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Unlike most of the year, November in Spain in general and more specifically in Galicia is anything but dry. It rains frequently and heavily. Which is a pleasant surprise if you packed no serious hiking gear and plan to visit the Canon del Sil. Luckily, I had already noted a few days prior in Madrid that my luggage and the weather did not match and made a short visit to the local shopping mall.

Main focus of my trip were the many inscribed sites of Northern Spain. With the Ribeira Sacra scheduled in the next year, I made an effort to visit.

The train line from Monforte de Lemos to Ourense cuts right through the proposed core zone and follows the Sil for a few kilometers. I took a morning train to Santo Estevo. When I exited the train, it was already clear that I would get soaked.

From the train station, I walked a little to the bridge across the Sil. The views with the clouds covering the canyon were stunning. I then hiked up to the Monastery Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil where I visited the church, before descending again.

OUV

Disclaimer: Nowadays, I wouldn't bet against Spain. Even if neither me nor ICOMOS can spot OUV. So take my judgement with a grain of salt.

With that out of the way, I have to say that the landscape was great and I would have enjoyed spending more time (with less …

The Sierra Gorda Missions still are doing very well in 2022. When the sun shines on the facades of the churches, they really glow. Be sure to be there at the right moment of the day though: Jalpan and Landa are best in the morning, while Conca and Tilaco (pictured) are better in the afternoon. There’s a (free) regional museum also in Jalpan which has replicas of the facades, which I found worth a look for the details.

I visited 3 of the missions on public transport, and have some practicalities to share:

Getting there and away

Jalpan is the natural hub for visiting the Sierra Gorda. I took a direct bus there from Mexico City Norte with the company Coordinades. They have 4 buses daily. It takes 7 hours. On the way out I went via San Luis Potosi (from where I travelled on to the next WHS, Zacatecas). Also 7 hours on a slow bus from Grupo Vencedor.

Getting around

Grupo Vencedor is the regional bus company of the area. Nothing fancy, but you’ll see a bus passing by at least once an hour. It will easily get you to Landa and Conca from Jalpan. Here is their schedule (no pre-booking).

Tilaco and Tancoyol lie some 10-20km from the main road. I took a taxi from Landa to Tilaco (500 pesos return inc waiting time). The taxi driver also wanted to take me to Tancoyol, but to fork out another 20 EUR …

When we were looking at our Meetup for 2020, the idea had been to go to Rhodes and take a day trip to Turkey. As such, I had been researching the sites in and around Fethiye, the Turkish ferry port for Rhodes. In the process, I stumbled across Kaunos and felt intrigued.

The default picture for Kaunos is the one shown at the top of the page: the Royal Tombs. The cliffs also hold more simple tombs than the fancy royal ones, just holes drilled into the rock. It's interesting to compare the designs and track their differences. It will be interesting to see what if any additional locations will be included.

Apart from the tombs, the site also contains a Persian/Greco/Roman archaeological site. It consists of an acropolis, an amphitheatre, a well preserved temple, ruins of a early Christian basilica .. Things you come to expect. In addition, it's a harbour that you can still make out to this day. From the "pier" you can look out onto the sea and the former harbour basin is still filled with water.

The historic town was eventually abandoned when the port silted. The river swamps were also a malaria nest and one idea is that the locals left the ruins mostly intact due to the malaria. 

Currently, excavations and restorations are still ongoing, but there is plenty to see as is.

OUV

I think Kaunos has two things going again, that warrant the inscription of …

I visited Skocjan Cave in 2019, it was my favorite site in Slovenia but decided to wait and not to write a review until the decision of “Classical Karst” by IUCN to come out. To be honest I would be very happy if that ill-fated nomination becomes an extension of Skocjan Cave since I really enjoyed traveling around this region. Before my visit after read mix reviews and already visited many great UNESCO listed caves around the world especially in US, Vietnam and Borneo, I already made my mind that I should not have high expectation for this cave.

My friends and I arrived Skocjan Cave after two days heavy rain, the rain was so bad that caused us to cancel our day trip to Ljubljana from Lake Bled, a real tragedy for a WHS enthusiast since that capital has become WHS few years later. After secured our pre-booked tickets, we and maybe everyone preferred to wait inside visitor center and café since the whole forest was really cold and wet. Our tour was around 30 people, quite a big group, our guide leaded us into the forest to see the cave, and it was not a pleasant walk from endless showering rain. When we reached the cave, we were pleased at least it was dry inside, unfortunately it was very dry especially the first section of the cave, there was nothing spectacular to see, my friend even questioned why we visit this cave. We walked in silence until …

If you had asked the historic Jesus (assuming he existed) what his religion was (ignoring that the term religion is rather modern), he would have answered Jew. He was not setting out to create a new church. The Jews had had prophets before and they were preaching about the coming of the Messiah, so that's where he would have placed himself. A similar argument can be made for Mohammed by the way.

