14 Most Famous Celebrities Owned Resorts

Movie stars and musicians have branched out from their primary careers to become owners of hotels, inns and resorts around the world. Here are 10 places to stay where you’re sure to feel like a celebrity.

Bedford Post Inn

Actor Richard Gere and his wife, Carey Lowell, restored an 18th-century house and barn into a small luxury hotel called the Bedford Post Inn, which opened in July 2009. Located in the tony enclave of Westchester, N.Y., just 45 minutes from Manhattan, the inn has eight guest rooms, an on-site gourmet restaurant and yoga and meditation studios frequented by Gere.

Palazzo Versace

Donatella Versace’s glittering Palazzo Versace in Queensland, Australia, is as stylish and chic as you’d expect from a fashion designer. White, stately Italian columns and palm trees under the Gold Coast sun lure sun-seekers from around the world.A popular surfing beach nearby is a bonus, but there’s also a warm-water lagoon pool and beach at the hotel itself. Want a more private water experience? Book one of the condos with a plunge pool.

Ulusaba Safari Lodge

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson has developed a luxurious private game reserve, Ulusaba, near the border of Kruger National Park in South Africa. When you’re not traveling by Jeep looking for lions,  buffaloes, leopards, elephants and rhinoceroses, you can kick back in style in the reserve’s two lodges, built high on hills with amazing views.For extra fun, walk on swinging bridges between the treehouse-style rooms of the Safari Lodge. Tennis, swimming and a spa are also available, as is a daily bush walk for those who really want to get up close to wildlife.

Vermejo Park Ranch

This wilderness area near the New Mexico-Colorado border has been a recreational retreat since 1902 and over the years has been host to President Herbert Hoover, director Cecil B. DeMille and actor Douglas Fairbanks, to name just a few. CNN founder Ted Turner purchased the 920 square miles around Vermejo Park Ranch in 1996 and began multiple conservation programs designed to reintroduce endangered species and restore forest and prairie ecosystems.Today, visitors can see herds of elk, bison, antelope and deer — as well as their predators, bears and mountain lions — in their natural habitat. The ranch caters to nature-lovers, fishermen and hunters out to bag an elk, deer or bison.

Eleven Cadogan Gardens Hotel

Located near the River Thames and Hyde Park in the Knightsbridge district of London, Eleven Cadogan Gardens Hotel (or No. 11 to those in the know), is a chic, 60-room, private club and hotel owned by actress Elizabeth Hurley. Luxury features include claw-foot tubs, Victorian-era furnishings, private dining and a chauffeur service through which you can ride in style in a Rolls-Royce or Bentley.

Twin Palms

Singer Frank Sinatra originally requested that his architects build his Palm Springs, Calif., house with lots of opulent columns, but they talked him into this more casual “desert-appropriate” home. He lived in the home from 1947 to 1957, years that saw many ups and downs in his personal life, including a divorce from his first wife, Nancy, and his marriage to and divorce from Eva Gardner. Through it all, it was a refuge for Sinatra and the Hollywood elite.True to Sinatra’s style, Twin Palms remains a fabulous house for entertaining. Visitors can now stay overnight at the estate, sleep in the master bedroom — secluded from the rest of the house for privacy — swim in the pool and soak up the sun and desert mountain views.

The Greenwich Hotel

When a vacant lot opened next to his office in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, actor Robert De Niro seized the opportunity and created The Greenwich Hotel, which opened in 2008. De Niro, who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the film studio Tribeca Productions, among other ventures in the lower Manhattan neighborhood, wanted to build a property that represented the historic architecture of the area. The result is an eight-story building housing 88 rooms and suites. Reclaimed wood was used for the floors and doors, and the spa features a 250-year-old pine-and-bamboo house transported from Kyoto, Japan, which was reconstructed in the building

Terrace Beach Resort

The Terrace Beach Resort in Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada, is a collection of waterfront cabins surrounded by evergreen forest. Actor Jason Priestley and his family opened this haven on the rugged southwestern coast of Vancouver Island, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Popular with surfers, hikers, whale watchers and storm watchers, the cabins and rooms, starting at $99, offer in-room spa treatments and modern amenities such as kitchens and hot tubs.

