ancient travel

17 of the World’s Most Incredible Ancient Ruins

These unesco world heritage sites in lebanon, scotland, and ethiopia are all worth the trip..

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Moai, huge carved stone figures, dominate the landscape of Easter Island.

Photo by Skreidzeleu/Shutterstock

Stonehenge, Machu Picchu , Pompeii , Angkor Wat , the Acropolis : Even if you’ve never visited these famous ancient ruins, you know about them. And if you have visited them, you know they’re also usually crowded, as “must-see” places often are. You’re beside the Parthenon trying to imagine it painted in bright colors, as it was originally, while dodging tour groups led by flag-waving guides shouting facts.

Although they are well worth visiting, here are 17 other trip-worthy ancient ruins, including several that may be new to you.

1. Rapa Nui National Park, Easter Island

Moai , huge carved stone figures, dominate the landscape here. These haunting statues, depicting ancestors of the Rapa Nui people, vary in height from 6 feet to 60 and were erected during the 10th to the 16th centuries. To see them, you’ll need to travel to the most remote inhabited island on Earth. That isolation led to distinctive artistic traditions, which include petroglyphs in stone houses and caves. Covering 40 percent of the island, the park contains hundreds of statues.

The huge temple of Bacchus at Baalbek

Courtesy of Britannica

2. Baalbek, Lebanon

This UNESCO World Heritage site boasts an excellent array of Roman ruins. Three temples, including the largest built by Imperial Rome, were constructed over some 200 years. Dedicated to Venus, Bacchus, and Jupiter, they feature highly detailed carvings. The half dozen remaining columns of the huge temple of Jupiter stand some 70 feet high; the temple of Bacchus is largely intact; its Corinthian columns rise 60 feet from its stone base. A hexagonal courtyard leads to the main court (343 feet by 338 feet), with broken columns of pink granite quarried in Egypt. Baalbek is about 50 miles from Beirut. An annual Baalbeck International Festival offers music and theater each summer at the site.

Chichén Itzá is near Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Photo by Irina Mos/Shutterstock

3. Chichén Itzá, Mexico

A brilliant work of architecture and astronomy, the Pyramid of Kukulkán at Chichén Itzá in Mexico is so precisely engineered that on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the sun casts shadows that slither like snakes and seem to descend its stairways. Said to represent the plumed-serpent deity Kukulkán, the shadows return twice yearly to drink from sacred sinkholes known as cenotes .

Today the phenomenon attracts thousands to the already crowded archaeological site, but almost-identical light-play can be seen the day before, with a fraction of the visitors. Other attractions: a circular observatory, the Great Ball Court, and the Jaguar Temple.— Susannah Rigg , AFAR Local Expert

Ring of Brodgar, Scotland: a stone circle that is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage site

Photo by Juris Kraulis/Shutterstock

4. Heart of Neolithic Orkney, Scotland

Scotland’s Orkney Islands are rich in relicts depicting life 5,000 years ago. You’ll find the Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe, Skara Brae, and the Ring of Brodgar—four monuments known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney—on the archipelago’s largest island, Mainland. These late Stone Age remnants are well preserved, due in part to their location. Older than Stonehenge and far less visited, the dwellings of Skara Brae have been called the “Scottish Pompeii.” Stenness, an early henge monument, resembles a modern sculpture installation; Maeshowe is a chambered mound tomb (sporting Viking graffiti), and Brodgar’s large stone circle has 27 of the original megaliths still standing.

Several wats (temples) at Ayutthaya

Photo by FocusStocker/Shutterstock

5. Ayutthaya, Thailand

While you’re in Thailand, escape the colorful chaos of Bangkok and head for the historic capital of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ayutthaya is a ghostly city of striking ruins and entangled wats, or temples, and prang (reliquary towers). Brightly colored offerings contrast with the aging stones and brick. King Ramathibodi founded Ayutthaya in 1350; located at the head of the Gulf of Siam, it was a trading center, with palaces and monasteries, one of the world’s largest cities in its heyday. Ayutthaya was the capital of the Siamese kingdom until its destruction by the Burmese army in 1767. — Bronwen Gregory , AFAR Local Expert

One of the largest tombs at Hegra, which is in the AlUla area and is Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site.

Courtesy of Experience AlUla

6. Hegra Archaeological Site, Saudi Arabia

Unlike its famed distant cousin Petra, ancient Hegra has only been open to visitors for the past three years. It is not yet swamped with tourists (Petra gets nearly 1 million a year). Hegra was an outpost of the Nabataean kingdom; it prospered from the 4th century B.C.E. until the 1st century C.E. The 100+ tombs carved into sandstone that remain show Greek, Egyptian, and Roman influences. Many are inscribed in Nabataean (a variety of Aramaic) with dire warnings that the gods will curse anyone who dares to disturb a burial place. The wells built here by Nabataeans are still used today. It became a UNESCO site in 2008, the first for Saudi Arabia. Visitors can fly into nearby AlUla.

Caral-Supe, the most ancient city in the Americas, is in Supe Valley, north of Lima, Peru

Photo by Shutterstock

7. City of Caral-Supe, Peru

The UNESCO World Heritage site designation is essentially a reliable stamp of approval that means “visit here.” The ancient ruins of the sacred city of Caral-Supe, the oldest civilization center in the Americas, is one such site. Dating back more than 5,000 years, it is located in a desert near the Supe River, north of Lima. Its 150 acres feature sunken circular plazas, a tall temple, and earth-and-stone dwellings—impressive architecture for a people who did not make ceramic pots. Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady Sidal began excavations in 1994, and they’re making ongoing discoveries. Carla-Supe’s weather-worn pyramids were built before the famous Egyptian pyramids.

Visitors are dwarfed by the Kailasa temple, cave 16 in the Ellora complex in Maharashtra, India.

8. Ellora Caves, India

Nearly three dozen caves/temples were carved out of cliffsides during the 6th to 10th centuries. The basalt rock-cut structures showcase Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain cultures. Elaborate Hindu “cave” 16, a freestanding temple hewn from solid rock, is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is twice the size of the Parthenon. The caves are 50 miles from the more famous Ajanta Caves. You might want to visit during the annual Ellora Festival of classical dance and music.

Carved stele at Aksum, famous obelisks in Ethiopia

9. Aksum, Ethiopia

Back when the Roman empire was powerful, the Kingdom of Aksum thrived in northern Ethiopia for some 10 centuries. The remains of this international trading center include palace ruins, royal tombs, and carved obelisks, aka steles. The tallest obelisk still standing is carved to resemble a building and rises more than 60 feet. As with the Acropolis and other historical ruins looted by various conquerors, in the case of Aksum, Italian soldiers took an obelisk 1937 during their occupation of Ethiopia; it was returned in this century. Other valuable remnants: stone tablets with trilingual inscriptions in Greek, Sabena, and what was then the local language, Ge’ez.

The archaeological site of ancient Olympia is where Olympic games began and where the Olympic torch today is ignited.

Photo by Georgios Kritsotakis/Shutterstock

10. Olympia, Greece

Although much is gone among the ruins of this sanctuary—including a gold and ivory statue that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the serene setting survives. Today we associate Olympia with sports, but it began as a religious center. The Olympic Games, held every four years starting in 776 B.C.E. for over 1,000 years, were part of a festival for Zeus. Romans and earthquakes later did considerable damage to the site. More columns remain standing at the gymnasium than at the large temples for Hera and Zeus.

Merv was once among the largest cities on the Silk Route.

Courtesy of TripAdvisor

11. Ancient Merv, Turkmenistan

The oldest of the oasis cities along Central Asia’s Silk Route, Merv was so prosperous that it boasted an icehouse (filled with winter snow). Its ruins cover four millennia, Bronze Age to medieval. Much of it, including a population estimated at 500,000, was destroyed by Tolui, a son of Genghis Kahn, in 1221. Five miles of walls once surrounded this city, complete with canals, libraries, and orchards. Besides fame for its steel, cotton, and melons, Merv was a cultural and scientific center. Omar Khayyam spent several years working at its observatory. Among the remains in this large archaeological park are a mosque, a Buddhist monastery, and several mausoleums. Travelers can fly to Mary, the nearest city, from the capital, Ashgabat.

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Photo by Jeffrey M. Frank_Shutterstock

12. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

These numerous Ancestral Pueblo Indian dwellings include hundreds of cliff dwellings, at an altitude of 8,530 feet, the remains of a culture that lived here nearly 900 years. Even before the National Park Service began, the federal government protected this area, the first archaeological site anywhere to gain this recognition. Don’t miss the daily ranger-assisted tour of the Cliff Palace, which features 150 rooms and 23 kivas, or the more in-depth tour of the Long House. (Be ready to climb a few ladders.) When planning your visit, note that winter weather closes the cliff dwellings and the park lodge is open from May into October.

At Prambanan temple compounds in Java, Indonesia, three of the largest temples are dedicated to the Trimurti: the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu), and the Destroyer (Shiva).

