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Over the last two years, we’ve had four different trips to Belgium and France, which has given us plenty of time to explore the various Belfries of Belgium and France UNESCO site. The 56 buildings under the UNESCO designation are spread over hundreds of kilometers, so it takes bit of travel to see them all (or even most of them).

It wasn’t really our intention to explore the belfries, but we kind of stumbled into it. On our first trip to Flanders, I remember being stunned by the belfry in Bruges. But pondering the building while having lunch, I remember thinking, but it’s not part of a church. And so began our indoctrination to the Belfries of Belgium and France.

Unlike elsewhere in Europe, the towers are secular in both construction and use. They are watchtowers and clock towers. Elsewhere in Europe, the church occupies the most prominent space in town, but in Flanders and Wallonia (and nearby in France), it is the government that gets the coveted role.

Some of our favorite belfries were:  Ghent, Antwerp, and Leuven. Someday, we’ll manage to make it all 56 on the list.

Delos is famous for both mythological and actual historic reasons. It was supposedly the birthplace of Apollo and his sister Artemis, and was thus revered as a sacred site from earliest times. The mighty statue of Apollo was considered to be the most sacred site in Greece (only the base survives today). The island was thus a destination for countless pilgrims, and not only hosted a famous oracle and the Delian Festival, but also the main slave market of the Mediterranean world. During the time of the Delian league and the Athenian hegemony on the seas, it was the location of the league's huge treasury. The island also flourished during the early Roman era, when it was a multinational trading port with about 30,000 inhabitants, while today it is uninhabited except for wardens and archaeologists. Today it is the largest archaeological site in Greece and makes a great excursion from Mykonos, only a 30-minute boat ride away. There are several crossings from the Old Port in Mykonos every day. Don't miss the museum - it's included in the ticket price and holds the original lion statues and the original tiger mosaic. I bought my boat ticket a few hours before at the ticket booth, but it was mid-September, and maybe not that crowded anymore. In summer, advance booking may be a good idea. Be aware, though, that there is no shade on the island (except in the museum), and going for the midday tour is probably not a good idea. …

I visited Urbino in May 2018 and I have very nice memories... We did a short stop there during the trip from Umbria to Adriatic coast. Urbino is quite small town located in the middle of nowhere, but I liked its somehow austere appearance of its brick facades, steep streets and monumental Palazzo Ducale. We had a breakfast - delicious cappuccino con cornetto di cioccolata on the piazza in front of the cathedral close to the enormous Palazzo Ducale. I also liked metucilously crafted chandeliers inside several houses and palaces, very nice detail ...see PHOTO. It is so called "Stella Ducale" made from iron and glass and inspired by the Platonic solids of the mathematician Luca Pacioli (15th/16th Century).  

Unfortunately, I had no time to explore more in detail and to understand properly. Thus, I would like to return to Urbino soon and spend there a couple of days.

I visited the site by coincidence in summer 2015. During my holidays in Slovenian part of Istria, we took a friend to the airport in Pula. We did a stopover in Porec but the reason was swimming in the sea as it is better in Croatia than in Slovenia. After refreshing on the beach (see PHOTO - the basilica and its tower is visible in the middle), I did a short visit of the eclesiastic complex. I explored only the church, babtistry and tower, and skipped the museum. The site was very Ravenna-sque, but it somehow faded in comparison with for example S Apollinaire in Classe. Despite this, I would say that it is interesting site and worth-visiting if you are in the area.

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 and spent 1 night/2 days here. It is definitely one of Czechia's best WHS but also among the most touristy too with bus loads of groups arriving all day long. It is also one of those WHS (like Salzburg and Halstatt in Austria) which rank highly among Asian travel agents. Not only were there several staff catering for Asian tourists in every other restaurant or shop, but also costume rentals similar to what happens in some of South Korea's castles.

That aside though, Cesky Krumlov is really worth visiting if only for the splendid Gothic and Renaissance castle tower which can be seen from any point in town as well as the magnificent panoramic views of Cesky Krumlov and the Vltava River. Apart from the view from the tower, the most popular view is from the castle's Cloak bridge and further on from the small outdoor cafe. If you walk a bit more uphill to the Castle gardens, you'll be awarded with possibly the best view of Cesky Krumlov without the crowds.

