Great Wall of China, Beijing 4/8/24

 

Great Wall of China Beijing

Mao Zedong states saying ‘One is not a hero until they have climbed the Wall!  We are now Hero’s!  

The Great Wall is reputed as one of the seven construction wonders in the world because of its long history, its massive construction size, and its unique architectural style.  It was built by soldiers, prisoners, and local people.  It's the longest man-made structure in the world. The entire wall is over 21,000 kilometers long (almost 13,171 miles) And it has an average height and width of about six to eight meters. (25 feet) It's believed it would take you three to six months just to walk along the main section of the wall. The steps we were climbing were 1-2 feet high.  

The Great Wall of China became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1987

•The longest man-made structure in the world! 

•Built by over 6 different Chinese dynasties and is over 2,300 years old.

We started our day early - the Wall is a 3.5-hour drive from Beijing and then 3.5 hours back to our ship, so another long day, but well worth it.  The weather was a bit on the chilly side, bur certainly comfortable considering a walk along the wall.

As we drove in we could see parts of the wall and the buildings built along the way.  It is pretty incredible - we visited the Juyongguan Section.

Entrance gate to the Great Wall.

At the beginning of the climb

  

I made it two levels up - stairs were pretty steep and 1 - 2 feet high.  I can at least say I climbed the Great Wall- not to the top, but Mickey did.  Here are a series of photos as he made it to the top tower.

Gotta look hard in some of the pictures but that's him...gonna conquer the wall

At the 2nd tower and pictures of that last climb and the grounds that he started from.  Look at picture bottom right - I made it to that 2nd level and it shows the temple that are pictured in the next few collages.  

And here are pictures of the surrounding buildings and temples.  It is really something to see

And while we did not get to see the wall at night as the 18 hour tour did, I at least got some pictures from a friend who did the marathon day...it was a great party for the world cruisers

And the back side of the gate heading to our lunch stop.

And on to lunch before we head back to our ship.  It was a great lunch, served family style and the food just kept coming.

After lunch I wandered back to the temple and met some Chinese friends...

And back to the ship after 2 fabulous days.  While the Wall was impressive, I was blown away by the Forbidden City and so happy we did not miss that experience.

On to our next port Nagasaki Japan after a day at sea...