Eventually, after Jesus passed and it became clearer and clearer that the bulk of the Jews were not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, the religion separated. This was a bit of a problem, though, for the early Christians, as Jesus didn't really create rules to govern a new religion and his church. This was left to apostles and the later clergy.

They had plenty of gaps to fill and dogmas to define. Notable topics are the nature of the trinity (never understood that one, I would be an Arian if anything) or the icons. In addition, there were loads of practical topics to resolve. Several councils were held to address these, the most famous one being the council of Nicaea. If you want a fun read, I recommend the Synod of Laodicea. The very first item (canon) and supposedly the most urgent one is about second wives, secret wives and the communion?!

However, filling the gaps resulted in even more splintering of the Church. Notably, the Byzantine provinces in Syria (Antioch) …

The quality of Mexico’s Tentative List at first glance doesn’t reflect the status of its inscribed sites, which shine at a 3.51 score overall at the moment. Also, the country hasn’t any nominations scheduled for 2022 or 2023. There has been some chatter about the Kino Missions. The most advanced in the process however are the Wixárita Route through the Sacred Sites to Wirikuta, the Ring of cenotes of the Chicxulub crater, and Casa Estudio Museum Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. So as this last one is still on the table, it is a worthy TWHS to invest time in while you’re in Mexico City.

The house lies in a very upscale neighborhood where people don’t seem to need public transport. So I had to rely on an Uber to take me there. Pre-booking a ticket is not necessary, though they do perform a slightly irritating form of Covid crowd management. The entrance fee is only 40 pesos (1,80 EUR).

There’s a signposted route that takes you through all 3 included buildings. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is hard to look past the Kahlo and Rivera connotations and focus on its architecture. The Rivera Studio is the most impressive feature, for both its weird collection of papier-mâché figures and its floor-to-ceiling windows. All rooms are now used for small exhibitions, it would be better when at least one of them was devoted to the architect Juan O’Gorman.

I especially liked the exterior staircases and the …

I visited the archaeological site of Caral-Supe in March 2020 during my trip to Peru. I left the town of Huaraz (hotspot for the Huascaran and Chavin WHS) in the morning on a shared taxi to Barranca. They wait in town and leave when they have four passengers. I managed to negotiate with my collectivo driver to take me to the archaeological site and then back to Barranca where I was spending the night. We stopped in town where a friend of his and her son joined us to ease the wait for my driver. It was at the parking lot on the north side of the Rio Supe that my visit began.

I was quite happy to have reached the site and to be able to visit it. The green valley of the Rio Supe makes for a pleasant landscape and makes it easy to understand why these early civilizations chose to settle here. The path leads through a small forest to a short but steep climb. It is at the top of this climb that the site can be seen for the first time. The path to the entrance offers many beautiful views of the site. There is also a large map on a board showing all the points of interest on the site, as well as suggested routes of varying lengths. I was already planning to do a very complete tour.

I was a little disappointed when I arrived at the visitor centre. Not only …

Frederiksstad and the walk to the Kastel and the Little Mermaid are probably my favourite parts of Copenhagen, so, since my first visit to the city, I always try to take a walk in this neighbourhood when I am here (the last one in August 2021). Apparently, little has changed over time, maybe only the Amaliehave, the small park on the harbour, has been refurbished a little, but it could have been only my impression. The atmosphere is calm and noble, distant from the bustling Nyhavn, the promenade along the banks northwards to the Nordre Toldbod has probably the best sights of Copenhagen, overlooking architectural masterpieces like the opera house and the harbour that widens into the sea, with distant islets and the occasional docked galleons, even warships on the other side (Elefanten). It all feels relaxed, especially in a long summer evening, and the Amalienborg proper immutable in its characteristic octagonal symmetry.

