National Geographic's Sacred Places of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Most Peaceful and Powerful Destinations, 2008)