Lots of us would love to explore the ancient world, but we can’t always travel as much as we’d like. A variety of things – disabilities, lack of money, fear of flying – can get between you and your globetrotting dreams.
As you can imagine, while working for Heritage Key Icome across all sorts of content that sets me dreaming about distant lands. There are endless amounts of travel blogs, travel guides, and photoblogs, where people are generous enough to share their experiences in great detail. On Flickr alone there are millions of photos by professionals, amateurs and avid travellers. 
Some sites offer a more immersive experience than others. As a keen armchair explorer, here are a few of my favourite destinations:
These websites mostly cover World Heritage Tours, mostly aiming to cover all of the UNESCOWorld Heritage sites. They use the latest QTVR technology to create panaromic movies, images and applications, covering China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and Egypt. For the more adventurous traveller, you can even take a trip to the moon. It can be a bit hard to navigate and, yes, it has got its limits. But overall, I’m pretty impressed.
So last month, I spent the easter holiday with my family in Istanbul and took my kids to see the Aya Sofiya (Hagia Sofia) in Sultanahmet. It’s an incredible place, and I took some decent shots. But don’t just take my word for it. If you want to have a real taste of the area get in your swivel seat and log on to some QTVR. Or go there. You could always just go there.
Image by Meral Crifasi. All rights reserved.