Your historical site visit list
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Doss
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- Aug 1, 2011
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First castle I saw was Prague Castle, which is a pretty tough one to top for most subsequent castles!
Used to live in Cambridge, so you were constantly stubbing your toe on history there. My favourite was the Old Cavendish Lab that used to be the Physics department in town. In the one building, scientists split the atom for the first time and discovered DNA. Not a bad effort. The funny thing is that Physics moved out and gave it to Anthropology and it has reportedly higher cancer rates because they weren't as careful with radiation in the early days.
I actually knew someone in Physics at the time and they showed me round the new lab on the outskirts of town. Two things stood out. One was a glass display cabinet just standing in a nondescript hall with no markings which contained a bunch of old wooden frames and leather covers, which was Rutherford's original equipment. The other was a very blurry photo. I asked what it was, "oh, that's just the beginning of the universe....."
Visited plenty of places in Europe specifically for their historical connotations: Ironbridge in the UK, where iron was smelted for the first time and so is arguably the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps.
I really liked the small places you'd never know about unless you lived there or were looking them out: a Roman Road running through the countryside south of Cambridge, still with original chalk and still usable, the Broad Street Pump in London where John Snow was the first to make the link between unclean water and spread of disease, Semmelweis medical history museum in Budapest (named after man who discovered that surgeons not washing their hands between operations wasn't the best idea).
I actually knew someone in Physics at the time and they showed me round the new lab on the outskirts of town. Two things stood out. One was a glass display cabinet just standing in a nondescript hall with no markings which contained a bunch of old wooden frames and leather covers, which was Rutherford's original equipment. The other was a very blurry photo. I asked what it was, "oh, that's just the beginning of the universe....."
Visited plenty of places in Europe specifically for their historical connotations: Ironbridge in the UK, where iron was smelted for the first time and so is arguably the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps.
I really liked the small places you'd never know about unless you lived there or were looking them out: a Roman Road running through the countryside south of Cambridge, still with original chalk and still usable, the Broad Street Pump in London where John Snow was the first to make the link between unclean water and spread of disease, Semmelweis medical history museum in Budapest (named after man who discovered that surgeons not washing their hands between operations wasn't the best idea).
TheGreatBarryB
Hall of Famer
Just curious have you visited your moniker namesake, one place I’m interested to visit
No. My OS travel is limited to western Europe and PNG. Like you I would love to visit Turkey.
Without listing everything in detail, I've done a fair bit of historical travel in Australia/NZ, Europe and Japan. As a classical history nerd, probably the most underrated site I went to was Paestum in southern Italy.
In terms of places I haven't been and want to go - the British Isles remain almost completely unmined for me. Haven't done Egypt or the Levant, and I think they'd be great - Anatolia and Iran are high on my list.
My grandfather travelled extensively in the postwar period, and always said Beirut was by far his favourite city and told the most vivid stories about it. He was devastated by what the civil war did to its history. I have always wondered if it somewhere I would enjoy visiting, or if it's better off left to my mind's eye.
In terms of places I haven't been and want to go - the British Isles remain almost completely unmined for me. Haven't done Egypt or the Levant, and I think they'd be great - Anatolia and Iran are high on my list.
My grandfather travelled extensively in the postwar period, and always said Beirut was by far his favourite city and told the most vivid stories about it. He was devastated by what the civil war did to its history. I have always wondered if it somewhere I would enjoy visiting, or if it's better off left to my mind's eye.
Can we get more about Paestum?
My grandfather was in Beirut during the Second World War and said the same. Lovely city.
It’s the ruins of a Greek city (or part of it, anyway). The major attractions are three incredibly well-preserved temples, and a bunch of beautifully painted tombs. There are later Roman ruins scattered through the site as well.
It was quite a wealthy community and there is a lot of great art from the site in the local museum.
I don’t know how it rates with archaeologists but it was by far the best Greek site I have ever visited. Surprisingly quiet too - I think a lot of people don’t bother venturing further south than Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Snake_Baker
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- Apr 24, 2013
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The Arden Street Oval
That is all.
That is all.
Went to this place heaps of times as a kid,
mate's family built it.
mate's family built it.
- Thread starter
- #64
I heard its quite 'un-lame' compared to some victorian theme parks
Got some solo time in the main chamber of The Great Pyramid. Laid down and pretended I was Khufu.
Battle of Waterloo site, It was a cloudy and windy day so it made walking up all those stairs to get the view a challenge but it was totally worth it and I had it all to myself.
I don't usually hang around in museums for too long but they have done a great job with the underground one and I spent about 2 hours there.
I don't usually hang around in museums for too long but they have done a great job with the underground one and I spent about 2 hours there.
Paronella Park in Qld is interesting.
The bridge in Mostar is good, and Sarajevo (when I went there in about 2014) is probably what a lot of Ukraine will look like to visitors in a few years when we're allowed back in.
Lots of ruins in Mexico, the bit ones in Mexico City really take your breath away with scale. Had seen those and a few others before arriving at Chichen Itza which was a bit small by comparison. The setting of Tulum and temples in Belize is also pretty awe-inspiring.
MUSA off Cancun is pretty interesting. Stay in the old town, not the US tourist town.
Mount Kinabalu is quite the trek. Take warm stuff, the change from tropical to freezing is quite drastic. Suggest buying something locally then donate back when you get back to Kota Kinabalu.
If you go to Macchu Picchu, take the time to go up to Huaraz and do some other higher treks with the glaciers.
The bridge in Mostar is good, and Sarajevo (when I went there in about 2014) is probably what a lot of Ukraine will look like to visitors in a few years when we're allowed back in.