There are UNESCO information boards and signs at every important building. Like in Bern, Switzerland, two brown bears are held in captivity at the castle moat and have become a tourist attraction, so much so that a Bear Festival is held every year at Christmas Eve. Apparently bearkeeping and breeding has been going on since the 16th century and in fact the lords of Rosenberg coat-of-arms bears the sign …

WHS#72

In June 2019, I joined a big group package tour for the first time with my family to Zhangjiajie. We spent 2 days exploring the Wulingyuan area and the last one for Tianmen. The plane from Shanghai arrived at the airport at night, so we stayed in a hotel in Zhangjiajie City, formerly Dayong, for the night before driving about half an hour to Wulingyuan in the morning. The drive, to me, was a highlight in its own right. Soon after coming out of a tunnel, the road emerged in a narrow valley surrounded by beautiful forested sandstone peaks. As the drive went on, the views became more and more dramatic as peaks started to become pillars, and at one point, a huge wall of sandstone looms over the highway. Finally, the town of Wulingyuan comes into sight as the valley widens into a basin, surrounded by fog-capped lush green mountains on all sides.

We were dropped off at the park entrance where everyone gets on the designated park tourist buses. Another maybe 20 minutes riding past an artificial lake and kilometers of pristine subtropical forest brought us to the end of the bus route at the Bailong lift. The flat valley we had been following was giving way to the huge mountains on either side, and as we got out of the bus, it was hard not to notice these mountains. They were exactly those forests of huge sandstone pillars that inspired the movies, but we …

I visited this cultural landscape at least three-times during last ten years. As usually for cultural landscapes, it is quite difficult to recognize its OUV - actually, I need to read the ICOMOS evaluation report three-times to understand at least partly... The weirdest point is that the OUV of Val d`Orcia is expressed by another separate WHS - Pienza and by TWHS via Francigena. If I ingnore these political and rather artificial issues, I must say that I really enjoyed all my contacts with this site. Mostly, I simply crossed it by car or bus. I think that in this case it is OK, and one can recognize the qualities of the site even during the car tourism. The landscape is picturesque and different if compared with the neighbours such as Lazio. Hovewer, it has similar aspects as other landscapes in Tuscany and Umbria (La Crete between Siena and Asciano, Chianty etc.)

The sites that I explored by "getting out of the car" were Pienza (separate WHS with my review), Abbey of S Antimo with beautiful romanesque church and wonderful landscape around (PHOTO), and Bagni San Filippo (outdoor thermal baths!!!). I also enjoyed views towards Val d`Orcia from Montepulciano.

Even if it requires some effort to recognize and understand its qualities, it deserves the WHS status.

It was mid-day and the sun was intense. Not so much the heat, but the intensity of it, beating down like a physical weight. Entirely the wrong time to be walking around an exposed archaeological site. I sought respite in the shade of a tree. Around my head budding pomegranates dangled. They reminded me of the myth of the abducted Persephone, tricked into eating pomegranate seeds by her abductor, Hades, and condemned to spend half the year as his consort in the underworld. It was an apt thought. For gazing around the hard-baked earth of Palaepafos it was clear that the glories of the sanctuary of the goddess Aphrodite too had withered and vanished underground.

More than any other World Heritage Site Paphos has served as a sort of leitmotif to my adult life. I first visited in 1999 while revising for my university finals, sneaking in with my dad through a gap in the fence at the rear of the Nea Pafos archaeological site near the lighthouse (sorry!). In 2008, after discovering the fascinating world of Unesco World Heritage Sites, I re-visited, spending a day exploring not just the archaeological park but also the wider Kato Pafos area and the Tombs of the Kings. I returned to the archaeological park for a third time in 2011, this time with the woman who is now my wife. And now, in 2019, I was back again, accompanied not only by my wife but also my own son. Three generations over …

Egypt, being one of the greatest ancient civilizations in the world, is quite underrepresented on the list of WHS for just how much impressive remains are left today, and that reflects in Egypt's very long and rich T-list. To this day, only 3 sites, though extremely comprehensive and rich sites, have been inscribed for their significance in Ancient Egyptian history, even less than the Anasazi, Mayans, Australian Aborigines, Vikings, and other less influential and prominent cultures. In my eyes, the Pharaonic Temples are an easy 4th site among many deserving sites across Egypt. I visited Egypt in May 2018, and between Luxor and Aswan, I got to visit the temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo. I arrived in Edfu around mid-morning, which had a pleasant temperature, and Kom Ombo at around noon, which was almost unbearably scorching, but luckily, both times gave me an almost empty temple to explore, with maybe a couple of other small groups in each.