Photo by saiko3p/Shutterstock

13. Prambanan Temple Compounds, Indonesia

These hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist temples on Java date from the 9th century. Earthquakes (as recently as 2006) and volcanic eruptions have damaged the site over the centuries; the small temples have mostly collapsed. The tallest temples are dedicated to Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva; bas-relief panels recounting the Hindu epic poem Ramayana decorate them. From May through October, the Ramayana Ballet performs the story outdoors at the temple compounds, aka Candi Rara Jonggrang.

Large wheels of stone were used to block doorways in the old underground city of Derinkuyu.

Photo by Nina Lishchuk/Shutterstock

14. Derinkuyu Underground City, Türkiye

There’s more to see in Cappadocia than what you can view from its iconic hot air balloon rides. Derinkuyu is the largest of two subterranean cities in Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia—an otherworldly landscape of hoodoos, fairy chimneys, and troglodyte villages. The Byzantine city housed up to 20,000 people on multiple levels, descending 18 stories underground, complete with ventilation shafts and ways to obtain water. It provided refuge during sieges. Thick stone wheels served as doors to block intruders. And miles-long tunnels link Derinkuyu to other underground settlements.

The Grand Plaza with the North Acropolis and Temple I (Great Jaguar Temple) at Tikal

Photo by WitR/Shutterstock

15. Tikal, Guatemala

Surrounded by jungle are the dramatic remains of this Mayan site, inhabited for some 1,500 years. The ancient capital city may have had 90,000 residents at its peak. Its most famous features—large temples—number over two dozen, in the shape of stepped pyramids, some among the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas. Yes, you can climb the many steps for spectacular views, and because of Tikal’s remote location, you won’t feel like you’re in Times Square. In recent years, sophisticated LiDAR technology indicates that Tikal was part of a vast metropolis. More discoveries await.

Another place to view ruins of an ancient Roman city: Volubilis in Meknes, Morocco

16. Volubilis, Morocco

This 5,000-year-old city in North Africa was founded by the Berbers and later became a distant outpost of the Roman empire. It was occupied for 10 centuries and various cultures mingled here, including Islamic and Christian. Given their isolation, climate, and long abandonment, the ancient ruins—including an aqueduct, thermal baths, and a triumphal arch—are in good shape, despite earthquake damage. Especially noteworthy: the mosaic floors in the House of Orpheus, the biggest of the excavated residences.

Abu Simbel, Egypt, is near the border with Sudan.

17. Abu Simbel, Egypt

The impressive Great Pyramids of Giza rightfully earn their wonder of the world title. But then there’s Abu Simbel. The site has personality. Ramses II is present at every turn, as is his wife Nefertari. Four giant likenesses are carved into sandstone walls and look out over Lake Nasser. Inside, it’s pure Indiana Jones and archaeology with magnificent hieroglyphics and rows and rows of columns at every turn. The temple is dedicated to sun gods; twice a year, the sun’s rays travel 185 feet to fully illuminate the interior. Travel here is from Aswan in a caravan that leaves at dawn. Make arrangements from your hotel for the trip and be glad you decided to pay respects. — Kristin Zibell , AFAR Local Expert

This article originally appeared online in 2021; it was most recently updated on August 25, 2023, to include current information.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, selected by Hellenic travelers and noted in poetry and other arts, tell the stories of human imagination and technical aptitude, and how civilizations left their marks on the world and culture.

Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History

The Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid, the largest of the Pyramids of Giza, is the only Great Wonder still standing. It was build more than 4,000 years ago.

Photograph by James P. Blair

Amid the march of progress throughout the modern world, evidence of Earth’s rich past exists in historical constructions that tell stories of human achievement. Among these, seven were deemed “wonders”: hallowed examples of the contributions of ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations. These Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were originally chosen by Hellenic travelers passing through Persian, Babylonian, and Egyptian lands. They made careful note of these structures in travel guides, artwork, and poems. Although lists of wonders were created as early as the fifth century B.C.E., the most famous example was developed by the second-century Greek writer Antipater of Sidon, who celebrated these feats of human ability through poetry. While these constructions are stunning achievements of ancient engineerning, they don't include marvels from many of the ancient civilizations of Africa, Europe, and Asia, and the Americas, which were unknown to the Hellenic peoples. Although these Seven Wonders are still celebrated today, they show the fleeting nature of even the grandest physical achievements—nature, human behavior, and the passage of time have destroyed all but one. Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid, the only Wonder that still exists, stood as the world’s tallest human-made structure for nearly 4,000 years. Erected around 2560 B.C.E. on the west bank of the Nile River, the Great Pyramid served as the tomb of the fourth-century pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). It is the largest of the three Pyramids at Giza. The proportions of the Pyramid are colossal—even for the modern era. The original height from the base to the peak was around 147 meters (482 feet)—though time has worn away the height to around 138 meters (451 feet). The length of each side at the base averages around 230 meters (756 feet). Over its 20-year construction period, around 2.3 million stone blocks were crafted to create this 5.22-million-metric-ton (5.75-million-ton) monolith. Hanging Gardens of Babylon Despite being named one of the Seven Ancient Wonders, there is not much firsthand evidence that the gardens actually existed. Those who claimed to have witnessed the gardens, including Greek historians Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, described them as marvels of agricultural engineering. An amazing array of blooming flowers, luscious fruit, exotic foliage , and impressive waterfalls were said to have filled them. The hanging gardens were believed to have been built around 600 B.C.E., by Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylonia from 605–562 B.C.E. Statue of Zeus It took the most renowned sculptor of the ancient era, Phidias, to create a statue worthy of celebrating the fabled god Zeus. Housed in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in western Greece, the statue showed Zeus seated on a throne crusted in gold, precious gems, ivory, and ebony. Zeus held a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, in his right hand. A scepter topped with an eagle was held in his left hand. Many of those who gazed upon the 12-meter (40-foot) statue commented that the proportions of Zeus inside the temple were off. Regardless, the statue was revered by most as a stunning earthly representation of the great god that filled passersby with awe—until it was destroyed in an earthquake in the fifth century B.C.E. Temple of Artemis In Ephesus (an ancient city in what is now western Turkey), a temple was constructed that was reportedly so magnificent it caused Philo of Byzantium to say: “I have seen the walls and Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon, the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the mighty work of the high Pyramids and the tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising to the clouds, all these other wonders were put in the shade.” The temple, originally constructed to celebrate Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, became a revered place of worship. It went through several phases of destruction and rebuilding. The most famous iteration , completed in 550 B.C.E., was about 115 meters (377 feet) long, 55 meters (200 feet) wide, included 127 Ionic-styled columns, and was decorated with fine sculptures and paintings. Its final destruction was initiated by Herostratus, who sought fame by destroying the beautiful creation. Its ruin by Herostratus and the ravages of time have obliterated all but a few remains of the grand temple. Mausoleum of Halicarnassus Among the most impressive structures to house the deceased was the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The mausoleum was designed between 353 and 350 B.C.E. by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythis. It was created for Maussollos, a governor in the Persian Empire, and his wife and sister Artemisia II of Caria, who initiated its construction upon her husband’s death. The mausoleum stood approximately 41 meters (135 feet) high and was adorned with intricate exterior carvings and precious works of art. Despite standing for centuries and even surviving a raid by Alexander of Macedonia, a series of earthquakes finally rocked it to its core. All that remains are a few scattered pieces of its foundation. Colossus of Rhodes Visitors to ancient Rhodes, an island in the eastern Aegean Sea, were greeted by a statue of the Greek god Helios. Erected between 292 and 280 B.C.E. by the sculptor Chares of Lindos, and standing at about 33 meters (105-110 feet), the statue was a victory monument designed to honor the defeat of the invading army of Demetrius in 304 B.C.E. After standing for only 56 years, an earthquake destroyed the statue in 224 B.C.E. Despite snapping at the knees and falling onto the island, the ruins remained a popular attraction for more than 800 years. Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria This ancient lighthouse, considered a technical masterpiece that served as the model for all lighthouses that followed, was constructed on Pharos, an island in the harbor of Alexandria in Egypt, known as Kemet by its ancient citizens. It was completed between 285 and 247 B.C.E. Standing over 107 meters (350 feet) tall and conceived as a navigational landmark for voyagers along the Egyptian coast, the lighthouse was constructed in three distinct stages: a square stone base; an octagonal middle section; and a cylindrical section at the top. At the apex , a mirror was erected to reflect sunlight during the day. At night, a fire was lit to guide travelers. The Lighthouse of Alexandria was severely damaged by earthquakes in 965 C.E., 1303 C.E., and 1323 C.E. It was completely gone by 1480 C.E. Today, visitors to the site where the lighthouse stood encounter the Egyptian fort Qaitbay, which was built using some of the stones from the lighthouse ruins .

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Immerse yourself in the ruins, relics, rock art, henges, barrows, forts, temples, castles and keeps that testify to the miracle of human ingenuity they represent, making lifelong memories along the way.

