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I visited El Calafate in December 2021, where it was easy to arrange a day trip to Los Glaciares National Park. The trips seem to follow a similar itinerary -- boat tour to get up close to Perito Moreno Glacier, and then a couple of hours to visit the viewing platforms near the park's headquarters. El Calafate is a much more charming Patagonian town than Bariloche, where I spent a couple of days later in the same trip.  

Denmark has a good number of lovely old, partly Romanesque country churches (especially on Møn island), and then also its good share of more imposing spire-crowned urban cathedrals, but Roskilde's is hands down the most beautiful and elegant you can visit in the country.

I reached the old capital Roskilde, the seat of the gritty bishop Absalon (traditionally considered the founder of Copenhagen) in the XIIth century, at the beginning of August 2021, as a day trip from Copenhagen. This can be done very easily by train, which goes there in less than an hour, as there are frequent connections from Copenhagen's stations, and furthermore this route is covered by the Copenhagen Card. Once there, it is a pleasant short walk through the town centre, passing by the main square and its old city hall: it won't be much before you'll see the massive, towery shape of the cathedral rise over the other buildings. It sits atop a hill, free-standing in its own square, dominating the rest of the town, with a panorama towards the fjord. Its appearance is majestic indeed; its austere and maybe overdimensioned façade is counterbalanced by the beguiling variety of its body, characterised by the volumes of the different chapels.

The cathedral

One of the main reasons for its inscription is the significance it has as the burial place of most, if not all, Danish sovereigns: this becomes even more remarkable considering that the Danish monarchy is the second most ancient …

To visit the park I stayed at the Vioolsdrift Lodge just across the border from Namibia. At the time it was run by a lovely family so I highly recommend it, great tents and a bar where you wouldn't expect one. The lady (formerly German I believe) also gave me superb info on the park and since I had a 4x4 on the trip I could access the park from a little road that goes northwest along the river. What you see are some low cliffs but the road is very shoddy, with big spiky rocks all over the place. It gets rougher as you go along. This may not be the main path into the park. It takes quite a while to get into the park and then it's still a while to see more things that you are looking for. Unfortunately this is like a huge "open museum" and the things you are looking for could be anywhere in the park without a guide. So my advice: book something from Cape Town if you want the full cultural experience. Going in on your own is mainly just for rock art and some remains of old houses.

However, I think the ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park has the same cultural relics and MUCH better scenery. I've included a pic of Fish Canyon, a true marvel, and you can hike in it too. The access is better, there are more things to see, and it's more beautiful. Currently on Namibia's tentative …

4 of the 5 proposed mountain chains are massively off the beaten path. I managed a short visit to Gebel Dokhkhan, the only chain within a tourist area. We sort of crossed the chain twice by car, driving from Hurghada to Luxor and back, which I didn’t count. But a Quad tour through the desert brought us properly to the beginning of the mountain chain.

The OUV, specifically for this chain, is hard to gasp for me. There are rocks and tiny mountains in the desert. I am sure that some of the endemic species can actually be found, when looking long enough, but mainly it’s still rocks in the desert. If these get inscribed (I doubt it) it will be one of these places that few serious travellers but many package tourists will be able to tick off.

October 2021 - a short „1800km“ campertrip in fall brought us from Berlin to Wachau and back. We managed to see a few Whs sites of which Telc was one we looked forward to. At the end we only spent a bit more than an hour here. Not much to see apart from the beautiful Renaissance houses along the market, which is a idyllic There are some Souvenir Shops, Restaurants and chinese trash shops. The park at the castle is also worth a visit.

We noticed anyway quite a number of international daytourists from Prague or on their way to Vienna. The parking lot was full of buses.We found the nearby Slavonice, which we visited next morning more charming and original.

RHINO! Well, at the time I was so excited but since then I have seen many of them all over the world. My noobish question to the staff at the visitor center if they could give me hints of where there is a higher chance to run into them was just got me shaking heads. There is even a huge "DO NOT POST RHINO SIGHTINGS" in the logbook. Shortly after leaving the visitor center and veering off the main road I saw a huge boulder blocking the path - turned it out was a rhino after all. It didn't like the car coming but didn't run into the distance either. I also need to say that if you stick to the main road of the park you will not see too much and the smaller roads are rough. You can take most with an SVU but a 4x4 is recommended so you don't get stuck out there - pretty much Safari 101. As Etosha is a dry and hot park that makes it extra unbearable having to find help on foot.

