In the Ancient City of Nessebar , several successive civilizations have left their mark over a period of 3000 years. It started with the local Thracians, followed by the Greeks, the Romans and their eastern successors the Byzantines who made it into a Christian spiritual center in the Middle Ages. Not much of substance has been written in reviews so far about this little Bulgarian town, which is threatened by its proximity to the resort of Sunny Beach (the name says it all…) and overrun by day trippers of the worst kind especially in summer.

Church of Saint Paraskevi

Nessebar’s attraction nowadays lies mostly with its Byzantine churches - there is virtually nothing left of the other periods of his existence. It reminded me a bit of Ohrid in Macedonia, a small town with Byzantine churches dotted here and there amidst souvenir shops and restaurants. None of the old churches in Nessebar are in religious use anymore however (they are either ‘museums’ or ruins), while there is still some (albeit limited) religious feel to Ohrid. You can buy different combination tickets to visit the various museums and churches in the town. I took …

In advance we had a lot of fun with the inclusion of Srebarna on the itinerary of our 2018 WH meetup. At that time it was the worst rated WHS on our website. Would we be able to collectively raise the score after our visit? Srebarna is a freshwater lake that is an important breeding, transit and wintering place for waterfowl. The lake was originally connected to the nearby Danube - now the two are only connected via a channel. The protected area measures only 6 square kilometers. 75% of it is covered with reeds and other marsh plants.

View of the lake from the visitor center area

During the preparations, I had tried to arrange a serious birding guide to show us around - but the few English speaking ones I was able to track down were guiding elsewhere (even up to Sofia, perhaps a telling sign). Fortunately we had with us Peter , a fellow world heritage traveller who is also a keen birder. He even had prepared a presentation for us. Through this we became acquainted with the 4 most special birds of this area, that lies on the migratory …

After an overnight stay in the pleasant border town of Ruse, located at the Danube and connected to Romania by a bridge, the WH Travellers community went into the countryside via inland roads. We entered the Roussensky Lom national park , which is on Bulgaria's Tentative List. The official description of it has only 2 sentences: it is a "unique combination of natural beauty and cultural elements" and it is home to endangered birds of prey such as falcon, vulture and buzzard. Maybe they should work on that OUV statement a bit more…

The entrance

What is special is that there is already a WHS in the park: the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo . That is our main goal of this morning. The Rock Churches comprise a complex of former monasteries, churches, cells and chapels, carved out of the rock by monks during the 13th and 14th centuries. The interior walls are covered with murals, which are regarded as special examples of medieval Christian art from this region. To visit you pass through a forest via a gradually sloping path. Along the way there are beautiful views over the nature reserve and I …

The 3rd century BC Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari is a richly decorated tomb with a unique architectural decor. It was the second WHS that we visited during the 2018 WH Travellers Meeting. In advance I had tried to make a reservation for our group of 15 - I had read that sometimes you have to wait a while at the site before a guide is available. The e-mail contact in English with the visitor center proved to be rather inconclusive (similar to my experiences with other agencies in Bulgaria). When we arrived at 3 o'clock though we were expected and welcomed by an English speaking guide.

Burial mound

The tomb is located underground, under a 11 meter high burial mound. One can only enter it on a guided tour. The 'long' tour (along the inscribed site and 2 other tombs) costs 15 Lev (7.50 EUR). We had to wait until another group left the tomb – there’s not enough space for many visitors at the same time. Many burial mounds have been discovered in this area, but most are empty. Near the adequately equipped visitor center there are 3: the great burial mound …

The Madara Rider is the symbol of the Bulgarian nation. An image of it can be found on the back of most of its coins for example. The relief carved into a cliff at an elevation of 23m is seen as the climax of pagan Bulgarian art. It shows a rider on a horse, attacking a lion with his spear. A dog walks behind the rider. Next to it are 3 inscriptions in Greek that refer to the Bulgarian rulers of the 8th and 9th centuries.

Cliff face with the Madara Rider

Madara lies an hour away from the Black Sea coast in Varna, where we started this day. "We" is the WH Travellers community, gathered for its annual meeting: 15 people from 10 countries and 3 continents. We travel for two days with rental cars through north-eastern Bulgaria, with the aim of visiting 4 World Heritage sites plus a few tentative sites.