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The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

Tony Perrottet

Contributing writer

William H.H. Murray's guidebook to the Adirondacks “kindled a thousand camp fires and taught a thousand pens how to write of nature,” inspiring droves of American city-dwellers to venture into the wild and starting a back-to-nature movement that endures to this day. Of course, Murray's slender volume was part of a great literary tradition. For more than two millennia, travel books have had enormous influence on the way we have approached the world, transforming once-obscure areas into wildly popular destinations.

A detailed selection would fill a library. So what follows is a brazenly opinionated short-list of travel classics—some notorious, some barely remembered—that have inspired armchair travelers to venture out of their comfort zone and hit the road. 

1. Herodotus, Histories (c.440 BC)

Homer's Odyssey is often referred to as the first travel narrative, creating the archetypal story of a lone wanderer, Odysseus, on a voyage filled with mythic perils, from terrifying monsters like the Cyclops to seductive nymphs and ravishing sorceresses. As may be.  But the first real “travel writer,” as we would understand the term today, was the ancient Greek author Herodotus, who journeyed all over the eastern Mediterranean to research his monumental Histories. His vivid account of ancient Egypt, in particular, created an enduring image of that exotic land, as he “does the sights” from the pyramids to Luxor, even dealing with such classic travel tribulations as pushy guides and greedy souvenir vendors. His work inspired legions of other ancient travelers to explore this magical, haunted land, creating a fascination that reemerged during the Victorian age and remains with us today. In fact, Herodotus qualifies not just as the Father of History, but the Father of Cultural Travel itself, revealing to the ancient Greeks—who rarely deemed a foreign society worthy of interest—the rewards of exploring a distant, alien world.

  2. Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo (c.1300)

When the 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo returned home after two decades wandering China, Persia and Indonesia, the stories he and his two brothers told were dismissed as outright fiction—until (legend goes) the trio sliced open the hems of their garments, and hundreds of gems poured to the ground in a glittering cascade. Still, Polo's adventure might have remained all but unknown to posterity if an accident had not allowed him to overcome his writer's block: Imprisoned by the Genoans in 1298 after a naval battle, he used his enforced leisure time to dictate his memoirs to his cellmate, the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa. The resulting volume, filled with marvelous observations about Chinese cities and customs and encounters with the potentate Kublai Khan (and including, admittedly, some outrageous exaggerations), has been a bestseller ever since, and indelibly defined the Western view of the Orient. There is evidence that Polo intended his book to be a practical guide for future merchants to follow his path. The vision of fabulous Chinese wealth certainly inspired one eager and adventurous reader, fellow Italian Christopher Columbus, to seek a new ocean route to the Orient. (Of course, Islamic scholars will point out that the 14 th -century explorer Ibn Battuta traveled three times as far as Polo around Africa, Asia and China, but his monumental work Rihla , “The Journey,” remained little known in the West until the mid-19th century).

3. Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768)

When the author of Tristram Shandy penned this extraordinary autobiographical novel, the Grand Tour of Europe as a rite of passage was in full swing. Wealthy young British aristocrats (almost invariably male), took educational expeditions to the great cultural sites of Paris, Venice, Rome and Naples, seeking out the classical sites and Renaissance artworks in the company of an erudite “bear leader,” or tour guide. Sterne's rollicking book suddenly turned the sober Grand Tour principle on its head. The narrator deliberately avoids all the great monuments and cathedrals, and instead embarks on a personal voyage, to meet unusual people, seeking out new and spontaneous experiences: (“'tis a quiet journey of the heart in pursuit of NATURE, and those affections which arise out of her, which make us love each other—and the world, better than we do.”) His meandering journey across France and Italy is filled with amusing encounters, often of an amorous nature (involving assorted chamber maids and having to share rooms in inns with member of the opposite sex), which prefigures the Romantic era's vision of travel as a journey of self-discovery. Even today, most “true travelers” pride themselves on finding vivid and unique experiences, rather than generic tourist snapshots or lazy escapes.

4. Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869)

Writers of the Gilded Age (a term Mark Twain incidentally coined) produced thousands of earnest and tedious travel books, a tendency that Twain deftly deflated with Innocents Abroad. Sent as a journalist on a group cruise tour to see the great sights of Europe and the Holy Land, Twain filed a series of hilarious columns to the Alta California newspaper that he later reworked into this classic work. With its timely, self-deprecating humor, it touched a deep chord, lampooning the naïveté of his fellow Americans (“The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad”) and the modest indignities of exploring the sophisticated Old World (“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”) The result was to embolden many more of his fellow countrymen to fearlessly cross the pond and immerse themselves in Europe, and, hardly less importantly, to begin a new style of comic travel writing that echoes today through hugely popular modern authors such as Bill Bryson. Today, Innocents Abroad is one of the few 19th-century travel books that is still read eagerly for pleasure. (Its perfect companion is, of course, Roughing It , Twain's account of his misspent youth as a miner in the wild American West).

5. Norman Douglas, Siren Land (1911)

The Italian island of Capri began its proud reputation for licentiousness in ancient Roman times, and by the mid-19 century was luring free-living artists, writers and bon vivants from chilly northern climes. (It was even said that Europe had two art capitals, Paris and Capri). But its modern reputation was sealed by the libertine writer Norman Douglas, whose volume Siren Land offered an account of the carefree southern Italian life “where paganism and nudity and laughter flourished,” an image confirmed by his 1917 novel South Wind , where the island is called Nepenthe, after the ancient Greek elixir of forgetfulness . (Siren Land gets its title from Homer’s Odyssey; Capri was the home of the Sirens, ravishing women who lured sailors to their deaths by shipwreck with their magical voices). Millions of sun-starved British readers were captivated by the vision of Mediterranean sensuality and Douglas' playful humor. (“It is rather puzzling when one comes to think of it,” he writes, “to conceive how the old Sirens passed their time on days of wintry storm. Modern ones would call for cigarettes, Grand Marnier, and a pack of cards, and bid the gale howl itself out.”) Douglas himself was flamboyantly gay, and liked to scamper drunkenly around Capri’s gardens with vine leaves in his hair. Thanks largely to his writings, the island in the 1920s entered a new golden age, luring exiles disillusioned by post-war Europe. The visitors included many great British authors who also penned travel writing classics, such as D.H. Lawrence (whose marvelous Etruscan Places covers his travels in Italy; Lawrence also showed drafts of the torrid Lady Chatterly’s Lover to friends while on holiday in Capri in 1926), E.M Forster, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and W.H. Auden. (The renowned poet wrote a travel volume on Iceland, of all places). The collective vision of Mediterranean freedom has inspired generations of travelers to those warm shores ever since.

6. Freya Stark, The Valley of the Assassins (1934)

The Victorian age produced a surprising number of adventurous women travel writers—Isabella Bird, for instance, wrote about exploring Hawaii, the Rocky Mountains and China—but the authors were regarded as rare and eccentric exceptions rather than role models by female readers. In the more liberated era of the 1930s, Freya Stark's tome revealed just how far women could travel alone and live to write about it. Her breakthrough book, The Valley of the Assassins , was a thrilling account of her journey through the Middle East. Its highlight was her visit to the ruined stronghold of the Seven Lords of Alamut, a medieval cult of hashish-eating political killers in the Elburz Mountains of Iran whose exploits had been legendary in the West since the Crusades. (The singular escapade made her one of the first women ever inducted into the Royal Geographical Society.) The bestseller was followed by some two dozen works whose freshness and candor inspired women to venture, if not by donkey into war zones, at least into exotic climes. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world,” she enthused in Baghdad Sketches . “You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it.”

7. Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)

This thinly veiled autobiographical novel, about a group of young friends hitch-hiking and bumming their way across the United States, has inspired generations of restless readers to take a leap into the unknown. Although the publisher made Kerouac change the actual names (Kerouac became Sal Paradise, the wild driver Neal Cassady became Dean Moriarty and poet Allen Ginsberg became Carlo Marx), its episodes were almost entirely drawn from life, qualifying it as a classic of travel writing. It was also a cultural phenomenon: Kerouac legendarily hammered out the whole lyrical work on a giant scroll of paper (possibly on one speed-induced binge), and carried it about in his rucksack for years before it was published, becoming an instant icon of the rebellious “beat” era, thumbing its nose at the leaden conformity of the cold war era. Today, it is still a dangerous book to read at an impressionable age (at least for younger males; women tend to be left out of the boyish pursuits, except as sex objects). The delirious sense of freedom as Kerouac rides across the wheat fields of Nebraska in the back of a farm truck or speeds across the Wyoming Rockies toward Denver is infectious.

