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In World War 1, the major powers were striving to convince the few neutral powers to join the war on their side. Both Italy and Romania were targets of these efforts by both the Entente and the Central Powers. I guess the reasoning was that in a war of attrition, throwing more men into machine gun fire will help win the war faster. And opening more fronts for the other side to fight on certainly helps. Both Italy (1915) and Romania (1916) eventually declared for the Entente (i.e. declared war on the Central Powers). The reasoning must have been similar for both Italy and Romania:

1. The Entente seemed to be winning and the war should have been over any minute now.
2. The Austrian Hungarian empire held disputed territory (Südtirol for Italy, Siebenbürgen/Transylvania for Romania) where many Italians resp. Romanians lived, so this followed a policy goal: national unity. Side note: German unification was also brought about through three wars in the 19th century.
3. The Austrians looked weak.

In addition, Romania had fared quite well in the Balkan Wars and they had the support from God-almighty Russia.

However, they picked the wrong fight. World War 1 was not over. Transylvania with its natural defenses (mountains) to this day forms as strong a defensive position as it did for the Dacians against the Romans. The Russians couldn't even feed their population and were on the brink of a revolution, so the help they could offer …

There is a funny story re Aachen: Technically, it should be called Bad Aachen. "Bad" is the indicator of a town being a Bad (= spa). If you look at the German components of the site (Baden Baden, Bad Kissingen) you see this naming convention at work.

Eventually, Aachen figured that being first in an alphabetically sorted list of German cities would come in handy and dropped the prefix. To this day, though, town signs advertise that Aachen is a "Bad" and a "Kurort". While Bad translates nicely to spa, "Kurort" (Kur town) doesn't really have a proper English translation. The term "Kur" (cure, roughly treatment) is key to understanding the German and Czech spa sites.

A Kur is a preventive or rehabilitation treatment where you work on your health, by diet, via treatments and exercise. It always includes a social component. You are supposed to enjoy your time and relax: healthy mind equals healthy body. Nowadays, with German health insurance still footing the bill every few years, it has become a way to get a paid for vacation.

To achieve these goals a Bad and Kurort has several parts and most are found in a Bad like Aachen:

• The town has a spring: Aachen's spring was the reason Charlemagne settled in town.
• The town has a Grand Hotel: the Quellenhof (Quelle = Spring).
• The town has a Casino: see above.
• The town has a Kurpark to go on relaxing …

I have already expressed my enthusiasm towards Plečnik´s designs in Ljubljana in my previous review. Now, one week before the ultimate verdict of the UNESCO committee (July 2021), I would like to comment the omitting of The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord in Prague from the original nomination and compare it to the Church of St. Francis in Ljubljana, which has been added to the nomination quite recently. (PHOTO - LEFT: Ljubljana church exterior from East and interior towards East, RIGHT: Prague church exterior from East and interior towards East)

I live nearby the Plečnik´s church in Prague, and I am glad of it. The church is extremely monumental located in the middle of the square in rich/posh neighborhood Vinohrady (it means vineyards in English). Its visual impact to the square and the adjacent streets is iconic. The exterior is unusual with the contrast between brown bricks and grey elements. The focal point of the church is its huge, rather flat tower with a giant round window with clocks. The interior is simple and vast. IMO it is the best example of sacral architecture of the first half of 20thC in Czechia.

The church in rather poor and unassuming suburb of Ljubljana called Šiška, built for Friar Minors, is the modest variant of the church in Prague. They share several elements such as one monumental tower in the eastern part, central rectangular interior, using of pyramids around the tower, etc. But the different budget …

After ticking off most WHSs in Russia, Ivan and I are trying to visit the most of the tentative sites that seem to be in for a subscription. And especially those more remote ones, so we don't have to return there once we'll leave Russia for good. So we did one of our weekend trips by night train and rode to Petrozavodsk to visit the petroglyphs of Lake Onega and Kenozero National Park.

As far as this site is concerned, it can be done as a round trip whilst visiting Solovetsky islands and Kizhi pogost. Night train from Moscow is a comfortable way to travel, you save on hotel and for a decent price can either get a first class compartment with two beds, or second class with four - Russian Railways offer the opportunity to buy out the whole compartment and that's what we did. The demand is so high in summer they're sending out two-storey trains so I would not recommend getting on the platzkart, as you will wait ages to get to the bathroom. Anyway, there's also an option to fly out from Moscow, with Pobeda from Vnukovo Airport. It saves you time.

