All our reviews

WHS#54

Acre is another very unique site in the Holy Land. Just like Jerusalem and Bet Guvrin, it has no equal or comparable sites both in the region and in the world. Really, Acre is 2 cities, one above the other. The city we all see is the walled Arab city with its Ottoman architecture. Below it lies the wonder of the Crusader city, now mostly filled by tourists. Each chamber seems to have been converted into a museum exhibit, complete with colored lights shining onto the stone walls. The architecture is mostly evident in its pointed arches and groin vaults. After this, I pass through the markets and jewelry stores of Ottoman Acre to get to the Tunnels, another Crusader creation. These passages, unlike the vast hallways I had seen earlier, were used for military emergencies, and were quite cramped, with some sections where I had to bend while walking (a preview for the Pyramids of Giza?). This ended up being my favorite part of the short tour I had of the city as there were no other tourists. After surfacing again by the sea, I walked the seawalls to have a scenic view of the old harbor. By this time, the attractions of Ottoman times were already closed, so I got going. I visited in April 2018 on a long drive from Tel Aviv to the Galilee, so I only had a couple hours or so in Acre after visiting Caesarea and Haifa, but it definitely overshadowed …

August 2017 - this Park was on my must see List for a long time. Finally we had the Chance to visit. We spent the night in a hotel in Białystok before entering the park. The weather was way better today. From polish news we heard about Protests against the timberindustry, cutting Down parts of the bufferzone. Fist thing we saw passing Hajnowka was Trucks with wood. Great! One of Europes oldest forests is not getting 100% protection?

We found a campground in the Main village of Bialowieza and visited the NP house, the village, the historic trainstation. And had some good kotlet schabowy.in the afternoon we drove on the Zebry Zubra, a hiking Trail to the Bisons, which leads through dense forest.

For the next day we were thinking about taking a guided Tour to the corezone. However we decided to take advantage of the free visa for the belarusan side. What an adventure! We arrived at the border with our bikes, the polish Guardians were friendly and told us not to bring back produce from Belarus. But going through the customs of BR was a bit intimidating, reminding of Soviet spy movies. I had some number wrong in the passport, so they didnt want to let us through. But finally he ca,us back the passport and we could Enter the Park.

Being with bike, we spend 6-7 hours driving on pathes through the quiet forest but only got to see Birds, foxes and a few …

The road east was long and featureless. Dun unremitting grey plains stretched out on either side as far as my eye could see. Trails of dust hung in the air to mark the passage of off-road vehicles. I almost didn’t spot our destination until Amir pointed out to our left, his finger sticky with the juices of the honey-sweet plums we had been sharing. Not much to see, a low domed edifice of pale limestone, isolated among the barren wastes. I was reminded of Luke’s moisture farm home on Tatooine at the start of Star Wars Episode IV.

Quseir Amra dates from the 8th century. The wider fortress part of the site is now long gone – all that is left is a standalone building consisting of a reception hall and a set of baths. It is generally considered to be royal retreat for a high-ranking member of the Umayyad dynasty of Damascus. What makes it notable is its interior. The walls and ceilings are covered with quite remarkable frescoes. They are faded, decayed and defaced, but enough remains to enthral: an astrological map, a bear playing a guitar, Venus and her Cupids, Gauguin-esque female bathers (picture). If , like me, you are shocked by such images in a site constructed for the caliphs of Islam a sign at the information centre is quick to hand-wave away any notions of impropriety: the decoration “does not depict any “loose living” or “carryings on”: it is the grape and not the …

WHS#53

I visited Haifa on the way to the Galilee in April 2018, and obviously, I had to check out the Bahai Gardens the city is best known for. With a private driver-guide, I was able to see the gardens and the Shrine of Bab both from above and from below. Needless to say, it's a stunning sight to see, and there isn't really any place like this in the world. The gardens show some influence from Persia, where the religion was actually founded, but without the Islamic elements. The Shrine of Bahaullah in Acre seems to also have the same style. Part of the reason it looks so great and shining and pristine, however, is the reason why it might not be a very worthy WHS. The Shrine of Bab was completed in 1953, 55 years before it was inscribed, and the gardens only in 2001, 7 years before inscription. It is clearly a modern site, and although it has huge religious significance, doesn't actually have historic value. Sure, the many serial sites that trace the journey of the Bahai religion's proponents do have a history as an itinerary, but I'd think the sites in Iran and elsewhere should hold the same significance. The sites here in the Galilee are simply pilgrimage sites due to significant figures of the religion being buried here, but they aren't any different from the countless pilgrimage sites in Europe and the Holy Land. The shrine and its gardens make great tourist attractions, …

