Read more about the article Tikal – Guatemala
Tikal - Guatemala

Tikal – Guatemala

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The Most Powerful of the Maya Kingdoms

At the very heart of the Maya civilization we reach Tikal, the most important of the ancient capitals they had (there were 4 of them). The most powerful of all the kingdoms the Maya world was structured of. Remotely located in the middle of the pristine jungle of northern Guatemala, around one hour bus drive from Flores, means the hordes of tourists you see in Chichen Itza are not even a tenth in here. We were extremely lucky to enjoy the site almost to ourselves alone and have most of the pictures with no one else around.

Merely 20% of the site has been excavated and exposed to the public, the other 80% lies beneath the thick and dense jungle. You can guess from the many tree-covered mounts that an structure is underneath. Infra-red studies made by NASA show over 4000 constructions! You can imagine the vast size of this place if everything would be uncovered.

Fortunately, what you see today is well enough to give you an idea of how powerful Tikal once was while the many ongoing works to discover, uncover and restore are slowly expanding the area to the visitors. (more…)

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Read more about the article Uxmal – Mexico
Uxmal - Mexico

Uxmal – Mexico

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Oxmal, Three Times Built

Another day and another Maya city: welcome to Uxmal. The 4th pre-Columbian archaeological site we visit in this trip so far, and sadly meaning only one more left to go. This is quite different to Chichen Itza even the distance separating both is not that big and both are of Maya civilization. The main difference is the architectural style. Although structures are always repeating on every city; final decoration, sculptures and finishings are not the same. While Chichen Itza has a wide mix of styles, Uxmal is entirely Puuc.

How can you easily spot what is Puuc architecture? Notice the intricate mosaics made of stone on the upper façades of the constructions. This is something unique to this style and the finest examples are found in Uxmal, the largest city on such style.

Being around half of the size of Chichen Itza, and so near to many other Maya cities, it is easy to actually visit more than one in the same day. In fact and as I will explain below in the section how to visit the site, there are Sunday tours where they take you to 5 cities. This is called La Ruta Puuc (the Puuc Route). (more…)

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Read more about the article Chichen Itza – Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza – Mexico

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At the Mouth of the Well of the Itza

Welcome to Chichen Itza. The third pre-Columbian archaeological site we visit on our tour, and one of the finest of the entire Maya civilization for the size, history and how well preserved it’s been kept and excavated. An UNESCO World Heritage listed masterpiece. Incredible to see how some of the constructions seem to have been built recently, but in fact, they are even 2000 years old. Of course it’s been greatly restored and rebuilt, adding back the missing stones taken over centuries for the use on other constructions like the Spanish did for churches and cathedrals upon conquering the region and founding new cities.

The site is still not fully excavated, but it’s one of the most uncovered and studied Maya cities in the region, including as far as Guatemala. The jungle in here is not as dense any more as it used to be years back, something that helped in the other hand to uncover and discover new constructions. This is a subject I will come across again when talking about Tikal in Guatemala because in there that is the totally opposite side of the coin, pristine thick jungle where 80% of the ancient city still lies under the jungle.

From all the structures in the site, two will get your look immediately for being in perfect shape. The Castle (El Castillo) pyramid and the ball court. The pyramid is so well preserved that you can see the snake effect on the stairs, for this you will need to look to it sideways and there you will see the head of the snake and the body all the way up to the top. (more…)

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Read more about the article Puebla and Cholula – Mexico
Puebla and Cholula - Mexico

Puebla and Cholula – Mexico

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Angelopolis, the City of Angels

Moving on to some other stunning cities while we traveling across Mexico we reach the jewels of Puebla and Cholula, some of the most wonderful places the country has to offer. Two cities right next to each other, the smallest volcano in the world, and the largest pyramid by volume in the world. Plenty to see and do, ideally on a two day visit although if time is your limitation, a well planned one day visit will be good enough as it was in our case.

Both cities, but specially Puebla, the 4th largest city in Mexico and a wonderful UNESCO World Heritage Site listed old town, do follow the usual Spanish colonial orthogonal street planning with a central square, usually named the Zocalo, home to the cathedral and City Hall buildings along the sides. From all the cities we visited, plus the many villages we passed by travelling on buses, this was repeated on and on. Having such city planning, it is almost impossible to get at any point lost.

