All our reviews

Visit in December, 2020

The post made by Els for this Site is informative and comprehensive, but I will add a short review because, though my visit was also rather minimal, I utilized the alternative entry point to the park. Specifically, the gate reached by turning off the main highway at Mubuku. From there a dirt/gravel road gains 700 meters of elevation over 17 kilometers, with a variable quality, but which can be traversed by any type of common vehicle. The route follows the Mubuku River valley, which is surprisingly densely populated with rural villages. That was an issue during the previous month of May, when a severe flash-flood tore down from the mountains of the Park, taking three lives and causing significant property damage, providing another example of the misfortunes of that particular year.

I stayed at the Ruboini Community Camp, which has the benefit of being owned and operated by local residents, which keeps the monies collected close to the community and the Park. The camp has a small restaurant and cottages, which, at the time, cost $US 25 per night. These had wood-heated hot water, but the Camp had no phone or internet service. From there it is short walk to the Park gate, though when I arrived at 9:30 AM on December 23rd I was dismayed to find the gate post unoccupied. Thinking that this might have been due to the upcoming holiday, and still feeling frustrated by recent failed attempts to get to …

I visited one of the three great desert landscape locations - The Great Sand Sea in December 2018, south of Siwa Oasis. 

It is impossible not to be amazed by the massive sand dunes - gold and shining against blue sky and white cotton clouds. There is indeed beauty in the serenity. Our guide said that no one can survive or live in such an inhospitable landscape, and that everyone can only admire the desert from a certain point, but all must return to life and safety.

That temporary bonding of the eyes and soul with the endless waves of sand dunes is the therapy and healing for anyone who visit. 

A hole in the rock wall that might shape our future

While visiting the island of Samos from the island of Chios in mid-October 2020, due to my time constraint I made only a day trip to the island of Patmos by ferry where I stayed only for 5 hours between 10:30 and 15:30. 

The ferry departs from the port of Pythagorio, a WHS city, in Samos, so it is rather easy to combine visits to these two WHSs. The ferry ride, through some other islands, was about 2 hours. 

I had to plan the time allocation carefully, especially because both the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of Apocalypse take an afternoon break between 13:30 and 16:00. So I had only 3 hours between 10:30 and 13:30 to visit the two. I took a taxi immediately after the ferry arrived at Skala, the main city of the island of Patmos, to the town of Chora where the Monastery is located. 

The monastery is on top of the hill that is Chora and dominates the area. As I walked up from where the taxi dropped me off, I also saw several souvenir shops / stalls. The whole scene somewhat reminded me of Mon San Michel in France. 

But the monastery created in the 11th century looks more like a castle / fortress than a religious compound. It probably signifies its special place in Christianity. The general public are allowed into only two …

There are four fossil sites included in this TWHS: the Caves of Schmerling, Scladina, Goyet and Spy. They lie within a 50km circle around the city of Namur. Scladina can be visited with a guided tour on certain Sundays, Schmerling and Spy require a pilgrimage on foot and Goyet seems to be closed indefinitely. The Neanderthal remains and associated fossils of course have been whisked away to museums and universities long ago, but these sites are mostly about the Neanderthaler lifestyle and the development of Paleoanthropology as a science.

I choose Spy Cave for my visit. First I went to the museum about the findings in the nearby village. I was the only visitor, having easily secured a time-slot a day before by e-mail. The exhibition is in French but I received a folder with the texts in Dutch. You need those texts as the exhibition consists mostly of information panels. Spy Cave has brought us three Neanderthal specimen: a man, a woman and a small child. Their bones (discovered in 1886) were all mixed up and it took until 2010 to confirm there were three of them. The female had scars around her teeth which seems to indicate that she used toothpicks a lot! Unfortunately there are few findings on show – only some stone tools. Also there are copies of the bones of Spy I & II and an artist’s impression of how the Neanderthal man would have looked like. They must see a lot of school …

As I descend to hell..oh, wrong review, although one could think by the picture on the right that's where I was heading. Jingdezhen kiln sites are by no means a visit to anything such, and in fact they are quite enjoyable.