The Clarence

Rock stars don’t have a great reputation as hotel guests, but evidently they make fine hotel owners. As young band mates in the 1970s, U2’s Bono and The Edge, among other artists, musicians and writers, frequented the Temple Bar district of Dublin. By 1992, The Clarence hotel, on the banks of the River Liffey, had fallen into ill repair, so the pair bought and restored its 50 rooms.

Jardin Escondido

Director Francis Ford Coppola not only has a thriving winery in Geyserville, Calif., he has a handful of hotels around the world, including Turtle Inn in Belize and La Lancha in Guatemala. Perhaps his most intimate hotel is Jardin Escondido in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a garden retreat with just seven bedrooms. It also features a solar-heated pool, an outdoor kitchen and multiple levels of gardens.Even though the bustling and fashionable neighborhood of Palermo Soho is just outside the front door, the hotel is so secluded that Coppola himself occasionally comes here to write.

Mission Ranch

The Mission Ranch, on California’s Monterey Peninsula, was bought and restored by Academy Award-winning actor and director Clint Eastwood in 1986. The barn dates back to the 1850s, and the 22-acre ranch was the site of one of California’s first creameries. It is adorned with gardens, cypress and eucalyptus trees and has sweeping views of the surrounding meadows and coastline.

Sundance

In 1969, actor Robert Redford bought a Utah ski resort with a vision of creating a community for environmental conservation and artistic experimentation. Today, this year-round resort, Sundance, is popular for skiing, hiking, fly-fishing and horseback riding. Redford has become practically synonymous with Sundance, which is also the name of the independent film festival he founded in nearby Park City, as well as the character he played in the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Cardozo Hotel

The Art Deco Cardozo Hotel in Miami’s South Beach neighborhood is owned by singer Gloria Estefan and her husband, Emilio Estefan Jr., who helped refurbish the iconic, 1930s beachfront building.

Gaia Retreat and Spa

Musician Olivia Newton-John is co-owner of the Gaia Retreat and Spa on Australia’s New South Wales coast. Set in the lush, rolling hills around Byron Bay, this relaxing retreat opened in 2005 and offers classes on fitness and well-being in addition to a full-service spa.

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World's Cheapest Destinations

India

No matter where you travel around the world, big cities and popular tourist attractions are likely to be expensive. But if you don’t mind skipping the lap of luxury, you can visit an exotic location for very little money. The most expensive part of a trip to India is getting there. After that, costs are stunningly low. On average, a traveler’s daily expenses are lower than anywhere else in the world. A beer will cost about $1.25, a budget hotel room $10 or less, a meal $2 and a cup of tea literally pennies. With incredible scenery, history and culture, plus a wide variety of attractions, India is our top recommendation for travel on the cheap.

Laos

All of Southeast Asia is inexpensive (aside from the airfare to get there), but laid-back Laos is the best of the bunch — especially in the beautiful countryside, where you’ll find lush forests, historic temples and tumbling waterfalls rushing down the Mekong River. You can travel comfortably here on $35 a day: A beer will cost around 85 cents, while lodging will set you back $3 for a room with a shared bathroom, or $8 for a typical hotel room. Laos is renowned for its silks, and you can purchase a handmade silk wall hanging for as little as $5.

Honduras

In June 2009, Honduras experienced a coup d’etat in which the president was forced into exile. The political unrest scared tourists away, but things never got dangerous for travelers — in fact, the result was smaller crowds, plus already-cheap prices became lower. You can buy a beer for $1 or less, while 50 cents will get you a baleada — a Honduran specialty consisting of a tortilla wrapped around cheese and beans. Honduras also has some of the cheapest diving in the world: You can take a four-day diving certification course for about $250.

Indonesia

If you’re willing to live as the locals do, Indonesia can be wonderfully inexpensive. A beer will cost you around $1.65, but you can eat for pennies by subsisting on the Indonesian staple: rice, grown in the nation’s lovely terraced rice fields, which often are tourist attractions in their own right. If you choose to go more of a gourmet route, a seafood dinner with drinks might cost as much as $10. Indonesia is a vast nation of more than 17,000 islands, so if you want to see much of it, you’ll likely get to know the ferry system, through which you can ride from Java to Kalimantan for just $18.