Since time was short and distances long, we rented a car that we picked up (opted for a 4WD, as many parts of our trip consisted of dirt and gravel roads) at the train station and off we went. A short trip to the Kivach waterfall and then we were set for …

Summer holidays with my son ticking of all that Macedonia has to offer and a bit of Albania. Of course with the Beech Forest listed for 2021 (I think it should) I wanted to go as we wanted to make some hikes anyway. UNESCO gives coordinates N41 45 06 E20 35 23 for the center. Good for me and it has 168ha with a 200ha buffer zone. I made it to about 200 meters from N41 45 06 E20 35 23 as it was exactly on a slope so couldn't reach it.

How to get there? It's the REAL wilderness of Macedonia and the area is home to bears (we did see fresh tracks in the mud!!!), wolfs etc and not without risk if you don't know what you do. I decided to have a local hiking guide with me so we would be with 3 people rather as just 2 plus he had enough knowledge about the area. Even he, hadn't been there often. There is actually just 1 trail which is possible and it starts in Ribnica (small village but nobody is there anymore). It goes to the summit of Ribnicka Skala and passes the coordinates mentioned by UNESCO for the Beechforest. It's a 8km one way trail. It is marked, but, partly very dense vegation and no way to see a path. Finally I didn't make it to the summit (secondary objective) due to rain.

The forest was beautifull pristine. Lots of flowers. Butterflies. Some …

Coastal Cliffs: Fifla Islet

On my 4th day in Malta, from Valletta I visited Mdina TWHS and Maltese Catacomb Complexes TWHS and then took the bus 201 from Mdina to the bus stop "Panorama" for Blue Grotto, also stopping at Dingli Cliffs on the way for Malta South West Cliffs TWHS.

I have no idea if Blue Grotto, which is located on the South West coast of Malta, is part of the Malta South West Cliffs TWHS. But it's perhaps one of the more scenic parts of the South West coast of Malta. 

From both Dingli Cliffs and Blue Grotto, Fifla Islet, which is one of the 5 components of this nomination, is visible, as you can see above the Blue Grotto in this photo. 

When I think about cliffs, I typically remember Cliffs of Moher and equally scary cliffs on the Island of Aran in Ireland (which are not even nominated for WHS), so I was wondering if these cliffs are similar to them, but they weren't. But if I look down from the edge of the cliff on Fifla Islet, I would feel different. At no point of my visit was I able to identify any endangered species. 

With the bus 201 you can also visit Megalithic Temples WHS at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, which are only 1 km away from the Blue Grotto. 

From "Panorama" I took the bus 74 back to Valletta. 

Staying in Malta for 4 nights was …

When the Advisory Body Evaluations (ABE) of the 2020/2021 nominations were published a few weeks prior to the WHC meeting, I was surprised to see that Ljubljana received a clear positive recommendation from the ICOMOS experts. According to the ABE, inscription is justified because the architecture of Jože Plečnik transformed a provincial town of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire into a modern and prestigious capital.However, ICOMOS also had some concerns. They considered that the proposed criterion (i) (a masterpiece of human creative genius) was not met. Thus, Ljubljana is very likely to be inscribed only under criterion (iv) (example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history). The name of the site also changed, from the rather epic "The timeless, humanistic architecture of Jože Plečnik" to "The works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana - Human Centred Urban Design". Not much of a difference, if you ask me. Still the name Jože Plečnik is included in the title of the WHS, which places Plečnik in a category with the Gaudi, Le Corbusier, Frank Llyod Wright and Victor Horta. And that, in my opinion, is not justified.

The topic of this WHS is urban planning and design. One would therefore expect a contiguous core zone in the city centre, illustrating the connections between historic structures and new or renewed components. But it is nominated as a serial site with seven locations, some of which are in the outskirts …

Curious: the name of this site implies that the main sight is the church, which just so happens to include Da Vinci's version of the Last Supper. This might be historically true, as Leonardo was commissioned to do a painting in the Dominicans' refectory: an important piece, but still for private contemplation by the monks only, and in a sense, however important, a decorative element of a bigger church. But then, the Artist set in and decided that this would not have been your ordinary painting. And so, if there once was a painting as part of a convent complex, now we rather have a convent complex and church functioning as the frame for one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Visit technicalities and suggestions

The visit is very simple and straightforward, almost minimalistic, once you have a ticket. The gist of it has been expounded by other reviewers and seems to be well known: there is only one official site and seller from where you can buy the ticket (standard price currently, summer 2021, at 15€... 1€ per minute of visit!) after having registered, and, normally, as access is extremely limited, you have to plan that with ample advance (months), even if there always is a small chance for last-minute tickets (try calling them directly; calling for information is always a good idea anyway). Normally; but in the last year, due to the pandemic, since the museum finally reopened, the number of visitors has …

When we look back, we often judge periods and events from the end result. E.g. the Star Wars prequels are pointless because everyone knows who the annoying brat named Anakin turns into. With communism it's similar. We know it failed. We know people were waiting in lines to get bananas. We have seen pictures of the post communist, downtrodden cities. Consequently, we assume, that communism was a big fluke from the start and the West always lightyears ahead on wealth and progress.