August 2017 - After Latvia and Lithuania, we entered Poland, an Area which I had not visited with my family so far. we arrived in Wigry NP and it was heavily Raining. And also the next day remained being way too wet and cold for summer. However that morning we drove to Augustow to see some parts of the canal. For a hike it was too rainy, for a boattrip it was too foggy, so we tried to drive close to the canal and cross it a few Times. In Biebrza NP we went to Dębowo, where the canal is eventually merging into the Biebrza. There you can visit some nice wooden locks. However the further we drove the more water was left on the muddy roads. Suddenly we came to a 60cm deep pitch. What a rainy summer that was. We had to go back all the way we came and took the Main road straight to Białystok.

"One Tree Hill" got canceled in 2012. The tree on the hill in Auckland got canceled back in 1852, which was then replanted and finally cut down by activists in 2000. People always assume there is a tree at the top, one of Auckland's top sights. In fact there is just a monument to the Māori who got slaughtered here back in the ignorant days. You don't HAVE to go to the Cornwall Park to discover the volcanic fields. I have been to many mounds around the city without even knowing, but here is where they actually point it out with some nice signs, also known as volcanic cones. This is also Auckland's second-largest volcanic field.

Even the documentation says this isn't unique, and wants to represent it as a mixed cultural landscape, having Māori live in this kind of environment. For that you'd have to go see something like the Ōtuataua Stonefields. While not much to see and not the top sight in New Zealand you may be seeking out, it is one of the best examples of how the settlers adapted to the climate. The stone-walled gardens would warm the soil and extend the growing season.

I don't see this as a proper WHS, similar to the Philippines' Chocolate Hills - nice to view but not that special, and would only work with the cultural mix which I don't see represented enough, especially with many of the cones already destroyed over time.

Not …

August 2017 - After spending the night in nearby Jurmala, which is really, really worth visiting with all its wooden villas and the nearby Kemeru Nationalpark, we found a campground near the giant hanging bridge, which is just across the river from cetral Riga. We had folding bikes with us. So we explored the city center. We were a bit dissapointed by the hanseatic, old part of the city. A lot was damaged and construction was taking place. Socialistic heritage is torn down. But along the canal it is nice to ride. Up north where we visited the Freedom sculpture and further the Jugendstil district. Quite something, some of the houses were just amazing. We prefered this part of the Whs. In Riga we only ate Pelmeni. There was a place, with the dish in its Name, which was 1. A good post socialistic experience 2.had an amazing selection of cheap Pelmenis.

A bit further out, there is the Riga Skansen, which I can recommend. It is a nice experience of folkloric Ensemble of wooden houses in a beautiful scenery.

Night fell on the desert. The campfire sank low. Banking up the hard-packed sand behind my head, I lay down on the slope of a dune and gazed up into the infinite. More stars than I had ever seen before speckled the expanse above me, strata of pinpricks overlaying each other. The night sky here above Wadi Rum was no blank, black two-dimensional backdrop. It was crowded and alive, like the stalls of a theatre seen from back stage as the house lights are dimmed. And on cue the show started. From right to left a bolt of fire streaked the heavens before guttering and dying. A second followed, then two at once, flaming trails hanging in space after their heads combusted in the atmosphere. It was August and there was no better place to watch the Perseid meteor shower than in the stillness of the Jordanian desert.

I visited as part of a tour, leaving Aqaba in the morning, overnighting in Wadi Rum, and then setting off for Petra the following day. And I would encourage everyone to spend the night beneath the stars here – Perseids or not. But the day itself was superb too: my diary records it as ‘A genuinely excellent day.’ The scenery is breath-taking, real Criteria vii stuff. A thick carpet of sand, here red, here white, here black, blankets the landscape, each hue clearly delineated against its neighbours. Great sheer reefs of rock thrust up hundreds of metres, their surfaces eroded and …

During my short business trip to Madrid, I had another chance to spend weekend to explored nearby World Heritage sites. I had dilemma between Zaragoza and Cuenca, but decided to visit Cuenca as Aranjuez was possible to visit in the same trip. After spent half day in Aranjuez, I arrived my hotel Parador de Cuenca around 4 PM. My first impression on Cuenca was its unique location, the whole historic town was located on promontory surround by two side of gorges and high hill on the north with lowland entrance from the south with just small creek to separate the old town and the new one.