Unlike most visitors I only spent a long day in the park so I didn't go far out in the distance. After having been to many national parks in southern Africa it can get a bit jading but if you come for the rhinos then you should stay longer to ensure sightings. Everything else, giraffes, elephants are pretty common all over the place and the lack of shades …

Viking ring fortresses (ringborge) might have been the eventual factor that prompted my all-Denmark trip by rental car in August 2021 (besides massive listening to "Viking neo-folk ambient music" in the previous months as a power-background while working...). Their simple, geometric shapes emanate some mystery, and, somewhat paradoxically, they are at the same time unobtrusive landmarks and witnesses of a golden Viking age of expansion and consolidation.

Introduction

As of now, there are five registered ringborge in Denmark, and they are all part of this upcoming (2022) nomination. They are neatly laid out as a string that binds together the whole country from the islands to the continent: Borgring on the eastern coast of Sjælland, Trelleborg on the Storebælt, Nonnebakken in Odense on Fyn, Fyrkat at the end of the Mariager fjord in Northern Jutland, and Aggersborg overlooking the Limfjord from the island of Vendsyssel-Thy (the northernmost part of Jutland - yes, it's an island!). There might be some connection also to the Swedish Trelleborg, which would then be a natural continuation of this string towards the east, on the other side of the Øresund, but as far as I have understood still nothing has come out in that sense. Such an arrangement is not haphazard, of course, but, then as nowadays, considering also Jelling (which fits between Nonnebakken and Fyrkat), it follows the geographical and political backbone of Denmark: remarkably, all ring fortresses lie in the vicinities of the major motorway routes (E20/E45) traversing the country, …

Usually this place isn't high on the list of travelers to Malawi. My visit was part of a safari tour that took me from Lake Malawi through Zambia to Botswana and it had this as a scheduled stop. The driver stated he rarely goes there and only because I had selected the "extensive" tour. From the only road across the country there is a road leading south that goes to the rock art. It is clearly signed, not that I think you'll be driving on your in Malawi but it's not unheard of. The closer you get to the sites the worse the road gets, eventually just dirt roads and little villages. That might explain why most safari tours avoid it. After just one site I told the driver I am not really interested, which of course in hindsight seems crazy BUT I stay with my rating that they are utterly garbage. While I'm not a fan of rock art in general, (I mean, who is?) I have seen my share of good ones. Colorful tigers in caves, various animals to show the changes to the landscape over time, even just traditional stuff is ok with me. However, what you see at Chongoni are very primitive drawings that seem to mainly focus on the local customs. Immediately that makes me thing why it's supposed to have a global impact, and honestly I'm not sure it's unique. There must be very similar rock art sites across southeast or just southern Africa …

One of the best parts about travel is learning history from other perspectives. In US history books, Sir Francis Drake is generally viewed favorably for his role as an explorer and a privateer for the Crown; in the Spanish-speaking world, however, he was seen as a pirate and a scourge, raiding Spanish galleons, sacking towns, and ultimately defeating the Spanish Armada. This viewpoint was abundantly clear in the Museum of the Royal Houses when I visited Santo Domingo last October, and for good reason: in 1586 Drake captured the city and set a ransom to be paid by Spain. As an added incentive, Drake began demolishing and setting fire to parts of Santo Domingo until the ransom was ultimately paid. When Drake departed, one-third of the first seat of Spanish rule in the New World--not to mention the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas--lay in ruins. Nevertheless, the city recuperated, and historic buildings can still be found throughout the Colonial City of Santo Domingo.

The heart of the colonial city would have to be Parque Colón, a beautiful tree-covered plaza that was full of music and activity throughout the weekend of my visit. The square is surrounded by civic buildings such as City Hall; hotels and restuarants housed in historic buildings; and one of the must-see sights in the city, the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, which is the oldest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere. Audioguide tours provide an excellent overview of the cathedral, which has …

Priene is a great location next to the mountains. It's a vast area that will take you hours to see. The map alone will show that. Its layout is easy to walk around too, like a well-designed town. The main problem is that that most of what remains are in ruins, and what surprises you is that most of the building blocks are still around, waiting for some money and time spent on getting this place put back together. Potential is huge here as none of the huge pieces were taken away to build something new later, a common thing with so many antique sites. So as there is a lot of rubble what's really worth seeing now are the few large columns with a lovely background (see pic) and the small theater with VIP seats where nothing seems to stop you from actually taking a quick seat (the moral question if you should is all yours). If you have the Aegean card then this place is a nobrainer but even if not it's worth the time and money to visit.

Paquimé, located over 1,700 km north of Mexico City, is a site that is often overlooked. It doesn’t have the great monuments that other pre-Columbian Mexican sites are known for. It’s a niche site for archaeologists, exemplifying architectural and trading links between the area of the Classic Pueblo sites (now located in the Southwest USA) and Mesoamerica. Research has never been intensive, as archaeologists traditionally focus on either one of these worlds. But I was pleasantly surprised by its size and good condition. For me, it closed a circle after having already seen the other Puebloan sites of Mesa Verde, Taos, and Chaco. A visit also brings a lot of insight into the specific history of this region, always so far away from everything.

