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If you look at our rating the Amsterdam Defence Line is not a popular WHS. In any case it offers a rather unique and interesting story which is inextricably connected to older similar defence lines, the most important of which were the Old and the New Dutch Waterline. All of them were huge enterprises including dozens of forts, dykes and sluices. They all use water which the Dutch normally have to fight against as a weapon against invading enemies. If that is not original enough they also flooded their own, mostly agricultural but also populated land on huge areas as you can see on the maps of the Dutch Waterline on Wikipedia for example, which is rather self destructive. I find it also funny that the land had to be flooded very shallowly since too low water would still allow driving and walking and to high water levels would allow boats. It is a bit surprising that the Amsterdam Defence Line was the first of these lines that made the list since one would think that the oldest lines were the revolutionary undertakings and most worth of an inscription and the later lines could be regarded as more of a imitation or continuation. As I could find out there seem to be two reasons for this: The Amsterdam Line as the newest project is the best preserved of the three. And since the older lines belong to several provinces they had supposedly a hard time to come up with a …

Fortunately, the visit to Preah Vihear nowadays is all a matter of arranging a driver and suffering through a bit of a rickety road from time to time. The worst of the border tensions are over and though you will pass posts with armed guards on your way the steep slope in the back of a 4x4, the overall ambience is chill, even though the weather is anything but.

We arrived around noon, having already seen Beng Mealea and Koh Ker that day. We bought tickets to enter the site and also paid for a return trip by a four-wheel-drive car to the entrance of the actual site which is up the mountain road. The ride is okay, the road is paved all the way up to the top and only the last two hundred metres where the trucks park is very uneven and full of potholes. The route that pointed us to the naga stairs actually lead through some kind of camp - some restoration works were still ongoing, so it was quite a curious walk. At least there was a viewing platform and some info on reconsntruction of the site at the end.

We followed the way up the Naga stairs, then another set of stairs to the different levels of temple structures. The most-preserved part of the temple is at the top of the complex, there is a working shrine inside. Actually one of the local boys was showing a monk that was there some …

Koh Ker was our next stop on the day trip to Preah Vihear, after we visited Beng Mealea. Our driver told us this layered pyramid was actually his favourite temple of Cambodia. The multi-day Angkor passes used to cover this site two, however it changed recently and we had to buy separate tickets. Not a problem, it was worth it. On the day of our visit, the site was mostly visited by local tourists - it's obviously a bit off the main fare. There's actually two-in-one ensembles: firstly, you enter through a set of ruins that looks something like three structures of Sambor Prei Kuk thrown together, similarily encircled by tree roots, a bit of a lake and general state of ruin-disrepair. You're already impressed, there are some nice photo ops. And then you walk some more and in the view in front of you a large pyramid appears.

It's square in layout, with layered stories one on top of each other and the best thing is the rickety wooden staircase you can take to the top and enjoy the view. It's couple of hundred steps, wear a hat and have some water, you will need it. But the view were absolutely amazing and the whole detour was definitely worth it! As Nan pointed out, the pyramid provides the most distinctive and unique feature of the whole ensemble. 

I visited the area around Bohinj Lake two times already. First, we did rather quick trip from the Savica waterfall uphill to the Black Lake and the mountainous plateau around Triglav, so, I could see almost nothing from the landscape proposed as TWHS. The next visit, I had enough time to explore the countryside of Stara Fuzina Hills. We spent a couple of days in the place around a stable of our friend close to Stara Fuzina village. Unfortunately, it is banned to overnight in tents in the area of Triglav National Park even on the private land and inside/close to the private buildings. The neighbors of the friend were extremely unfriendly (we met this attitude several times in Slovenia), thus, we had to escape much earlier than originally planned.

The area of large meadows, the landscape of Triglav NP, and the picturesque lake of Bohinj is really worthy to visit. I admired the ancient wooden hayracks and haylofts mentioned in the proposal, they are a work of real masters (unfortunately, I cannot find any photo), and enjoyed the unspoiled Julian Alps. Despite this, I am not sure if Fuzina Hills have any OUV. The use of a landscape for agriculture is very common all over the world, and I did not find this area including its wooden hayracks as unique.