Edfu was one of my personal favorite sites of the whole trip. It follows a relatively ordinary succession of chambers of many Egyptian temples, but the difference here is the preservation. Walking through the grand entrance in the impressively tall and intricately decorated pylon, the outdoor courtyard doesn't even look like a ruin. It's completely surrounded by strong walls and uniform numbers of columns. The columns themselves aren't uniform, though, as each one has a different floral design for the capital. The statue of Horus guards the entrance to the …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019. It has become popular as a nerdy site to visit among WH Travellers (along other sites such as the Pile Dwellings, Iberian Rock Art Sites, Struve, etc.). Moreover, unlike the other WHS mentioned, it's just one tiny location not a series of locations!

It really is an idyllic place with an intact layout, reminding me of Gammelstad, Sweden but also several other tiny Czech villages I drove through during my road trip. It is yet another WHS in Czechia which can be thoroughly seen in much less than an hour. It lacks any OUV but it's a convenient stopover when travelling from Telc (or elsewhere) to Cesky Krumlov. The rural museum in the square doesn't add anything special to one's visit. There is a marble UNESCO sign on the rear wall of the village bakery and a UNESCO WH inscription pillar just in front of it.

What I'll definitely remember from my visit are the freshly baked Holasovicke kolache (blueberry/raspberry and cheese pastries) and a good tasting of different Budvar Budweisers (photo). 

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 and used Litomysl as my base for 1 night. This was ideal to enjoy the gorgeous sunset light on the castle but everything seems to close down after 7pm so having a decent dinner proved to be impossible.

The castle's highlight feature and the main reason for this WHS's inscription are the sgraffito designs. These were badly damaged (primarily due to countless fires) and were gradually covered with layers of plaster. As late as the 19th century, there was an increased interest and some of the sgraffito was uncovered in the 1930s, with only around 30 % of the authentic Renaissance sgraffito preserved. Further restoration was carried out in the 1950s. The current appearance of the castle is the result of a complex restoration intervention performed between 1973 and 1989. The sgraffito facades were entirely uncovered and the preserved sections were restored and filled in. The so-called cavetto cornices on the southwest and southeast facades were reconstructed. This feature which appears to be an intact component of the Renaissance building is in fact a steel construction filled with a reinforced concrete shell and decorated with compositions, and the same can be said about part of the remodelling of the castle to house the Museum of Czech Music. Even though the end result is aesthetically pleasing, it gave me the same lack-of-authenticity feeling I had when visiting parts of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, especially since this type of restoration is quite weak and really not …

WHS#73

Canals are a rather frequent, maybe a tad overrepresented, subject for WHS. After all, don't they all somewhat follow the same concept? Sure, maybe one is older, another makes use of interesting locks, and so on. Sure, very few canals (on their own, not as urban landscapes or aqueducts) actually end up on the list, but maybe it's the wrong selection. It's just strange that the 2 most important canals in the world, the Panama and Suez, don't feature on the list or even on the T-list. One canal that has gotten it's rightful recognition, though, is the Grand Canal of China. This is the grandfather of regional canal systems in the world, not just in age, but in the size of its network too. This literally connected the ends of one of the greatest oldest civilizations in the world, and it's remarkable to have survived to this day, intact across the region.

When I visited Suzhou in rainy June 2019, I made sure to check out the most famous street in the city, Shantang Street. It's just a short subway ride from the main train station, and it's really close to the Lingering Garden, one of the Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Shantang is a really atmospheric commercial area, mostly because of 2 things: its centuries-old buildings and the Grand Canal. Yes, canals form the heart of Suzhou as they were the centers of trade back in the day, and that means that they are often surrounded …

I couldn't justify going back to Finland just to visit Verla Groundwood and Board Mill and Sammallahdenmäki to finish the Finnish sites. So, after realizing the Finland's geological similarity to Canada, where I have seen the most massive color change of foliage in Autumn, I decided to go to Finland in late September.  

