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I visited Diyarbakir in Spring 2021 after Sanliurfa and before heading towards Van lake and spent 2 nights and 3 days here. When planning my road trip loop I had marked this area as the one I was to be most careful in based on some rough experiences some travellers went through here. It's close proximity to conflict stricken countries such as Syria and Iraq, plus being the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan, all seem to contribute enough to being a bit more careful in principle.

During our visit though, we encountered no problems whatsoever and the locals were really friendly and proud that two Western tourists made an extra effort to visit their city notwithstanding its reputation and the COVID-19 travel restrictions. Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on most locals, such as the ban on inter-state travel, when we visited most if not all refugees or migrants from neighboring countries were either pushed back or living in tent communities in the fields on the outskirts of the city. Police and military forces are always on the alert here, so expect numerous checkpoints not only on the way to/from the city but also within different districts within the city walls. Together with the CCTV cameras installed literally everywhere, the city (especially inside the area inside and near the city walls) felt extra safe at all times.

The city walls have gone through constant turmoil or acts of vandalism, but the UNESCO inscription seems to have helped …

This is an easily accessible site by public transport, with trains running hourly from Derby up to Matlock. For my visit, I disembarked at Whatstandwell and crossed the footbridge which leads immediately onto the Cromford Canal, built between 1789 and 1794 to transport goods manufactured by the mills. The canal is narrow here and covered in a thick mat of algae but has a well-maintained footpath that I followed all the way to the end of the canal at the village of Cromford, a pleasant walk of around three miles mostly through woodland. En route there are various small original bridges passing over the canal as well as aqueducts that take the canal over the railway and the River Derwent. The Leawood Pump House (dating to 1849) was built to transfer water from the river to the canal and is currently closed for repairs but there are apparently demonstrations of the restored steam-powered pump when it is open. Further along the canal, High Peak Junction was where goods were transferred from the canal to the railway (opened 1830) that travelled through the Peak District to Buxton then on to Manchester and was the steepest adhesion railway in the country. This railway was closed by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and its route is now a hiking trail but the start of the line here has preserved station buildings, section of track, signals, and a railway car with an audio tour available to explain the history. The rest of the …

I visited Sanliurfa as a stopover between Gobeklitepe and Diyarbakir WHS. It is a very enjoyable and laid back city nicknamed the "City of Prophets". Its highlight, the Sacred Fish Lake or Abraham's Pool, is squeezed between the city proper (now also known as Urfa or Edessa in ancient times) and its imposing castle.

Sanliurfa was at the cross-roads of civilisations and was conquered repeatedly throughout history, and has been dominated by many civilizations, including the Ebla, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hurri-Mitannis, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Ancient Greeks (under Alexander the Great), Seleucids, Armenians, Arameans, the Neo-Assyrian Osrhoenes, Romans, Sassanids, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuqs and Ottomans. According to Jewish and Muslim sources, Sanliurfa is believed to be Ur Kasdim, the hometown of Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob whom God named Israel. Sanliurfa is also one of several cities around the world that have traditions associated with Job (green tomb in photo, beneath the castle fortifications).

According to tradition, Nimrod had Abraham immolated on a funeral pyre, but God turned the fire into water and the burning coals into fish. The pool of sacred fish remains to this day and is believed to have healing properties. Any visitor can enter the glass floored praying area over the fish pond for free. The Islamic architecture and gardens around this pond are in a remarkable state of conservation and its decorations and architectural elements give a better idea of how places which are now in ruins, such as Medina al-Zahra in Spain, once …

Duly vaccinated and tested, I made my first foray out of the country last Saturday on a day trip to Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi, the only World Heritage Site in southern Alberta that I had not yet visited. As has been noted, Writing-on-Stone has similarities to Dinosaur Provincial Park, but its inscription is cultural versus natural, and is very much based on the significance of the landscape to the Blackfoot people.

