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July 2016 - after a few day sidetrip to Cambodia we headed north by bus to Chiang Mai. Its probably the capital of cats. In every corner, at every temple they were appearing and made for some nice pictures. In the one times one km of the old city there about 40 temples if i remeber correctly. We borrowed bikes and took a whole day to visit as many as possible. some are marvelous, some are antique, some just have a nice atmosphere. Besides the temples there is also quite a lot of street art and it is a very green and quite city. Next day we drove up to Doi suthep, to see the winter palace and the most south-eastern foothills of the Himalaya. for Thailand it was our highlight, and there would be much more to discover north of the city. But we still wanted to visit some more WHS sights and headed further south again.

Chiang Mai is also a good place to visit one of the elephant camps. Although it appears as a cheap tourist attraction, spending the day with baby elephants in the nearby jungle, is quite an adventure.

There’s a Dutch proverb that says “Aachen and Cologne were not built in 1 day”. It means that a lot of time and patience is needed to accomplish an extensive task – the equivalent of “Rome wasn't built in a day” in English. Aachen and Cologne were random old, distant places in the imagination of the medieval Dutch and feature in several proverbs. The “not built in 1 day” is very fitting for the Cologne Cathedral, as it took over 600 years to complete. I had visited the cathedral already in the year 2000, but after a pleasant revisit to Aachen 2 weeks ago Cologne also seemed like good option for a return trip. This of course while my action radius is still limited – effectively til June 15 – to Germany.

Both Aachen and Cologne are easy day trips from Holland – Cologne takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes of driving from my home. A thing both cities have in common as well is that they host a modern art museum based on the Ludwig collection, very much recommended if you’re into that kind of art. But while Aachen is a quaint and midsized university town, Cologne is a proper big city with over 1 million inhabitants. It is generally less likeable.

To get to know Cologne better I took part in a Free Walking Tour . I choose the one in English – where I was accompanied by 14 others hailing from Colombia to Belarus. …

July 2016 - What an adventure that we planned. My sister came back from a one year work-and travel in NZ and Australia with a prolonged stopover option in Bangkok. Good opportunity for us to finally visit Thailand. Coincidentally my best friend from school was also around and joined our travels for a bit. After arriving in Asia and having a relaxed day on the Chao Praya, we took the train to the Cambodian border the next day. The train ride was an awesome experience already. A tuktuk took us to the border (beware of fake visa offices) and it cost us maybe half an hour and some shine dollar bills at the customs, to get our Visa and resume travel.The 2 hour busride to Siem Riep was in a comfortable Vantaxi with 10 other tourists, including 2 potential rip-off stopovers on the way. Surprise: the bus station was a few km outside Siem and overpriced tuktuks offered us a ride to the centre. We didn't have too much luggage so started walking, the tuktuks passing us a few times and offering cheape fares with every step we walked. Finally a nice Cambodian guy took us to the next hostel and offered us a guided visit in Angkor next day.

8 a.m. next morning "King Kong" was really standing in front of our hostel and took us to Angkor Vats entry. We payed the approx. 30$ and arranged to see at least 5 different temples that day. "King Kong" …

Don't even ask me how to pronounce Ještěd. I tried telling people on the trip about my stay there and they were like "what, where?" and when they finally figured it out the conversation had already shifted to something else.

I really like the tower. You can visit as a day trip but I highly recommend an overnight retro stay. It's not cheap for Czechia and the affordable option has shared showers but I thought it was so nice to stay here when the tourists are gone. The on-site restaurant isn't too overpriced and makes a great effort to stay open for only the hotel guests having dinner. Also if you stay overnight you get priority parking rights at the top as far as I remember but reports indicate this could change depending on the season. Gotta be careful on the way up because there are many people walking along the road. As you can tell by my picture it wasn't the best weather (this is Summer 2017) so the crowds were acceptable.

You may notice I didn't vote up or down for inclusion. I like the building and architecture and it makes for a good itinerary but I have no idea what value they are trying to justify it. Their document is more of less a brochure for the hotel. If I understand correctly it shows growth in tourism in the early 20th century. The Alpine road in Austria is going for the same inscription reason. Including …

Site visited July 2016. Stari Ras and Sopoćani is generally least known and visited among the six Yugoslavian sites which were inscribed in 1979. Although the name makes you think that there are two sites the inscription consists of four separate sites around the town of Novi Pazar. This group of medieval monuments of the first capital of Serbia gives you an interesting insight to the history of the country.