PHOTO – the church of St John in Stara Fuzina close to Bohinj Lake (+ kid of my friends).

It's a bit of an education incorporating World Heritage Sites into travel. When I took a trip to Mexico City in January 2017, I knew I'd be viewing several sites dedicated to meso-American civilizations, some dedicated to Spanish colonialism, and hopefully a natural site dedicated to the monarch butterfly migration. I also included a visit to a 20th century site honoring a Mexican architect obscure to me, even through he was the second architect to receive the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize: The Luis Barragán House and Studio.

I made my reservations for the visit in advance, and joined a small group of international visitors for the tour of the home and studio. I had chosen to pay the fee to bring a camera, and I found there were a lot of clean lines and bright contrasting colors to photograph as we walked through the house. The wooden staircase in the library was probably the highlight for me inside, though I also appreciated the simplicity of Barragán's bedroom. The rooftop terrace was memorable, with its bold orange and fuchsia walls, but I preferred the green oases of the backyard garden and the courtyard with the jars. After touring the house, the studio seemed a bit plain, though functional.

Overall I'm glad I visited the site, but I'm not certain Barragán would have been one of my first choices to add to the list for modern architecture. Still, I can understand Mexico's pride in celebrating one of their own.

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March 2017 - Arriving in Jaen, we had the impression of being in a South American City in the Andes. The city has some nice parts, but especially the Cathedral is just gorgeous. We drove to a viewpoint at the castle where you had a overwhelming glance at the city. It would definietly be worth inscription as an exension of Ubeda and Baeza and also worth a stopover when going to Cordoba.

Nowadays when we travel, we order drivers through our hotels and this was the case with three days we stayed at Siem Reap as well. We lodged at Model Residence, the name doesn't evoke anything, but in reality it was a pretty place in the quiet part of town, about two kilometres from its wild city centre. Given the hotel surcharge for arrangement, our driver was not the cheapest, but he had many years of driving tourists around Cambodian sites under his belt so he always knew where he was going and was very accomodating. 

First day we started with Beng Mealea, sixty-something kilometres from Siem Reap. It does not belong to the core zone of the Angkor Wat WHS, being on the Tentative list at present, however it's managed by the same ticketing company, so you can not only use your multi-day Angkor Pass to visit, but also buy it at a ticket booth couple of kilometres before the actual site. It was about eight in the morning when we got there and because our driver parked by the more secluded entrance (there's a different one with parking for buses), we managed to get in before a large group of tourists did.

Maybe because it was my first visit of a proper Angkor-period temple, or due to lack of tourists in combination with general state of disrepair, I really enjoyed it. Despite there being a proper Tomb Raider temple by Angkor - Ta Prohm, which served as …

March 2017 - our last two nights of the Andalusia trip we spent in Sevilla, in 1992 I was visiting the Expo, whichs remains look quite awkward nowadays. But the other parts of the City are just beautiful. It's true that it is crowded with tourist, and the flair is not nearly as cozy as in Cordoba, but there are some wonderful part in the city. the tiled house in the city centre, the cathedral and Alcazar but also the Plaza de Espana in the marie Luise park. There are many nice bars that offer Sherrys and Tapas and many small shops. There is an amazing wooden structure in the city, that should be on everyones itinerary, and if your are lucky, we were, there are processions through the city. Due to the entrance fees, but also the long queue we decide not to go into the Alcazar. Maybe a pitty, but we are planning to come back in 2020, so maybe next time. At evening the city calms down a bit and there are many cozy corners in the town. We happened to visit an openair swing festival in a historic court. A wonderful evening for the last night in Spain.

March 2017- 25 years before my parents took me to a conference in Cordoba, and I have the best memories of it. Now I wanted to do a revisit. We stayed in a small Hotel and strolled around the jewish city, juderia, for a whole day. It is just beautiful and its worth to sneek into every second courtyard to be overwhelmed by their beauty. We visited the alcazar, next to old town. And the next morning we finally got tickets to get into to Mezquita. One of europes highlight which is overwhelming. We spent nearly 1 hour in the building a shot numerous pictures from any perspective.

