The Armenian monastic ensembles comprise two monasteries and a church belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church of Iran. This was probably the WHS I was most looking forward to in preparation of my recent tour of Azerbaijan & Northern Iran. Since it has been added to the List, I’ve always wondered why a Shiite theocracy would nominate a purely Christian pilgrimage site. Also, remote monasteries belong to my favourite types of WHS.

St. Thaddeus Monastery

Out of the inscribed locations I only visited the St. Thaddeus monastery, which is considered the main site. Legend has it that the apostle St. Thaddeus brought Christianity to Armenia, and this spot (now located on Iranian soil) was the place where he died. Sometime between the 7th and 10th century, the St. Thaddeus Monastery was founded here. It developed into a place of pilgrimage for Armenians from Iran and neighbouring countries. Annually in summer a big festival is held in the vicinity of the monastery, with thousands of pilgrims staying in tents. From 1930 to 1947, the monastery was the seat of the Catholicos (spiritual leader) of the Armenian church. As befits any …

The Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex has been declared a WHS because of its original lay-out and architecture. The nomination file goes into extreme detail about Iranian bazaar types and customs, this apparently is “a central bazaar with radial gate-bazaars”. The 3 inscribed locations are the Grand Bazaar and 2 of the remaining secondary bazaars. It’s also one of the oldest bazaars still in use: Tabriz was already a bustling town in the 13th century, when it was an important commercial stop on the northern route of the Silk Road through Iran.

Shopping in the Bazaar

We arrived at the Grand Bazaar late in the afternoon. It still is a popular shopping district in this city of 1.5 million inhabitants, and many shoppers were about. Both modern necessities such as kitchen utensils and traditional goods like nuts and spices are sold. The figs especially are to die for, soft and sweet - nothing liked the dried-out objects you’ll find in supermarkets in Europe. Despite the bazaar’s age, it does feel quite modern and not as atmospheric as for example the medina’s of Fez and Marrakech . People in my tour …

The Sheikh Safi al-Din Khanegah and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil is a 16th century Iranian Sufi sanctuary with an especially cumbersome name. It is shortened in the nomination file and at the site itself to ‘SKSEA’. I had it registered at this website under ‘Ardabil’, but to be clear: it’s not the whole city that is included in the List – only a specific religious ensemble.

Entrance gate to the Ensemble

Ardabil was the first city that I visited during my Iran trip. It is a sizeable provincial capital in the far northwest of the country. I arrived here from Azerbaijan via the Astara border post, somewhat of a back door to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Sufi complex lies in the center of town. It doesn’t look particularly noteworthy from the street. Most of it is hidden behind brick walls. A smallish gate, decorated with distinctive glazed tiles, houses the entrance. I arrived early in the morning, and there were hardly any other visitors. Via the garden there’s another gate to tackle, and then the site opens up to you. The courtyard of the religious complex is …

What would an international trip be without a visit to a fine example of rock art? Azerbaijan is represented among the at least 60 rock art-related WHS with the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape . Gobustan is the name of a region near the Caspian Sea, where in the 1930’s the first discovery was made by local miners looking for gravel. The petroglyphs were carved into blocks of stone that had fallen from the cliffs above, blocks that provided natural shelter for those living in the area.

The rocks of Gobustan

The site now lies a couple of kilometres inland, but when the rock art was made the water level was much higher and these rocks were near the sea shore. It’s a quite barren area nowadays, from which you can see the offshore oilfields that keep Azerbaijan’s economics afloat. Next to the entrance of the sizeable archaeological area lies the modern Gobustan Museum. Other reviewers already have sung praise about this museum which is a 2011 addition to the ‘visitor experience’. I can only second that: it has a comprehensive exhibition that relies heavily on audio-visuals and computer …

This is a site probably few have heard of – I also did not know about it until I started preparing for my trip to Azerbaijan and stumbled upon this TWHS. Sheki has been an independent country between 1743 and 1813, after it wriggled itself free from Persia. It lies in the far north of Azerbaijan, just below the snow-capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus and the border with Russia. The proposed nomination Sheki, the Khan’s Palace seems to cover more than the palace alone: the town’s trade and industry neigbourhoods and vernacular architecture are included as well.