I travelled to Novi Pazar by bus from Belgrad and visited the Studenica Monastery during the trip. I spent the whole next day exploring these four sites. Novi Pazar is predominantly a muslim city which is noteworthy in Eastern Orthodox Serbia. You can immediately notice that on the streets. The border of Kosovo is just a few kilometers away. I hired a taxi to take me to the sites. This is very cheap like everything is in Serbia. Three of the sites are outside of Novi Pazar: Stari Ras 8 kilometers, Sopoćani 13 km and Djurdjevi Stupovi 5 km from the city center. Only the Saint Peters Church is within a walking distance from the center of Novi Pazar.

This site is the only one of Yugoslavian legendary 'six of 1979' (the others are Dubrovnik, Kotor, Ohrid, Plitvice and Split) which is not a target of international mass tourism. It would be interesting to know why Stari Ras and Sopoćani has been selected to the same group among the huge potential of former Yugoslavia. …

My first visit to Aachen Cathedral was in 2001, really at the beginning of my WHS journey. It was my 74th visited WHS. I only had a basic compact digital camera then, I still know what it looks like. It made horrible photos, certainly compared to a smartphone from 2020 (let alone a proper camera). So at the start of this long Pentecost weekend, I decided to drive to Aachen again to refresh my memory and for better photos.

It was my first visit to Germany post-COVID. In preparation, I stocked up on some disposable face masks (compulsory in public indoor places) and cash Euro. Although the crisis apparently has led to increased card payments, Germany still is much more cash-based than the Netherlands and I did not succeed in paying anything by card here. On the plus side, there’s no need to pre-book time slots at the Aachen museums or at the Cathedral – which is a more common measure in Holland to keep things under control.

I started my WH visit at the Cathedral Treasury. At 10 a.m. I was the first visitor of the day and I had the museum to myself. The Treasury made headlines in March as it announced the exhibition of the Corona Leopardus Shrine. It holds the mortal remains of the early Christian martyrs Corona and Leopardus. Corona was a legendary figure, whose relics were brought to Aachen around the year 1000. She is the patroness of causes involving money and …

I visited this tentative WHS in January 2012. In a way, India's capital, Delhi, is a bit like China's capital, Beijing. Several top notch WHS here and there, but no real 'historic centre'. This nomination tries to make up for this by highlighting Delhi's “surviving historic urbanscape” in a triangular patch of land with the River Yamuna on one side and the northern range of Aravalli hills on the other two sides.

This historic urbanscape comprises the four precincts of Mehrauli, Nizamuddin, Shahjahanabad and New Delhi. The first three precincts are already well covered in reviews of the already inscribed crown jewels of each precinct, namely Qutab Minar, Humayun's Tomb and the Red Fort. So in this review I will focus on the remaining precinct New Delhi.

New Delhi was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who redefined the architecture and urbanism of the city. At its core, the Kingsway (now Rajpath) is adorned with several iconic buildings such as the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the India Gate (photo) although not exactly on par with the recently inscribed buildings of Mumbai for example.

Even though the nomination dossier tries hard to convey “Delhi's unique cultural landscape evolved from the mingling of multiple streams of cultural impulses from the Islamic and European worlds”, I would only be in favour of such an inscription on the WH list if at any point in the future 'cleaning-up' or 'streamlining' efforts are made to cluster already inscribed WHS. For example, …

I visited this tentative WHS several times as a pleasant stopover city on my way to other WHS or tWHS such as Mont-St-Michel, Le Havre, Amiens, Carnac or Cordouan. However, back in June 2011, I had allowed a full weekend specifically for Rouen.

Rouen is the capital of Normandy, even though it is relatively close to Paris. In the past it was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe and it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was also one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. Rouen saw the tragic end of Saint Joan of Arc’s life, a legacy that continues to leave its mark in the city.

The highlights of this urban ensemble are its stunning churches, mostly constructed in Gothic style. The Notre-Dame Cathedral is by far the most elaborate and captivating and holds the title of the tallest cathedral in all of France thanks to the spire of the Tour Lanterne which is a must-visit if only for the panoramic view over the city. Inside the cathedral is where the embalmed heart of Richard the Lionheart rests in his tomb. The city’s others churches shouldn’t go unnoticed either: namely the Church of Saint-Maclou which is renowned for its five gabled arches on its facade, and the Abbey of Saint-Ouen which is a prime example flamboyant Gothic …

Visited May 2019

I have visited only one component Shuijingjie Workshop (Shui Jing Fang Bo Wu Guan 水井坊博物馆) which is located in central part of Chengdu (metro line 2, DongMen Bridge, exit B). This is a regular museum that can be visited only as a part of guided tour. The first tour starts at around 10 am and even you’re the only person that wants to visit it, a museum guide will assist you, even if they do not speak English. My guide tried to do her best (using kind of a translator in her smartphone) to let me understand what I was looking at, but as I knew nothing about liquor making (baijiu), I think I missed almost 80% of her efforts. Some of the parts in the museum have English explanation boards – and that helped a bit.