From my hotel which located on the other side of the gorge, the view of the old city built on the top of the gorge was quite stunning. I immediately went out to explore the old city by crossing the picturesque San Pablo bridge. At the end of the bridge was the famous Hanging Houses of Cuenca, the tourist icon of this town. While the houses, which were actually just multi-stories balcony attached the buildings, and surroundings were lovely and very photogenic, I felt a bit underwhelmed for something that should be a main attraction of this World Heritage Site. Then I walked to see the Plaza Mayor, the square was dominated by the unfinished façade of Cuenca Cathedral and the beautiful city hall office which built above the main street and became some kind of city gate. The row …

From immemorial times, the Danube (the dust-free road) represented the border offered by nature somewhat difficult to cross.The meanders that make up the current water border of Serbia from Croatia receive a major hydraulic inflow from Drava, another blue line that supports naval traffic, but not large ones.It is precisely in this zone of merging the gentle waters of the Drave in the Danube that it is unsettled, it is the historical city of Osijec, a Neolithic preserve of various vestiges.Rome installs its legion here, fixing with the colony the imperial borders now defended by the cohorts Alpinorum and Hispanorum - the name given to the settlement being Mursa. From the military fort it becomes a city, later a necropolis.It is Hadrian's time, the one whose name I have found on the many historical objectives of the empire under different architectural forms - here being glorified the name for eternity by the name of the stone bridge.When the Empire shows signs of fatigue, the Goths ravage the colony, it is the dark 4th century - and a little later, only at 441, the completion of the destruction operation is repeated to the Huns.For its strategic position, much later, rises in the medieval period Baroque Fort - the exceptional natural location being completed with a fortification on the opposite bank where the offensive began, and behind the Water Gate a proud work, as large as it can not be. Affected by heavy squats is the mother fortress.Between thick brick and stone …

September 2009 - with my best schoolmates we decided to do an one week trip to Sardegna. After 2 days in Cagliari we rented a car and planned to drive around the Island. I had to pesuade them to go first up north to visit Sardegnas only whs. A pile of stones when looking from outside. But we did a tour going into the beehives, which was quite impressive. However, after the visit we drove back to the shore. An amazing place I can advise: Piscinas dunes on the westcoast. A memorable experience and the best we have seen on the island.

July 2019 - on our trip from Hamburg to Denmark we had to stop here for sure. Another German WHS, eventually we want to visit them all. My father told me about his classtrip he did there in the 60th. It was already then a famous site. However, all there is, are some reconstructed moviesetting like huts, a giant grassed dike and many sheep. For us the most interesting part. Museum, souvenirs and the small wooden huts did not interest us that much so we did not bother to pay the rather high entrance fees.

Nice stop, because of the surroundings but if you are not interested in Viking age, than its no highlite visiting WHS.

This site was added to the tentative a short time before I was supposed to be in Barcelona. I drove to Terrassa before heading into town (yes, I drove into Barcelona and even parked free and safely outside my apartment ;) I did actually book a place to park nearby which I still highly recommend, parking in general looks like a *****). I arrived a bit early not knowing the opening hours and had to wait around, but eventually the ticket office sold me a ticket and I was allowed to go inside ten minutes early. First you see the "museum" part with glass walks. Nothing is really great here. The main attraction is outside.

Three churches are outside, but these aren't actually the original churches. The pamphlet explains it nicely that there are several layers of church history built upon it, almost like the city of Troy just no mythical wooden horse. So of course my first question is what they are really inscribing here, as the old section is buried under others, but the title clearly points out the "5th-8th centuries" decorations which aren't anything special to me - surely they can be unique as the document state. You can see sections of it, with some under glass panels at the museum. The current churches are from the 11th and 12th century.

The first two churches offer very little to see, and the only large one, San Pedro, is still used a regular church. The documents …

Pilgrim, you have reached journey's end. The paths through the old town suddenly open up onto a plaza marked with walkways in the shape of the scalloped symbol of the Camino de Santiago, and there, at the center of the rays, pilgrims and tourists alike stop in awe and reflection and gaze up at the Baroque façade of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. The cathedral is even larger than it seemed when looking down at the bell towers from the Mount of Joy outside the city. Staffs and backpacks are set down and cell phones and selfie sticks are pulled out. Some kiss the ground in reverance. And then, sometime later, the visitors migrate to the side entrance to the cathedral, and file through the nave and around the altar, mostly in hushed silence. The famed incense burner had been set aside and scaffolding was erected throughout the cathedral when I visited in May 2019; the work in preparation for the next Jubilee Year in 2021, when St. James's Day, 25 July, falls on a Sunday. Still, the rich golden altar is an impressive site, and many pilgrims take a moment of silence as they step into the crypt below the altar, where by tradition the relics of St. James are housed. Like life, Santiago de Compostela is not just about the destination, but about the journey, and it is a fascinating place to experience and observe.