As can be easily inferred from the title of this site, rock art plays a prominent role in why the site was inscribed -- in fact, this park contains the greatest concentation of rock art in the Great Plains of North America. The Blackfoot and their predecessors have left rock carvings that are almost 2000 years old, though most of the older art is fainter. Newer rock art, such as the battle scene found on the Hoodoo Trail, includes evidence of post-European contact, to include horses and guns. Also in evidence in places were grafitti from more recent visitors traveling through the valley, which has led the park to erect fences around some of the rock art, and to restrict a large section of the park to visitors unless on a guided tour.

I visited on a cloudy day, but the light conditions were sufficient enough for me to see people in some of the earlier rock art panels during my self-guided tour on the Hoodoo Trail. I was not as successful identifying bison or bear claws in …

Visiting the park between June 15th and June 17th, the season was still early. The Going-to-the-Sun Road was not cleared fully, but more importantly for my visit, I would have to adapt. Firstly, the reservation system for the Going-to-the-Sun Road was completely overwhelmed with the amount of people who wanted to reserve a place. Shuttle service does not begin until July. Millions of Americans after being vaccinated, hit the roads to escape home, but largely still being limited to domestic travel only. Though I planned months in advance and I diligently visited recreation.gov at every "booking window" it was a fruitless exercise. Everything was fully reserved within 1 minute. I accepted I would not be visiting the iconic roadway (though terrifying based on youtube videos). Once that option was closed the real research started. How can I make this a worthwhile visit? Where should I prioritize my time?

Very early on I had already booked my stay at Many Glacier Hotel, so I knew I would be spending significant time there, which by many accounts is a highlight of the park and less busy (both true). Doing some backward planning, I was coming from the West, so the best option materialized with Two Medicine being the highlight of Day 1. As I passed the West Glacier Entrance, a slight pang of regret, but ultimately unavoidable. We stopped for a moment to admire Belton Chalets (part of the Great Northern Railway Buildings National Historic Landmark, which includes 5 components). On …

I visited Gobeklitepe in Spring 2021 after Nemrut Dagi WHS on the way to Sanliurfa TWHS. Gobeklitepe is the world's first known temple and notwithstanding its old age, the preserved T-shaped posts at the site are intricately decorated with figures of snakes, foxes, cranes, lions, bulls, boars, gazelles, bears, rams, spiders and scorpions.

Gobeklitepe is located about 22 kilometres from Sanliurfa, Harran and the Euphrates plateau. The Taurus Mountains and Karacadag Mountain not far from the Syrian border are visible too from here. Its geographical location together with the readily accessible nearbu stone quarries must have played a crucial role in the decision to build Gobeklitepe here. Gobeklitepe was discovered in 1963, however the true significance of the site was only realised as late as 1994, i.e. the transition from hunter-gatherer to food-producing communities, also known as the Neolithic Revolution.

I'm not a big fan of modern tents on ancient sites but the one at Gobeklitepe is one of the best worldwide and still allows some sunlight through. Nowadays, the only way to experience the T-shaped posts under a starry night sky (as had been first photographed by National Geographic for the first documentaries), is by viewing the audiovisual experience mainly geared to entertain children. After parking your vehicle, you can either walk for 5 minutes on a plain paved road or wait for a free shuttle bus to fill up. Since there was almost nobody around when we visited, we gladly walked the few metres in the …

What we can find now in the so-called New Forest are only small fragments of large Baroque program around the Hospital Kuks, the spa complex, founded by Count von Sporck in 18th Century. Unfortunately, the central scene of Bethlehem was seriously damaged. The sculptures and relieves were carved on/from the high-quality sandstone rocks in situ by one of the best baroque sculptors active in the Czech lands: Matthias Bernhard Braun, Austrian artist hired by Bohemian nobility. Originally, the sandstone statues were completed by wooden ones, carved in the trees, and all of them brightly painted. The statues were intended for contemplation, reflection, but also entertainment of the spa guests. The workshop of Braun was rather active, and we can find his works also in Prague on the Charles bridge, such as the famous Dream of Saint Lutgardis. 

