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A revisit can always help putting a site into context. It had been 10 years, since I visited the Acropolis for the first and only time. The time had somewhat clouded my appreciation of the site. I only awarded it 4* and considered e.g. the ruins of Agrigento for a Greek ruin or Meteora for Greece as better sites. After my recent revisit, I decided to revise my rating and upgraded it to 4.5*, same as Agrigento and Meteora.

This is classical Greece at it's best. It's a site predating classical Roman monuments by 600 years. The Acropolis is a huge temple that given its age is still very tangible. And with the Acropolis museum you also get to experience the incredible artwork of the stonemasons. How much better can it get?

Admittedly, there are a few distractions. Not sure if they ever intend to finish the renovations and take down the scaffolds. And the Doctor Who style houses set up all over the premises are misplaced. Last but not least, the image of Acropolis is so stereotypical that it may be easy to miss what a human achievement you are actually viewing.

For some strange reason, the surrounding archeological sites are not part of the inscribed zone, only of the buffer zone. Technically, the Acropolis refers to the upper (acro) town (polis). Still, it's weird that the extensive archeological remains directly below (e.g. Dionysus Theatre) and around the hill are not included. Outside Rome itself, it …

I've visited Al Zubarah twice. The first time was around 2009/2010 when I was living in Qatar for roughly a year. At that time it was not yet a WHS. Substantial parts of that town were uncovered then and it was really fascinating to see the layout and the different houses. When I returned to Qatar in around 2013/2014 I visited again and found that most of the town was covered up again and there were just a few buildings visible, plus a reconstruction. I can imagine that people are disappointed about this as there really is not a lot to see. On the other hand I can understand why this was done: the town is built from beach rock, just right there from the water edge: tower shells and sand grains cemented together by the high calcium content sea water. Just the few rain showers per year would be enough to dissolve the calcite cement and make the town crumble. My high rating is both based on how I experienced this site the first time, and based on the effort taken on preserving this site. Having explored the desert of Qatar extensively I have to say that there are many archaeological sites, including prehistoric rock carvings (they were fenced off in 2013), potentially pre-islamic and pre-Christian graves all across the desert, burial mounts that looks similar to the Dilmun mounts in Bahrain (though in a very poor state), and lots of other things. 

I visited this WHS in August 2020. Due to the works being carried out till 2021 to upgrade the Krzemionki tourist route underground experience and make it more accessible, I couldn't 'enjoy' the full experience, but based on photos, videos and other reviews, the only value added I missed when compared to the Spiennes WHS, was the pictogram/rock art, used as the museum's logo.

Thanks to Martina and Ivan's previous visit and help, and to avoid a forecast thunderstorm in the Zamosc area, I decided to go ahead and try to have a look at what's on offer at all 4 locations. The GPS coordinates on the official UNESCO website are precise although you'll have to zoom in and out of your GPS to make sure you avoid unpaved roads, pathways or non-existant roads. I started with the Krzemionki Museum and Archaeological Reserve which is a well-developed gateway to just one of the 4000 prehistoric mines of striped flint near Ostrowiec Swiezokrzyski. The WHS is unique mostly due to the well-preserved mining waste piles and shaft depressions, which despite thousands of years remained almost unchanged, even though most is covered by fast growing overgrowth, so much so that near the museum is a nature reserve with boardwalks.

In Krzemionki, all the techniques of obtaining flint can be observed, from the simplest cavities to large sophisticated mines, i.e. sophisticated for Neolithic and Early Bronze Age times. This complex of mines was only discovered in 1922 by a geologist and …

Since my mother has family in Ottawa, I have visited the Rideau Canal several times. However, these were family waterfront strolls and not discoveries with a WHS hunting mindset. During the Covid 19 pandemic, all Quebec borders were closed except the one with Ontario. We therefore chose Kingston as the destination for the Labour Day long weekend in September 2020 and visited (or at least saw) all the components of this site.

Of the five fortifications listed by UNESCO, only Fort Henry could actually be visited. During the pandemic, they cancelled all guided tours and special activities and replaced them by a self-guided tour using a map and by interpreters in period costumes. This route allowed visitors to see both sections of the fort and to tour the museums and exhibition halls. It is possible to walk along the ramparts and understand the importance of this military structure in the defense of Kingston harbour. The ramparts offer the best view of Cathcart Tower on Cedar Island.