After walking past the still closed entrance barrier at the opening hour of 10 a.m., I was welcomed in by the guard and his German shepherd dog (I kept a safe distance, much more than 1.5m!) and sent on my way to walk the circuit that is signposted at the site. The first structure one encounters here is the ball court – it looks like a simpler version of the Mayan ones. The presence of a Mesoamerican ballcourt at Paquimé is often given as an example of the fusion of cultures that happened here, but the northern cultures had their own kind of ball courts as well and we do not even know whether they all played the same game.

The settlement consisted of …

October 2021 - the Bohemian Paradise or the Saxonian Swiss we had visited a few times before and fell in love. It definitely deserves a space on the WHS list. Now we had the chance to visit the nearby Czech paradise as well.

We arrived late in Turnov and had some knedliki before we drove into the nationalpark and stayed overnight on a parking lot in our camper. As we were getting ready to sleep someone knocked at our door and let us know that there will be some filming early in the morning, so we would have to leave by then, at least that’s what I understood after our Polish-Czech conversation. He then sat down with a candle and was guarding the requisites, a bit spooky. We changed parking lots early in the morning and made a hike through some of the most beautiful structures and gorges around Mariánská vyhlídka with the fog still hanging over the rocks. After this nice morning hike we continued to visit some famous horses and stables.

The suggested OUV of Dababiya is that it is a one of the Global Standard-stratotype Sections and Points (GSSP). It’s a place where the boundary between the Paleocene and the Eocene is clearly visible. This makes it a rather geeky Paleontological site to visit, but still interesting and not less valuable. To make it a bit more reliable for other visitors, it was also used as a quarry for the buildings of nearby Luxor/Karnak temples.

The site is around 1h drive south of Luxor, along the scenic Nile route. You pass by when you do the Luxor-Aswan drive to visit the Esna/Elfu/Kom Ombo temples. Get off the Luxor-Aswan Eastern Desert Road in Ash Shaghab (crossing the only bridge over the canal) and follow the signs. It’s mostly narrow dirt roads that lead through the village and outside to the main entrance.

We arrived there at 16:15, but found the gate closed. While discussing what to do now, an employee with his tractor approached us from inside. He didn’t speak much English but was probably the nicest Egyptian in the country and after a call with his boss let us in. We drove up to the visitor center, where he got us some brochures and then to the actual site. There is not much more to see than what is on the picture, but still nice and worth the visit.

A small detour worth taking, the entrance is up a hill behind the village and after a few more steep rocks later you can reach the Temple of Athena, the only thing you can really see left of the area. Over time it was transformed into a castle and the temple only has a few things remaining. It boast the oldest Doric columns in Anatolia and that's pretty much all you can still see - not quite unique enough on its own I think, but what I found very pleasing is the sheer location of the temple at the cliffs - so surprised it hasn't eroded away over the centuries from constant battering of the sea winds. While I would like to see it inscribed I think a lof of these temples at the Aegean sea should be combined into something, like, Temples of the Aegean Sea in Turkey?

Our trip to Sicily in September of 2021 budgeted time only for Ortigia, the historic nucleus of Syracuse that has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years. The island is very walkable and reasonably compact, high on the historic-feel quotient with a non-trivial measure of decay and lack of TLC, and decidedly short on killer features.

The walk around town will bring you to the Temple of Apollo ruins, the Ortigia street market, the natural spring of Arethusa, the 13th-century Maniace military fort, and other easy on the eye perspectives. Views over the water on the southeastern edge of Ortigia, where the crescent of Lungomare d'Ortigia leaves room for a sliver of a beach are my favorite. Piazza del Duomo is by far the widest public space on the island, presided over by the cathedral that incorporates in its structure the remnants of the Greek Doric Temple of Athena, built on this same site all the way back in the 5th century BCE.

There are also many examples of Baroque both at churches and in civic architecture. (Syracuse happens to be geographically closer to Noto and Ragusa than Catania is, so obviously some rebuilding after the earthquake of 1693 for which "Baroque Towns of Val di Noto" are celebrated occurred here as well.)

We spent over half a day in Ortigia, which is the least it deserves. Several museums - none that I believe are of "must-see" variety - could be worked into the itinerary for a …

From the three castles, all built (or let's say, tried to be) by King Ludwig II, I have only visited Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. Herrenchiemsee sounds like a great third site but is just far away from the other three so I couldn't fit it into a trip and unsure if I ever will. There is also an unsung fourth site called the King's House on Schachen which is a hunting lodge in the Alps and not easily visited, but also not that exciting from the looks of it. I would think that whenever inscribed it's probably not included.

