The 17th century fortress of Ananuri is part of the Tentative List of Georgia. It was the castle and seat of the Dukes of Aragvi, a feudal dynasty which ruled the area from the 13th century. It lies some 70km north of the capital Tbilisi, along the Military Highway that leads up to Vladikavkaz in Russia. On the first day of my trip to Georgia I visited Ananuri as part of a full day tour along that 213km long historical road.

When we left Tbilisi we got caught in a small traffic jam, all because of scores of tourists wanting to go up that same way. Tourism is really booming in Georgia since a few years: people come mainly from the neighbouring countries such as Azerbaijan and Russia, but also from India and the Gulf States (or perhaps they are Indians who work in the Gulf). After an hour’s drive the fortress of Ananuri comes into sight. Seen from the bridge by which you approach it, it is really picture-perfect.

The fortified complex consists of a typical Georgian Orthodox church with a cone-shaped dome, surrounded by …

Over the years, we have discovered quite a number of Trivial Connections between WHS. One of these is Viewable from another WHS : which WHS can be seen from standing in/on/at another WHS? The view should be achievable as part of "normal" touristic viewing (so no use of drones....). And it excludes Contiguous sites (which can obviously be seen across their mutual boundary) and Exact locations inscribed twice (that would be too easy of course). So far, we have been able to find 16 of these viewpoints: from towers, volcanoes, hilltops or by just looking down a street.

It is not necessary true that if WHS A can be seen from WHS B, B as well can be seen from A. Visibility often depends on a bit of height (is there a tower to climb?), or the size of the WHS. Full mountains or volcanoes are obviously easy to see from afar. The combinations of WHS where A can be seen from B and vice versa, are:

• Agra Fort & Taj Mahal
• Cape Floral Region (Table Mountain NP) & Robben …

When I told my colleagues that I was going to Gdansk for a long weekend, the conversation quickly veered off to Lech Walesa. We hadn’t heard from him in a long time. Had he died already? A quick Wikipedia search turned out he is alive and kicking, working the lucrative lecture circuit in the USA. His hometown is on Poland’s Tentative List under the label of Town of Memory and Freedom . Reminders to various periods in Gdansk’s history, starting from the Hanseatic era, are brought together under this flag. During my stay I mainly focused on the part called the Gdańsk Shipyard associated with the emergence of Solidarity movement, together with the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers .

To get to know that area and hear more about this period plus its current impact, I joined one of the daily “free” Solidarity walking tours . It’s a popular tour, over 30 people showed up from all over Scandinavia, Russia and Western Europe. We did not tour the old town which resembles Amsterdam without the canals. We explored its edges. We stopped for example at an unsightly …

Malbork Castle was the headquarters of the Teutonic Order 's crusader state. The castle had both a religious and a political function: here lived the Grand Master and the daily management of the Order, and about 3,000 knights. The castle was built at the end of the 13th century, and was expanded ever further. It is entirely made of brick, and according to unconfirmed sources this is the largest area of any castle and/or the largest brick building in the world. I went to see it on a half-day trip from Gdansk.

My visit was on a sunny Saturday morning, and because I was expecting crowds I had purchased an entrance ticket online beforehand (I did so as well with all train tickets on this trip). I arrived at the Malbork train station at 8.45 a.m., and from there I had a 15 minute walk to be at the gates at the opening hour of 9 a.m.. Local authorities have not bothered to sign the way to the castle, but it lies on the right side from the station and then straight ahead until you see the red towers on …

The medieval city of Torun is a small, well-preserved trading town along the Vistula river. I really enjoyed my stay there, and have been thinking since what the attraction was. A major reason is that – despite its considerable size of 200,000 inhabitants – it lies too far off the beaten track for the weekend getaway and stag party crowd (which Gdansk and so many other cities in Central and Eastern Europe have to endure). It still is more a destination for Polish school trips than for foreign tourists.