Sheki Old Town

Sheki was a main center of silk production in the Caucasus. It was an important stop on the trade route between “the Dagestan Mountain Traders and the main East-West Caucasus Route”, according to my Trailblazer Guide to Azerbaijan. During my trip I stayed for 2 nights in one of the two large former caravanserais in the old town: the 18th century Yuxari Caravanserai. Its grounds are nicely renovated, although the rooms are a bit damp and mouldy. But I did enjoy sitting in the little alcove in front …

Azerbaijan isn’t exactly a tourist magnet, but it does try really hard to reach out to the world. In a few weeks time it will stage its first Formula One race (on a street circuit just like Monaco!), and it has been host to the European Games and Eurovision Song Contest in recent years. Its capital Baku houses half of the country’s inhabitants, and is a sight to behold. A relatively small part of it, the Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower , has been designated as a world heritage site.

The Maiden Tower

Despite the "Walled" epithet, the medieval city center isn’t fully enclosed anymore. Only the western and northern side still are fortified. In our timeline we put ‘12th century’ as the age of this WHS, derived from the construction date of the landmark Maiden Tower. This tower lies on the edge of the old town, at a stretch without a continuing wall. It has a peculiar cylindrical shape, with a rectangle brick structure attached for additional stability necessary in this earthquake-prone region. It is climbable via an inner staircase, you’ll see …

Although some 85% of the current Azerbaijani population is Shi’a Muslim, Zoroasterianism still plays an important part in the image the nation presents to the outside world. After Azerbaijan's independence from Soviet Union, the phrase “Land of Fire” was coined as the slogan to promote the country as a tourist destination. It reflects both the natural burning of surface oil deposits and the oil-fueled fires in Zoroastrian temples. So it’s no wonder that one of these temples is on the country’s Tentative List: the Ateshgah at Surakhani .

Interpretation of how it might have looked like in the old days

According to this informative website about Zoroastrian heritage , the tradition of ‘fire-houses’ started with the development of community fire houses that housed an ever burning flame. The flame was kept going by professional fire keepers. Members of the community would light their house fires from the central community fire. These fire-houses later evolved into temples, which also served as solar observatories in order to fix dates for festivals. The Ateshgah (“home of fire”) at Surakhani lies about half an hour outside of Baku. On the way out there …

During the past Easter Weekend I used Oporto as a base to visit the Santiago de Compostela and Côa Valley WHS. With the introduction of low-cost flights, aiming at secondary airports, Oporto suddenly has become a ‘hot’ destination for a weekend-trip. My Transavia flight from Amsterdam was fully booked. I had been to Oporto before in 1991, as part of a one-month long Interrail-trip across the Iberian peninsula. I enjoyed it at the time because of its unique, somewhat raw atmosphere.

Built on hills

Unfortunately this time around the weather forecast for the day was terrible. I was tempted to stay in my hotel room all day. But the check-out time at 11 a.m. was non-negotiable, so I returned my rental car to the airport, put my larger backpack in a locker and took the subway to the center of Oporto. I exited at a stop called ‘Bolhão’, and the first thing I saw above ground was this fantastic Santa Catarina church (see 2nd picture), totally covered with azulejos. I suddenly felt glad to be travelling and exploring again, despite the rain. I had chosen this metro stop because …

So here they are , the long awaited results of the 2016 Vote to determine which are the most valuable ones out of the 1031 inscribed WHS. In all 64 people voted, for a total of 946 different WHS. This turn-out is a bit lower than our last popular vote in 2014 for the Missing WHS which attracted exactly 100 voters. I guess the current excercise might have been a bit too labour intensive for some. 40 subscribers voted in both events.

Sharing the number 1 spot: Angkor

The highest ranked are all very well-known sites, that also have shown up in the final stages of competitions such as New 7 Wonders of the World : the Pyramids, Angkor, Machu Picchu. Only the strong position of Vatican City surprised me, higher even than Rome itself – it only gained momentum in the last week of the voting, maybe we had an unusually high number of Roman-Catholic voters in? In the earlier stages of the voting, Angkor and Pompei did really well.

How does this selection …

I almost failed twice in visiting the Coa Valley Rock Art WHS . In 2002 I was all set to go with a confirmed tour booking, the only way to get into the WHS core zone, when I received an e-mail a few days beforehand that the site had been flooded. All visits were cancelled. On my next try, in March 2016, I enquired about a tour a week before and was told that those on Saturday were fully booked! The PAVC gave me a list of private tour companies that also arrange visits (at considerable cost I am afraid). Fortunately I was able to change to Sunday, and they had spaces left for that day. Phew. I could not imagine having to travel to this corner of Portugal for a third time just to see one left-over WHS!

Rock formations at Penascosa

In hindsight this one day delay proved to be a blessing during the Easter weekend: Sunday was the only bright day between two days full of rain. So I drove happily for 2.5 hours to this far corner of Portugal, once again passing the Alto Douro …