Lots of ruins in Mexico, the bit ones in Mexico City really take your breath away with scale. Had seen those and a few others before arriving at Chichen Itza which was a bit small by comparison. The setting of Tulum and temples in Belize is also pretty awe-inspiring.
MUSA off Cancun is pretty interesting. Stay in the old town, not the US tourist town.
Mount Kinabalu is quite the trek. Take warm stuff, the change from tropical to freezing is quite drastic. Suggest buying something locally then donate back when you get back to Kota Kinabalu.
If you go to Macchu Picchu, take the time to go up to Huaraz and do some other higher treks with the glaciers.
I tend towards battlefields and the like. But I also enjoy really old neighborhoods as well.
In the US: Forts Necessity, Michilimackinac, Gettysburg, Kennesaw Mountain, and Little Bighorn. Washington DC, various Indian mounds, pioneer towns, and Cape Canaveral. And a large stone 1930s skiing lodge high up on a mountain.
Europe: several castles, cathederals and medieval homes that are still in use. One so old the tiny upstairs hallway was wavy like the sea lol, and one room I loved to stay in original stained glass windows that were melting, and the most interesting vibes. Also had long stays at the ancestral 15th century castle in Scotland. I had friends who by bizarre coincidence were renting a room in the Victorian stately house there. That was in the 80s, now it is a wedding destination.
A visit to the Languedoc in winter was great; a nearly deserted Carcassonne, Montsegur, and walking around medieval lanes at night in the villages we stayed. Have done that in Lincoln, York, and Edinburgh as well.
Greece, Acropolis of course. At Olympia, was the first one through the gate in the morning, the regular tourists were still eating so had the place, again, nearly to myself. I walked down the pathway to the stadium right into the rising sun, amazing feeling entering into that.
Belgrade, before the war, just walking around found my self on the battlements of the old fortress. Cool,some people also up there picnicking, then I hear a sound. WTF sounds like Mick Jagger moaning. I look around a little and find that below there was a soundcheck for a small concert going on and they were launching into Love in Vain. LOL
Same trip checked out the old souks of Tangier, Rabat, and Marrakesh. Still can't believe I walked right through Marrakesh's, having no idea where I was, and came out other side no problem.
I went to China in 1985. Very few to no cars except in Guangzhou and Beijing. Pudong was mostly rice paddies. Rented a bicycle to the Summer Palace, visited Longmen Caves, Shaolin Temple, Qin Shi Huang tomb, and many other old gardens and temples. Suzhou was excellent for old stuff, Guangzhou for Shamian Island where the old foreign concession was. Interesting period Euro architecture there. My favorite was Xian. It hadn't exploded yet with tourism so the city wall still had fairly open spaces around it. The old 1,000 year old pagodas and the people were the coolest in China. The worst were in Luoyang, really unfriendly bordering on sneering.
Taiwan: more battle related stuff from indigenous peoples against all comers and WW2. I also like to check out old buildings from the Japanese colonial period and before. Some of the old Imperial Chinese high status houses look like movie sets for kung fu movies.
As a lifelong student of history there is still so much more to see around the world. The bucket list is the size of a library.
In the US: Forts Necessity, Michilimackinac, Gettysburg, Kennesaw Mountain, and Little Bighorn. Washington DC, various Indian mounds, pioneer towns, and Cape Canaveral. And a large stone 1930s skiing lodge high up on a mountain.
Europe: several castles, cathederals and medieval homes that are still in use. One so old the tiny upstairs hallway was wavy like the sea lol, and one room I loved to stay in original stained glass windows that were melting, and the most interesting vibes. Also had long stays at the ancestral 15th century castle in Scotland. I had friends who by bizarre coincidence were renting a room in the Victorian stately house there. That was in the 80s, now it is a wedding destination.
A visit to the Languedoc in winter was great; a nearly deserted Carcassonne, Montsegur, and walking around medieval lanes at night in the villages we stayed. Have done that in Lincoln, York, and Edinburgh as well.
Greece, Acropolis of course. At Olympia, was the first one through the gate in the morning, the regular tourists were still eating so had the place, again, nearly to myself. I walked down the pathway to the stadium right into the rising sun, amazing feeling entering into that.
Belgrade, before the war, just walking around found my self on the battlements of the old fortress. Cool,some people also up there picnicking, then I hear a sound. WTF sounds like Mick Jagger moaning. I look around a little and find that below there was a soundcheck for a small concert going on and they were launching into Love in Vain. LOL
Same trip checked out the old souks of Tangier, Rabat, and Marrakesh. Still can't believe I walked right through Marrakesh's, having no idea where I was, and came out other side no problem.
I went to China in 1985. Very few to no cars except in Guangzhou and Beijing. Pudong was mostly rice paddies. Rented a bicycle to the Summer Palace, visited Longmen Caves, Shaolin Temple, Qin Shi Huang tomb, and many other old gardens and temples. Suzhou was excellent for old stuff, Guangzhou for Shamian Island where the old foreign concession was. Interesting period Euro architecture there. My favorite was Xian. It hadn't exploded yet with tourism so the city wall still had fairly open spaces around it. The old 1,000 year old pagodas and the people were the coolest in China. The worst were in Luoyang, really unfriendly bordering on sneering.
Taiwan: more battle related stuff from indigenous peoples against all comers and WW2. I also like to check out old buildings from the Japanese colonial period and before. Some of the old Imperial Chinese high status houses look like movie sets for kung fu movies.
As a lifelong student of history there is still so much more to see around the world. The bucket list is the size of a library.