8. Tony and Maureen Wheeler, Across Asia on the Cheap (1973)

It was one of history's great self-publishing success stories. When two young travelers roughed it in a minivan from London to Sydney, they decided to write a practical guide about their experiences. Working on a kitchen table, they typed out a list of their favorite budget hotels and cheap restaurants from Tehran to Djakarta, stapled the copied pages together into a 90-page booklet and sold it for $1.80 a pop. Their instincts were correct: There was a huge hunger for information on how to travel on a budget in the Third World, and the modest booklet sold 1,500 copies in a week. The hit became the basis for Lonely Planet, a vast guidebook empire with books on almost every country on earth. The young and financially challenged felt welcomed into the exotic corners of Nepal, Morocco and Thailand, far from the realm of five-star hotels and tour groups, often for a few dollars a day. The guidebooks' power quickly became such that in many countries, a recommendation is still enough to make a hotelier's fortune. (Having sold 100 million copies of their guidebooks, the Wheelers finally sold Lonely Planet for £130 million in 2010 to the BBC. (The BBC recently confirmed plans to sell the franchise to NC2 Media at a loss for just £51.5 million. Nobody ever claimed Across Asia was high literature, but the Wheelers now help fund a literary institution, The Wheeler Center, in their home city of Melbourne, Australia, to promote serious fiction and non-fiction). 

9. Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia (1977)

Along with Paul Theroux's wildly entertaining Great Railway Bazaar , Chatwin's slim, enigmatic volume became widely credited with the modern rebirth of travel writing. A former Sotheby's art auctioneer, the erudite Chatwin famously quit the London Sunday Times Magazine via telegram to his editor (“Have gone to Patagonia”) and disappeared into the then little-known and remote tip of South America. In a stylistic first for the genre, In Patagonia weaves a personal quest (for a piece of prehistoric skin of the mylodon, which the author had seen as a child) with the region's most surreal historical episodes, related in a poetic, crisp and laconic style. Focusing on god-forsaken outposts rather than popular attractions, Chatwin evokes the haunting ambiance with deftly drawn vignettes from Patagonia's storybook past, such as how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid lived in a cabin in southern Argentina, or how a Welsh nationalist colony was begun in the windswept town of Trelew. And thus the quirky travel pilgrimage was born.

  10. Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence (1989)

Mayle's breezy account of his mid-life decision to escape dark and sodden England to renovate a farmhouse in Ménerbes, a village in the south of France, created an entire sub-genre of do-it-yourself travel memoirs filled with charmingly quirky locals. It also inspired thousands to physically emulate his life-changing project, flooding Provence and other sunny idylls with expats in search of a rustic fixer-upper and supplies of cheap wine. Aided by the relaxed residency laws of the European Union, discount airlines and France's super-fast TGV trains, the once-impoverished southern France quickly became gentrified by retirees from Manchester, Hamburg and Stockholm, until it is now, in the words of one critic, a “bourgeois theme park for foreigners.” (Tuscany became equally popular, thanks to Frances Mayes' beguiling books, with the shores of Spain and Portugal following suit). Things got so crowded that Mayle himself moved out – although he has since returned to a different tiny village, Lourmarin, a stone's throw from his original haunt. In recent years, Elizabeth Gilbert's wildly successful Eat Pray Love (2007) offered a similar spirit of personal reinvention, inspiring a new wave of travelers to follow her  path to the town of Ubud in Bali in search of spiritual (and romantic) fulfillment

A Smithsonian Magazine Contributing Writer, Tony Perrottet is the author of five travel and history books, including Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists and The Sinner's Grand Tour: A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe; www.tonyperrottet.com

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Tony Perrottet | READ MORE

Tony Perrottet is a contributing writer for Smithsonian magazine, a regular contributor to the New York Times and WSJ Magazine , and the author of six books including ¡Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel and the Improbable Revolution that Changed World History , The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games and Napoleon's Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped . Follow him on Instagram @TonyPerrottet .

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Ancient Egypt

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 24, 2023 | Original: October 14, 2009

Ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world for almost 30 centuries—from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New Kingdom, Egypt’s majesty has long entranced archaeologists and historians and created a vibrant field of study all its own: Egyptology. The main sources of information about ancient Egypt are the many monuments, objects and artifacts that have been recovered from archaeological sites, covered with hieroglyphs that have only recently been deciphered. The picture that emerges is of a culture with few equals in the beauty of its art, the accomplishment of its architecture or the richness of its religious traditions.

Predynastic Period (c. 5000-3100 B.C.)

Few written records or artifacts have been found from the Predynastic Period, which encompassed at least 2,000 years of gradual development of the Egyptian civilization.

Did you know? During the rule of Akhenaton, his wife Nefertiti played an important political and religious role in the monotheistic cult of the sun god Aton. Images and sculptures of Nefertiti depict her famous beauty and role as a living goddess of fertility.

Neolithic (late Stone Age ) communities in northeastern Africa exchanged hunting for agriculture and made early advances that paved the way for the later development of Egyptian arts and crafts, technology, politics and religion (including a great reverence for the dead and possibly a belief in life after death).

Around 3400 B.C., two separate kingdoms were established near the Fertile Crescent , an area home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations: the Red Land to the north, based in the Nile River Delta and extending along the Nile perhaps to Atfih; and the White Land in the south, stretching from Atfih to Gebel es-Silsila. A southern king, Scorpion, made the first attempts to conquer the northern kingdom around 3200 B.C. A century later, King Menes would subdue the north and unify the country, becoming the first king of the first dynasty.

Archaic (Early Dynastic) Period (c. 3100-2686 B.C.)

King Menes founded the capital of ancient Egypt at White Walls (later known as Memphis), in the north, near the apex of the Nile River delta. The capital would grow into a great metropolis that dominated Egyptian society during the Old Kingdom period. The Archaic Period saw the development of the foundations of Egyptian society, including the all-important ideology of kingship. To the ancient Egyptians, the king was a godlike being, closely identified with the all-powerful god Horus. The earliest known hieroglyphic writing also dates to this period.

In the Archaic Period, as in all other periods, most ancient Egyptians were farmers living in small villages, and agriculture (largely wheat and barley) formed the economic base of the Egyptian state. The annual flooding of the great Nile River provided the necessary irrigation and fertilization each year; farmers sowed the wheat after the flooding receded and harvested it before the season of high temperatures and drought returned.

Old Kingdom: Age of the Pyramid Builders (c. 2686-2181 B.C.)

The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx is an engineering marvel even by today’s standards.

Massive Stones Moved to Build Monuments

In this Lost Worlds video, brought to you by the History Channel, learn about man’s ability to come up with creative solutions to move stone throughout history. Watch as this video takes us from Egypt to Greece to Jerusalem showing us different solutions throughout history for constructing giant structures like obelisks and temples.

The Old Kingdom began with the third dynasty of pharaohs. Around 2630 B.C., the third dynasty’s King Djoser asked Imhotep, an architect, priest and healer, to design a funerary monument for him; the result was the world’s first major stone building, the Step-Pyramid at Saqqara, near Memphis. Egyptian pyramid -building reached its zenith with the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Built for Khufu (or Cheops, in Greek), who ruled from 2589 to 2566 B.C., the pyramid was later named by classical historians as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . The ancient Greek historian Herodotus estimated that it took 100,000 men 20 years to build it. Two other pyramids were built at Giza for Khufu’s successors Khafra (2558-2532 B.C) and Menkaura (2532-2503 B.C.).

During the third and fourth dynasties, Egypt enjoyed a golden age of peace and prosperity. The pharaohs held absolute power and provided a stable central government; the kingdom faced no serious threats from abroad; and successful military campaigns in foreign countries like Nubia and Libya added to its considerable economic prosperity. Over the course of the fifth and sixth dynasties, the king’s wealth was steadily depleted, partially due to the huge expense of pyramid-building, and his absolute power faltered in the face of the growing influence of the nobility and the priesthood that grew up around the sun god Ra (Re). After the death of the sixth dynasty’s King Pepy II, who ruled for some 94 years, the Old Kingdom period ended in chaos.

First Intermediate Period (c. 2181-2055 B.C.)

On the heels of the Old Kingdom’s collapse, the seventh and eighth dynasties consisted of a rapid succession of Memphis-based rulers until about 2160 B.C., when the central authority completely dissolved, leading to civil war between provincial governors. This chaotic situation was intensified by Bedouin invasions and accompanied by famine and disease.

From this era of conflict emerged two different kingdoms: A line of 17 rulers (dynasties nine and 10) based in Heracleopolis ruled Middle Egypt between Memphis and Thebes, while another family of rulers arose in Thebes to challenge Heracleopolitan power. Around 2055 B.C., the Theban prince Mentuhotep managed to topple Heracleopolis and reunited Egypt, beginning the 11th dynasty and ending the First Intermediate Period.

Middle Kingdom: 12th Dynasty (c. 2055-1786 B.C.)

After the last ruler of the 11th dynasty, Mentuhotep IV, was assassinated, the throne passed to his vizier, or chief minister, who became King Amenemhet I, founder of dynasty 12. A new capital was established at It-towy, south of Memphis, while Thebes remained a great religious center. During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt once again flourished, as it had during the Old Kingdom. The 12th dynasty kings ensured the smooth succession of their line by making each successor co-regent, a custom that began with Amenemhet I.