Cordoba and Granada made this trip perfect. We are wishing to come back someday.

This is a small national park in Spiš region on the border of Slovakia with Poland. It comprises 8 km long valley of river Dunajec between Červený Kláštor (medieval monastery there) and Lesnica villages, and small area of hills covered by forests and pastures on the Slovak side. This is very touristy place and almost a tourist trap. The main attraction is to go from Červený Kláštor to Lesnica by traditional boats called pltě, and we could see the hordes of tourist attracted by this activity. The same attraction is organized also on the Polish side that seemed to me even more touristy than the Slovakian one. I visited Pieniny in 2004, just after entering of both countries to EU, but I heart long stories about absurdly strict Polish border police that loved to capture and almost imprison any random intruder from Slovakian side. It is also possible to use your own boat or raft, but it is quite adrenaline adventure.

Instead of boating we preferred simple walking through the valley with slopes covered by dense forest and occasional limestone rocks (PHOTO). The most famous rock formation is Trzy Korony (Three Crowns) on the Polish territory, but it is slightly aside of the river. While quite interesting, I think that Pieniny is a site only of national or better said bilateral importance. After entering Lesnica village, we escaped from the crowds of tourist by marked green trail in direction to Haligovce village, and we admired the picturesque landscape all …

Our 6 days roundtrip of Belarus October 2019 we visited the St. Nikita Church of Zditovo. With a rental car and our GPS, it was no hassle finding it. This little wooden church with its clear blue color looks very nice. While approaching the church on a Sunday just before noon we could hear the priest and the congregation inside, thus telling us not to go inside. So, we settled for viewing also this church from the outside, as all other churches we've visited in Belarus.

After taking photos all around we headed back for the gate. Then suddenly the church door opened, and people started coming out. Some of the them approached us, as we stopped to find out what happened. They smiled and spoke to us and although we don't understand Belarusian, we understood they urged us to get into the church. We turned back to the church thinking that after the ceremony it might be appropriate a little peak inside. We found the church door still closed so we hesitated. A priest (dressed up all orthodox) came out and spoke to us. Again through the language barrier, we could present ourselves as tourists from a protestant country just curious of his church. He hesitated for a moment and then decided to invite us in if we behaved (properly dressed, no hand in our pockets or on our backs). We could enter and take as many pictures we wanted while he was doing his work, so we …

The Vézère Valley was my last WHS ‘to do’ in mainland France. In preparation, I found it difficult to get a good overview of the Vézère locations, especially for a visit out of season. So I made a spreadsheet to come to terms with the different access policies. It turns out that 2 out of the 15 locations are permanently closed to visitors, 6 aren’t open during winter months and the others … well, lots of oddities there as well. A general warning: always check the opening hours on the French section of the respective official website, as they may not always update the English version.

I started my visit with a pilgrimage to Lascaux I – the original Lascaux cave. It has been closed off to visitors since 1963, but on Google Streetview, I noticed that a paved road runs along its entrance. I left my car at the entrance to Lascaux II and went on further exploration on foot. The whole area was eerily quiet and there are a lot of No Entry signs, but accessing this road seems to be OK. What you’ll find in the end is only a fence and a gate of course, but it has a UNESCO sign!

I continued with attending the last tour of the day at Lascaux IV, the 2016 replica. The tour is already well-described in earlier reviews; I found it disappointing. Especially the audiovisual experience at the end is awkward. With a 20 EUR entrance fee, …

Still in October 2019 we continue our 6 days roundtrip of Belarus and found our first edifices church in the town of Kamai a little more than 2 hours southwest from Polatsk. It's Church of Saint John the Baptist.

On a Friday afternoon it's a sleepy little town, only a few raised eye browses on the market square met us.We went up to the church just meteres from the square - seeing just another church! It was closed and not accessible except from the outside, though inside stone fence. It's a typical "normal church" from our point of view, the only difference we could see was in addition to "normal church windows" a set of small round windows as a set of loopholes on the round towers.

