Angkor Wat, Cambodia
The current situation prevents us from traveling, walk not only through other unknown places but through our own city, discover other cultures, meeting new people, participating in other traditions...
And yes, it is normal to be sad about it. The #I stay at home marks our day to day and new initiatives, plans and activities to carry out from the comfort of our sofa do not stop emerging: attend the theater and the opera, delve into library archives, take virtual tours of the world's museums, parks and gardens... or even ride a roller coaster!
To all this is added a most interesting plan: visit no fewer than 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
How? Through Google Earth, who has elaborated a list of historical sites through which to go around the world –virtually–, and by the way, learn about its history and curiosities.
From the Taj Mahal to Versailles, passing through Pompeii, Stonehenge and the Alhambra: this is just an appetizer of the adventure, join us!
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, England
FIRST STOP: JAPAN
Of the 30 World Heritage Sites offered by this virtual tour, six are spread throughout the territory of Japan.
Thus, we begin our journey in Kyoto , where we discover two imposing temples –Tenryuji Temple (founded in 1339) and Nishi Honganji Temple (1591)– and Nijo-jo Castle (1603), residence of the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Without leaving the Japanese country, we can also enter Himeji Jo Castle, near Kobe –the most visited castle in Japan– and Itsukushima Shrine –built on the sea as a jetty so that it seems to float on the water–.
Finally, we can also admire the Hiroshima Peace Memorial , the only structure left standing near the center where the first atomic bomb exploded in 1945.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial
FROM HERITAGE TO HERITAGE
Indonesia also offers us a multitude of World Heritage Sites those who travel from home, specifically on the island of Java: Borobudur Temple and Pawon Temple (both belonging to the Borobudur Ensemble), the Site of the first men of Sangiran -inhabited for a million and a half years- and the Prambanan Temple , in the city of Yogyakarta.
It is also mandatory to stop at the towers of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and the Taj Mahal (Agra, India) then jump into Egypt and visit the Great Pyramid of Giza (also called Cheops pyramid), the only wonder of the ancient world that remains intact today and the famous Sphinx.
Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta (Indonesia)
THE EUROPEAN WORLD HERITAGE SITE
There are many places of Europe Heritage of Humanity for which we can take a virtual walk.
For example, if we zoom in on Poland we can enter the Swidnica Church of Peace –which owes its name to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648–, the Church of the Archangel of Saint Michael in Binarowa –one of the wooden churches in the Małopolska region– and the Centennial Center in Wroclaw –milestone in the history of reinforced concrete construction–.
The Church of Peace in the city of Swidnica, Poland
In Italy, we can do "virtual hiking" through the Dolomites mountain range, in the northeast of the country and continue south until reaching the archaeological sites of Pompeii, where you can appreciate the remains of this Roman society preserved under the ashes of the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79.
In United Kingdom he awaits us Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London – which has the largest collection of living plants in the world – and the megalithic monument of stonehenge , in Wiltshire, whose meaning is still being studied.
Zoom in and enjoy the landscape of the Dolomites!
We go to Slovakia to visit two impressive caves: the Jasovská Cave –an underground cavity of stalactites in which numerous archaeological discoveries have taken place, especially from the Paleolithic, the Neolithic and the Hallstatt culture– and the Domica Cave in Jasov –the largest cave in the Slovak Karst, discovered in 1926–.
Domica Cave, Jasov (Slovakia)
Other essential stops on this virtual tour of the Old Continent are: the palace of Versailles –residence of the French monarchy from Louis XIV to Louis XVI–, the network of Kinderdijk Elshout Mills in the Netherlands and the architectural complex of the Laura of the Trinity and Saint Sergius in Sergiyev Posad, Russia –spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church–.
A walk through Versailles without leaving home
WHAT WORLD HERITAGE PLACES CAN WE VISIT IN SPAIN?
In Spain, we can visit four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Sagrada Familia (Barcelona), the Monastery of San Millán de Yuso (San Millán de la Cogolla), the Cathedral of Seville and the Alhambra in Granada.
The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) they were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in December 1997 and recognized as "the cradle of the written and spoken Spanish language".
The expiatory temple of the Sagrada Familia is a large Catholic basilica designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and despite not being completed, it is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Construction began in 1882, but it was a year later, in 1883, when Gaudí took charge of the project using his particular architectural and technical style, which combines forms of gothic art and curved lines typical of modernism.
Holy Family, Barcelona
The Cathedral of Sevilla (Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Sede) is the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world and the third largest as a church. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, along with the Alcázar and the Archivo de Indias.
The Alhambra It is a complex of palace and fortress originally built in the year 889 AD. C. as a small fortress, and was largely ignored until, In the mid-11th century, the Moorish emir Muhammad ben Al‑Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada ordered the renovation and reconstruction of its ruins and ordered the construction of the current palace and its walls. In 1333, the sultan of Granada Yusuf I made the Alhambra the royal palace.
Alhambra, Granada