The other two listed Martello towers, Shoal and Murney Towers, are currently only open to visitors from the outside. The Shoal Tower, located on the marina docks in downtown Kingston, is a fairly mundane building. From the marina, you can get a good view of Fort Frederick, while access to the Royal Military College of Canada (where it is located) was still impossible due to the pandemic. The Murney Tower is located a little further west on the shores of Lake Ontario. …

When I read the Ilias, I was always wondering about the place names. Where was Athens, where was Sparta? And why was there no king of Troy fighting in the Persian wars? The answer is that the events and locations of the Ilias predate what most of us consider ancient Greece by centuries. Athens reigned supreme between 500-400 BCE. But the Trojan War is assumed to have taken place 800 years before around 1300 BCE. In addition, the events of the Ilias squarely fall into the Bronze Age. And there is this little thing called the Bronze Age Collapse taking place around 1150 BCE. And it removed the events from the Ilias even further from view.

The Bronze Age Collapse refers to a dark age of 100-200 years where in a relatively short time period most major civilizations and empires of the eastern mediterranean fell. In Karnak, there is a relief depicting the pharaoh beating back the so called sea people. While Egypt made it through, the Bronze Age Collapse marks the end of the Mycenaean kingdoms.

One assumption is that the advent of iron meant that military weapons became more widely available. While bronze required trade to obtain both zinc and copper and was thus limited to a palace elite (palace economy), iron was easier to obtain and process.

It was up to Heinrich Schliemann to excavate this mythical site. What you can visit today at Mycenae is a fortified acropolis on a central pass. Views …

I finally gave up on public transport in Corsica & Sardinia at Barumini: there's no way to do it on a day trip by bus or train. Not that the experience of renting a car for a day was such a pleasure: I found the Hertz office at Cagliari-Elmas airport understaffed at 9 am, their printer did not work so they had to write my contract by hand (oh, I so wish for a full digital transformation of car rental companies) and the directions where to pick up my car were immensely vague. I guess the lady behind the desk had lost her sense of direction because of the stress. Together with a German tourist, I went on a thorough search for our cars, which we finally spotted after 20 minutes using a high vantage point. It turned out that there is an additional parking lot just in the shadow of the large parking garage.

All these delays meant that I could throw overboard the plans that I had to visit another site or two beside Su Nuraxi di Barumini. If you have your own wheels and a full day to spare from Cagliari, you could easily extend a trip to Barumini to the Sulcis Iglesiente TWHS and the Temple of Antas.

Fortunately, the visitor experience at Su Nuraxi di Barumini is exemplary. There’s free parking and a (book) shop. The 14 EUR entrance fee is steep, but in addition to entry to two museums in town it …

In human history, there have always been individuals who were ahead of their time. Eise Eisinga was one of those. Actually a wool comber, he was also an amateur astronomer (and what an astronomer he was!).

In 1774, another Dutch amateur astronomer (and self-proclaimed preacher), Eelco Alta, predicted the end of the world, believing a rare conjunction of the Moon and the then-known four planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter would inevitably lead to a crash of the celestial bodies and the destruction of the Earth.

To invalidate these arguments, autodidact and highly gifted Eisinga started to build an orrery in his living room (and finished seven years later), what is today the oldest working model of the solar system and the largest mechanical planetarium in the world. Its accuracy and steadiness are admirable. The modeled planets move imperceptibly and complete one circumlocution per real-time orbit. He individually forged each of the 10,000 nails for the gearing teeth, and he painted and gilded his work in a decorative and informative way. In 1818, King William I of the Netherlands and Prince Frederik visited the orrery and bought it for the Dutch state. Later, it was donated to the city of Franeker.

As Els and Zoë have already written, this brilliant work definitely belongs on the World Heritage List. Apparently, the admission will be decided in 2023. I am sure it will fulfill the three application criteria, amongst them "masterpiece of human creative genius". Here in this community, …

Greece is littered with Greek ruins: agoras, acropolis and amphitheatres. Places you have probably never heard of, e.g. Lindos on Rhodes, have amphitheatres that would make a medieval king proud. As such, I appreciate the huge tentative site as it guides your travel to lesser (and still great) antiquity sites to visit while you are in the area.

Excluding the already inscribed WHS (Delphi, Epidauros) and the buffer zone one (Athens), I have seen two amphitheatres in Greece: Argos and Lindos. Lindos was a day trip in Rhodes, Argos was on my way after visiting Mycene. These are nice sprinkles to a Greece trip. They come with an agora and in the case of Lindos with an acropolis, too. But are they WHS material?