Nepal

Travel costs are a little higher here than in neighboring India — you’ll pay approximately $2.14 for a beer — but seldom by much. You can find budget accommodations for less than $5, and the same amount will feed you for a day. If you’re here for the famed trekking and mountaineering experiences, long jaunts cost a pittance. You can trek without porters or guides on $7, but even an organized expedition — certainly recommended for the higher elevations — will set you back as little as $25/day.

Poland

Europe is generally not a cheap place to visit, except for Eastern Europe — but in recent years even this region has become expensive. Fortunately for travelers, Poland is about the cheapest place you can go in Europe. A beer here will cost you as little as $1, a burger around $3 and a cup of coffee $3.50. Travel costs will likely rise here before long, and Poland is expected to adopt the euro within a few years, so now’s the time to go.

Morocco

Two of the biggest draws in Morocco — the beaches and the markets — are free. Everything else is pretty cheap: An inexpensive hotel room will cost you around $25, while you can sip Morocco’s famed mint tea for 65 cents (a beer costs more, about $3.23). To travel between cities, take the trains, which are fast, frequent and cheap: The 300-mile journey from Tangier to Marrakech will set you back only around $20.

Mexico

Most Americans should stay away from the border areas, where drug-related violence has been on the rise. But tourists who choose to avoid the country altogether are missing out on great deals and inexpensive travel opportunities. Visit the safer areas, 100 miles or so south of the U.S. border, and for the cheapest trip, steer clear of resort towns. You’ll find beer for $1.50 and admission to archaeological sites for about $3, in addition to easy (and generally cheap) airline travel from the U.S.

Ecuador

Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, which simplifies things for American tourists. Fortunately, you’ll be spending fewer of those dollars here than at home. A beer will cost just over a dollar here, the same as a cup of coffee or a bottle of Coca-Cola, while a budget hotel room will cost around $30 or less. Worth noting is that you’ll be charged an airport exit tax when you fly out of Ecuador, but you can save $15 — $26 versus $41 — if you leave out of Guayaquil rather than Quito.

Bulgaria

Prices in Bulgaria have risen since 2007, when the country joined the European Union, but it’s still an outstanding bargain compared with Europe as a whole. This is especially true if you steer clear of the capital, Sofia; besides, the soul of Bulgaria lies in its lovely small towns and villages. If the sands call, though, Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is one of the cheapest places to enjoy a sunny beach resort. A beer will cost you about $1.30 here, and a bottle of decent wine can be had for as little as $3.50.

Argentina

The U.S. dollar has fallen against most of the world’s currencies since 2009. One of the very few places it hasn’t is Argentina, where American travelers will get close to four pesos to the dollar. You can get a beer here for $1.30 or a burger for around $3, while a steak dinner with a bottle of wine might set you back as much as $10. For a quintessentially Argentine experience that won’t break the bank, visit one of the estancias — historic, working ranches — where you can see traditional gauchos (Argentine cowboys) and taste local cuisine.

Iceland

With an average beer setting you back $5 or more, Iceland — home to stunning, rugged natural scenery, including geysers, glaciers and hundreds of waterfalls — might not seem like a bargain. But the island nation is on our list because its epic financial crunch makes a stay here so much cheaper than it was until recently, and because Icelandair, the country’s national carrier, frequently offers great airfare deals. The krona has fallen 12 percent against the dollar over the past year, and that’s on top of a 61 percent decline the previous year. We recommend rushing to see this historic land of volcanoes and Vikings while it’s so much less expensive to do so.

Egypt

What could be better than seeing one of the wonders of the world for a wonderfully small amount of money? Egypt is one of the cheapest places to travel in Africa: Admission to its incredible historical sites and museums costs $2 or so, while you can eat a meal for $3.50. A beer here will cost about $3 (although this is a Muslim nation, non-Muslims are allowed to imbibe). Worth noting is that you’ll be expected to tip almost everyone who provides a service, but this will seldom set you back more than a dollar or two.