Neuschwanstein, on the Romantic Road, is a highlight for many, many tourists. It doesn't need world heritage status and already has packed tours every 5-10 minutes in multiple languages, with hordes of Japanese and Chinese tourists making up many of them. It also gotten so bad that heaps of tax exempt shops have cropped up around the village below catering these crowds. Nonetheless the castle itself is a masterpiece. The exterior seems complete but inside you only get a few rooms and one large hall that have been completed. It's unclear how the builders worked back in the days because when you build a house now you don't decorate it room by room, do you? Anyhow, everything besides those rooms is just grey walls or used by the staff including the souvenir shop. The rooms that are complete are masterpieces though, showing Ludwig's love for Richard Wagner.

Linderhof is much …

A sturdily built bridge for the ages, great design and an experience to drive over it. You don't actually have to drive across to see the best part though. If you are doing a road trip like I was, coming from the north (WHS Edirne) then I recommend you drive south to Gallipoli for some TWHS and continue that way on the coast. If you aren't doing that and return to Istanbul from Edirne it may not be worth the sidetrip. Even though I liked the bridge I don't think it's enough to get an inscription.

From the edge of town you can park the car at the corner and walk down the little dirt path to the edge of the river. I went to see this in a January and it was very muddy. You can take enough pictures here to get your "tick", but if you do decide to drive across not that there is no turning back until you actually reach the town of Uzunköprü which doesn't really have anything worthwhile to see (sorry, no offense meant to the locals).

Like many people Covid -19 has led to quite a change in my World Heritage travelling, especially when coupled with two young children, as such the last two years have given me plenty of opportunities to get to know one of my local WHS in more detail, hopefully this run down of the broader site will be of use to others wanting to visit.

(Picture of the chamber inside West Kennet Long Barrow)

My Top 3 

1. StonehengeAlready covered in a lot of detail, iconic and the highlight of this inscription. 

   My most recent visits have enabled me to see the new visitor centre, which I think is a vast improvement, it also now means you get to walk or use a free shuttle bus to get to the stones. This actually helps the site feel more special, and gives a better sense of the whole landscape.A practical note, although the site is managed by English Heritage if you have a National Trust pass this will also get you free entry.

2. Avebury Stone CircleWhilst Stonehenge is the headline act, if you were to ask me which site I prefer I think I would say Avebury. It tends to be quieter (though still reasonably busy) and also you can get up and explore the stones very closely. Here it is also very easy to see the additional aspects of the neolithic landscape, the stone circle, the banked henge and avenue of stones are …

I don't usually write reviews for popular countries because it's covered so well (and by better writers? :)) but then I realized the Margravial Opera House doesn't have many yet, including some people who failed to check that it was under renovations for 5 years and still wanted to visit. In fact I did also want to visit it during that time but a simple check online told me it was closed so I postponed to another trip to Europe. It might also lead to the fact that there are few reviews: it was inscribed in 2012 and then almost immediately closed afterwards, 5 long years of renovations followed and it seems almost unfair to do that to a newly inscribed site that gets more attention that before but I suppose it could have something to do with getting grants under UNESCO inscriptions, who knows.

Upon first entry you will be wow'ed by the beauty inside. There isn't really much else though. It's a regular opera house and the staff will explain to you all sorts of features that aren't uncommon in a theater. Pretty much all of it is made of wood which makes the house super susceptible to fire. After a video and the introductions from the staff you can ask questions or just admire it on your own time until you are lead back outside. It's not as strict as in Padua but they do try to keep things going. As the opera house is much …

The Historic Centre of Zacatecas was a delight, and the highlight of my November trip through central Mexico. Zacatecas takes a bit of planning to reach, but it was well worth the six hour detour from the cluster of World Heritage Sites near Querétaro.

Silver mines put Zacatecas on the map, and funded the rich Baroque architecture seen in the stunning cathedral, as well the Temple of Santo Domingo and the Governor's Palace in the Plaza de Armas. Early in its history, the mines also brought missionaries traveling along the Camino Real, such as the Franciscans, who founded the former San Francisco convent (site of one of two World Heritage Site plaques I found in the historic center), and the Augustinians, who founded the Temple of San Agustin. On my one day in Zacatecas, I spent a couple early hours visiting the churches that were open and admiring the architecture, and then strolling the relatively quiet streets (likely because it was Revolution Day, one of Mexico's public holidays). The neo-classical facade of the Calderon theater was beautiful, and the small plazas scattered around the city were a peaceful way to start the day.

I had two sites I definitely wanted to see when I was in Zacatecas. The first was the overlook from La Bufa, the imposing bluff overlooking the city. La Bufa played a significant role in 1914 during the Mexican Revolution, as Pancho Villa successfully wrested the hill from federal troops before taking the city of …