Classic Creations

Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled over the ages to give special kudos to the most spectacular man-made constructions and natural phenomena.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of the most impressive man-made creations of classical antiquity and includes the likes of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But of this antiquated list only the Pyramid is still in existence.

The list got an update in the Middle Ages and includes many of the ones we refer to now: the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Stonehenge, Hagia Sophia, The Great Wall of China and so on.

But of course we are a world that loves to list and rank and compete for the best of’s and so over the last few decades we’ve seen countless new catalogues giving a select few their stamp of approval: Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and in 2001 an initiative was started by the New Open World Corporation to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments.

The winners: Great Wall of China, Petra (Jordan), the Christ the Redeemer (statue in Brazil), Machu Picchu (Peru), Chichen Itza (Mexico), Colosseum (Italy), Taj Mahal (India) nd the Great Pyramid as an honorary member.

To be honest, with all these lists we can’t really keep track of what are wonders and what are not. And what really defines a great wonder at the end of the day?

Well we don’t really know the answer to that, but we do know what we like and with that in mind can suggest some of our favourite sights, unusual experiences, and places to see…in fact, in the name of consistency we’ll suggest seven.

1. Aurora Borealis. Of all things wondrously magical the Northern Lights is up there on our top sights to see. The difficulty is that obviously it is not a sure thing; the fleeting lights are pretty unpredictable. But we can increase our chances by visiting the Northern Hemisphere from September to October or from March to April.