Venezuela

Although the dollar has lost value against most of the world’s currencies, it’s gained ground spectacularly in Venezuela, where you’ll get twice as much of the local currency — the bolivar fuerte, which replaced the old bolivar in 2008 — per dollar as you would have a year ago. The bad news is that the economy is unstable, so be sure to check the latest news before you go. At current rates, a beer will cost you about $1.60, a comfy hotel room $20 and a bus ride — the country’s main transportation — about $1.50 for each hour of your trip.

Las Vegas

You can have a steal of a vacation in Sin City, with new hotels opening even as tourism continues its protracted slump. Stay off the Strip for the best prices, but check with individual hotels, even the usually expensive ones, to see if there’s a deal worth taking advantage of. A beer at a nonpremium location will cost as little as $3, and you can find a champagne brunch buffet for as little as $10. How much you spend gambling, of course, is completely up to you.

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15 Man-Made Breathtaking Modern Marvels

Henderson Waves

Our world is full of wonders great and small, ancient and contemporary, natural and man-made. Here are 15 modern marvels that fill us with awe through the sheer scale, beauty, backbreaking effort and inspiration that brought them into creation. At 12 stories high, Henderson Waves is Singapore's tallest pedestrian bridge. It snakes across Henderson Road, connecting Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah Hill Park. The bridge, which opened in 2008, is made of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved ribs form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within.

The Ledge at Willis Tower

Not afraid of heights? Check out the view from the Ledge at Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, in Chicago. The five-sided balconies, which opened in 2009, are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. They're actually more like boxes than balconies, with transparent walls, floor and ceiling. Visitors can see unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side, and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below — if they're brave enough to look straight down.

Palm Jumeirah

Palm Jumeirah is an artificial island, the first and smallest of the three Palm Islands created off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The palm-tree shaped island is so large that it can be seen from the International Space Station. It is currently home to luxury homes and the megaresort Atlantis, The Palm, and will eventually tout many other deluxe hotels. In the years since construction began in 2001, this island effectively has doubled the length of Dubai’s coastline.

Grand Canyon Skywalk

The Hualapai tribe of Arizona commissioned this horseshoe-shaped, glass walkway that opened above the Grand Canyon in 2007. The Skywalk juts off the rim of a side canyon 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. Despite the vertigo-inducing views, the glass bridge reportedly is very sturdy — it can support more than 71,000 pounds and can withstand gusts of wind over 100 mph.

Channel Tunnel

The Chunnel, as the 31.35-mile tunnel under the English Channel is known, opened in 1994, connecting Calais, France, with Folkestone, England. It is the second-longest tunnel in the world (behind Japan’s Seikan railway tunnel), and has the longest underwater section of any tunnel. The Eurotunnel Shuttle is a special vehicle transport train that has the largest rail cars in the world.

Three Gorges Dam

Located in China’s Hubei Province, this largest hydroelectric power station in the world contains a 375-mile-long reservoir within its impressive 7,661-foot concrete bulk. The scale of the controversial project is so huge that it has displaced millions of people, submerged hundreds of cultural sites in the Three Gorges area and precipitated an untold amount of damage on the regional environment. Construction began in 1994, but the dam is not expected to become fully operational until 2011.

Panama Canal

One of the most difficult engineering endeavors ever attempted, the Panama Canal is a 50.72-mile-long passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that was begun by France in 1880 but completed by the U.S. in 1914. It drastically reduced shipping distances between New York and San Francisco, from 14,000 miles around Cape Horn to 6,000 when passing through the canal. During the American construction phase, 211 million cubic yards of dirt and rock were scraped away over 10 years to finish the canal.

Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge

Also known as the Pearl Bridge, this structure spans the strait between the islands of Honshu and Awaji in Japan. Upon its opening in 1998, the Pearl Bridge became the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a center span measuring 6,532 feet in length — making it a full quarter-mile longer than the previous record-holder. The entire three-span bridge is more than 12,000 feet long.

The Dreamliner

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off on its long-awaited first flight on Dec. 15, 2009. The Dreamliner is the first commercial airplane that’s mostly built from carbon-reinforced plastic. This composite material is light and strong and won’t corrode or be susceptible to metal fatigue. Using this kind of construction also reduces both the financial and environmental costs of building a new plane.