Having previously thought that the site should be akin (akiln?) to the sites in Korea and that it should be a join inscription I find that China has more to offer than the Korean "counterpart". In truth, both places have a large claim to their porcelain heritage but I suppose China's (the word CHINA is supposed to come from Jingdezhen because they make fine China) is much bigger. I wouldn't place it at the same level as the silk road but if you think about how the porcelain industry at the time was a huge thing and put China on the map, obviously it was already on the map but everyone wanted fine porcelain from China and it got traded around the world. Tell me one (non-looted) palace you visited that didn't have a porcelain vase from China (don't actually tell me I know they all don't contain one). For this reason alone I would say that Jingdezhen is worthy of cultural heritage even though a visit isn't super exciting in any way.

Jingdezhen is basically all about porcelain. Statues, signposts, the airport is even in a vase shape!! You could visit a whole number of places here. Many corners of the town still produce porcelain and …

In October 2020, I managed to travel to five TWHS in Djibouti. Among them, Lake Abbeh Cultural Landscape proves to have the highest potential of inscription - and rightly so. There is salt mining machine in Lake Assal, while the other sites (Moucha and Maskali Islands, Foret du Day and Djibouti Downtown) need stronger arguments for OUV justification to secure UNESCO inscription. 

Lake Abbeh shares border with Ethiopia and its isolation helps maintain its pristine condition. As we headed five hours west from Djibouti City, the landscape changes dramatically from Earth, then to dirt roads to Mars, a rocky landscape within the supposed buffer zone, and finally to the Moon, a lunar landscape within core zone, where numerous volcanic chimneys and boiling hot springs are found.

The best time to visit the "Lac Abbeh's moonscape" is before sunrise - when the temperature is cool enough to see steam smoking out of the chimneys and hot springs.  

October 2020, the evening before our flight back to Germany we parked our camper beside this gigantic building. The last night and visit of the last Whs of this trip. We had dinner in a small restaurant opposite the Palace. In the Morning we were the first and only tourists who aimed at visiting the palaces inside. It seems to be one of Europe’s biggest buildings with hundreds of rooms. One more pompous than the next one. You could wander between the floors, marvel at old paintings, furniture, the old library. No two rooms are the same and everyone has something to offer. Most stunning were the hunting trophies and a huge pool table. It is remarkable how wealthy Portugal must have been once that their royals could allow for such a megalomania. Too bad we did not get to see the Tapada! Next time.A worthy finish of this trip through Portugal with 14 Whs and at least 10 more tentative Sites.

"Charming scernery" (sic), to quote the crappy description of the 2001 documentation. Honestly, this place isn't great even if the description would be updated. I also do not believe the ENTIRE river would be inscribed but only the "better" parts north of Wenzhou which happens to be east of the much better Yandang Mountain, and thus I would call this inscription attempt either a future expansion (assuming Yandang is inscribed first which it should) or a feeble attempt to inscribe a very mediocre place. Now that this long sentence came to a close I'll say something clearer: the pictures look nice but the scenic areas aren't really that nice.

To get to the scenic areas your base would be Wenzhou, and Oubei town just northwest of the river to be precise, which also happens to the be start of Nanxi river if I'm not mistaken (I'll make up a rule and say it won't count as a visit). With public transportation one would either arrive with the Wenzhou South station, or in Oubei if you dare to get a train that stops there. If you arrive by plane you have to get across town first. All minibuses start from the Oubei station and you will easily get to the scenic area. I had planned to take an early 7am bus and get there in an hour. Getting around the scenic area is a little more adventurous as hailing a tricycle is the norm but I'm sure one can find …

The day we visited Augsburg and Roseninsel might be the least impressive leg of my World Heritage Site hunting in Europe in 2019. Augsburg kept me wondering how the monuments ever made it to the list, and Roseninsel further left me inconclusive: Did I see the site properly? I am not sure if I managed to see some remains or not, but I was hoping and I wanted to believe that I somehow managed to sight even just a piece of it from the easternmost side of the island. The ferryman never failed to mention it and the signage around even mark the areas where the remains are supposed to lie (demarcated by the floaters in the vicinity). As far as ticking the site off, the island itself is already part of the core zone, in fact it is the heart of it! However, as far as being contented and having expectations met, it is entirely a different story.

