Stop 1 · Egypt
Giza
The Great Pyramid of Khufu (c. 2560 BC) is the only surviving Wonder and was the world's tallest structure until Lincoln Cathedral's spire in 1311. The Grand Egyptian Museum opened fully in 2025.
Home towns of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Five places on a list drawn up by Greek travellers over two thousand years ago — one of whose wonders is still standing, and four of which have to make do with foundations, a few columns and a very good story.
The five stops
Stop 2 · Greece
Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes, some 33 m tall, stood from about 280 to 226 BC; the harbour-straddling pose is a medieval invention. The Knights Hospitaller ruled the island 1310–1522; UNESCO listed the medieval town in 1988.
Stop 3 · Turkey
Bodrum
Ancient Halicarnassus held the Mausoleum of Mausolus (c. 350 BC), plundered for the Knights Hospitaller's castle of St Peter after 1402. Herodotus was born here; Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, 'the Fisherman of Halicarnassus', made it a resort.
Stop 4 · Turkey
Selçuk
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, burned by Herostratus in 356 BC and rebuilt, survives as one standing column. Ephesus lies 2 km southwest; the Basilica of St John is in the town.
Stop 5 · Greece
Olympia
Phidias's Statue of Zeus (c. 435 BC) stood in the Temple of Zeus; it was lost, probably in Constantinople, in the 5th century AD. The Games ran from 776 BC to 393 AD; the flame ceremony began in 1936; UNESCO listed the site in 1989.
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