A couple of hours later the same day we visited the second church in the village of Murovanka. It's the Khram Rozhdestva Presvyatoy Bogoroditsy D.Murovanka.This church was also closed and in addition it was also fenced with a closed gate, so this church we had to behold from a distance.It's a nicer church than the first one and we even had some sunbeams, but that's all. The only "fortress" image are the towers, but it's not unusual having towers on a church?

We didn't visit the third one (Church of St. Michael, Synkavichy) but by seeing Walter's photo we can tell that the three are different, but still the same.

I'm sure they have a special history, but it's …

March 2017 - having visited the mezquita of Cordoba that morning it is spmewgat depressing to see ruins of a city, that was probably just that beautiful. We thought of Mdina Azahara as an Extension of the WHS, but luckily we visited anyway.

It is overwhelming, what has been built here for visitors. A giant Museum with a High amount of artefacts is welcoming you. EU visitors are paying less, lucky us:) Bus Shuttles are bringing you to the ruins.

You can walk in and between the ruins which brings you closer to the past than just looking at them. And you are free to take your time. The views were very nice and some of the ruins are still well preserved so you can imagine well how it must have been 1100 years ago. A nice visit, very close to.Cordoba

I think that this TWHS should be deleted or changed at least. Otherwise I do not fully understand the strategy of the state party of Germany.

There are 3 active sites on the German TWHS related directly to former Jewish communities: (1) Synagogue in Erfurt as one of the oldest, largest and best preserved synagogues in Central Europe, (2) ShUM as the important community of Ashkenazi Jews with origin deeply in Middle Ages, and (3) the cemetery in Altona as the second largest Sephardic cemetery outside Portugal.

It is not likely that all three sites will be inscribed, and I can see certain rivalry between Erfurt and ShUM: The ShUM nomination has been already submitted for year 2021, and it is cleverly stated there that “The lasting influence of the ShUM communities on Ashkenazi Judaism is attested to this day by major monuments – e.g. the excellently preserved religious buildings (the synagogue and the ritual bath) in Erfurt and the mediaeval Jewish monuments in Regensburg, Vienna and Andernach.”

The justification of the Altona cemetery plays a different game stressing not Ashkenazi but its Sephardic character.

I am afraid that these are only political games, and interest about the genuine OUV lies aside, and it is somehow hidden in the elaborated phrases. All it is about the fact, that there is only one WHS in Europe focused (almost) only on the Jewish testimony – Třebíč. The rest Jewish monuments are parts of much bigger urban ensembles, as …

As Ivan pointed out, "And now the temple part of our holiday starts." And he was, indeed, correct, having organized the whole two-and-a-half-week-long haul around the remainder of Southeastern Asia World Heritage Sites we were yet to visit. So, temples it were and I was quite happy with Ivan's planning, because going to see the My Son after all of the Cambodian sites would be a tad bit disappointing. This way I've enjoyed my first set of temple ruins and it was quite a pleaasant adventure.

The plan du jour was simple: early breakfast, walk around Hoi An in the morning, then car pickup at hotel at ten, to be at My Son by eleven. Hotel itself recommeded two hours for the whole visit and I can confirm it was more than enough for us. The driver left us at large parking spot with many cars and buses, so we mentally prepared ourselves for many tourists around. We bought our tickets and walked inside. Once again, Vietnam really appreciates its World Heritage Sites: this one had a large banner with quotes from Irina Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO, though it basically said that My Son has an OUV and that's why it has been inscribed. Tautology, anyone? Couple more banners and a UNESCO sign later, we crossed the decorative bridge and reached the electric buggy station that took us to the beginning of the visitors' route.

The ruins are organized around a circular footpath about 1,5 km …

Early October 2019 we went on a 6 days roundtrip of Belarus. An Air Baltic flight via Riga, a Visa-on-arrival and a rent-a-car at arrival made this arrival like everywhere else. To our surprise it was a Russian registered car! We wondered if the Russian-Belarusian relations between "the commons" were ok or would we experience any bullying, but it all turned out ok.

We headed against Polatsk. Our "smart" GPS took us through highways and smaller roads, also through small towns and even gravel roads! Mainly the roads are ok, so everything worked out just fine. After 2 1/2 hours we arrived Polatsk round six o'clock in the evening.