If there was any consolation, however, lake Starnberg is truly marvelous. It is a place I would not mind returning to in the future. We were very lucky that day to have a nice weather, so Zugspitze and the other side of the lake were clearly visible. It was the second to the last day of the boat service to the island (as they close for the winter), and we went there at around 3pm. There were only about 7 of us on the boat, hence a lovely, non-hectic experience …

The topic of this tentative site is not University of Bologna, the oldest operating university in Europe, or Historic Centre of Bologna, one of the largest historic centres in Italy. The title is The Porticoes of Bologna. The nomination picks out one architectural element and focuses exclusively on it. The historic city centre is only the buffer zone of the nominated property, and the core zone does not even consist of whole buildings. Actually only the porticos are included. Really a strange nomination.Porticos are everywhere in Bologna. In the city centre, they stretch over a length of almost 40 kilometres, more if you include the outskirts. However, not the entire network is nominated. Twelve locations were selected to represent 900 years of architectural evolution, from the 12th to the 20th century. About half of them are located in the city centre, so that every visitor to Bologna can safely tick this site as properly visited if it will be inscribed.

Update August 2021: The nomination has changed following the evaluation by ICOMOS. The inscribed areas have been considerably expanded to include not only the porticoes but also the associated buildings and additional components such as Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica, Palazzo Poggi, Cimitero della Certosa, the entire Church of San Luca, etc.

I have visited Bologna several times in the last decades, two visits were after 2006 when the porticoes became the topic of the TWHS. Based on my memories and confirmed by my photos, …

Like the other Egyptian tentative sites from this period, the description is not very clear. This makes it difficult to visit, because you aren’t exactly sure what would be the component parts if it were actually listed.

Wadi Feran is a large valley that stretches along a portion of the main road between St. Catherine and the western edge of the Sinai Peninsula. When traveling back from St. Catherine to Sharm, I asked the driver to take the long way to stop at Wadi Feran and to see some of the sites along the way. Several monastic ruins can be viewed from the road, and I visited the Greek Orthodox Convent, Deir el Banat, and saw the ruins behind the working convent.

This is an area that could easily be explored over several days trekking with a local guide, as there’s a lot of history here. Perhaps I’ll one day have the chance to do that.

Date of Visit: January 2021

Review: Overall, it seems more like an extension to St. Catherine’s Monastery than a separate world heritage site, which is the reason for the down vote.

Logistics: Self drive might be possible, but things are seldom marked and security is tight, so I traveled with a guide. I visited St. Catherine’s Monastery (listed) and then spent another day trekking around the area, before visiting Wadi Feiran on the way back to Sharm. 

The unique volcanic formations and ecosystems on Jeju Island have ensured the place a spot on the list of UNESCO WHS. For those with less expertise in geology or biology, this translates into “beautiful landscape with a lot of hiking opportunities”. The enlistment includes three different sites: Mount Hallasan, the Lava Tunnels and the tuff cone Seonsang Ilchulbong. My time on the island did only allow me to visit two of them which means that I skipped the Lava Tunnels. Those who love hiking and the joy of (almost) unspoilt nature while not missing the infrastructure of the civilized world will enjoy this place as I did in 2015.

In South Korea, hiking paths are often installed in a way that they are separated from their surrounding landscape, either by a low physical barrier like a fence or dense vegetation. This allows hikers to enjoy nature while making sure that they stay on the path and do not destroy the environment. In case of Seonsang Ilchulbong, where a unique ecosystem of plants and animals has established itself, it means that there is one viewing platform from which you can look into the crater – no less, but no more. Some therefore may be disappointed that they climb up (20 minutes) all the way for a short, yet stunning view. The hiking paths on Mount Hallasan are similar. Here however, the hike up is already an attraction with all the different vegetations and climatic regions. Also, on the uppermost stretches, …

This tiny church is proposed as an extension of the six already inscribed “Asturian Monuments” in and around Oviedo in Northern Spain. The first three inscribed ones were the most famous and typical ones (Santa Maria and San Miguel on Monte Naranco, Santa Cristina), built at the time of king Ramiro I, which is the “zenith” period of the kingdom of Asturias. Then three other monuments were added to this serial WHS, covering earlier years (San Julian, Camara Santa). San Salvador de Valdedios would be the seventh component and would represent the last phase of the Asturian architecture.