This is a view that doesn't reflect history. In the 50s, people were genuinely scared of the Soviets. And it wasn't just about the nukes they had. Or the different worldview. The Soviets put a man into space first, quite a technical achievement. This triggered the Sputnik Crisis in the late 50s/early 60s where the West was playing catch up.

When we think about communist architecture we either see the Stalinist buildings, e.g. the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw or the Seven Sisters in Moscow. Or ugly concrete apartment complexes (German Plattenbau) found all across Eastern Europe, e.g. Berlin Marzahn or Halle Neustadt. Ironically, there are also Plattenbaus in Western Germany (in Hamburg alone I can name several areas), but that never got the same "failed state" narrative.

Jested is interesting as it presents a post Stalinist, communist architecture vision, a vision that also managed to score a Pritzker prize in the West. From the pictures, you get a good …

After 3 months in Bulgaria, where I managed to receive full Pfizer vaccination even though I am not a citizen or resident of Bulgaria or the EU, I flew to Malta on June 2, 2021, 2 days after my second dose (and my 3rd PCR test on the same day) and a day after Malta opened up for tourists, and stayed for 4 nights. 

This was my first time in Malta, and honestly I could not believe I had not been there after all these years of traveling in Europe. I didn't know what I was missing. 

As the site is already well described by previous reviewers, I'll focus on the practicalities. 

There is a helpful tourist office near the Triton Fountain in Valletta where I got all the info I needed to go around Malta by bus instead of doing online research for myself. I still can't rely on Google Map Direction alone as far as bus routes go. 

So I got on Bus 3 and got off at "Paola 2" bus stop for Megalithic Temple at Tarxien and Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. 

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum requires us to make online reservation for a tour of the site. Because the re-opening of the Hypogeum on July 1 was announced only a few weeks before, tickets were readily available online on any day, and I bought it 2 weeks before my visit. But I was outraged that the ticket price was 35 Euros! How can that …

At an about 45-minute drive south of Plovdiv, in the pretty Rhodope Mountains, lies the Monastery of Bachkovo. With origins in the 11th century, it is one of the oldest still active monasteries of the Balkan. It is a popular one as well: the site is already well signposted from the main road and there is a large paid car park. The last part of the road to the monastery, which lies - as it should be – on a hill, is flanked on either side by rows of souvenir and food stalls.

The monastery comprises a large complex, most of the places of interest lie within a walled compound. It is best known for its murals. The entrance is free, but I did buy an audio guide in English for 6 Lev (3 EUR) to learn more about its history and features. You can play the guide from your own phone. I had to do some mime to depict “audioguide” to the Bulgarian-only ladies in the monastery shop, who were much more confident in selling candles and postcards.

I started my sightseeing at the cathedral in the center of the main courtyard. Its walls are almost completely covered with paintings from the 17th to 19th century. There is also an impressive iconostasis. The monastery was of Byzantine and Georgian origin, and is now part of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Georgians lost control of it in the 13th century, but still a jujube tree brought from Georgia …

There are these ideas of future WHS you have in your mind when you travel a bit. For instance, I would love a historic pub serial site in the UK and Ireland. Alas, I am only missing the proper locations to match to my idea. And obviously a say in the UK heritage committee and tentative list.

For Czechia, it always felt that a beer country, should have a beer related site. They like beer around here. My intuition would have pointed me towards Cesky Budejovice (Budweis) or Plzeň (Pilsen). Cesky Budejovice has a nice market square and is home to the original Budweiser brewery. Plzeň is where Pils was invented. But having been to Budweis, I didn't see it. The brewery is rather modern and I saw nothing to be nostalgic about. Not sure about Plzen, but I guess this falls in the same category... My hope was that the Czechs had scouted their land and found the perfect place for a beer WHS: Zatec? ... Unfortunately, no, they didn't.