The best way to fully discover and enjoy the countless historical buildings and sights all around is by doing spirals or zig zags. Both ways are quite self explained. After all the sizes of this places are small and straightforward.

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Read more about the article Teotihuacan – Mexico
Teotihuacan - Mexico

Teotihuacan – Mexico

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Place Where Gods Were Born

Greetings from the stunning ancient city of Teotihuacan. Being the most visited place in Mexico there is no doubt to wonder why. Every visitor to Mexico City should include this place in their list, not only if you are just visiting DF or if on a wider tour around other cities across the country. It is one of the highlights of the American continent and for civilization lovers, it is one of the greatest places in the world. Included on any list of to-dos in a lifetime, of course listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

As opposed to what most people think, this is not a city from the ancient Maya, but from the Aztecs, although still unknown who precisely founded it. All that is known is that at the time, over 2000 years ago, it was already one of the largest cities on earth.

Today you can still admire such an impressive pyramidal structures, and the crown jewel of all, both the Sun and Moon pyramids; everything symmetrically organised along the Avenue of the Dead (Calzada de los Muertos). Incredible to think of such engineering and impressive techniques to build such enormous monuments. And consider that all you see there today are the stone constructions; now imagine how it would be looking in the ancient times with the countless homes made of wood surrounding the complex. Big! Yes, very big and overwhelming.

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Read more about the article Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur – Egypt
Giza - Egypt

Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur – Egypt

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The last surviving Wonder of the Ancient World

This is without exception, the highlight of any trip to Egypt that also includes Cairo. Giza in any case, it is nowadays a suburb of the ever expanding Cairo, where the houses have reached literally the very limit of the fences that separate it with the Giza Plateau. Not a very wise decision, as it’s not any more as impressive as it would have been to arrive to Giza and see the Pyramids in full from far, and not a Pizza Hut for example, right opposite the Sphinx entrance!

The first and most impressive, complete, historical and largest of the ancient Pharaohs necropolis is Giza; then at just few kilometres to the south is Abusir, the next funerary complex which is closed to visitors, at least by the time of our trip here. And immediately south of Abusir is the enormous Saqqara, where the oldest pyramid ever built in humanity is located (the Step Pyramid, or Pyramid of Djoser), with many others from larger to much smaller, many tombs and the Imhotep Museum.

The last necropolis complex, and still within an acceptable radius distance from Cairo is Dahshur, where the first true smooth-sided pyramid was ever built, The Red Pyramid of Sneferu; and one of the very last ever built by the Egyptians, the Bent Pyramid; unique in the way that has two different angles since they did not know anymore how to build pyramids. Completing the funerary complex is the Black Pyramid of Sneferu, nowadays collapsed, but the original maze of corridors still intact underground.

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Read more about the article Cairo – Egypt
Cairo - Egypt

Cairo – Egypt

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The largest city in the Arab world

As Easter came, what best way to spend it than going away and get the best of the bank holidays, escaping the horrible cold weather in Europe for the 30+ degrees in Cairo. Yes, one of the most beautiful dream destinations finally becoming a reality. And in the planning, coupling this trip to some of the greatest places this marvellous country has to offer.

This is the largest city in the Arab world, and one of the largest in the planet. A massive melting pot of ancient civilizations and cross-roads of cultures, ever growing as far your eyes can reach. Once the epi-centre of the world’s second oldest civilization known to man, and do the wealthiest and longest ever to be in the planet. Consider the fact that we are closer to Cleopatra in time than the original Egyptians. It’s fascinating to think about it, and of course the invaluable legacy left and the few we know about them with only around 10% of the entire civilization uncovered from the sand, and that is already vast.

No matter what we hear in the news, sometimes sad, other horrific when a terrorist attack happened in the city, what is certain is the great and fascinating people; truly nice and helpful, very hospitable and kind making you feel secure and protected; and there are hordes of people. Way too many inhabitants everywhere, packing the streets and the roads everywhere. It is a very secure city and a tourist should not fear nor be scared. Egypt is a very potent tourist destination, ever growing and developing.

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