Middle-Kingdom Egypt pursued an aggressive foreign policy, colonizing Nubia (with its rich supply of gold, ebony, ivory and other resources) and repelling the Bedouins who had infiltrated Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. The kingdom also built diplomatic and trade relations with Syria , Palestine and other countries; undertook building projects including military fortresses and mining quarries; and returned to pyramid-building in the tradition of the Old Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom reached its peak under Amenemhet III (1842-1797 B.C.); its decline began under Amenenhet IV (1798-1790 B.C.) and continued under his sister and regent, Queen Sobekneferu (1789-1786 B.C.), who was the first confirmed female ruler of Egypt and the last ruler of the 12th dynasty.

Second Intermediate Period (c. 1786-1567 B.C.)

The 13th dynasty marked the beginning of another unsettled period in Egyptian history, during which a rapid succession of kings failed to consolidate power. As a consequence, during the Second Intermediate Period Egypt was divided into several spheres of influence. The official royal court and seat of government was relocated to Thebes, while a rival dynasty (the 14th), centered on the city of Xois in the Nile delta, seems to have existed at the same time as the 13th.

Around 1650 B.C., a line of foreign rulers known as the Hyksos took advantage of Egypt’s instability to take control. The Hyksos rulers of the 15th dynasty adopted and continued many of the existing Egyptian traditions in government as well as culture. They ruled concurrently with the line of native Theban rulers of the 17th dynasty, who retained control over most of southern Egypt despite having to pay taxes to the Hyksos. (The 16th dynasty is variously believed to be Theban or Hyksos rulers.) Conflict eventually flared between the two groups, and the Thebans launched a war against the Hyksos around 1570 B.C., driving them out of Egypt.

Ramses’ Temple at Abu Simbel

Ramses built the Temple at Abu Simbel in Egypt to intimidate his enemies and seat himself amongst the gods.

Building the Great Obelisks at Luxor

Workers carved the 700‑ton Obelisks of Luxor from a single piece of red granite.

History of the Mummy

A step by step process of how a body was prepared for mummification. The brain was removed along with all other major organs except the heart.

New Kingdom (c. 1567-1085 B.C.)

Under Ahmose I, the first king of the 18th dynasty, Egypt was once again reunited. During the 18th dynasty, Egypt restored its control over Nubia and began military campaigns in  Palestine , clashing with other powers in the area such as the Mitannians and the Hittites. The country went on to establish the world’s first great empire, stretching from Nubia to the Euphrates River in Asia. In addition to powerful kings such as Amenhotep I (1546-1526 B.C.), Thutmose I (1525-1512 B.C.) and Amenhotep III (1417-1379 B.C.), the New Kingdom was notable for the role of royal women such as Queen Hatshepsut (1503-1482 B.C.), who began ruling as a regent for her young stepson (he later became Thutmose III, Egypt’s greatest military hero), but rose to wield all the powers of a pharaoh.

The controversial Amenhotep IV (c. 1379-1362), of the late 18th dynasty, undertook a religious revolution, disbanding the priesthoods dedicated to Amon-Re (a combination of the local Theban god Amon and the sun god Re) and forcing the exclusive worship of another sun-god, Aton. Renaming himself Akhenaton (“servant of the Aton”), he built a new capital in Middle Egypt called Akhetaton, known later as Amarna. Upon Akhenaton’s death, the capital returned to Thebes and Egyptians returned to worshiping a multitude of gods. The 19th and 20th dynasties, known as the Ramesside period (for the line of kings named Ramses) saw the restoration of the weakened Egyptian empire and an impressive amount of building, including great temples and cities. According to biblical chronology, the exodus of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt possibly occurred during the reign of Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.).

All of the New Kingdom rulers (with the exception of Akhenaton) were laid to rest in deep, rock-cut tombs (not pyramids) in the Valley of the Kings, a burial site on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes. Most of them were raided and destroyed, with the exception of the tomb and treasure of Tutankhamen (c.1361-1352 B.C.), discovered largely intact in A.D. 1922. The splendid mortuary temple of the last great king of the 20th dynasty, Ramses III (c. 1187-1156 B.C.), was also relatively well preserved, and indicated the prosperity Egypt still enjoyed during his reign. The kings who followed Ramses III were less successful: Egypt lost its provinces in Palestine and Syria for good and suffered from foreign invasions (notably by the Libyans), while its wealth was being steadily but inevitably depleted.

Third Intermediate Period (c. 1085-664 B.C.)

The next 400 years–known as the Third Intermediate Period–saw important changes in Egyptian politics, society and culture. Centralized government under the 21st dynasty pharaohs gave way to the resurgence of local officials, while foreigners from Libya and Nubia grabbed power for themselves and left a lasting imprint on Egypt’s population. The 22nd dynasty began around 945 B.C. with King Sheshonq, a descendant of Libyans who had invaded Egypt during the late 20th dynasty and settled there. Many local rulers were virtually autonomous during this period and dynasties 23-24 are poorly documented.

In the eighth century B.C., Nubian pharaohs beginning with Shabako, ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, established their own dynasty–the 25th–at Thebes. Under Kushite rule, Egypt clashed with the growing Assyrian empire. In 671 B.C., the Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon drove the Kushite king Taharka out of Memphis and destroyed the city; he then appointed his own rulers out of local governors and officials loyal to the Assyrians. One of them, Necho of Sais, ruled briefly as the first king of the 26th dynasty before being killed by the Kushite leader Tanuatamun, in a final, unsuccessful grab for power.

9 Fascinating Finds From King Tut’s Tomb

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What Caused Ancient Egypt’s Decline?

The once‑great empire on the Nile was slowly brought to its knees by a centuries‑long drought, economic crises and opportunistic foreign invaders.

From the Late Period to Alexander’s Conquest (c.664-332 B.C.)

Beginning with Necho’s son, Psammetichus, the Saite dynasty ruled a reunified Egypt for less than two centuries. In 525 B.C., Cambyses, king of Persia, defeated Psammetichus III, the last Saite king, at the Battle of Pelusium, and Egypt became part of the Persian Empire . Persian rulers such as Darius (522-485 B.C.) ruled the country largely under the same terms as native Egyptian kings: Darius supported Egypt’s religious cults and undertook the building and restoration of its temples. The tyrannical rule of Xerxes (486-465 B.C.) sparked increased uprisings under him and his successors. One of these rebellions triumphed in 404 B.C., beginning one last period of Egyptian independence under native rulers (dynasties 28-30).

In the mid-fourth century B.C., the Persians again attacked Egypt, reviving their empire under Ataxerxes III in 343 B.C. Barely a decade later, in 332 B.C., Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeated the armies of the Persian Empire and conquered Egypt. After Alexander’s death, Egypt was ruled by a line of Macedonian kings, beginning with Alexander’s general Ptolemy and continuing with his descendants. The last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt–the legendary Cleopatra VII–surrendered Egypt to the armies of Octavian (later Augustus ) in 31 B.C. Six centuries of Roman rule followed, during which Christianity became the official religion of Rome and the Roman Empire’s provinces (including Egypt). The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs in the seventh century A.D. and the introduction of Islam would do away with the last outward aspects of ancient Egyptian culture and propel the country towards its modern incarnation.

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History Hit Story of England: Making of a Nation

15 Amazing Ancient Cities to Visit in the World

Discover ancient history: these 15 metropolises, from the ruins of pompeii to the mountainous machu picchu, are must-visit relics of the ancient world..

Harry Sherrin

24 sep 2021.

The ancient world was rich with complex civilisations, sprawling metropolises and diverse cultures. Countless cities built in the ancient era, between roughly 3000 BC to 500 AD, still stand – albeit in varying states of preservation.

From the remains of the ancient city of Babylon to lost Roman metropolises, Mayan centres and grand Egyptian settlements, the ancient cities of the world are as varied as they are numerous.

Here are 15 of the most amazing ancient cities to visit.

1. Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is an enormous 12th-century temple complex in Cambodia and the best preserved of its kind. Incredibly grand and ornately decorated, Angkor Wat’s sand-coloured buildings rise up to form five towers, representing the home of the Hindu deities. Friezes and sculptures are found throughout, depicting both day-to-day life from the time it was built and religious events.

Today, Angkor Wat is one of Cambodia’s most popular tourist sites. There is an incredible amount to see and it’s a good idea to get a licensed tour guide. Angkor Wat has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1992.

2. Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is an extraordinary ancient stone city along the Inca Trail in Peru. Believed to have been constructed by the Inca Yupanqui people sometime during the mid-15th century, the ruins of Machu Picchu sit high atop a granite mountain. Some of the most impressive structures include the semi-circular Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows, the mausoleum and the upper cemetery.

The main Machu Picchu city is surrounded by other sites forming the Inca Trail and some of which take some serious hiking, but are well worth it. It’s also a good idea to stop at the Museo de Sitio Manuel Chávez Ballón at the base of the mountain.