I visited the site on sunny September Sunday 2021 by local train from Jaroměř (every 2 hours). As I spent too much time in the fortress Josefov, I had only 40 minutes to go around 1 km uphills from the train stop Žireč, admire the sculptures, and return to the train stop for the very last local train with transfer to the fast train in direction Prague. Thus, I missed the exploration of the Hospital Kuks, which is located some 2-3 km from the sculptures, and which is also decorated by rich statue program by Braun. However, I have been to the Hospital already several times. I can say that even half …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021. If you're travelling by car between Goreme National Park and Nemrut Dagi, the Arslantepe Mound near Malatya is a rather convenient stopover point. Knowing that this site was up for inscription in Summer 2021, I made an extra effort to visit the Arslantepe Mound which shows the interaction between Eastern Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

The Arslantepe Mound is a Late Hittite large mud-brick complex of several buildings. Unlike Gobeklitepe and Catalhoyuk, which have circular elevated boardwalks around and above the sites at quite a distance, Arslantepe (at least when I visited) had wooden boardwalks and textile carpets which go through the corridors with walls which still have visible sections with white plaster, and red and black wall paintings. This is quite impressive when considering that they were done around 3350-3000 BC. A very kind security guard revealed the red and black paintings which were covered by white curtains. Apart from the peculiar wall paintings, another highlight were the decorative coloured geometric engravings, technically described as lozenge-shaped stamps applied to wet plaster. Several detailed information boards shed light on what you're seeing during your visit. In front of the site's entrance, there's also a reconstruction of an Early Bronze Age I Arslantepe House (2900-2800 BC).

Arslantepe (Lion Hill), also known as Melid, was an ancient city on the Tohma River, a tributary of the upper Euphrates rising in the Taurus Mountains. It is dubbed as Arslantepe, the origins of power, due to the …

The Iron Bridge is an attractive if small structure over the River Severn, which was repainted in 2018 to what historians have determined was its original red colour. Set against the background of the picturesque town of Ironbridge, the bridge is not especially impressive until you remember it is now nearly 250 years old. References to this bridge are always careful to describe it as the first ‘major’ bridge to be made from cast iron as there was apparently an abandoned attempt to construct an iron bridge in Lyon in 1755 and a successful, but much smaller, decorative iron bridge in the grounds of Kirklees Hall, Yorkshire in 1769. However, Abraham Darby’s 1779 bridge here has rightfully become one of the iconic symbols of the Industrial Revolution. Even though many larger and/or more ornate bridges have since been constructed, this has the distinction of both being amongst the first and surviving to the present day.

Not too far out the town along the road to the east are the Bedlam furnaces, also free to access although with some signs of ageing, where iron ore was smelted to make the all-important metal. There are more furnaces at the Museum of Iron, which I did not get chance to visit, and at the Blists Hill Victorian Town. The Blists Hill furnaces are newer in construction, built between 1832 and 1844, but are more striking in their huge size and better preserved than the Bedlam furnaces. These furnaces and the remains of …

The history of the fortress Theresienstadt has been already described in other reviews. Because of the dark shadows of shoah and suffering of human beings, so far I have been avoiding the place. I changed my mind, and traveled to Terezín on sunny Saturday of September 2021. I know the wider area around so called Porta Bohemica very well. It is the point where the Labe river leaves the fertile lowlands and crosses the Central Bohemian Uplands, which is of volcanic origin. I visited nearby medieval town of Litoměřice several times during this year, and the area is really amazing and worth-visiting even without Terezín.

I like putting everything into the context. Therefore, I visited not only Terezín/Theresienstadt but also Josefov/Josefstadt/Pless (the next day after Terezín). Both fortresses were built simultaneously for the same purpose and using the same mold in line with the most progressive trends of 80-90s of 18th Century by French architects (the Mezieres shool). Josefov (originally called Pless, but renamed in the honor of the founder, emperor Joseph II) is located in the north-east Bohemia on the confluence of rivers Labe and Metuje.