This is the only liquor sites that have been fully excavated and renovated (it started in 1998). Here they ceased producing liquors (very expensive ones! Visit the shop after the tour.) just few years ago but they have kept all the instruments and tools and can arrange kind of a ‘show’ of traditional process of liquor making if you book in advance. (There are leaflets in English informing about this. You can read in this leaflet that this is the oldest liquor making workshop in the world – 600 years, in Ming dynasty, still operating, but the production was moved to new location and in here only the …

Olympic National Park has everything I love in a national park: mountains, lakes, great trails, and wildlife. It even borders the coast, with amazing scenery where the Pacific Ocean laps against rocky shorelines and coniferous-covered bluffs. The park is home to one of the best places to see a temperate rainforest in the United States, with moss covering tree trunks and stumps, and ferns lining the forest floor. But the beauty comes with a price; this area receives a lot of rain, and visitors may find their views limited by mist and fog.

Although I'd traveled to Washington State many times growing up, it was not until last July that I finally took the trek out to the Olympic Peninsula to visit Olympic National Park. I should not have waited as long as I did, since the park was amazing, even with rain. I had hoped that a summer visit would herald better weather, but unfortunately only parts of each day during my visit were cloud free.

I visited each of the components of the park -- mountains, rainforest, and coast, and each was special in its own way. The Olympic Mountains are easily seen from Hurricane Ridge. On a clear day, the opposite view across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island is spectacular. I only got glimpses of the island through breaks in the clouds. Still, the hikes that were open on the ridge were a great way to get new views of the …

Without doubt, you get the best impression of this WHS from an aerial view. Shortly after the departure from Kansai Airport westwards you have a perfect view of the Mozu Konfun complex. It is strange to see these huge tombs like green islands in the middle of a sea of ​​modern buildings. One inevitably wonders what this densly populated area may have looked like in the 5th century when the largest of these kofuns were built. And what remains of this ancient culture might still be hidden underground. However, the builders of these tombs have left no written records, no remains of palaces or fortifications have been preserved. Only the kofuns and the artifacts that were found in there.

Visiting this WHS at street level is odd and unsatisfying. What you can see are tree-covered mounds and the moats that surround the larger kofuns. From this perspective, their keyhole shape can only be guessed. The kofun of Emperor Nintoku is the largest of the inscribed tombs. However, there are also doubts as to whether it is really Nintoku’s tomb. Certainly an important person was buried there, the kofun has a total length of about 800 meters and is one of the three largest tombs worldwide. You can walk around on a circular path, but there is not much to see apart from the closed entrance gate and the outermost of the three moats.I liked the medium-sized kofuns better, where you have an unobstructed view to the actual burial mound: …

Visited May 2014

Sigatoka Sand Dunes National park was the first national park ever established in Fiji – and that was in 1989. The park is located on the biggest island of archipelago, Viti Levu, on its south-western part, at the mouth of the Sigatoka River, very close to the town of Sigatoka. It can be easily reached and visited as a day trip from both Nadi and Suva and any other lodge on the southern coast (called Corral Coast) of the Island – there are many buses going in each direction from early morning till late afternoon. The entrance to the park is visible from the road, the green board; you can just tell the driver that you’re heading to the park and you’ll be dropped at this green board. (I suggest doing this and after visiting the dunes to get back to your starting point, go to centre of Sigatoka town and take the bus from there.)

I woke up the man sleeping under the bog tree to buy a ticket and he asked me not to approach to the archaeological dig which was located right at the place where the river enters the ocean; he pointed me the path I should follow, but first encouraged me to read some info about the park (fluvial erosion, unstable ground, parabolic dunes, thousands of years, very old pottery finds, called Lapita ware, 1600 BCE – 500 BCE) and dos and don’ts while in the park (do not leave …

We visited Ani (on the UNESCO list since 2016) in February 2020. We had travelled on the Eastern Express Train from Ankara to Kars and then another 42km to the site (a public transport bus leaves from Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Konağı in Kars). Many people had advised us to make this trip in winter because the snow covered plains and mountains are spectacular to watch. Indeed, the journey through the winter landscape of Anatolia, and when arriving in Ani the contrast between the ruins in dark brown and grey stone, the white blanket of snow across the ancient city against a deep blue sky in the bright sun light, was impressive despite the biting cold with temperatures far below zero.

