As I work through writing my travel adventures (here’s some more information about my project, if you haven’t read that yet), I get to reminisce about the amazing things I’ve seen and done. So I thought I’d share some of those here too – to give you a flavour of what will be in the book.

Here are my Top 5 Ancient Monuments – hopefully I’ll get chance to visit some more before my travels are over, but these are my favourites so far!

The Pyramids and Sphinx

The first time I visited Egypt, we were actually in Cyprus (and I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for the book for the full story behind that)! We travelled to Cairo to see the Pyramids and Sphinx. Aside from being most confused that they’re not in the middle of the desert, but actually right on the edge of the city, we were blown away to be standing at the base of one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Ancient Rome

I was initially going to say The Colosseum, but ancient Rome is more than that. Sure, the Colosseum is the biggest, most prominent monument on the landscape, but I loved seeing the Circus Maximus and the Forum too. Especially when much of that sightseeing was done from the comfort of a Segway (more on that another time!)

Olympia

My most recent ancient visit, one of my favourite things about seeing the site of the first Olympics was knowing that I was walking on the same ground as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. That’s so cool! Standing on the starting line of the stadium, and sitting on one of the winners’ plinths was pretty awesome too, of course.

Petra

It may have been hotter than the surface of the sun that day (probably an exaggeration, but that’s how it felt), but walking through a canyon before being confronted by the Treasury at Petra was a spectacular experience.

Abu Simbel

Back to Egypt, the temples built for Ramses II and his main wife are truly monuments to behold. Carved into the mountain, engineered to the nth degree, filled with carving after carving… As a writer, I wish I could do a better job of explaining just how awe-inspiring these temples are.

Like I said, I do hope to visit many more ancient ruins – after all, I do want to get to the rest of the 7 wonders, and Machu Pichu is on my Bucket List too…