Great WallPersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Great Wall, China. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Great Wall and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
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The national symbol par excellence of China, and among those best-known monumental and historical buildings world wide, the Great Wall is one of those incredible achievements of humankind which inspires admiration in everyone. Some 6,300 km. of solid wall, to defend one's country, is something of a different story than just putting a fence around your backyard. Although the wall did not withhold all attackers in bygone days, it still holds strong as a must-see for every visitor to China.
In order to avoid the tourist crowds at most sites near Beijing, we visited Huanghua which is a "wild" section of the wall which is easily accessible from the Chinese capital. After traversing a small river dam, and scaling a few steep stairs, we arrived at the top of the wall itself which is quite well preserved although probably not restored at all. Actually, this piece of the Wall, built in the 16th century, is considered to be of the highest quality.
After sweating it out in the climb, offering good views of the wall meandering away in the distance, we arrived at the much more difficult part: the descent. While the hill on which the Wall was built is already quite steep, the Wall itself is giving way to the elements in this particular section and crumbling like an old loaf of bread. Fortunately the sidewalls offer some grip but after arriving at the little river in the valley below, you can feel your legs tremble. Then, as you look back, it seems impossible that you really just came from so high up in the sky.