With roots going back to the Chalcolithic period, Ani, the medieval capital of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia is located at the old Silk Road in the East of Turkey, right on the border with Armenia - you actually can see the border posts on the other side; the city is situated in rather dramatic surroundings at 1300m above sea level, on its eastern side protected by a ravine and on its western side by a valley.  

Its heydays were in the 10th and 11th centuries before the city of a thousand churches as it was called with more than 100,000 inhabitants was destroyed by the Mongols in 1236. After several periods of revival the city was finally abandoned in the 18th century. In recent history it …

Visited October 2017

Reading the previous reviews from Bethany beyond the Jordan, I had an impression that most of the visitors are seeing only one component of the inscribed site – the area of the churches of Saint John the Baptist which is located close to the Jordan river and the river bank itself. It is maybe because this is the place where most of the tours from the visitors’ information booth are taken. And you must be a part of the tour, ‘cos this site is located straight at the border with Israel – while at the Jordan bank you can see pilgrims on the other side of river just 20 metres from you at Kasr al-Jahud. (It is kind of a ceremony as many people are coming to the Israeli side, where the infrastructure is very well prepared and organized to host pilgrims willing to be baptized or to ‘take’ the second baptism, they enter the shallow and dirty water, all wearing white, singing and praying; it has a look and feel of something special… In a meantime on the Jordanian side – not a lot of pilgrims and they are not allowed to immerse themselves, so they just pour some drops on their heads while standing in the water very close to the platform.)

On the way to the site we were passing by new churches and monasteries being built by different Christian denominations, and then we spent around one hour at this component. Our …

Site visited in November, 2006. Easy stop if you drive a car on Panamericana. It is located around 600 km south of Santiago de Chile, near the town of Collipulli. You cannot miss the object as it is located just near the highway (and well-marked, there are brown signs on Ruta 5, just search for Monumento Nacional Viaducto Malleco). Malleco Viaduct or Puente Malleco is an engineering monument from the end of XIX century.

At first glance it looks as typical work of Gustave Eiffel but it was designed by local Victorino Aurelio Lastarria in 1887 although Eiffel also presented his offer to Chilean government (rejected during contest). Instead of Eiffel, Chileans chose other French engineering bureau Schneider et Cie. O Le Creusot. Therefore, the bridge was made of steel, manufactured in pieces in France, shipped to Chile and constructed on the spot. At that time, it was the highest railway bridge in the world (96 meters – I did not measure that but some sources also point that it was 101 meters – you will have to judge for yourself what is the truth).

Malleco Viaduct can be visited free of charge, the site is not fenced so you can just place the car somewhere after passing modern bridge (there were no official parking next to the bridge but leaving the car in the close area was quite common) and take few minutes’ walk to reach the monument. Although still in use the trains are not very …

There's a good reason Machu Picchu remains one of the highest rated World Heritage Sites -- this Inca city is spectacularly and photogenically set atop a mountain ridge in the Andes northwest of Cusco. Machu Picchu symbolizes adventure and discovery of the unknown, and it has become a mecca for intrepid travelers from around the world.

I arrived at Machu Picchu in the fall of 2018 at the end of a four day hike along the Inca Trail. Not only is hiking the Inca Trail a great introduction to the network of Inca fortresses and settlements remaining in the Andes, but it also makes Machu Picchu that much more memorable when first viewed from the Temple of the Sun at the end of a trek. And what a sight it is from the temple -- the emerald lawns, the terraced buildings, and the backdrop of Huayna Picchu's peak are absolutely stunning. If your afternoon is clear and sunny like ours was, this is where you can find some iconic views of Machu Picchu. Hiking the Inca Trail with a tour company provided the advantage that we were able to walk through Machu Picchu to the exit as the culmination of our trek, and then return the next day with our ticketed time to see the site again at a more leisurely pace.

On my return the next morning, my group wandered with a guide through the buildings, learning about Inca astronomy, agriculture, and architecture. We also hiked up …

I visited this tentative WHS in October 2014 on my way back from my road trip to Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck and Wismar. The Schwerin Castle ensemble is only 40 minutes away by car from Wismar and around 50 minutes away from Schalsee, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The Schwerin Castle ensemble is definitely on par with other inscribed properties on the WH list such as Muskauer Park in Germany/Poland or Lednice Palace in Czechia and although it doesn't add anything particularly new to the list, on a sunny day it is a very enjoyable visit (when in the area). Its construction was also inspired by the Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley such as Chambord.