Although it lies only 168km south of Gdansk, it takes significant time to get to Torun by public transport from there. The fastest trains take 2.5 hours, including a change half way. These are not too frequent however, plus it is wise to pre-book them as seats are reserved and do sell out. On the return trip I got stranded at Torun’s railway station because of a delay of 53(!) minutes, which also caused missing my connection. In the end it took me 5 hours to get back to Gdansk. So going only for a day trip from Gdansk is …

Žatec – the Hops Town is up for inclusion in the World Heritage List in 2018 . I’ve not been able to find any information online yet whether the ICOMOS advice has come out positive or negative. I put the Bohemian town on my itinerary of a long weekend trip to the German/Czech border region anyway. Žatec lies only about an hour’s drive away from Marienberg in the Ore Mountains , where I was staying. I visited on a Saturday afternoon, and already on the way to it I was surprised that ‘everything’ was closed: shops had their doors firmly shut, and I was happy that I had filled up the tank of my car in Germany as even gas stations looked doubtful. Arriving at the central square of Žatec, it was easy to park there as no one was around as well! I had expected terraces full of beer drinking locals and tourists (the weather was very sunny and warm for late April), just as in most Czech towns that I had visited before. Only after some effort I found a pizzeria open for a late lunch. …

In the east of Germany and just across the border in the northwest of Czechia lies a region called the Ore Mountains ( Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří in the respective local languages). Its name comes from the ores (silver, copper, tin, zinc) that have been mined here over the centuries. The Germans and Czechs have been active since 2015 to secure a shared spot for this area at the World Heritage List, and they will possibly submit a revised nomination in 2019 . The proposal will consist of no less than 61 ‘component parts’ or locations.

At the German side, I checked out 3 locations in the Marienberg Mining Area: the city center of Marienberg, a reconstructed horse-driven mill in the Lauta Mining Landscape and the Grünthal Liquation Hut Complex in Olbernhau. Marienberg’s distinguishing feature is its large city square, designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance. I noticed little of further interest in the city centre, but I did pay a visit to the regional museum which is housed in a massive former granary from the early 19th century. The employees on duty seemed a bit shocked that I …

Early April I spent two weeks travelling through the Gulf states of Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Oman was the expected highlight, and I was happy that I allocated 10 days there. After having visited Bahrain in 2011 at the start of my RTW trip, I now have the Arab states of the Persian Gulf covered reasonably well (Saudi Arabia and Qatar can wait). Find below my Top Tips for Travelling to the Gulf states as a World Heritage Traveller.

1. This is easy comfort

These 3 countries are among the easiest that I have ever travelled in: they are friendly, clean, safe and efficient. They have good infrastructure (the Dubai metro is exemplary), and English is widely spoken. Large scale immigration has blessed them with Lebanese and Indian restaurants, adding lots of international flavour to the traditional cuisine of rice and chicken. For Kuwait and Oman most people will need a visa, but that can be arranged online beforehand.

2. Accept that the WHS are not its best sights

Looking at the general appreciation of …

The main question about this TWHS is: Does something like ‘Old Dubai’ still exist? Dubai only developed independently from Abu Dhabi from 1833 onwards. The origin of the city lies at Khor Dubai , the saltwater creek that flows through the city. From its small-scale port, pearl fishermen departed to dive off the coast and trade was driven with Asia and East Africa. The multicultural trading city with its skyscrapers that we now know dates from the seventies of the 20th century at the earliest.

On my last day in the Gulf region I spent a few hot hours looking for the old core of Dubai. A WHS proposal for this zone has already been met with a ‘Rejection’ advice twice, leaving the international advisors in despair. The course of the creek through Dubai has often artificially been changed, extra land has been won and old neighbourhoods have been demolished. Getting it registered is a hopeless mission according to the advising committee, but hopes have been kept alive by the WHC which overruled ICOMOS to Deferral (2014) and Referral (2017) respectively. And the Emirates will not give up.

…

Al Ain is the second city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a pretty large one with over 750,000 inhabitants. It actually lies closer to Dubai than to its own capital, Abu Dhabi. I had somewhat underestimated these distances during my trip planning, and also wanted to see the recently opened Louvre museum and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. So I cut my visit to Al Ain short to the Al Ain Oasis and National Museum to fit it all into a day trip from Dubai.

The oasis and national museum comprise only 1 out of the 17 inscribed Cultural Sites of Al Ain . Both places are very conveniently located next to the bus station of Al Ain, which is served every 30 minutes or so by comfortable direct buses from Dubai’s Al Ghubaiba Bus Station. The oasis is easy to see near the bus station, and the national museum is signposted.

I started at the museum, which charges a 3 dirham entry fee. At 0.66 EUR this is only a nominal sum, comparable to the fees I paid at similar sites in Oman. I guess …