I traveled to Terezín by train getting off in Bohušovice nad Ohří, then few kilometers of walk. Josefov is also accessible by train, and now it is the part of town Jaroměř (fast trains from Prague to Jaroměř every 2 hours via Hradec Králové).

As the military purpose of both fortresses disappeared long time ago, they have been in slow …

Just as the pandemic hit in early 2020 a new £20 note entered circulation in the UK. The portrait on the reverse of the banknote is of the 19th century artist JMW Turner and behind him can be seen details of his 1839 work The Fighting Temeraire, Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838. This picture depicts a once-grand ship of the line, famed for its performance at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, masts bare, being hauled away for dismantling by a low dark churning paddle-steamer. It represents the replacement of the age of sail with that of steam. More generally, it represents the passing away of greatness. It provided a sombre leitmotif to my visit to Chatham Historic Dockyard. The Temeraire was constructed in the Chatham shipyards on the River Medway, and it was from Sheerness at the mouth of the river that it departed for its final voyage. And at the dockyard itself visitors can view the last remains of the similarly-feted HMS Namur, broken up just six years before the Temeraire and its timbers used to support the floor of a workshop. Chatham reached its apogee in constructing these romantic warships of the age of sail. But as sail turned to steam and then oil and ships became larger and more complex Chatham Dockyard was outmatched. In the 1980s she, too, was broken up, sold off and built over.

The core remains in the form of the Chatham Historic Dockyard, however, …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021. I arrived in the small town of Karadut via several minor scenic roads from Goreme NP. A very long drive indeed but it was an enjoyable one with fauna and bird sightings en route and worthwhile stopovers and panoramic viewpoints near the Roman bridge of Severan.

The narrow roads from Adimiyan or Kahta (the two main cities for tour departures) are a good hour to 90 minutes away from the Nemrut Dag visitor centre. The one hour ride both ways for a visit (especially if you opt to visit at sunrise) is quite dangerous and tiring so staying overnight in Karadut is an investment, also to beat the first tourist groups. Moreover, there are secondary archaeological sites which are worth visiting if you have extra time to spare such as Arsemia, Cendere and Karakus. The visitor centre had only a couple of information boards on the site excavation and facts on the site and on the German archaeologist Friedrich Karl Dörner when I visited, and the whole metal roof had incredibly been blown away by the frequent strong winds. The UNESCO signs nailed to the wall withstood the strong winds though. There are two separate entrances to the Nemrut Dag WHS: one from the top, beneath the artificial mound and several stairs, which you drive up to after paying the entrance ticket, and another from the National Park, well beneath the artificial mound, which involves a longer hike up. 

The artificial …

Hidden amongst the flurry of new inscriptions in the bumper 2020/21 session, the UK attempted to expand the boundaries of one its first ever sites. Durham was inscribed in 1986 with two separate core zones, one each for the castle and the cathedral. In 2008, the site boundaries were extended to include the area of Palace Green in between the two with its associated buildings. ICOMOS considered that this extension to form a homogenous zone had “specific architectural and historic values which strengthen the expression of outstanding universal value”. However, the periodic report of 2013 still stated that even this extended area was “still not adequate to illustrate the attributes of Outstanding Universal Value” and so that is how we come to this new proposal.

The new boundaries cover an area almost four times that of those of 2008, the site extending in all directions from its current core to cover more historic buildings along what is known as the Bailey as well as the entirety of the meander of the River Wear that flows around the hill on which the castle and cathedral are built and parts of the adjoining riverbank. The original 1986 designation included the 18th Century Prebends Bridge but this new zone includes three more – the 13th Century Elvet Bridge, the 15th Century Framwellgate Bridge and the considerably less medieval 1966 Kingsgate pedestrian bridge that links the cathedral to the brutalist concrete masterpiece/monstrosity (opinions vary) of Dunelm House. Taken together, these new components are …

I visited all 7 locations of this top WHS over a period of 5-6 days. I used this WHS as a central stepping stone twice in my figure of eight loop around Turkey during my Spring 2021 road trip, first coming from Bogazkale and later coming from Divrigi.