The Schwerin Castle and its gardens are situated on an island in the city's main lake, Lake Schwerin, and after visiting the whole ensemble I'd recommend walking towards Lennestrasse and Franzosenweg for a fabulous waterside view from one of the 3 cafeterias (Ruderhaus, Ambiente am See or Schlossbucht).

La Région Lacan-Tún – Usumacinta is proposed as a mixed site by Mexico. It encompasses large areas of tropical forest in eastern Chiapas, notably the flora and fauna protection area Nahá-Metzabok, the flora and fauna protection area Chankin, the natural monument Bonampak, the natural monument Yaxchilán, the biosphere reserve Montes Azules, the biosphere reserve Lacan – Tún and the communal reserve La Cojolita. The nomination file claim an OUV from the high biodiversity of the area as well as the Mayan remains. I visited Mexico in 2019 and visited two components of this site: Yaxchilán and Bonampak

Yaxchilán

One cool thing about Yaxchilán is that it can only be reached after a 45 minutes boat ride on the Río Usumacinta starting in Frontera Corozal. The site is therefore situated in the middle of the jungle in a bend of the river. The setting is great and the wildlife is abundant (birds, butterflies, howler monkeys). The city was once a powerful Mayan state. The site, even though it is not as impressive as other archaeological sites nearby (Palenque, Tikal), is interesting and posses some unique features. Among these, it is particularly fascinating to walk inside the rooms and stairways of El Laberinto (Edificio 19, the Labyrinth) and get lost among the bats, tree frogs, and whip spiders that now occupy the structure. El Edificio 33 is situated atop a long stairway and is the best preserved temple with its beautiful stone lintels and sculptures (Yaxchilán is famous for its lintels). Edificios …

"Don't say beautifully until you've seen Nikkō" is an old Japanese saying. And not without reason. The temples and shrines of Nikkō are famous for their colourful ornaments and the multitude of carvings, best known are the Three Wise Monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.Nikkō was already a holy place in the 8th century, and became a spiritual centre when the mausoleum of the first Tokugawa Shōgun was moved here in the early 17th century. The temples and shrines represent the architectural style of the Edo period (1603 to 1868).

To enter the shrine complex, you have to cross the Daiya River. There is the beautiful vermilion-painted Shinkyo Bridge, after paying an entrance fee you can walk across the bridge - and back. It is not the entrance to the sacred area, visitors have to take the ordinary car bridge. In this regard, nothing has changed since the Edo period. Ordinary worshippers were never allowed to use the Shinkyo Bridge, it was only for the Shōguns and for ceremonial purposes.Rinno-ji was founded in the 8th century and was the first temple in Nikkō. It is also the first site to be reached after entering the inscribed area. Most impressive are the golden Buddha statues in the main hall. Certainly an important Buddha temple, but for today's visitor, Rinno-ji is just the prelude to the main attraction, the Toshogu Shrine.Unfortunately, the Toshogu Shrine was also one of the most crowded sites I visited on …

Site visited in March, 2011. Ciudad Bolivar is a perfect place to start exploration of Canaima National Park (at least the western part around Canaima village and Auyan-Tepui). From Ciudad Bolivar local airport there are flight to Canaima (small planes with 6 seats). But the town has also its own attraction – old town (Casco Historico), pretty nice set of colonial houses, old churches, cobblestone streets, everything located on a hill overlooking Orinoco river.

It is not as spectacular as Cartagena or equally charming as Mompox but it is quite similar to Coro (in terms of architecture style) and much bigger. The layout of old town had to be adjusted to natural conditions (hills) while Coro was located on a flat place.

Notable monuments are: Cathedral Santo Tomas Apolstol, Town Hall (Alcaldía del Municipio Heres) with its passage over the street, old colonial houses (Casa Parroquial, Casa de los Gobernadores, Casa de las Doce Ventanas), El Zamuro Castle (Fortin El Zamuro) Ciudad Bolivar was built at the end of XVI century as Saint Thomas of Guyana, later constantly demolished by local tribes or pirates and rebuilt in different places. Actual and final location was chosen in late XVIII century as San Tomas de la Nueva Guayana or San Tome de Angostura to memorize its diocese and for its position at the first narrows of the Orinoco River. Later on, Angosura played important role as a parliament seat during South America independence movements, it was also a place where …