This trip was originally planned in late September 2018, but I had to postpone it for 1 year. At that time there was bus running between Kouvola and Verla only on Tuesdays. But this time it was running on Tuesdays and also on Thursdays. So I went on a Thursday. 

https://www.matkahuolto.fi/en/

Last year when I planned this trip, I couldn't time myself on a Tuesday, so my plan was to take a bus that ran from Kouvola to Jaala several times a day on weekdays, to get off the bus at Selänpääntien risteys (61°02'25.8"N 26°33'14.7"E), and to walk for several kilo meters to Verla. 

But this year the direct bus to Verla dropped me off right by the WH proper right before the visitor hut opened at 11 am, and I took a tour at 12 pm that lasted a little less than an hour. 

But the only bus back to Kouvola left Verla at 5:30 pm, so I had to spend all afternoon at the WH proper, which wasn't so bad until the area closed at 4 pm.  

Besides the cardboard-producing Mill, the site also offers the original owner's house, …

Alba was a Neolithic settlement, testimonies are vestiges of the Bronze Age. Later, in the Iron one, a primal-fortress rised, and after a Dacian settlement that remained in history under the name of Apoulon.The colonization followed, with the Imperial settlements establishing the camp of the Gemina Legion, and thus appear the first forts (located on strategic routes) that form Apulum, shortly after the conquest.It is the 13th legion, on the known edge of the Empire, so it deserves to advance its headquarters to the rank of Municipium ( Marcus Aurelius) and the laurels come during the time of Commodus, when the Colony is made.In medieval times there is a document under the name of Bălgrad (etymological, „fence”).The name Alba-Carolina is only of the eighteenth century, when it appears the fortified bastion, type "Vauban" - a style imposed by the great Eugene of Savoy. For the memory of the glorious times it is preserved on the frontispieces of the access gates the imperial grandeur.It was the replica given by the Habsburgs to the Ottomans, the defensive systems in the area were protected including by bastions, and towers on the heights.The most imposing (and the oldest in Transylvania) building inside the complex is the Catholic Cathedral. Dedicated to Saint Michael, built from the Roman castrum stone, it is an architectural mix - 1000 years old.The interior became in time a royal necropolis of the Huniad family. Iancu de Hunedoara remained not only an emblematic figure of the fight for the defense of …

The Historic Center of Irkutsk is an enigmatic entry on Russia’s Tentative List. Its official description is in French and just rambles on about its general history, architectural styles, street plan and renovation projects. There seems to be no focus what the prospective WHS should entail: “a large number of preserved architectural monuments of different periods and styles (Siberian baroque, classicism, art nouveau, "Russian style", local traditions, Gothic, Byzantine, Asian architectural art, constructivism)” suggests a broad approach, while it seems logical that OUV could be found somewhere in its renowned wooden architecture.

Irkutsk, the largest city in Eastern Siberia, was founded in 1661 as a military fortress that imposed taxes on the indigenous population in the form of animal fur. The city also developed as a commercial and administrative center due to its location on various trade routes with Mongolia and China such as the Tea route. Today it is slightly more chaotic than the big cities in western Russia, but I liked it. One really encounters a completely different side of the country. At the cozy Central Market, you’ll find Mongolian, Buryatian and Chinese tradesmen selling nice thick woolen socks, cheese and honey. And of course there are Russian females with buckets full of blue and red berries for sale too.

The city does not have any unforgettable monuments, but it is known for its relatively large number of wooden houses. In 1879 there was a big fire in the city center, after which it was decided …

WHS#74

China is one of those civilizations that has its own distinct spin on everything. Behind the flagship palaces, religions, languages, and designs hide the gardens. Chinese gardens, much like the neighboring Japanese gardens, have grown in popularity around the world for their exotic oriental flair. Really, it isn't the flair that makes them what they are, as these East Asian gardens are more for calming than exciting its visitors. They're known for their jagged rockeries, intricate pavilions, lotus-covered ponds, and overall more abstract and flowing layout. Chinese gardens, also like Japanese gardens, get their calming vibe from the ideals of religion. While this does make them seem less impressive than Islamic or European gardens at first glance, their beauty grows as one wonders along the winding paths while admiring the forest scenery, vista after stunning vista. It isn't an overwhelming beauty, but it pulls you in until you're in bliss. At least, that's what Chinese gardens are for. The reality is a bit harsh: since only Chinese gardens in China are authentic enough to match such expectations of beauty, these gardens are absolutely full of tourists, which somewhat negates that calming effect of the landscape. And not all gardens in China are worthy of this, mind you. I remember visiting the Yuyuan in Shanghai back in 2012, and not only was it far too crowded, but I couldn't feel the authenticity. Sure, maybe it was because I was much younger than I am now, but it never really …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 en route from Zatec to Augsburg, Germany. I focused mainly on the Czech side even though I drove through other minor sites on the German side too.