OUV

If any of the proposed amphitheatres were in Germany, they would definitely have OUV. But for Greece and ruins from antiquity the requirements are substantially higher, a bit like Italy. Also, as I understand it (and from what I have seen on my travels), the best preserved amphitheatre (Epidauros) is already inscribed. As are the ones in Delos and Epidauros. And the Athens' one practically is, too, as you will visit it, when you are visiting the Akropolis.

I am not convinced that creating a serial site combining inscribed and further amphitheatres adds anything to the list. This should not keep you from visiting if you are in the area, though.

Getting There

For the inscribed sites, check their …

I visited the Polish side of this WHS in August 2020. Knowing that August isn't the best month for birdwatching, my main goal was to visit the Strict Forest Reserve and if possible see European bison, the largest land mammal in Europe, if not in the wild at least in the Show Reserve (together with wolves, boars, lynxes, hybrid bisons, moose, tarpan horses).

To visit the Strict Forest Reserve I followed Els's suggestion and specifically asked for Arek to be my guide and he surely didn't disappoint. Perhaps due to the season or due to the lack of tourists, I was charged 60 euros for the circa 3.5 hrs guided private tour of the Strict Forest Reserve with a slightly later meeting time at around 05:00. Apart from his more than 20 years experience as a local licensed guide, Arek was thrilled that I had previously visited his far away home town and even knew how to pronounce it - Tarnowskie Gory! Apparently he's also a former miner from the recently inscribed Polish WHS. Even though the entrance to the Strict Forest Reserve is always open, but to enter you need to be accompanied by a licensed guide as 'rangers' frequently check tickets and licences!

The Strict Forest Reserve protects forest stands of natural origin and its primeval characteristics. New species are still being discovered here and natural processes are still being investigated in several scientific studies. It is one of four large areas in Poland under strict …

When exploring the Eastern Peloponnese I based myself in Nafplio. Three components of the tentative site are in town, one in the bay on an island. and two on hills overlooking the town

These fortifications were important as they were used by the Byzantines and later the Venetians to foster trade. Being accessible by sea, they could be supplied from sea and could keep their independence, even if the land outside the city walls was governed by a different entity, e.g. Slavs, Arabs or Ottomans.

OUV

While the fortifications in and around Nafplio are nice, they pale in comparison to Rhodes and Corfu. Corfu is the Venetian fortification in Greece. Rhodes is the crusader castle. Both are already inscribed. I don't see what inscribing them a second time would bring as benefit. Nafplio on it's own would not make the list. And looking at Ilya's review, neither would the Crete ones.

Getting There

For Rhodes and Corfu, see their respective page. For Nafplio, you have frequent connections to Athens by bus and one connection per day to Tripoli.

While You Are There

Nafplio is a pleasant town and a good base to visit the two WHS in the area (Mycene and Epidauros). In Argos, you also find another serial tentative site in the amphitheatres of Greece.

Hard to rate this one, since it depends on what metric you're going for. The site itself is pretty enough, and Wizard's Mound offers great views of the surrounding countryside and St. Louis, but archaeological sites are always a tough sell unless you study the stuff. Also, walking around an open field at -15C was not super fun.

Besides the relatively boring tourist aspect (though the museum is nice enough), this is a really important site. Not just because it had been the largest city in the US until Philadelphia eclipsed it in the late 1700s, but because that city had been built by indigenous people. The size, importance, and longevity of the settlement kind of remind me of the early writings on Great Zimbabwe: white settlers couldn't believe that the "savages" they'd fought upon colonization could have been capable of building such magnificent earthworks. To those who with an open mind (beyond what is taught in school), it really blows open the concept of "American history" to a much longer and more interesting timeline. Basically, what is now the US was populated by sophisticated, cosmopolitan cultures that were utterly wiped out over centuries of violence fueled by a superiority complex. It's a powerful lesson, and the site is possibly the best example of this proud indigenous history in the US.

Mystras is a fine example of a Frankish and then late Byzantine town. Frankish you may wonder? Yes, Frankish. As you probably know, the glorious 4th Crusade ventured off path. Instead of attacking the Arabs and defending/liberating the Holy Land, they went off to capture Constantinople. For a while Frankish kings governed the Latin Empire and Frankish dukes and barons set up all over Greece, one of them in Lakonia, the area around ancient Sparta. Around 1250, the Frankish prince built a strong castle for the province at Mystras and a town grew around it.

Eventually, the Byzantine recaptured their capital and Lakonia, but the Byzantine Empire never recuperated from the damage done by the 4th Crusade. The Byzantine Empire was on it's deathbed. In the final years of the Byzantine Empire Mystras was the capital of the Despotate of the Morea. In 1460, Mystras surrendered to the Ottomans. Mystras itself remained an important city in the Ottoman Empire. It was only during the Greek War of Independence that the historic city was turned into ruin. A true pity.