The official "documentation" does not say much apart from the obvious. However, the original planning of this district is very well readable still today, and it has kept much of its authenticity; I am fascinated by it even if I am no fan of Neoclassicism, especially not of the rather pedantic kind like is found here, and consider the Marmorkirke the remarkable crowning of the complex indeed, although I prefer turning my attention towards the waterside. I have not yet entered any of the royal palaces, and I sincerely do not regret it, as …

Zerzevan Castle is a fairly recent addition (2020) to the Turkish tentative list. The available information on Zerzevan Castle is limited. Indeed, google maps will not find it, if you search for it.

I had stayed in Mardin for two nights and was going to Diyarbakir, as the last step of my Turkey trip in January 2021. Zerzevan Castle lies along the road connecting the two cities; not coincidentally, as the modern road follows the ancient trade route. In antiquity, this was the border region between the Roman Empire and first the Parthians and later the Sassanians. Looking at the geography you quickly understand why. South of Mardin, you leave the mountains of Anatolia and reach the plains of Mesopotamia. This is a natural frontier.

As such, the Romans needed fortifications. Zerzevan was built in the 4th century CE on a hilltop overlooking the historic trade route. The term castle is a bit misleading. It's a Roman fort with a town including a canal, a basilica, town houses and most notably an underground Mithraeum. As such, it's way larger than the single picture of the iconic tower suggests. Excavations are still ongoing and it will be interesting to see how much more they unearth.

I arrived in the early morning by cab. Climbing up the hill, I felt a bit reminded of Macchu Picchu, as the rising sun painted the site in great colours. I would recommend arriving early.

OUV

I will go out on …

Teotihuacan is a bit of a “What You See Is What You Get”-site, and with the consistent use of the same materials and architecture, it even gets repetitive.

Complementary to what has been said already by previous reviewers, I’d like to add some Covid info for visitors as well as direct you to the fantastic murals in the Tepantitla Palace.

Visiting during Covid times

The archaeological site of Teotihuacan is still open every day of the year. What has changed (status of January 2022):

• A cap on the allowed number of visitors has been introduced, which allows for specific amounts of tourists to enter at each of the Gates 1-5. It means that arriving early has become even more recommended (it’s also less hot and less crowded in the early morning). Still, it doesn’t sell out easily, maybe except for Mexican holidays.
• Climbing the two main pyramids is now forbidden. It wouldn’t surprise me if they keep it that way also post-Covid.
• Wearing a face mask is officially required everywhere, but especially the foreign tourists don’t seem to comply with that rule.

What hasn’t changed? The annoying whistle-sellers are still there. All of them!

Tepantitla Palace

The on-site information at Teotihuacan really sucks, some 50% of the information panels are so weathered that they are unintelligible. There are also hardly any signposts to the various entrance gates or major monuments. This does not help in finding the Tepantitla …

My visit to Kronborg in August 2021 was not the first one: I already went there in 2009. That time, though, we had not calibrated our trip too well: it was the end of March and, basing in Copenhagen, we came from a visit to the Louisiana museum in Humlebæk, so that an arrival at 17/18 proved to be too late (of course) for the castle. But somehow we found the entrance to the inner yard open and shared it only with the local crows. We even rang a small hanging bell! This does not appear to be possible anymore, as I suspect they are closing the gates from the moat now (I don't know if Ian meant this with "being locked out" already in '11/'12). I promised myself I would come back someday for a better, more complete experience, and so did I more than 12 years (yikes!) after!

This time I came by car on the morning of a sunny day (which was later graced by many a downpour). The castle does not appear immediately coming from land, as it is partly concealed behind its defensive fortifications. During all this time, things have changed and markedly improved: the industrial landscape witnessed by Els has disappeared (I remember extensive works on my first visit), now there's the architecturally notable cultural centre Kulturværftet, a brand new museum of seafaring, a nice path going around the castle with views over the old city... all highlighting old, good Kronborg. …

I tried to visit the Wadi during my UAE trip late december. It was more a family leisure trip as ticking off WHS/TWHS but of course I (mostly without family) did visit all TWHS except those in Abu Dhabi.

Regarding Wadi Wurayah no review just a note: It's closed since 2012 until further notice. There is no plans to re-open at the moment. Entrance is guarded and no way to go in. Road further down was in not nice condition (not long used). This is to restore wildlife and nature.

Later at Mleiha Archaeological Museum I spoke to a person of the museum about WHS and he actually was from the Wurayah area and worked on the submission documents! He also confirmed it's closed and no plans to re-open. He said there are just a couple of yearly expeditions into the Wadi, scientific.

I do count my visit as the guard did let me drive 200 meters into the park 😇 for now..... not sure this will ever be WHS as it's already a biosphere as well.

