Though Hajj is over, photos of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, are still as stunning as ever. Though the city is alive from any angle, new photos released by Russian astronaut Sergey Ryazanskiy show the city in a whole new--but equally magical--way. "The holiest place in the Islamic world. #Mecca is beautiful both day and night. Impossible to confuse it with any other city in the world even from space," he captioned the image.
Mecca isn't the only city in the Middle East that Sergey's captured, though, and the deserts, dunes, and waters of this region take on a whole new look.
Click through to see the region like you've never seen it before.