Ephesus is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of Ancient Roman and Greek history, allowing them to walk through its streets and view its magnificent houses, community buildings, temples and stadiums. Some of the most impressive sites include the Library of Celsus, the ruins of which stand two storeys high, the Temple of Hadrian and the Cave of the Seven Sleepers.

A trip to Ephesus usually takes at least half a day – some tours include other local sites such as Priene and Miletus – but history enthusiasts will probably want to enjoy this site for a whole day. There is also a great Ephesus Museum displaying artefacts found in the old city.

4. Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel is an archaeological site in Egypt housing a series of incredible Ancient Egyptian monuments, especially a number of rock temples. The most famous sites at Abu Simbel are the two Temples of Ramesses II. The site was rediscovered in 1813. One of the most startling sights at Abu Simbel is the main hall of the Great Temple.

Incredibly, the temples at Abu Simbel were once located elsewhere, but were moved – with the help of UNESCO – to their current location in order to protect them from flooding. The place they once stood is now under water.

5. Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan was a holy Mesoamerican city built in around 400 BC in what is now Mexico and forms one of the country’s oldest archeological sites. Characterised by looming stepped pyramids, indeed one of the most impressive aspects of Teotihuacan is the sheer size of these monuments, including the Pyramid of the Sun, which rises 75 metres high. Incredibly well-preserved, Teotihuacan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today, Teotihuacan is one of the most popular tourist sites in Mexico and includes numerous museums, including the Museo del Sitio, just south of the Pyramid of the Sun where visitors can see various artefacts from the site. Visitors to Teotihuacan can manoeuvre their way through the city via its original streets, although take note that the site is enormous.

Jerash is one of the world’s best preserved ancient Roman sites. Today, tourists flock to see Jerash’s extensive and impressive ruins, including the Temple of Artemis and the Forum with its large ionic columns. Jerash’s original main street, the Cardo, runs through the centre of the site and, with its visible chariot marks and underground drainage system, is fascinating in its own right.

Other must-see aspects of Jerash include its still-functioning 3,000 seat South Theatre, its 2nd century AD North Theatre and its Nymphaeum fountain. Visitors can also see many of the artefacts found during the excavation of the site at the Jerash Archeological Museum.

7. Carthage

Carthage was one of the most powerful cities of the ancient world and spawned the powerful Carthaginian Empire which dominated much of the western Mediterranean. The ruins of this famed city can be found on the outskirts of modern day Tunis.

The best way to begin exploring these ruins is probably by visiting Byrsa Hill and the Carthage Museum . The museum hosts a collection of Carthaginian and Roman artefacts including marble sarcophagi and a model of Punic Carthage. Other key points of interest include the impressive Antonine Baths , the Roman Amphitheater , Roman villas and reconstructed Roman theatre of Carthage .

8. Chichen Itza

Stunningly well-preserved and imposingly beautiful, Chichen Itza is one of Mexico’s most impressive historical sites. A UNESCO World Heritage site based in the forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, Chichen Itza is actually made up of two cities built by two peoples, the Mayas and the Toltecs.

The site is made up of several surviving buildings including the Warriors’ Temple, El Castillo and a circular observatory known as El Caracol. Accounts vary as to the date of the first settlement at Chichen Itza, placing it between the 6th and 9th century AD when the Mayas built the original city.

One of the best known ancient sites in the world, Pompeii was an ancient Roman city founded in the 6th to 7th century BC. Famously, it was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The people of Pompeii were completely unprepared for this disaster and its impact, which covered Pompeii in 6-7 metres of ash.

Today, Pompeii is one of the world’s most famous archeological sites. It is a ghost town filled with the bodies of its tragic citizens, many of whom died from asphyxiation and who were preserved by the ash and cinders which buried them.

10. Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde National Park or ‘green table’ national park is a breathtaking Native American site dotted with over 4,000 archaeological treasures, including 600 exceptionally well preserved cliff dwellings dating back to 600 AD. Mesa Verde National Park was once the home of the Pueblos, a Native American people who lived there for over 700 years before migrating to New Mexico and Arizona.

Some of the sites, such as the Cliff Palace and Balcony House with its over 150 rooms can only be viewed as part of a ranger tour, for which you can buy tickets at Far View Visitor Centre before attending the sites. It’s also well worth viewing the large collection of artefacts on display.

11. Herculaneum

Herculaneum was a port town established by the ancient Romans in what is now modern Ercolano, Italy. At its peak, Herculaneum would have had around 4,000 citizens and served as a holiday town for wealthy Campanians and Romans.

Like nearby Pompeii, Herculaneum was engulfed by the lava and mud which spewed from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and, as a result, much of the town was preserved throughout the centuries. Herculaneum arguably withstood the natural disaster better than Pompeii with many of its upper floors still being intact. This, combined with the fact that Herculaneum is less crowded and easier to walk through, makes it a great site to visit.

Apamea (Afamia) is an ancient site in Syria boasting Roman colonnades and a range of other ruins. Said to have been one of the largest Seleucid cities and built in around the 4th century BC, Apamea flourished and thrived as a commercial hub. Indeed, at its peak under the Romans it had a population of some 117,000 people.

Today, most of the remains at Apamea are from the Roman period, but there are also some fascinating structures from its time under the Seleucids, many of which have been restored.

Taxila, also known as the Ancient Gandhāran city of Takshashila, is an ancient site in the Punjab Province of Pakistan, dating back as far as the 6th century BC. It witnessed the evolution of numerous civilizations, including the Persians, Greeks and Hindus.

Taxila is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a great place to discover the roots of Buddhism, the art of Gandhara and the ancient culture of the subcontinent. If you’re only planning a day’s visit, the Taxlia Museum is probably the best place to get an overview and to see some of the relics as well as the artwork.

14. Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo is a Native American settlement in New Mexico’s Rio Grande, USA. The Pueblo community in Taos Pueblo is known to date back to the 14th century, although some archeologists think it was established as far back as the 1st century AD. The Pueblo tribe is one of the most secretive and enigmatic of the Native American communities, meaning that little is known about their culture, however around 150 Pueblos still live in Taos Pueblo.

Incredibly well preserved, Taos Pueblo’s buildings form a beautiful, oft-photographed site. In 1987, Taos Pueblos was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list due to its authentic architecture and original layout. Visits can be somewhat restrictive, particularly as regards Taos Pueblo’s beautiful church, but tours are available offering an insight into the Pueblo culture.

15. Leptis Magna

Leptis Magna (Lepcis Magna) is an incredibly well preserved archaeological site in Tripoli, Libya. Originally founded by the Phoenicians as the port of Lpgy in the 1st millennium BC, Leptis Magna later became part of the Carthaginian Empire and was then incorporated into the Roman Empire in 46 BC.

Among the many ruins at Leptis Magna are the marketplace, Severan Basilica, the Forum, the Amphitheatre and the Severan Arch. These structures remain visible today, despite the many invasions that befell Leptis Magna from the 4th century onwards. Leptis Magna is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

• Read Later  

It was not uncommon for the ancient Romans to travel long distances all across Europe. Actually during the Roman Empire, Rome had an incredible road network which extended from northern England all the way to southern Egypt. At its peak, the Empire's stone paved road network reached 53,000 miles (85,000 kilometers)! Roman roads were very reliable, they were the most relied on roads in Europe for many centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It could be argued that they were more reliable than our roads today considering how long they could last and how little maintenance they required.

A Roman street in Pompeii. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Travel by road

Unlike today, travel by road was quite slow and... exhausting! For example, going from Rome to Naples would take over six days in Roman times according to ORBIS , the Google Maps for the ancient world developed by Stanford University. By comparison, it takes about two hours and 20 minutes to drive from Rome to Naples today.

Funeral relief (2nd century ) depicting an Ancient Roman carriage. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Romans would travel in a raeda , a carriage with four noisy iron-shod wheels, many wooden benches inside for the passengers, a clothed top (or no top at all) and drawn by up to four horses or mules. The raeda was the equivalent of the bus today and Roman law limited the amount of luggage it could carry to 1,000 libra (or approximately 300 kilograms).

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Rich Romans traveled in the carpentum which was the limousine of wealthy Romans. The carpentum was pulled by many horses, it had four wheels, a wooden arched rooftop, comfortable cushy seats, and even some form a suspension to make the ride more comfortable. Romans also had what would be the equivalent of our trucks today: the plaustrum . The plaustrum could carry heavy loads, it had a wooden board with four thick wheels and was drawn by two oxen. It was very slow and could travel only about 10-15 miles (approximately 15 to 25 kilometers) per day.

Carpentum replica at the Cologne Museum . ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The fastest way to travel from Rome to Naples was by horse relay or the cursus publicus , which was like a state-run postal service and a service used to transport officials (such as magistrates or people from the military). A certificate issued by the emperor was required in order for the service to be used. A series of stations with fresh and rapid horses were built at short regular intervals (approximately eight miles or 12 kilometers) along the major road systems. Estimates of how fast one could travel using the cursus publicus vary. A study by A.M. Ramsey in "The speed of the Roman Imperial Post" (Journal of Roman Studies) estimates that a typical trip was made at a rate of 41 to 64 miles per day (66 - 103 kilometers per day).  Therefore, the trip from Rome to Naples would take approximately two days using this service.