Not only is the main location of this WHS, Goreme National Park, a huge area to cover, but when including the remaining 6 locations, the inscribed areas are quite far from each other and quite a stretch to cover all of them by car without careful planning and a GPS. The subterranean cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu are more than an hour ride away from Nevsehir. Both are quite similar, and I would suggest going for the latter if you had to choose as it not only is the biggest of the two but it has several features which make it easier to envisage it as an underground city proper, such as a bakery, storage area, sleeping areas, communal areas and passages with round movable stone slabs through which as many as 20,000 people, mostly Christians, fled and stayed together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Cappadocia and extends to a depth of 85 metres so keep this in mind if you're claustrophobic as entrance and exit are separate areas and it will take at least 30 minutes to find your way back outside (also keep in mind that it is cool and …

I absolutely loved my visit to Termessos. The ruins of Greek fortified town are located within the National Park, close to Antalya. From the E87 there is a crossroad, leading to the park at the left and conveniently to Karain Cave TWHS to the right.

After the toll booth, where you pay the entrance fee for the park, there is a small road that leads to the parking lot of the ruins. Up at the ruins there was nobody. No guard and no other visitors. I reached the ruins after around 30 minutes hiking. The complete area is huge and the combination between ruins and nature is stunning. I found city walls, temples, cisterns and several other buildings. The highlight is clearly the theatre. It’s not in great shape, but the location on the edge of the mountain is fantastic. As the only visitor, I was fully able to explore the site and get an unspoiled view from every angle.

I walked back a different route, passing several rock tombs on the way down. The complete hike is not easy, but well worth the effort. You should at least plan a few hours to enjoy this site.

Sulaiman-Too is the landmark of the lovely city of Osh. It is a mostly relict cultural landscape of a sacred mountain – so much was destroyed during the Soviet-communist period of Kyrgyzstan, that really only the caves and the legends remain. A few recently revived or added Islamic buildings can be found at the foot of the mountain, outside the gates, including the pretty, Arab-sponsored Sulaiman-Too Mosque dating from 2012.

Accurate information on how to visit the mountain is surprisingly rare to find. One can actually enter from two sides: where the English language sources seem to steer you to the steep stairs from Kurmanjan Datka Street, the locals generally use the winding way up from Gapar Aytiev. A handy overview map and a larger car parking can be found at that entrance. 

There’s a fence fully encircling the mountain, I guess to avoid rough sleepers. A 20 Som entrance fee is only levied from 9 a.m. onwards: there’s a ticket kiosk at either entrance. I entered at 8.45 and found the gate open. I also encountered people coming from the other side, they must have been on their way from around 8. So I guess opening hours are between 8 a.m. and sunset.

Local people seem to do this walk along the ridge of the mountain as a daily exercise. The easy path has an iron railing and is largely made of cement. Here and there you can still see the original pilgrim's path: worn, marble-like …

Visit May 19. On my short trip to the northern part of Jordan I visited some great TWHS, like Jerash or Umm al-Jimal. And I visited As-Salt.

I parked my car near the town hall and went to the Archeological Museum. There I got a poorly copied map of the most important buildings related to the WHS. I spent my time hunting down these buildings.

As-Salt is certainly not a city that lets your jaw drop. What Unesco describes as “a blend of European Art Nouveau and Neo-Colonial styles combined with local traditions” were to me rather boring square buildings. The oldest part of the city is not unpleasant, but also not outstanding. Certainly it is not photogenic city. The cars, narrow streets, open cables and lack of real highlights make it hard to get some good shots. Maybe if you find a good guide that can explain the value of the city on site, you get a more satisfying visit. For me, this was absolutely no highlight in a country I otherwise quite like.