Traveling between Karlsbad and Prague, I explored the town for a few hours. I can confirm the previous reviewers' comments that there is very little to see. There are some former breweries and store houses, but it doesn't amount to much and the state of preservation (see my picture) is rather poor. The hops museum allows you to explore one storehouse, nice but not stellar. The best part of my visit, the old town with a small …

I gave the second chance to Žatec and the landscape of Saaz hops in July 2021. After deferral in 2018, the state party of Czechia submitted the new nomination file to be evaluated in 2022. The Žatec historical core with the Prague suburb was kept, but the cultural landscape with hops fields around villages Stekník and Trnovany has been added following the advice of ICOMOS. Though the new nomination is still problematic (bad shape of hops-related buildings, which lost their original function and their original owners have been repelled after WWII), it is better than the previous one, as its potential OUV might be expressed. Anyway, I expect inscription in 2022.

This time I omitted Žatec and went to the hops field component (now assigned as the component No.1), the focal point of which is Stekník hops village with small baroque chateau. The logistic is a bit complicated because of almost no public transport to Stekník. Thus, I decided to go by fast train from Praha to Most (every two hours, direction to Karlovy Vary and Cheb), then changed to local train from Most to Žatec (every one/two hours), getting off in the Dolejší Hůrky train stop. Then walking through the villages Hradiště, Stekník, Trnovany, Zálužice, Rybňany, and Tvršice (train stop for returning to Most and Prague). It was a good decision, because I could see everything important of this component, and all the above-mentioned villages are within the core or the buffer zone. On the other hand, the …

The Fortress of Terezin is a site most of us will have heard about. At least, if you are just a tiny little bit informed about 20th century history, you will know the place, but not by its Czech name. To give the site a neutral evaluation, I will resolve this later.

Historically, Austria and Prussia were bitter rivals. The border regions (Saxony, Erzgebirge, Bohemia, Silesia) between the Habsburg Empire and Prussia were industrious and prosperous and the growing power of Prussia was constantly searching to expand its influence. In the War of Austrian Succession, Austria had already lost the province of Silesia. To protect the province of Bohemia, a fortress and garrison town was built by Joseph II, the son of Maria Theresia.

The town is strategically placed at the confluence of the rivers Elbe/Labem and Eger. It sits along the main road running from Prague to Dresden. Effectively, any army crossing the Erzgebirge along the Elbe/Labem would be greeted by cannon shots from Terezin.

Terezin at its core is a fine example of a planned, late 18th century enlightened monarch town and fortress. The city is as you would expect laid out in a grid pattern. There are parks and statues interwoven across the uniform buildings. And the fornications are built as a star fortress with a second minor fort on the other side of the river. Overall, this is a very consistent period piece. The state of preservation could be improved upon, some …

A while back Korean Air acquired a share in CSA, Czech Airlines. They have since divested, but if you assume this was solely an expansion step, you might be mistaken. Goal as I recall for Korean Air was to establish Prague as its European hub and dispatch travelers all across Europe from Prague. Prague’s location in the heart of Europe - a fact often overlooked by those of us having grown up with the Iron Curtain still in place - may have contributed to this decision. The main reason, as I understood, was a different one: Apparently, for most Koreans coming to Europe, Prague is a must visit.

First things first, there is an obvious practical reason: Prague is way more affordable than most European capitals, e.g. Vienna, Paris or London. In addition, it offers everything you would expect in a European capital: medieval gates, a great river promenade, palaces, churches, several Jewish quarters … Starting from the medieval period to WW2, every major European time period is found well preserved in Prague. My personal highlight are the Art Deco buildings scattered across town. Amazingly it all fits together creating a large European urban landscape. So, yes, I can understand why Koreans would want to come here: Prague is Europe in a nutshell and on a budget. I think the only comparable city in central Europe is Vienna, but Vienna tilts more heavily towards the 18th century and later than Prague.

By now, I have visited Prague four …

I was badly in need of a weekend trip to Italy after 1.5 years of drought on that usually enjoyable travel front. I had hoped for a positive evaluation of Bologna for the 2020/2021 WHC session, as the university city itself appealed to me (the Porticoes not so much). But that wasn’t the case and I turned instead to the Prosecco Hills, my last remaining ‘tick’ in Italy. The Prosecco Hills lie in the foothills of the Alps. So far up north, this isn’t the elegant, bright, artistic and life-loving Italy anymore. It’s more like an Austrian/German farmers’ region, with the restaurant menu heavy on game meat.

I stayed overnight in the city of Vittorio Veneto, easy to reach by train from Venice. It lies directly to the northeast of the inscribed area of the Prosecco Hills. Which leads me to point out the terrible quality of the map belonging to this WHS. Only when you zoom in to the max and have great eyes, you’ll know what is inscribed and what isn’t.