Because of their iron-shod wheels, Roman carriages made of a lot of noise. That's why they were forbidden from big Roman cities and their vicinity during the day. They were also quite uncomfortable due to their lack of suspension, making the ride from Rome to Naples quite bumpy. Fortunately, Roman roads had way stations called mansiones (meaning "staying places" in Latin) where ancient Romans could rest. Mansiones were the equivalent of our highway rest areas today. They sometimes had restaurants and pensions where Romans could drink, eat and sleep. They were built by the government at regular intervals usually 15 to 20 miles apart (around 25 to 30 kilometers). These mansiones were often badly frequented, with prostitutes and thieves roaming around. Major Roman roads also had tolls just like our modern highways. These tolls were often situated at bridges (just like today) or at city gates.

Travel by sea and river

Man sailing a corbita, a small coastal vessel with two masts. ( Public Domain )

There were no passenger ships or cruise ships in ancient Rome. But there were tourists. It was actually not uncommon for well-to-do Romans to travel just for the sake of traveling and visiting new places and friends. Romans had to board a merchant ship. They first had to find a ship, then get the captain's approval and negotiate a price with him. There were a large number of merchant ships traveling regular routes in the Mediterranean. Finding a ship traveling to a specific destination, for example in Greece or Egypt, at a specific time and date wasn't that difficult.

Ancient Roman river vessel carrying barrels, assumed to be wine, and people. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Romans would stay on the deck of the ship and sometimes there would be hundreds of people on the deck. They would bring their own supplies aboard including food, games, blankets, mattresses, or even tents to sleep in. Some merchant ships had cabins at the stern that could accommodate only the wealthiest Romans. It is worth noting that very wealthy Romans could own their own ships, just like very wealthy people own big yachts today. Interestingly, a Roman law forbade senators from owning ships able to carry more than 300 amphorae jars as these ships could also be used to trade goods.

How clay amphorae vessels may have been stacked on a galley. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

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Traveling by ship wasn't very slow, even compared to modern day standards. For example, going from Brindisium in Italy to Patrae in Greece would take over three days, versus about one day today. Romans could also travel from Italy to Egypt in just a few days. Commercial navigation was suspended during the four winter months in the Mediterranean. This was called the mare clausum . The sea was too rough and too dangerous for commercial ships to sail. Therefore, traveling by sea was close to impossible during the winter and Romans could only travel by road. There were also many navigable rivers that were used to transport merchandise and passengers, even during the winter months.

Traveling during the time of the ancient Romans was definitely not as comfortable as today. However, it was quite easy to travel thanks to Rome's developed road network with its system of way stations and regular ship lines in the Mediterranean. And Romans did travel quite a lot!

Featured image: An ancient Roman road at Leptis Magna, Libya.( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

By: Victor Labate

Romae Vitam. Roman roads. [Online] Available here.

Watler Scheidel, Elijah Meeks. ORBIS The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. Orbis.Stanford.edu [Online] Available at: http://orbis.stanford.edu

Romae Vitam. Roman carriages. [Online] Available here.

Romae Vitam. Roman ships. [Online] Available here.

Somebody should get the radio-metric signatures from the bed rocks.  MUCH, MUCH OLDER, (CERTAINLY pre-Roman) than they say.  Of course, nothing seems to bring down that big, tall institutional house-of-cards (their stories), tilting now like never before.

Nobody gets paid to tell the truth.

Would love to be there after new york niagara falls to have fun and see more around me.

I read that the postal service could get a message from Canterbury (UK )to Rome (Italy) in 4 days flat, almost as good as airmail today. Incredible.

So the two day rush shipment from Rome to Naples was roughly the same as UPS today!

Fascinating reading about day to day things like this. Would have to be able to have a camera that can look back in time and show what these roads were like. Wonder how busy they got?

I am a Roman history buff and the owner of the website  Romae-Vitam   http://www.romae-vitam.com .

I am not an historian but I enjoy reading books about Roman history, visiting historical places and museums.

Website:  http://www.romae-vitam.com

Facebook page:   https://facebook.com/romaevitam/

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The King's Highway was one of the great trade routes of the Middle East during biblical times.

10 ancient highways around the world

Travel back in time on these storied roads.

From Japan's serene mountain ranges to Cambodia's overgrown jungles, the remnants of these ancient highways will transport you back in time.

The Old North Trail, North America

The Blackfeet Indians traveled along the Old North Trail, which originally stretched nearly 2,000 miles (3,220 kilometers) from Canada to Mexico , running along the “backbone of the world” that later Americans called the Rockies. It took the Blackfeet four years to go from end to end on trips to trade, make sacred journeys, or find a wife. You can visit fragments still visible in Glacier National Park in Montana. ( See beautiful photos of all 61 U.S. national parks. )

The Nakasendo Highway, Japan

This narrow, 17th-century highway linking Kyoto and Edo (modern Tokyo ) was built along the route of an older trail. Running for 310 miles (500 kilometers) along the shores of Lake Biwa, across mountain ranges and down onto the Kanto Plain around Edo, it was meant for horses and pedestrians—the Japanese did not use carts. Parts of the tranquil route have been preserved and restored, which means that you have to walk them, as most of its original travelers did. ( How Mount Fuji became one of Japan's most sacred symbols. )

Parts of Japan’s 17th-century Nakasendo Highway have been preserved and restored to their original tranquility.

The Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail, Hong Kong, China

For centuries, people traveled along this rugged footpath between Yuen Long and Tsuen Wan in what is now Hong Kong’s New Territories. Today, both ends of the trail are embedded in a thoroughly urban sprawl of malls and traffic jams, but the middle remains a delicious haven of peace.

The Khmer Highway, Cambodia/Thailand

This ancient 140-mile (225-kilometer) highway ran between Angkor, Cambodia , and Phimai, Thailand , and was sacred to the Cambodian empire’s “god-kings,” who traveled the highway visiting temples and performing religious ceremonies involving fire, water, and linga (stone phallic sculptures). Most of it is now overgrown with jungle, but you can still visit many of the temples and drive along a sector near Phimai. ( Discover the Mekong through colorful illustrations. )

The Old Great North Road, Australia

Famous as a masterpiece of 19th-century engineering, the road is also infamous for the use of forced convict laborers, some of them in leg irons, to build it. It started in Sydney and ended at Newcastle in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. Some sections follow ancient Aboriginal tracks. ( The 6 best stargazing spots in Australia. )

The Persian Royal Road, Turkey to Iran

Darius the Great of Persia developed this road linking the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, running from Sardis in northwest Turkey across Mesopotamia to Susa in Iran . King Midas, the prophet Daniel, Queen Esther, the historian Herodotus, and the conqueror Alexander the Great are all on the roll call of those who traveled along it. ( See Iran's most wild and beautiful places. )

The King’s Highway, Egypt to Syria

This was one of the great trade routes of the Middle East during biblical times, running from Egypt across Sinai to the Gulf of Aqaba, then north into Syria. It passes many pilgrimage sites, including Mount Nebo, Jordan, where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. ( This temple honors the Egyptian queen who ruled as king. )

The Via Egnatia, Albania to Turkey

The Romans, Greeks, Byzantines, Crusaders, Venetians, Ottomans, and Austrians have all used this astonishing road across the mountains of the Balkan peninsula. Roman proconsul Gnaeus Egnatius built it in the first century B.C. to link the Adriatic with the Aegean Sea and the Bosporus. ( This heavenly building served as both church and mosque. )

The Amber Road, Russia to Italy

From ancient times, amber—“the gold of the north”—was traded along this route linking the Baltic with the Adriatic. Today, it makes an intriguing trail to follow from St. Petersburg across eastern and central Europe to Venice.

The Via Augusta, Spain

Follow the road named after the Emperor Augustus, from Cádiz in Andalusia north through the modern-day Coll de Panissars in Catalonia to the Pyrenees. There it joins the Via Domitia, and goes on to Rome, where all roads meet. ( Discover Spain's lesser known UNESCO World Heritage sites. )

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• July 1, 2022
• Europe , Now Boarding , Travel Inspiration

Explore Ancient Greece – A 14 days Travel Itinerary

While there are many tours and itineraries which incorporate everything that Greece has to offer, such as the magical Greek Islands, historic locations as well as adventurous locations, we have put together a 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary that is ideally suited to those who want to get up close and personal with the many ancient ruins and sites that revolve around the countries impressive and long past. 

This itinerary will be an exciting opportunity to be guided by a local Destination Expert, who can answer your questions along the way, introduce you to these sites from a local perspective and show you some important hidden gems, which are significant to Greece’s historic past. If you are a history buff and have always wanted to get an in-depth look at the various sites scattered throughout Greece, then this 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary is for you.