San Salvador church stands in the precincts of Valdedios monastery and has recently been restored (it may not have been proposed with the first extension of this WHS while the works had not been completed?). The location is great, in a green and quiet valley of Asturias, about 40 minutes driving from Oviedo. Visits are by guided tours only, for a few euros per person. You can chose to tour the complete monastery, or only San Salvador church (known as “el Conventin” at the ticket desk); in that case, you would leave the group earlier, as the tour precisely starts with San Salvador church. We visited this place on an afternoon in August 2020. Gates open at 16:30 and groups were limited to around 15 persons (Covid rules I believe), on a “first come, first served” base, and we were lucky go in the first group, as there were much more …

Rutho, more commonly spelled Raitho, Monastery is a 4th century monastic site in the town of El Tur on the Sinai Peninsula.

Like the other tentative list sites on the Sinai Peninsula, there is very little information about the monastery (which is now a dependency of St. Catherine’s Monastery). Like most other monasteries in Egypt (other than Abu Mena), there is generally a modern working church/monastery and nearby ruins of the historic monastery.

When traveling from St. Catherine’s back to Sharm, I asked the driver to stop by El Tur. You can see the old monastic site from the road, and I took a few pictures. However, the guards said that the site was closed and were not happy that I was taking pictures. I’d suggest calling ahead, but (like most things in Sinai) it’s not clear who to call or how to arrange for a visit. The guide I used to hike in the Sinai had never had a request to visit Rutho before.

Date of Visit: January 2021

Rating:  There are a number of 4th through 6th century monastic sites in the Southern Sinai on the tentative list, but none compare to the listed site of St. Catherine’s Monastery, which is built around the supposed burning bush at the foot of Mt. Sinai. I could see perhaps the current listing for St. Catherine’s being expanded to include its various chapels and dependencies that dot the south Sinai region, but there would need to …

Two Visits to Nea Moni of Chios

I stayed in Greece over 2 months in October and November 2020 in my attempt to live in corona-free zones. When I planned this back in September, Greece was indeed one of the least infected countries in Europe, although as soon as I got there, the infection rate skyrocketed.

After visiting Daphni in Athens a day after visiting Bassae, I flew to the island of Chios, the birth place of Homer, to stay there for one month. I was aware that one of the three sites that comprise this WHS was on some island in the Aegean, but after visiting Daphni I didn't pay much attention. So when I realized that Nea Moni was indeed on the island of Chios, I was surprised and said I had to go visit. 

It was ridiculously difficult to visit Nea Moni, located deep in the mountains, with public transportation, not just because of the scarcity of it, but also because of Nea Moni's sporadic opening hours. Not only they close in the middle of the day, but also they were not even following the official opening hours listed by the Ministry of Culture.

At my first attempt to visit Nea Moni the Chios tourist office, which was surprisingly open at this time of pandemic, gave me the same opening hours as the ministry of Culture. The bus dropped me off on the main road at 15:40, from where I had to walk …

In 2020, there were only two smaller windows when I had the money to travel, the time to travel and the possibility to travel with the Covid-19 restrictions in place. I managed to visit four UNESCO WHS sites before even harsher restrictions came in place and tourist attractions were closed. Wartburg Castle was the last one of them in October 2020.

Wartburg Castle is a beautiful castle of medieval origin, located on a rock above the city of Eisenach. Although its 19th century preservation measure were not always historically correct, it is in a very good state and a popular tourist attraction. The inner court with a restaurant can be visited for free, the south tower can be climbed by throwing a 1 Euro coin into an automatic turnstile. For the castle itself, you need a ticket which can be bought in the visitors' centre.

Inside, the history of the castle is explained together with possible purposes of the rooms as you go through. The castle is connected to several historical figures or events in German history. That includes Elizabeth of Thuringia (Countess Consort who lived in the castle, later canonized as saint), Martin Luther (who hid in the castle and translated the new testament into German there), student rallies in the early 19th century (which finally led to an unified Germany sixty years later) and Kaiser Wilhelm II (who did not live in the castle but sponsored the restoration and renovation of several rooms, including some monumental …

It's rather striking to compare and contrast the first two US World Heritage Sites dedicated to pre-Columbian North American civilizations. Mesa Verde, in the American Southwest, retains impressive adobe structures built into cliffsides, where Pueblo civilizations would live while farming on the fields above. Cahokia Mounds, on the other hand, retains only earthen mounds left behind from what was once the most advanced civilization north of Mexico. Mesa Verde was built in brick and stone, while structures at Cahokia Mounds were made of wood, which did not last through the centuries. Mesa Verde had the advantage of protection from the US federal government as early as the late 19th century. Cahokia Mounds, on the other hand, was in a prime location on the Mississippi River for European settlers. These settlers did not help in maintaining the integrity of the site; protections for Cahokia Mounds only came in the early 20th century. All this is to say that while it is admirable that the US has protected the heritage of pre-Columbian civilizations across the nation, visitors are more likely to be impressed with sites in the West than the East.