What you get nowadays is a late medieval city in ruins that you can explore. You get a good feeling for the town plan and from the castle ruin great views of the area. Some of the monasteries remain and can be visited. If this hadn't been destroyed, it would be a truly great site.

Getting There

Main transport hub near Mystras is Sparti (Sparta). KTEL …

Nice is a French city with 340,000 inhabitants. Tourism on the Riviera was born here, they say. And they want UNESCO recognition for that. I was there for 3 nights during a quiet September weekend. The tourist crowds had either returned home and back to work, or opted out because of the "Code Red" imposed by the French government on this region. However, urban life continued as usual and the anti-Covid measures were being followed in a half-hearted way. Obviously one cannot smoke and wear a face mask at the same time!

The city owes much of its monumental architecture to the arrival of wealthy foreigners who came to enjoy its pleasant climate. Many English and Russian aristocrats stayed here from the end of the 18th century on. Their villas can be found scattered around the current city. I started my exploration on foot in Rue Verdi, where there is some fine Art Deco and mosaics on the façades can be seen. Closeby lies the Museum of Fine Arts, located in the former Villa Kotchoubey. This orange palace is currently being renovated and has been closed to the public all summer.

I then walked down to the famous Promenade des Anglais - a coastal boulevard built in the 1920s on the initiative of the British. In 2016 this was the site of a terrorist attack with a truck, in which 87 people were killed. I don't know exactly where it happened, but I didn't see any blockages anymore …

Beautiful site, but the fort wasn't accessible when I went there (2012). From what I recall, it had been under some sort of renovation since the early '90s, so I wasn't expecting to see much anyway. Therefore: not many stars for the site itself.

However, the surrounding old town of mud-brick houses, date palms, and aflaj irrigation canals (not a part of that listing) was really interesting. Just wandering through the maze of old, nearly silent streets more than made up for the disappointment of not being able to go inside the fort itself.

As for getting there: renting a car and driving around Oman is pretty easy, even for an American not used to international road signs. I didn't have wifi/cell service, but was able to find my way with a tourist map and road signs, so bonus points for making it easy for tourists.

I visited the Polish side of this tentative WHS in August 2020. Being a transnational tentative site with Belarus and soon up for inscription, I decided to all a long day trip by car to visit 2 main locations.

On a European scale, the Augustow Canal is a cross-border relic of technology and supposedly has unique hydraulic engineering from the first half of the 19th century. Its total length is 103.4 km, 80 km of which are on Polish territory. The canal was built between 1824 and 1839. To compensate for differences in water levels, 35 km of the Netta and Czarna Hancza rivers were regulated. Over 40 km of drifts were carried out, while 18 locks and 23 sluices were built to regulate the water level.

The Augustow History Museum (closed on Mondays) has a separate section dedicated to the canal so it is were I started my visit (some 4 hours away from any other tentative or WHS!). The museum is situated in a historic house from the 19th century, the so-called Pradzynski Manor House, named after the engineer who designed the Augustow Canal. Close to the museum is the Augustow Lock which was built between 1825 and 1826 but was destroyed in 1944. It was rebuilt shortly after as a single chamber lock located at the 32.5km point of the Augustow Canal. The lock is still fully functional with personnel on duty just in case the lock needs to be operated. With some 'gestures/sign language' …

It's not often that three short letters at 5:45 a.m. ruin all the best laid plans for the day. I was standing in the bus terminal of Pyrgos and had just bought my ticket to Figaleia. Based on Stanislaw's comments I had planned to catch the bus to Figaleia, get off at Perivolia and hike up to Bassae and down to Andritsena. A good day's hike (25km with luggage), but manageable. Those plans were ruined due to three little letters: Nea.

As mentioned in other reviews by me, whenever you see Archaia or Nea in front of a town name be very wary. It means that the new town is so far apart that they decided to denote it with New/Old. In the case of Figaleia, the distance is 23km between the two towns. With it my hiking plan became obsolete.

On arrival in Nea Figaleia, I tried to get a cab. There is one cabbie in town, but he was available only in 3h. So, I wandered briefly through town (they have an old Byzantine monastery) and eventually settled in a cafe at the town square waiting for him. Eventually, he came, drove me to Bassae, waited for me and then dropped me off at Andritsana. Pooh. In Anditsana, again, I spent hours in a cafe on the town square waiting for the bus back to Athens.