Coming from Zatec, you can't but notice the huge power plant (which is quite of an eyesore!) before getting to Jachymov. Like the rest of Northwestern Czechia, Jachymov has definitely seen better days even though the inscribed sites are quite in good condition with several information boards in English too. The view from the winding road leading to Jachymov is that of an old mining town like many others on the list.

The most interesting site in Jachymov is the Dul Svornost mine which has been operating since 1530 and is one of the oldest complexes in Europe. It is also the last functioning mine in the Jachymov region. Originally, the mine produced silver, cobalt, arsenic and bismuth. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was a source of radium ores and uranium, hence the peculiar monument of Jachymov just before entering the town. Since 1964 the mine has been used to provide therapeutic radon water (which is believed to be up to 13,000 years old!) for the Jachymov spa. For those that are more keen on industrial heritage sites, there are several trails along what is known as the Stribirna Stezka/Silberstrasse.

In September 2019, I flew from Bujumbura to Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania. My first stop was the Livingstone Memorial in Ujiji, which marks the spot where Henry Morton Stanley found David Livingstone, who had completely lost contact with the outside world for six years, in 1871 and greeted him with the four most well-known words in the history of African exploration: ”Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" The next morning I traveled by boat for two hours northbound on Lake Tanganyika, the world's longest freshwater lake, from Kigoma to Gombe National Park, which was put on the map by Jane Goodall and her decades-long study of chimpanzees. After several hours of hiking nearly seven miles up and down the park’s valleys, late that afternoon we found a family group that we followed for an hour. I stayed at Kigoma Hilltop Hotel, the first place I stayed that had resident zebras wandering the property.

WHS#2

In April 2012, My family and I joined a cruise from Shanghai to Tokyo. Our first stop was Jeju, where we took a half-day tour of the island. Unfortunately, the cruise being full of mostly elderly people or families with children, like myself at the time, the tour didn't include a visit to the lava caves. At the time, having not been the family travel researcher, I didn't know what to expect of the tour, so I simply enjoyed the cultural village excursion, where we saw some nice lava statues and tried horse bones. Now with all these statues, we must've been near a volcano, and indeed, the last stop of the day was Seongsan Ilchulbong. 

The volcanic cone towered high above the sea, like a huge castle. Steep grey cliffs occasionally ended in black sand beaches, but I wasn't here to swim. My dad and I, along with my childhood friend and her dad who had joined the cruise with us, decided to climb to the peak. The path, rather easy with well-defined steps, was really crowded with tourists, which caused us to take nearly an hour to get to the top. When we did, we were treated to the view of the crater, which at the time, I couldn't even believe was a crater. It was just this vast flat grassland in a wide bowl below our feet, and it reminded me of a golf course by the sea. At the time, I just couldn't …

I visited this tentative WHS in Summer 2019 as a convenient stopover on my way to the newly inscribed Erzgebirge WHS.

Zatec has really made the most out of the regional and EU funds to exploit its main raw material for tourism. I'm glad I visited as I wouldn't have believed any information online that as much as seven fully-blown and rather large 'attractions' were linked to Zatec's hops, namely the Museum of Homolupolus, the Renaissance Malt-House Gallery, the Temple of Hops and Beer, the Peculiar Tramway Project, the Hops Astronomical Clock, the Hops Lighthouse and the Microbrewery U Orloje. Moreover, several house and building walls have been painted with hops motifs.

During my visit, I went up the modern looking Hops 'Lighthouse' (metal tower) to have a panoramic view of the whole hops town and fields and I checked out the microbrewery near the parking lot near a green area marked Zahrada. Even though I appreciate the noble attempt of attracting tourists in an otherwise ghost town of Czechia, I don't think that Zatec posseses any OUV even if it proudly claims to provide "the most important ingredient for the tastiest beers worldwide".