There is about an hour of daylight, what do we do? We decided to locate the nearest part of this TWHS. The nearest part was the St. Sophia Cathedral. The church itself has Wojciech described perfectly so there is little to add. There were people (typically mothers with children) going in and out, it looked like some kind of a music school, so we didn't go inside. We established that the exterior is nice, but is it special enough? We've visited just so many churches throughout Europe (and South America), inscribed and not inscribed, so this is just another one. This one need not be inscribed.

After a stayover at a small hotel (which we prefer) with a huge language barrier (using mostly hand- and finger-language) we visited Polatsk centre, beginning with the square with the 1812-monument and …

I always enjoy the landscape of Slovakia. It is diverse and relatively unspoiled, and it is not too expansive, inaccessible or aggressively spectacular. Even the highest mountains of Slovakia and at the same time of the entire Carpathians, High Tatra Mountains are called as the smallest high mountains in the world. Tatra Mountains consist of three parts: (i) relatively large Western Tatras, the most visited part is called as Roháče, with the attitude around 2000m. (ii) High Tatras, which are some 500 meters higher than other Tatras and with a restricted access to the highest parts; highest peak is Gerlachovsky Stit 2654m; and (ii) Belianske Tatry that is one relatively small strictly protected range made by limestone.

Even though the central parts are strictly protected and the mountainous landscape with numerous lakes (called as Pleso – PHOTO – Batizovske Pleso very close to the highest peak of the Carpathians) is wonderful, it cannot compete with Alps and other similar mountains all over the world. There is no OUV.

From Tatra Mountains, I visited Roháče region at least 4 times, and also several lakes of both Slovak (Popradske, Strbske, Batizovske) and Polish parts (Morskie Oko, and Dolina Pieciu Stawow Polskich) in the central area.

Furthermore, the tragic forest management of the National Park, too expansive development, and annoying tourist industry are other problematic issues of Tatra Mountains. However, the tourist industry is much worser and almost unbearable on the Polish side of Tatra mountains with crowds in Zakopane …

My visit to Ein Karem was not too extensive in November of 2019. Yad Vashem is nearby, as is Abbell Synagogue of Hadassah Ein Karem with windows painted by Marc Chagall - the two main points of interest that I planned for one afternoon. I had about an extra hour in my schedule, and decided to drive to the core of the village to take a quick look.

That part of Ein Karem is centered on the Church of St John the Baptist, with a fairly impressive tiled interior (although covered in scaffolds at the time) and its own Nativity Cave underneath. The church itself may be worth a visit but the streets around it did not feel overly special to me. A nice cup of tea and the short wait to be served in a local confectionery store, during which I observed locals making purchases, left a more lasting impression. Other points of interest, such as Mary's Spring and a few other religious complexes in the area, did not fit into my allotted time. It is more than likely that I did not attempt to see enough to form an educated opinion, but my short visit did not lead me to consider the village's OUV to be significant.

WHS#61

Abu Simbel is the ultimate destination for a traveller in Egypt. It's so far removed from civilization, so distant from everywhere else most people visit in Egypt. Yes, the pyramids may have brought you here, but only Abu Simbel will bring you so far off the beaten track - except now, so many people visit that it has created it's own beaten track, and for good reason. This is the most unique ancient temple in Egypt, as it was built by Pharaoh Ramses II as a shrine. To himself, basically. This dude was so full of himself and his achievements that at the success of his military campaigns in Nubia, he proceeded to build what would become an amazing wonder of the world with his face all over it. I got to visit Abu Simbel and Philae on my trip to Egypt in May 2018, and man, it was hot there! Every day, we'd settle down after lunch to avoid the over 40-degree heat. Nevertheless, this Nubian experience was one of the most interesting parts of Egypt. Nubia was once an ancient power, and to this day, it's a distinct culture with its own unique traditions and language. From the ruins of Abu Simbel to the modern-day Nubian village, a trip to this part of Egypt is an immersion into the historic and present culture of Nubia.

The day after arriving Aswan was the tour to Abu Simbel. As many may already know, it's an amazing site. …