The Great Wall Welcomes Heroes From Princess Cruises in Beijing

Shore excursion review from a visit to China on Princess Cruises.

Chinese fortune cookie moment at the Great Wall

Ancient Chinese saying says, “one who fails to reach the Great Wall would not be regarded as a hero.” Or the quote might have come from Mao Zedong who said, “he who has not climed the Great Wall is not a true man.” Either way, I tried.

Wise local woman offers cold drinks and plenty of smiles with her eyes.

Good thing I selected the Great Wall shore excursion offered by Princess Cruises during my cruise call to Tianjin, the port city serving Beijing.

Princess Cruises offers three shore excursions to the capital city of China: Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall and a City Tour of Tianjin.

The Great Wall – aka “the wonder” as I liked to refer to it, was a great choice. After a three hour bus ride to Huangyaguan, we arrived to the newly restored section of one of the wall’s battlements.

We visited the newly restored section of the wall’s battlements in Huangyaguan.

The Great Wall is an UNESCO cultural heritage site. There were a fair amount of locals available to sell trinkets, limited western-style washrooms, and a huge maze up uphill fortifications to explore.

The Great Wall of China is one of the manmade wonders of the world. While walking around the stones making up the wall it is inspiring to contemplate the wall’s history.

When we visited the Great Wall, there were no other tour groups, just our Princess Cruises shore excursion. Lucky us.

One of the most famous sections, which we did not visit, was built between 220-206 B.C. by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. The purpose of the wall was for protection from invaders that threatened tribal communities. The wall has been in existence for more than 2 millennia. Impressive.

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