Google Earth Top 10: War!

Wars have raged all over the world, and often left deep scars in the conscience of people as well as in the land itself. Battlefields, memorials, cemeteries... who looks at Earth from above cannot escape the violent past (and present) of our planet.

10: Waterloo (B)

9: Lidice (CZ)

8: Theresienstadt (CZ)

7:Jewish museum, Berlin (D)

6: Verdun, ossuaire de Douaumont (F)

5: ANZAC memorial, Gallipoli (T)

4: Batteries at Logues-sur-Mer, (F)

3: Oradour-sur-Glane (F)

2: Vietnam memorial, Washington (USA)

1: Auschwitz-Birkenau (PL)

Google Earth Top 10: Squares in the Low Countries

Villages and cities often converge on squares. They serve as public salons for the people, marketplaces, festival grounds and places of execution. Nowhere in Europe will you find pretties squares than in Holland and Belgium. Here are ten of the finest squares in the Low Countries.

10: Antwerp

9: Lille

8: Den Haag

7: Gouda

6: Amsterdam

5: Mechelen

4: Delft

3: Haarlem

2: Arras

1: Brussels

Google Earth top 10: French palaces

France is so exceptionally rich in heritage that it deserves a special entry all to itself. Several, in fact! France's cathedrals, abbeys, castles and palaces all are worth visiting. To anyone from overseas who comes to France i would want to suggest most urgently to not just stay in (wonderful) Paris, but also to experience the countryside and its sights. Here are my 10 favourite palaces and palatial castles!

10: Chantilly

9: Champ-de-Bataille

8: Oiron

7: Hautefort

6: Fontainebleau

5: Cheverny

4: Versailles

3: Valencay

2: Chambord

1: Vaux-le Vicomte

Top 10: Abbeys

I have already posted a Google Earth post about abbeys, probably my favourite heritage buildings. To follow up, here is a top 10 of abbeys I have visited, with some of my own photographs. I have decided to allow just one abbey per country but of course there are many, many more that I have visited. I hope to share those later!
Many of the most beautiful abbeys are in fact ruins: most of the French abbeys and all of the UK ones have been destroyed in revolutions or religious wars. That does not mean these ruins are not incredibly evocative and beautiful! On the contrary, in fact...

10: Senanque, France

9: Melk, Austria

8: Rievaulx, UK

7: Villers-la-Ville, Belgium

6: Escorial, Spain

5: Certosa di Pavia, Italy

4: Fontenay, France

3: Zdar nad Sazavou, Czech Rep.

2: Maria Laach, Germany

1: Mont Saint-Michel, France

Google Earth top 10: World archaelogy

Some archeological sites look absolutely amazing as seen from the sky. Many of these places are in remote areas that I do not think I will ever visit. But through Google Earth I can experience these places, and be amazed by the scale of some of the ancient sites. When you visit a site in person you are barely aware of the fact that you only get to see a tiny portion of the entire site. Google Earth reveals the true extent of some of the ancient cities. Here are ten of my favourites.

10. Sanchi, India

9. Chaco Canyon, USA

8. Teotihuacan, Mexico

7. Takht-e-Soleyman, Iran

6. Chan Chan, Peru

5. Palmyra, Syria

4. Pompeii, Italy *

3. Borobudur, Indonesia *

2.Tikal, Guatemala

1. Angkor, Cambodia