For all visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the visitor center is a smart first stop to get information about current eruptions. During our exploration of the park, there were eruptions occurring, but the distance was significant. My camera captured the dramatic scene, but I regretted not bringing my binoculars. We spent 1.5 days in the park and there was certainly still more to see. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was reminiscent to me of both Yellowstone National Park (Steam Vents and Sulphur Banks) and Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes (Thurston Lava Tube).

Kilauea Iki Trail (3 miles loop) - If there is a must-do hike at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, this would be it.

Thurston Lava Tube - An interesting, albeit brief stop (30 minute parking). Not anywhere near as exceptional as the Geomunoreum lava tube system in Jeju Island, but worth your time.

Chain of Craters Road - make sure to stop at the Pauahi Crater (last eruption 1979), which only takes 5-10 minutes. The Holei Sea Arch gets most the attention and is a good photo opportunity, but the drive itself is the highlight.

The Kahuku Unit was added to the National Park in 2004 and is currently not part of the inscribed boundaries, but may meet criteria for a minor boundary modification. Text related to this portion of the park was added to the UNESCO description as adding further to the parks conservation (almost an informal buffer zone), but the world …

EPGDABR, short for “El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar National Biosphere Reserve”, is another rarely visited WHS in the far North of Mexico. After contemplating a lot of options on how to get there (Fly to Mexicali and rent a car? Take a bus the loooong way west from Chihuahua?), I stumbled upon a 2-day / 1-night camping tour out of the Sonoran state capital of Hermosillo. It ticked all my boxes as it would cover both the sand dunes (Gran Desierto) and the volcanic landscape (El Pinacate), provide transport & lodging, and it was cheap and convenient as well. This WHS is complicated in many ways, so brace yourself for a long review.

The first question that needs to be answered is “What is it exactly about?”. The landscape is a mix of volcanic craters, cactuses, high sand dunes, and starry nights, all in the Sonoran Desert. As the long name already suggests, it covers actually two adjacent areas with different values. I can see that for management purposes they have been linked, but it does feel like visiting two different sites. El Pinacate I would describe as “Iceland with cactuses”, while the Gran Desierto de Altar is like a smaller version of the Namib Sand Sea. The fabled “stark contrast of a dark-coloured area comprised of a volcanic shield and spectacular craters and lava flows within an immense sea of dunes” (OUV Statement) I found a bit prosaic, as the two areas only touch at certain …

I visited El Castillo de San Felipe in December 2021 during my trip to Central America. I spent three nights in Rio Dulce, rather than the two I had originally planned.

El Castillo de San Felipe is a fortification built in 1652 to protect ships sailing on Lago Izabal from pirate attacks. The strategy is said to have kept the buccaneers away until 1686, when they captured and burned the castle. It was then modified to adopt the Vauban style in 1687-1689. It was eventually used as a prison when the pirates stopped sailing in the Caribbean.

During my time in Rio Dulce, I stayed at the Hotel Kangaroo. I highly recommend this place for its quietness, its enchanting decor, its excellent Mexican restaurant, and the warmth of its employees, but also for the possibility of renting kayaks and the proximity to the castle. I thus reached the site by paddling. Being in the water allows you to see from all angles the thick walls that repelled filibusters. I was able to moor near the castle and take some pictures from the shore. However, I did not penetrate the castle walls. Indeed, I have little interest in military works and the price was relatively high (75 Q if I remember well). All in all, the castle is nice, but not particularly impressive nor very big. It is certainly an important piece of local history, but has no universal value in my opinion.

If you spend time in …

Visited Phuket in 2016 and had just passed my diving certificate - so everyone tells you to go diving in the Similan Islands as must-do vacation. It sounded great on paper but the tour operators are all dodgy and diving in Thailand is always a little on the skeptical side. It's cheap and backpackers love it for that; however, it's like the dorm rooms on booking.com that all get 9.x ratings but they are rather crappy as a stay for the regular traveler, the people who do stay for $10 a night will love it and rate it highly. So basically the type of divers that were on the trip consisted of alcoholic Russians that would drink hardcore vodka all the time, possibly in-between dives, and WITH the dive master(!!), the maniac tattooed young hotshot "yanks" that would try to do backflips with a tank on, and generally people who haven't been diving in any better place and just felt that it's the best there is - and maybe for the price that is true although Bali shouldn't cost you more and you certainly don't need to stay on a boat for several days to see fishes and even maybe mantas. While dive operators never want to promise you anything like sights or visibility, they talked big about whalesharks and how great the sites are but they ended up being rather average. While I don't remember the operator anymore I still remember the dive guide taking the group against strong …

Getting out from the bus at Dragør on a beautiful summer day, the first thing I felt was the scent of marine breeze. It was already very different from Copenhagen, 15km away.