I traveled to Cahokia Mounds for a third visit on a road trip this past summer. The day was sunny and clear, and I was glad I started out in the morning, since the area around Cahokia Mounds gets rather hot and muggy on summer afternoons, and there is little in the way of protection from the sun around the …

WHS hunting is interesting and fun. Some are more interesting some er more fun. The interesting part of the Struve geodetic arc is the story about Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and his work. The fun is the hunting - finding obscure places – like those with a Struve “tag” on it.

We have visited 14 of these sub-sites in 5 countries (of the total of 34 in 10 countries), mostly by car.

Our first encounter was in Finland 2010 (just a small wooden pole in the woods). In 2019 we visited all five in Belarus (all stone monuments - and fairly easy to locate) and this year we completed the four in our own country, Norway. Few of these Norwegian sites are very visual, but it is fun finding a way to reach them.

Struve Norway

Norway’s got the northernmost Struve sites thus making it a bit “out of the way” for most travellers, but for us WHS hunters we make our business “everywhere” and a visit to for instance the site of Alta with its rock art is mandatory. Not far from the centre of Alta situates one of the easiest one, and our first – in 2016.

Lille Raipas

A little less the 2 km east of the World Heritage Center – Alta museum turn right and follow the E45 for 3 ½ km. Then turn left and cross the river and follow Raipasvegen (the Raipas road) for another 3 km. …

“To steal a mountain” was the title of the introductory film in the National Slate Museum in Llanberis. And if you look at the mountainside above Llyn (Lake) Peris, you understand how this is meant: the Dinorwic quarry gapes like a giant wound in the scenic landscape of the Snowdonia Mountains. I was torn between two opinions. On the one hand: the slate industry is not yet represented on the WH list, and Wales has a large number of original remains to fill this gap. So clearly pro inscription. But on the other hand: Should this ugly industrial landscape really be preserved? Or should we hope nature recaptures all of this as soon as possible?

The Slate Industry of North Wales is scheduled for nomination in 2021. In May 2017 we spent five days in Llanberis. Our main goal was to hike in Snowdonia National Park, but there was also enough time to visit some sites of the slate industry. There is not much left in Llanberis from the heyday of the slate industry. Today the village at the foot of Snowdon summit is a centre for hikers and other outdoor activities in the national park.

The National Slate Museum was a good introduction to the topic of slate production. The museum is located at the former workshops of the Dinorwic quarry. Most interesting was the demonstration how the slate was splitted and cut to roofing shingles.At the roundabout not far from the Slate Museum, a zigzag trail …

Site just visited (December, 2020), not an easy time to visit Turkey during covid-pandemic restrictions. As all other reviews are focused on main component and the most spectacular part of the heritage I will describe other places.

First of all - consider to spend some more time in Bergama (Pergamon). All the sites are scattered around the city. Also the main component - space around Acropolis / Asclepion and the lower (Ottoman) town (multi layered city) covers itself relatively big area. Even if all paid areas were closed due to coronavirus I spent almost full day exploring the area and wandering the streets of Ottoman town.

While describing I will use official names from our website.

Kybele Sanctuary at Kapikaya, located some 7 km north from central Bergama. On a basis of coordinates from our website the site is located on a rocky hill. It seems as there is no access from the main road (Kozak Bergama Yolu) – the rocks are too steep. Also no access from the side road to the left (fenced houses). I did not find any path leading to the site. There are no signposts nor guideposts in the area. As I had heavy rain I did not try to get closer. But at least all the area around the rocks is a buffer zone.

Ilyas Tepe Tumulus – located on the hill next to Acropolis. As in previous site there are no signposts / guideposts of the place in the …