Hoover Dam

Visiting Las Vegas? Consider a side trip to Hoover Dam. It spans the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, about 30 miles southeast of Sin City. The massive dam, built between 1931 and 1936, is 726.4 feet deep, from foundation rock to the roadway on the crest of the dam. Hoover Dam generates, on average, about 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year for use in Nevada, Arizona and California — enough to serve 1.3 million people.

International Space Station

Orbiting Earth with a resident crew since November 2000, the International Space Station is accessible only to enterprising tourists who have bank accounts flush enough to afford approximately $25 million for the round-trip ticket offered by Space Adventures. To date, six space tourists have boarded the ISS to experience days of zero gravity orbiting the planet. However, that number is sure to rise in coming decades as private companies develop commercial spacecraft and programs to make the final frontier a viable travel destination.

Time Warner Center

This 750-foot tall skyscraper in New York City, which opened in 2003, consists of two towers bridged by an atrium containing upscale retail shops. It was the first major building to be completed in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This “city in a building” contains the offices of Time Warner Inc., residential condominiums, and the Mandarin Oriental, New York hotel. Anderson Cooper 360° broadcasts live here from CNN Studios, and you’ll also find the 1,200-seat Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Millau Viaduct

The Millau Viaduct in southern France, which opened in 2004, is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with a roadway nearly 900 feet in the air. The cable-stayed design gives the bridge the appearance of a row of sailboats at sea, and the masts rise 1,125 feet — higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Oasis of the Seas

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas made its debut in 2009 as the world’s largest cruise ship. It’s nearly five times the gross tonnage of the Titanic and 1 1/2 times longer than the U.S. Capitol building, has 16 decks and a capacity for 6,296 guests. The ship offers weeklong sailings in the eastern and western Caribbean. Cruises depart from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Burj Khalifa

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, opened the world’s tallest skyscraper in January, 2010, and superlatives have poured in ever since. If you stuck the Eiffel Tower on top of the Empire State Building, you still wouldn’t have a structure as tall as the Burj Khalifa. It rises 2,717 feet from the desert and provides views of the Persian Gulf, the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel and the man-made Palm Jumeirah island. Originally named Burj Dubai, the building was renamed in honor of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, which pumped tens of billions of dollars into Dubai in 2009 as it struggled to pay enormous debts.

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Wheel of Fortune’s Contestant Solves 27-Letter Puzzle With Just One Letter as a Clue

One woman’s amazing feat of word game mastery on Friday’s episode of “Wheel of Fortune” left audiences amazed — and maybe a little suspicious.

Contestant Caitlin Burke somehow managed to solve a 27-letter, 7-word puzzle with only the letter “L” and an apostrophe to go on. Not only that, but the actual phrase she solved (which you can try to figure out for yourself in the video below) applies perfectly to her situation:

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Afghanistan Graffiti War

Graffiti offers new glimpse of Afghan war. A vivid story unfolds in the drawings Marines and Taliban fighters have left behind in a war-torn town

U.S Marine Corps

Graffiti reading "The Few, The Proud," by a previous deployment of the U.S Marine Corps's, adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010.Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti by previous deployment of U.S Marine ...

Graffiti by a previous deployment of the U.S Marine Corps's, adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left behind by the Taliban remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti by previous deployment of U.S Marine ...

Graffiti by a previous deployment of the Marine Corps, adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left by Taliban fighters remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti by previous deployment of U.S Marine ...

Graffiti by a previous deployment of Marine adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters remains on the wall of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters remains on the wall of a compound used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban

Graffiti by previous deployment of U.S Marine ...

Graffiti by a previous deployment of the U.S Marine Corps's, adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left by the Taliban remains on the wall of a compound used as a command center for the Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010.Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban

Graffiti by previous deployment of U.S Marine ...

Graffiti by a previous deployment of U.S Marine Corps adorns the walls at Musa Qala in Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left behind by Taliban remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters

Graffiti left by Taliban fighters remain on the walls of a compound used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban.

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