The actual visit of Bassae was in comparison to all the time spent on town squares drinking coffee …

When it comes to entertainment, I don't appreciate works full of good sentiments, stories that end well and feel-good movies. I like to be overwhelmed by powerful emotions turning into drama and tragedy. I like noir novels and cruel movies where characters die unexpectedly in the middle of the story. I think I have found the equivalent for the fine arts with José Clemente Orozco. His works are magnificent, impressive and moving.

It is not easy to appreciate the Hospicio Cabañas for its historical interest as a hospital. Very few remains bear witness to this rich past. There is no doubt that the structure is very large and that the idea of arranging all the spaces on the same floor offers undeniable advantages. However, it is el Instituto Cultural de Cabañas that now occupies the place that steals the show. I must say that many aspects of the visit seem to have changed since Solivagant's visit. I had an excellent guided tour in English, given by an old man walking with a cane. I was the only visitor at the time. I sometimes regret not being able to record what he was saying. Today I look at my photos without remembering exactly the fabulous details that each of the works contains.

Orozco was a master of perspective and a socially and historically relevant painter. One need only think of the missionaries' cross that becomes a blade pointing at the natives, the eyes of the two-headed horse following you …

Ranked #728, this is one of the lesser visited sites in Europe among our community members. It comprises a coastal area in northwestern Corsica, recognized for both its marine and terrestrial features. The cumbersome name probably doesn’t help to market it: “Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve” actually comprises one integral core zone with three distinct parts. Only the Calanche of Piana (the correct name should be the plural I think - Calanches of Piana) actually lies in the Gulf of Porto. The Gulf of Girolata is a bay of its own and the Scandola Reserve borders that bay as well.

I visited the site from Ajaccio with 1 of the 2 large companies (Cap Nava, Decouvertes Naturelles) that offer day tours there. My tour cost 59 EUR and we were out for 10 hours on a large ship with some 70 passengers. From Ajaccio, it takes 2.5 hours to get to the core zone. If you’re not relying on public transport to get around Corsica as I did, you could start your trip from one of the smaller towns north (Porto, even Girolata). Tours with smaller boats will be available from there. I visited on September 23 and though the low season had started already, there were plenty of boats around.

The Scandola Nature Reserve lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Girolata. We had been crossing a very heavy rain shower on our way north from Ajaccio, but the …

I visited this WHS in August 2020. Initially I had planned to visit early in the morning but once I arrived I immediately noticed that the best time for photography of the castle and the Nogat delta branch of the Vistula River is in the afternoon so after a quick walk around the rear side of the castle from where I bought my entrance ticket and got my audio guide, I 'revisited' in the afternoon after visiting Gdynia and Gdansk.

You can try your luck to park for free just next to the church/chapel outside the castle or else you can pay 30 zloty for the guarded parking area opposite the castle and cross the wooden bridge. The 13th-century Teutonic castle is the largest castle in the world by land area and the largest brick castle in the world by size. The outermost castle walls are 4 times the enclosed area of Windsor Castle. The favourable position of the castle on the Nogat allowed easy access by barges and trading ships arriving from the Vistula and the Baltic Sea. The Teutonic Knights collected river tolls from passing ships. They controlled a monopoly on the trade of amber, the amber room is one of the rooms worth mentioning and worth using your audio guide in (I used it in the castle's main courtyard, in the amber room and in the inner chapel and cloisters). When the city became a member of the Hanseatic League, many Hanseatic meetings were held there.

Travelling without car can be a bit challenging in Greece. Each district has their own local KTEL (bus company). The only priority for each KTEL seems to be to offer frequent connections to Athens. E.g. there are two daily busses to Athens from a village like Andritsaina, but there are only two weekly connections from e.g. Sparti across the mountain range to neighboring Kalatama.

This was the conundrum I faced when planning my visit to Ancient Messene. Generally, I had time for a visit, but I could not work out a leisurely connection. Being in Mystras/Sparti I would have to backtrack to Tripoli. There I would hope (or wait) to catch the bus from Athens on its pee break at the Tripoli bus station. For a trip that would have taken 1h by car, I had to plan 3h by bus. Minimum.

My inclination was to simply skip the site and opt for the easier option of continuing straight via Tripoli to Pyrgos for Olympia. That is, had it not been for the glowing review by Thibault (thanks!). His review peaked my interest, so much so that I didn't want to forego the site. Eventually, I settled on the stressful option of going for the connecting bus to Kalamata and then catching a cab in Kalamata to the site.

It started off rather badly, as the bus from Sparti was really slow. The trip to Tripoli should have taken less than an hour, it took 80min. I …