unesco
grand canyon: is it really grand?
Before seeing the Grand Canyon, we really had no expectation and without sounding sarcastic… “How grand can it really be?”
In our original post about this trip, we described that the Grand Canyon is magnificently enormous. And honestly after seeing it with our own eyes, we can confirm that it really is GRAND.
According to UNESCO*, the national park contains more than 2,600 documented prehistoric ruins, untouched until about 1860s. There are 5 life and vegetation zones within the canyon, with over 1,000 species of identified plants.
The Grand Canyon is a gorge, carved out by the Colorado River, millions of years ago. It is approximately 1.5km deep and 450 km long. And honestly, looking out at it, the canyon seems to go on forever! Great times to witness the canyon are during sunrise and sunset when the colours of the canyon change before your eyes.
Words can simply not describe what we could see. Photographs doesn’t do it justice. Witnessing the natural beauty in front of us reminded us what a wonderful world that we live in!
There are times when places are “talked up” and don’t really live to their name or reputation. But here at the Grand Canyon, we certainly were not disappointed! Go see it for yourself, if you haven’t already!
Unfortunately, we didn’t go on a helicopter ride over the canyon, as what we have heard is only gushing reviews about seeing it that way.
Grand Canyon National Park was listed as a
UNESCO Heritage site in 1979.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited,
visit our unofficial bucket list
* Ref: The World’s Heritage – the best-selling guide to the most extraordinary places (UNESCO Publishing 2011)
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acropolis: our first unesco heritage site
Reaching the Acropolis involved walking up an unsealed ramp with rather steep inclines. We had just come off a 30-odd hour flight from Sydney and we were exhausted but the adrenaline kicked in as we caught glimpses of the Acropolis. The intention was not to visit it straight away but seeing it there, high in the sky, we were compelled to visit. Thus became the first UNESCO Heritage Site we have ever visited together. And it just took our breath away. Getting to the top did not disappoint except maybe the throngs of other travelers there. What we saw was so surreal – walking amongst so much history – so much Greek history that we had learnt about in high school.
The Acropolis of Athens is situated on a flat-topped rock approximately 156 metres above Athens and covers about 3 hectares. It was around the 5th century BCE that the most important buildings were built such as the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion.
The Parthenon is probably the most well-known piece of architecture within the Acropolis. It was the main temple dedicated to the goddess, Athena. Over the thousands year of its existence, it has acted as a Roman Catholic church, a Greek Orthodox Christian church and an Islamic mosque. In the 19th century, the Parthenon lost some of its marble sections, which is now housed in the British Museum.
We look back on our photos from 2006 and with our really small memory card, we couldn’t take many photos but of the ones we took, these are worth sharing 🙂 We are SO inspired to visit Greece again and see even more of this country’s beauty and history!
Acropolis, Athens was listed as a UNESCO Heritage site in 1987.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited, visit our unofficial bucket list
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himeji castle: one of japan’s oldest castles
Reading just the other day about Cherry Blossom season made us think of our time in Japan. Flicking through our photos we came across photos of Himeji Castle.
Himeji Castle survived World War II bombings and earthquakes and is an example of Japanese castle architecture dating back to the 17th century. However, the history of the castle spans back to the 1300s, where it started as a fort and then a castle before becoming the castle that we see today. It is one of 12 oldest castles still standing out of about 25 000 (yes, 25 thousand) castles ever built in Japanese history. It is 6 levels high with very steep stairwells and with each floor, the stairwell get narrower and steeper.
We had to take our shoes off so were climbing the stairs light-footedly like ninjas. The depth of each step, the higher we got, was so narrow, we were only able to place half our foot on. Basically we were tippy-toeing to the top, making us feel even more ninja-like 🙂 And the view when we got to the top was worth the sore calf muscles! It really was quite a fortress!
The castle sits atop a hill and looks so wondrous and white and is referred to sometimes as the White Heron Castle. The day we were there, the sky was so blue – it was simply picture perfect.
Himeji Castle was listed as a UNESCO Heritage site in 1993.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited, visit our unofficial bucket list
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weekend walks: thirlmere lakes national park
Thirlmere Lakes National Park is approximately 80 km southwest of Sydney. It is part of the Greater Blue Mountains area which is listed on the UNESCO Heritage List. The National Park is open from sunrise to sunset.
It was overcast and wet – the walking conditions were very different from last week. It was a 6 km loop walk around the lakes and we were the only visitors in the National Park (or at least it seemed).
The walk was easy but because some of the track was overgrown in places, we need to push past shrubs and ferns, climbed over logs and walked under fallen trees. The vegetation was quite varied throughout the walk and it was quite clear that bushfires had ripped through at some point. See if you can spot the evidence of it. There was one section where it was like a tree cemetery.
Like any National Parks, there is also wildlife. As we walked through, we could hear so many different types of birds singing above us competing with the cicadas. There were birds of all shapes and sizes flying across the lake and colourful butterflies dancing past us as we walked. At one point, as we stopped to take some photos, we heard branches snapping and a grey fluffy animal bouncing away (we figured it was wallaby). Unfortunately, we were not quick enough to capture any of the wildlife on camera BUT we did capture a few burrows that we found along the way 🙂
As we walked, it was so peaceful to just hear the sounds of nature and nothing else except maybe the occasional plane flying overhead.
Hope you enjoy our photos this week!!
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wise monkeys abroad 