For my WHS visit I took a bus to Follina, some 25km further along road SP635/SP4 a.k.a. the “Strada del Prosecco”. Bus 117 leaves Vittorio Veneto every 1.5 – 2 hours daily. I got out in the town center. Follina has a few picturesque old houses and a large basilica, which is being restored at the moment. This town as well as all the others of a size above a rural village are excluded from …

On my last visit to China in early 2020, I finally managed to see the Terracotta Army. The scale of the site is hard to fathom. When you are standing in front of the main host, it really feels like you are facing an army, a ghost army from the past. And then you go around and there are so many unique details to explore on each statue. Each of the 8.000 statues on its own would feature prominently in a Western museum. It's weird to think about it that a ruler would spend this much time and effort on a fake army. But the result is incredible.

Why not five stars, you may wonder? I think the site is not large enough to warrant five stars. It's an afternoon visit, nothing to dive into for multiple days.

Getting There

There are plenty of busses to take from Xian. You can find direction at chinatravelguide. However, the two connections I took aren't listed it seems. Coming from Xian airport I connected by bus to east Xi'an and took a local bus. Quite fun. On my return, I used a tourist bus shuttle going to Xi'an train station. Be aware, that the mausoleum is a mass tourism site, organized very efficiently and very Chinese.

While You Are There

I am a glowing fan of Xian. The city contains several silk road sites and several well deserving tentative sites (the walls, the mosque). Being an imperial …

The Mosaics of Philippopolis comprise three former Roman and early Christian structures with well-preserved mosaic floors in Bulgaria’s second city, Plovdiv. I had a pleasant two-night stay in modern Plovdiv; it has a more oriental and less Sovietesque feel than other Bulgarian towns. Because I travelled with a rental car I stayed overnight in a hotel in the outskirts, at the other end of the ‘regatta’ – an artificial rowing canal. I decided to walk all the way to the city center, over 5km, so I saw quite a lot of Plovdiv. Most of the city’s monuments (from Roman, Ottoman and 19th century periods) are covered by the city’s other TWHS. I’ll focus on the mosaics here.

The three structures - Bishop's (or Great) Basilica, Small Basilica and Irene Building - are located a few hundred meters from each other in the south of the city center, where the core of the Roman city was. They only have been accidentally rediscovered since the mid-1980’s during construction works. Slowly they have been excavated and made presentable to the general public.

The remains of the Great Basilica are covered by a large hall. I wondered why the previous reviewer (Argo) did overlook this, but later I found out that this structure is brand new. It has only opened in April 2021! In 2018 it was still an archaeological site.

And what an excellent museum it has become. Think of a floor space the size of a substantial cathedral. About …

This is to me a bit of a mysterious (tentative) site, and one that I don't know if it will ever manage to make it on the list, although it has potential. But the main reason I decided to write a review for it is that I have a personal connection with this evaporite karst, since I have been visiting one of its components regularly since my childhood: having descent from one of my parents' side from a small village on the hills of Reggio Emilia (the lesser famous cousin of neighbouring Parma and Modena), the gessi triassici ('Triassic gypsums', or better anhydrites) in the Upper Secchia Valley (in the Alto Appennino Tosco-Emiliano national park) are in fact coterminous with one of the major local attractions, the fonti di Poiano ('Poiano springs' - Poiano is the nearest, minuscule village). So my point of view might be subjective, and it is somewhat odd to think that such a familiar and intimate place might one day bask in universal glory. I hope this might help shed some light on this proposal.

So, I can refer to just one component, the "Triassic anhydrites [or, more currently and also on all signs, 'gypsums'] of the Upper Secchia Valley", which however, from the official description, also seems to be given more relevance than the others (it's the only one that is actually explicitly cited there). They are placed along the course of the Secchia river, which is still young and of …

Boyana Church can be found in a residential neighbourhood on the outskirts of Sofia. On my first visit, my taxi driver didn't know its location, but after asking for some directions we safely arrived there. The little church is hidden in a lovely park. I had to wait there sometime before I was able to buy a ticket, and later before I was allowed to get into the church (because of its small size, only small groups can go in at the same time). The inside of the church is the reason to go here. All its walls are covered with frescoes. Dark blue is the main colour, and the paintings are now in good repair.

During my second visit, I arrived in a rental car. There is little parking in the street in front of it, but as visitors never will stay long that won't be a problem. Tickets are sold in a special booth near the entrance - the fee is 10 Lev (5 EUR). From there you walk a few hundred meters through a forest until you come to a sign where you are supposed to wait your turn to enter the church. There were no other visitors however when I visited on a Friday afternoon in late June. A woman let me in and I had to leave my small backpack in the front room, before entering the church halls with the paintings.

What struck me most this time is how small it all …