In this Globe Trekker Special, our Globe Trekker hosts explore the world’s most historic sites and empires – travel ling from the heart of Europe, across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and visiting spectacular sites dating from medieval times to the 19th century. Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem Exploring great historic sites of The Crusades, Zay Harding visits the Dome on the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Holly Morris travels to Syria to check out the mighty Aleppo Citadel and spectacular Krak des Chevaliers fortress. Built on the back of the Italian city state’s wealth as the most successful trading powers in early medieval Europe, Ian Wright marvels at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, whilst Justine Shapiro explores the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Following in the footsteps of Venetian merchant Marco Polo’s famous journey to the unknown east, Ian Wright visits remote Karakorum, capital of the Mongol Empire, whilst Megan McCormick enjoys a visit to China’s greatest historic sites, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City. Holly Morris, Krak des Chevaliers Back in Europe, Ian Wright checks out the wonders of The Renaissance in Florence, while Estelle Bingham explores the Ottoman Empire’s most historic sites in Istanbul – Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace. England, Portugal, and Spain were the leading European nations during the Age of Discovery. We explore the great sites of Hampton Court Palace, Lisbon docks, and the Moorish Alhambra Fortress in Granada, the conquest of which in 1491 allowed the Spanish to send Columbus on his famous voyage of discovery in 1492. Megan McCormick visits many of the earliest sites in the New World, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, the astonishing San Filipe Fort in Cartagena, Colombia, and the Puritans’ first settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts. From the era of the brutal transatlantic slave trade, Zoe Palmer explores Rodney’s Fort in St.