I visited this village as an afternoon trip from the capital at the beginning of August 2021, taking the bus (theres's substantially one line with medium frequency; get out at Skole/Vestgrønningen) directly from Copenhagen's central station to the stop in Dragør near library and school, at the entrance to the old town from the "main streets" Strandgade and Von Ostensgade. It takes more or less 40 minutes, and the bus first traverses extensive suburbs on the island of Amager (just Ama, for the locals), formally another municipality but more and more cannibalised by the expansion of the big city and the airport, then reaches the shore with more rural views and finally turns for Dragør. The block of the old town is a well defined yellow square of small pedestrian alleyways lined with typical decorative plant shrubs. It surely stands out from the newer parts of the settlements, and in this sense it has an authentic feeling. Going straight through the village, you'll reach the old harbour with the visitor centre and the museum, the explanatory heart of this nomination. They all occupy old buildings that once served to the professions and needs of a traditional port; now it all works as a marina and they are no longer used.

The museum (50DKK~6,7€, a …

If you got the money you can fly directly into Shark Bay, stay at Monkey Mia and see the dolphins. Check. However, the dolphins are the worst part of Shark Bay and only keeps mainstream tourists coming. Most of Shark Bay is hard to get to though, with off-limit islands and a strictly protected marine park. So it's not easy to appreciate this area. You can go to the lovely heritage museum for tons of info on the area: why it's UNESCO, what kind of unique things there are to see, and there is also a small cinema to watch a movie but I didn't stick around for that. I was also the only person in the museum the entire so I guess this place isn't so popular around non-holiday periods.

I actually drove up from Perth and combined this with several sites on the coast, including Ningaloo Coast further up north. I remember trying to fly to Exmouth and drive form there but the mileages was so limited, not unusual for smaller town rentals around Australia including Darwin, that it wasn't going to work out. The drive up from Perth is quite long.

As I was purposely avoiding the dolphin encounter I had to do with just stopping at the coast sites and look around. No mammals or birds in sight. My rating for the site is thus a little lower than it probably is worth because on paper this place sounds great, with tons of animals …

I didn’t want to come back from a visit to the Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque with the same story and the same photos as all reviewers before me. So, after digging through the nomination file and looking at the official map, it became clear to me that the two endpoints of the hydraulic system, the towns of Otumba and Zempoala, also are part of the core zone. And luckily there are buses all day long from Mexico City to Otumba. They are run by the same company that goes to Teotihuacan from Area 7 at Terminal Norte bus station. They have a cute map on their website which suggests that you can reach Zempoala with them as well.

After a drive of about 1.5 hours, the bus dropped me at the town entrance and I walked on to the central square. The first (and maybe only) eye-catcher in Otumba is the Church and Convent of the Immaculate Conception, also built under the auspices of Padre Tembleque. The church seems much too big for the town. It has a spacious plaza in front: as in many places in early colonial Mexico, services for the indigenous people were often held in the open air.

Beforehand I had looked up a few places on the map where remains of the water supply to Otumba can still be found. The most striking one is a water tank on the outskirts of town. It is located on a street named after Padre Tembleque. …

October 2021 - I had been several times to Vienna and also got to know the Donau between Vienna and Bratislava, but never managed to visit the Wachau. This time we came by camper and were here right during grape-harvest. So perfect time to have some „Sturms“. In the morning hours we entered Krems and walked around this rather calm, unexciting little town. Across the river in Mautern we visited remains of the Danube Limes but decided to continue on the north bank of the Donau again. Although crowded with tourists we parked in the vineyards of Dürnstein, had some wine and Vesper at a local Heuriger, before we walked through the charming little Austrian village. The cars are directed underneath the town, thus the view at the Donau is wonderful at this place. After tasting some obligatory specialities, we drove further so Spitz in search for vinyards offering authentic austrian food. This part was rather disappointing though, I guess you have to drive inlands which we did not do. Consequently we ended up in Melk that night, where we had at least big Schnitzels and stayed overnight at the feed of the famous Abbey. At the end we only spent a day in the Wachau, but the Journey through Czechia was worth it.