Everybody knows about The Great Wall of China, but only once you get there and you are standing in front of 4,000km of hand-built wall do you even start to comprehend the immensity of it. In 2010 we made the 10km trek across the wall from Jinshangling to Simatai and that day is one the two of us will never forget the rest of our lives. The weather wasn't particularly great, the tour company we took to get out to the wall was subpar, however the actual experience hiking that section of the wall stands to this day as the number one travel experience we have had in our lives.

You could see it in both of our eyes that day; we were unbelievable blown away by what we were walking on and the views that stretched further in the distance than we had ever seen before. To someone who has not visited, The Great Wall might not seem like much more than just, well a stone wall. You almost have to stand at the top of one of the many towers and look out at the ancient wall scaling up and down the towering hills lining the horizon to truly appreciate how unbelievably incredible this structure is.

The Great Wall of China is our absolute (pun intended) favorite place we have ever visited!

 

• Built over 2000 years ago, it is the longest man-made structure in the world, (approximately 6000 kilometers, or 3,728 miles) and is up to 25 feet high and between 15 and 30 feet wide.
• It is a common myth that the Great wall is one single continuous wall. It is actually a series of individual segments, not all of which are connected, built by multiple dynasties over time.
• During construction the wall was often referred to as “the longest cemetery on Earth” due to the high number of deaths that occurred as it was built. It is estimated that over one million people died in its construction.
• The most visited area is in Badaling (near Beijing). It was the first section of the wall open to tourists, and is where Nixon visited and was the finish site of a cycling course in the 2008 summer Olympics.
• The Great Wall was built by a variety of people, including peasants, guards, and convicts. In fact, during some dynasties there was a special penalty where convicted criminals were forced to work on the wall.