Logistics: There's no better way to appreciate the Old Town of Santiago …

March 2005 - we stayed at the south rim and took a day hike halfway down to Indian Gardens.

The views from the rim are magnificent and the size is just overwhelming. But if you take a dayhike all the way Down, or at least halfway, you get to see plants, succulents and various Birds. Of course squirrels are following you as well, desiring some nuts or bread crumps. But we also got to see a condor.

Even in April the scenic Spots were packed with tourists. And on the hike Down we were still joined by a high number of hikers. From Indian Gardens however the view to the Colorado is completely different and you can almost smell the water. Geat!

The trail is shared with Mules that you can ride Down and up again. We observed a rather antipodous woman, that refused to ride on the Donkey back up again and was taken a Hand off a Ranger. For us the steep climp was strenous and took a few hours. Back up again we saw a helicopter towing the woman back up again. What an adventure she must have had. Great experienience for me as well.

In the Photo I marked the spot we hiked to!

Minorca/Menorca is riddled with sites to enjoy the Talayotic culture. There is even one AT the airport road so you could basically fly in, walk 10 minutes or less and "tick" this off. I actually did not check this one out because I had a car and was recommended a lot better things from the lady at the car rental. It is also a massive change in tourist numbers from the nearby islands, so calm and relaxed.

I drove to 3 places. Two "rubble", not that interesting, and tough to park, free of entry like most sites on the islands (if not all?). It really only takes a few minutes to walk around these and the grass wasn't cut so not much fun. The third place, much more interesting, was the Cales Coves Necropolis. You can park and walk down with some shades paths and mostly flat, enjoy a sit at the playa, see some of the necropolis on the way and in the bay. Yes, they are just caves now and you cannot even go up there but it gives you an idea that the culture was present everywhere on this island. The area was an anchorage for trading boats and then re-used in Roman times as a sanctuary. A couple had brought their kayak and I was a bit jealous they can go out into the blue sea on this chilled out, underrated island.

In retrospective I should have sought out a museum to complement …

July 2019 - As already said I am not a big fan of Viking Culture and we had already visited Haithabu on our trip. But of course we wanted to tick of Denmarks first whs as well. It was perfect weather so we enjoyed the sun whilst laying on the grass around the Church. A mowing robot was approaching us every few minutes, but somehow changed directions always right before reaching our blanket. The hills are mediocre, the runestones are somewhat impressive but the church is a typical danish one, as you find them on Seeland and Møn.

The Museum is worth visiting and you have a good view from the roof overseeing the whole WHS. The historic flair is a bit declined by the high amount of planes approaching nearby Billund.

June 2012 and April 2005 - I was here twice, the First time it was covered in snow when we arrived. Very beautiful. Howevwr we only spent a few hours. 2nd time we stayed at the campground, lovely one, and joinwd the balcony Tour next morning. Lots of Steep Latters and nice views at the pueblos. The Green Plateau is also worth visiting due to its natural beauty. If you want to see wvweything, you have to drive a lot. I recommend visiting the area around cliff palace.

The Nationalparks habe Junior Ranger Programs, that are fun even for adults. And buy an Anual Pass for the Nationalparks if you want to see more of them on your trip.

June 2012 -we were primarily trying to visit nationalparks on our trip, so we did not drive much south into New Mexico. However we visited Aztec ruins NM, which also belongs to the WHS. Quite interesting excavations, Museum and possibility to enter all houses. It was a nice stopover before going back to Colorado, where we still visited the great Wild Western Town of Durango. We vben drove further to Mesa Verde that day, so it is all in rather short distance from each other.

June 2012 - After having spent a highschoolyear in Colorado in 2004/05 I finally wanted to come back to visit my hosts, and to show my now wife, how intersting and adventurous the USA is. We landed in Denver, spent 2 nights with my hosts and began a 3,5 week roadtrip. Our first night was in Sand Dunes NP, next morning we continued to Taos. Taos is a small Santa Fe we were told, with lots of art galleries and manufactures.

The Pueblo is a bit outside and different than the NPS Run sites it is a bit more commercialized. The Native Americans who live here, try to make a living in chraging for parking, Photo permits and smelling corn and artwork. You can go into some Pueblos, the church however was Tabu, at least photography when I remember correctly.

We spent about an hour and continued our journey West to a Statepark campground.