After a pleasant start of the day in nearby Pobiti TWHS, we were in Madara before 10.30 am. Given the status of the site, one would expect a spacious terrain and buses with tourists. But it does not even …

Geirangerfjord is one of the two West Norwegian Fjords that have been inscribed on the World Heritage List because they are among the longest and deepest fjords in the world. They are also known for their beautiful and dramatic landscape with many glaciers, waterfalls and lakes. During my visit I based myself for two nights in the town of Geiranger. The town has a remote location: I spent over 2 hours driving from the nearest airport in Alesund, hitting less than 50km on average because of the many hairpin bends, the long and deep tunnels and an unavoidable ferry crossing. The approach to Geiranger via the Eagle road is epic though: you feel so tiny in your car amidst these surroundings. The term ‘dramatic landscape’ is overused in general, but fully fits this area which already is in the rather large core zone around the fjord itself.

The Seven Sisters Waterfall

On my first morning in Geiranger I joined a 90 minute-boat tour. This is a very touristy affair and the trip only involves navigating Geirangerfjord until it meets the Sunnylvsfjord, and then it returns the same way. From the water level though …

The city of Alta is the highest up north that I have ever been – 80km closer to the North Pole than my previous record, Greenland’s Ilulissat . I had come just for the day to see its Rock Art – fly in on Friday evening, fly out Sunday morning. I made a half-hearted attempt of visiting Lille Raipas as well, one of the Struve sites on a hill just 5km out of town. But it rained for most of my stay in Alta so hiking was out of the question.

Overview of the site with boardwalk and fjord view

Alta’s Rock Art - consisting of 4 locations with carvings and 1 with paintings - has been ‘discovered’ relatively recently. In 1966 the rock paintings were found at Transfarelvdalen, the rock carvings followed between 1973 and 1978. The sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List only 7 years later – it makes one wonder why so quickly, before the dust had settled so to speak. Much more carvings in the same areas have been discovered since. Conservation practices in this harsh landscape have also evolved a lot: they now regularly ‘clean’ the …

Over the past 2 weeks I have done a hygiene / maintenance check on all 1092 pages of individual WHS on this website. Part of it was to verify whether a link to an official website was functioning, or whether we had one at all. The whole exercise brought me at a myriad of websites more or less geared to the specific WHS.

One of the excellent National Park Services websites

What’s a good official website?

I think these are the bare minimum requirements. It should show:

• Opening hours (including updates on closure for renovations etc)
• Entrance fees
• Location with physical address

We link to the official websites especially for this kind of information: it would be impossible to keep track of changing opening hours for all 1092 WHS for example. The ‘owner’ of a WHS is in the best position to do that. If an official website does just that and only that, it’s already fine by me. Additional information such as background stories and maps are a bonus however.

Which websites are allowed?

Ideally the official website is maintained by the body …

Some 6 weeks ago I travelled around Georgia for 10 days, alone and by public transport. The country has become quite popular and fashionable lately: with international flights to Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi and no visa requirements for most nationalities, it has fully opened to foreign tourists. Find below my top tips for travelling to this country, where I have tried to weave in some answers to earlier forum questions as well.

Church at Gergeti monastery, at the end of the Military Highway

1. Plan for anything between 5 days and 4 weeks

The capital Tbilisi is a great hotspot from where you can make several worthwhile day trips such as Georgian Military Highway (including Ananuri ), Mtskheta , Gori plus Uplistsikhe and the David Gareji monasteries . Even if you only have 5 days to spare, it is worth it. But you can also entertain yourself considerably longer in Georgia: adding Svaneti will take at least 3 more days. Kutaisi (for Gelati ) needs another night. But I have also seen itineraries of people that stayed for 4 weeks and found enough to do even for that amount of time.

2. Choose your transport to Upper Svaneti wisely

Although …

With my visit to Visby over the past weekend, I finally ‘finished’ Sweden. I did so on a nightly public transport expedition of over 1,600 km: bike from my house to local train station (5 min) – train to airport (45 min) - fly Amsterdam to Stockholm (1.5 hr) – pricey Arlanda Express train to Stockholm central station (20 min) – Batbussen to Nynäshammn (45 min) – ferry to Visby (3h15 min), arriving at 5.45 in the morning. If you ever end up on the streets of Visby via the same early ferry, I’ve got two practical tips for you: (1) Marthas café opens early for breakfast, at 6 am on weekdays and 8 am on Saturday, and (2) there are hammocks for public use along the beach road next to the botanical garden to catch up on your sleep.

The semi-circular Mill Tower

After breakfast and having tried to get some rest on a park bench (I only discovered the hammocks later in the day), I started my visit properly with a walk along the exterior of the city walls. They do not look that impressive coming from the harbour, but that's …