Athens, Delphi, Olympia, Meteora & Santorini

While some of these sites can be explored within a short time, this 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary ensures that you get to see a variety of the best and most important (and most impressive) ancient sites which are located around the country. Two weeks is a perfect amount of time to enjoy your time, take it all in, and still have time to relax in between all the visits, which is a must when it comes to an itinerary like this. There is so much to look forward to on this immersive 14-day itinerary, so let us show you what you can expect to experience.

Day 1: Athens

You will begin your journey in the capital of Athens, a city that is one of the oldest in the world. You will have a chance to unwind, explore the streets of the vibrant Plaka neighborhood, as well as indulge in your first of many Greek dinners that evening with a phenomenal view over the Parthenon. Get a good rest tonight, to set yourself up for the following days of history and adventure.

Day 2: Athens

Today will be an immersive experience of Athens and all that it offers, including a city tour, a trip to the Acropolis, and a visit to the Acropolis Museum, which houses all the artifacts ever found at this site. You will get y=to feast your eyes on the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaea, the Nike Temple, and while exploring the city you can marvel at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Ancient Agora, and the National Observatory of Athens.

Day 3: Delphi

Today you will make your way to Delphi, a place steeped in history, 3,000 years of it to be specific, and history lovers will be in their element with a guided tour of the Archeological Museum of Delphi, the UNESCO World Heritage Site itself as well as the stories behind it all. This impressive archeological site was recognized for its unique place in Ancient Greek mythology, culture, and Hellenic unity and was the home of the Muses where people consulted the Oracle of Delphi for wisdom before any major decisions were made. There is plenty of information to take in today, so take your time and ask plenty of questions.

Day 4: Olympia

Olympia is one of the most fascinating places on earth and is one that has such a strong historical significance in Greece and throughout the world. No trip to the mainland is complete without a visit to the birthplace of the Olympic Games, which began in the 8th Century BC and lasted until the 4th Century AD. Apart from marveling at one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you will get a chance to visit the on-site museum, which will provide all the relevant information.

Day 5: Dimoitsana Village

This rural village in the mountains of the Peloponnese was once an important base for revolutionary fighters and is home to an Open-Air Water Powered Museum which can be discovered before some river walking to the town of Stemitsana for an afternoon of leisure. This town is known for its handicrafts and silver smithing, so be sure to wander around and see what gems you can find.

Day 6: Nafplio

This coastal town is a beauty waiting to be discovered, and not only does it have an impressive hilltop fortress that provides excellent coastal views, but the town itself is a joy to wander around, with plenty of bars, restaurants, and local stores to enjoy. Take some time to enjoy the harbor, follow in the footsteps of history and enjoy some local food and drinks in town with stunning vistas.

Day 7: Ancient Mycenae

Today you will visit the archaeological site of Mycenae, which is one of the most famous in the country and will be a fantastic experience for anyone with a keen interest in Greek history. This impressive site was recognized by UNESCO for many reasons, and it is one of the most visited ancient sites of Greece, providing a great insight into Mycenae culture and civilization, which dominated mainland Greece at one time.

Day 8: Travel to Santorini

After many days of historic sites, incredible views, and a lot of information, it is time to take the ferry to Santorini, the first island of the trip. This is an ideal place to relax, unwind and experience a part of Greece which differs greatly from the mainland. This will be the ideal chance to get more into the culture and heritage of Greece, giving you a different perspective of the country compared to the ancient Greek way of life you have come to learn about. Experience the history of winemaking, try local food, and enjoy the stunning sunset over the iconic white and blue hillside houses, before diving right back into your ancient Greece travel itinerary with a visit to the Byzantine Castle ruins.

Day 9: Santorini at your leisure

Today is the day you can pick and choose what you feel like doing, and Santorini is an ideal place to suit everyone’s taste, with a variety of beaches to relax on, activities to enjoy, and sights to see – your day can be enjoyed as you please. Some fantastic options include taking a boat trip to the Santorini caldera, doing some hiking, going swimming at one of the many Blue Flag beaches, or strolling around the local shops taking the day slowly.

Day 10: Hiking the Caldera

This makes for an adventurous day of exploration, history, and discovery, as well as impressive landscapes and sights to behold. Santorini’s volcanic landscape is best-enjoyed on a hiking adventure, and today you will take on the Fira – Oia hike which will take between 2 – 5 hours and can be taken fast or slow. This hike is suitable for everyone and those looking for more of a challenge can take the extra hour to detour to Skaros Rock, before continuing along the 10.5km (6.5 miles) path.

Day 11: Mykonos

Your next island destination is Mykonos, and although it is renowned for its fantastic beaches, vibrant culture, and nature, there are a host of ancient sites you can choose to explore during your free time. Your first day in Mykonos can be enjoyed by taking in the vibes of the narrow streets, enjoying some local food, and perhaps opting for some adrenaline-filled water activities, before taking on some more ancient adventures tomorrow.

Day 12: Mykonos

Today you will visit some of the most unspoiled beaches of the island, which you may even get to enjoy completely alone – a rarity on a Greek island. You can visit the Ano Mera village and its open-air market, and if you have some time today you may wish to take the 30-minute boat ride to visit Ancient Delos which served as the religious center of the Aegean and is said to have been the birthplace of the Greek Gods Apollo and Artemis. You can also opt to explore the Mykonos Ancient folklore museum as well as Kastro Panigraki and the archeological site of Ftelia. 

Day 13: Return to Athens

This is a great way to end your trip, by spending the day how you like, depending on what you missed out on at the beginning or are interested in seeing this time around. Some great options are to visit the National Archaeology Museum, the ancient marketplace of Agora, the fascinating Byzantium Museum, the frescoed Church of the Holy Apostles and witness the Changing of the Guard at Syntagma Square.

Day 14: Departure from Athens

Your ancient Greece travel itinerary is complete, and you will depart from Athens today, no doubt with many memorable experiences under your belt, as well as a better understanding of what life was like in ancient Greece. 

Best suited to Families, solo travelers, couples, and groups with a keen interest in ancient Greek history. 

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S panning one-ninth of the earth's circumference across three continents, the Roman Empire ruled a quarter of humanity through complex networks of political power, military domination and economic exchange. These extensive connections were sustained by premodern transportation and communication technologies that relied on energy generated by human and animal bodies, winds, and currents.

Conventional maps that represent this world as it appears from space signally fail to capture the severe environmental constraints that governed the flows of people, goods and information. Cost, rather than distance, is the principal determinant of connectivity.

For the first time, ORBIS allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity.

Taking account of seasonal variation and accommodating a wide range of modes and means of transport, ORBIS reveals the true shape of the Roman world and provides a unique resource for our understanding of premodern history.

In the aggregate, our model simulations make it possible to reconfigure conventional maps of the Roman Empire to express the relative cost of transfers from or to a central point as distance. This perspective captures the structural properties of the imperial system as a whole by identifying the relative position of particular elements of the network and illustrating the impact of travel speed and especially transport prices on overall connectivity. Distance cartograms show that due to massive cost differences between aquatic and terrestrial modes of transport, peripheries were far more remote from the center in terms of price than in terms of time.

A comma-separated date file. You can:

'Open with...' a spreadsheet program or text editor, or Choose 'Save as...' and rename with and extention of '.csv' -- for example, routes01.csv

Man goes to Rome to see stunning ancient sites – but gets nasty surprise

Lachy McIntyre, 24, had been looking forward to exploring the tourist hotspots of Rome, Italy - but when he arrived some popular sites were covered in scaffolding

• 08:00, 28 Sep 2024
• Updated 08:59, 28 Sep 2024

A tourist was left flabbergasted when he landed in Rome only to find out he couldn't see some of the most popular hotspots.

Lachy McIntyre, who posts online under the username @lach_mac , is known for his situational skits, POV humour, celebrity impressions, and pop culture commentary. The 24-year-old Australian lad has racked up more than 900,000 followers and recently went viral for sharing an insight into his recent travels.

The bloke had been looking forward to exploring the Italian city — visiting sites like Piazza Navona's Fountain of Four Rivers or the Renaissance fountain in front of the Pantheon. However, the reality was vastly different to the beautiful spots he'd seen online.

In one video, which has gained more than 93,000 likes, he was seen standing outside of them but he couldn't see any of it for scaffolding. He joked in the caption: "I didn't believe the Cheryl All At Once video but it's true. So blessed to see the ancient scaffolding of Rome."

The spot is reportedly undergoing restoration work ahead of the 2025 Roman Catholic Holy Year. According to Reuters , the Vatican expects up to 32 million tourists will descend on the Italian capital for the Jubilee, leading to the city taking on a record 3,200 public construction works to prepare.

TikTok users were left in stitches over the clip and took to the comments to poke fun at the hilarious error. One user said: "The pictures around the fountain just to rub it in," while another added: "That’s why it’s worth googling before you go places."

A third commented: "I've been on vacation in Rome since yesterday, I have the same feeling." Someone else wrote: "Going to Rome one year before the Jubilee is just crazy. Everything is being repaired and prepared."

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