As-Salt is very close to Amman. You can easily squeeze it in on your way to the Baptism WHS.

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021. Bogazkale is a perfect stopover point in Curum between Safranbolu and Goreme NP. Even though the WHS is made up of 4 locations, the Kayali Bogaz (outpost) and the Osmankayasi (rock necropolis) are perfectly visible from in and around Hattusha and Yazilikaya and are minor sites when compared to the massive Hattusha site and the impressive engravings of Yazilikaya. The entrance ticket to Yazilikaya is included with the ticket to Hattusha and really shouldn't be missed (even if you're pressed for time, it won't take longer than 15-30 minutes and you won't regret it).

Yazilikaya literally means "inscribed rock" and it includes some of the most important rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire. The best time to visit is probably in the early morning unless you manage to organise a night visit with a torch! Yazilikaya was a sanctuary for the Hittites and as much as 64 deities are depicted in the foundations of what were once Chambers A and B of this Hittite "pantheon". Along Chamber A the main highlight is the procession of male mountain gods wearing the traditional kilts, pointed shoes and horned hats, while along Chamber B the fewer rock reliefs are much larger and better preserved and it may have served as a mortuary mausoleum or memorial. The winged solar and lunar deities are strikingly reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Hattusha on the other hand is really a fully blown razed city which requires at least half …

I visited Safranbolu as my first stop for 2 nights during my Spring 2021 road trip round Turkey. Having previously visited Istanbul and Edirne already, and due to the interstate lockdowns and restrictions imposed after Ramadan, I decided not to risk getting blocked in Istanbul so I drove straight to Safranbolu during the early hours of the day upon arrival in Istanbul Grand Airport.

Safranbolu is a typical Ottoman city made up of several small districts or neighborhoods with typical buildings and streets. It played a key role in the caravan trade over many centuries and even though the city underwent a deep process of industrialisation due to the huge iron and steel enterprises in the 20th century, the traditional aspects of the Ottoman city surprisingly remained pretty much intact. Even though the city lacks the iconic monuments of Bursa for example, its ensemble is much more unique as an Ottoman city and this can be admired from the several panoramic viewpoints around the city.

Three distinct historic districts are listed in this WHS: Çukur, the central market place area of the inner city, Kıranköy and Bağlar (the vineyards). Çukur lies in the lower part of Safranbolu bordered between two rivers. Here the highlight for me was wandering around the curvy narrow streets of the market, which are surrounded by the houses and workshops of Anatolian craftsmen and "nomads" who in the past continously left Asia.

In contrast, Kıranköy was formerly a non-Muslim district, with a socio-architectural …

During the last weekend of Summer holidays 2021, I finally managed to visit all the nominated industrial monuments of Ostrava, which were included to the tentative list some 20 years ago. It seems that the nomination is in a dormant state, and no further action of the state party of Czechia is foreseen... Even though I really enjoyed my visit, and the Ostrava agglomeration was the biggest and the most important hub of the coal mining and iron production of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire as well as socialistic Czechoslovakia, it has no chance to be inscribe in my opinion. If you look at the list, there are already plenty of coal and iron relate sites, and do we really need more industrial Art Deco brick buildings, mining towers, and mining sites in general to be on the list? Even the story about a little village which turned into an industrial Magalopolis because of very rich deposits of coal is not very innovative. It does not mean that the site is bad, it is really great and the industrial heritage became the important "selling point" of Ostrava in 21th Century even without the WHS status. The coal mining stopped some 30 years ago. Nowadays, it is cheaper to buy iron and coal from China than produce it in situ. Thus, there was a danger of rapid decline of Ostrava. Fortunately, it did not happened and Ostrava is now green city with culture life which even Prague can only dream about.

Let´s …