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The Mausoleum of Hecatomnus archaeological site lays in the middle of the modern city of Milas. While you may well go around the city when driving the main road from Bodrum to Ephesus or to the South coast of Turkey, only (T)WHS hunters would take time to drive through the town center to this site. It is managed by the museum of Milas, and entrance is free. There are very few signs to guide you there, and no park place for your car, but you can rely on Google and on the map of this website to find it.

Compared to other places in Western Turkey, this is a small site, but it is allegedly the best-preserved “mausoleum”. Four centuries before Christ, “Satrapes” (local kings), were ruling this area in the name of the then superpower: Achaemenid empire from Persia. They were heavily influenced by Hellenistic art and architecture, and one of them, Mausole, was buried in a great shrine, a kind of elevated temple, classical Greek style, in the heart of the city of Halicarnassus (nowadays Bodrum). The monument was so impressive that it was named one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the king gave his name to this type of monument: a mausoleum. If you go to Bodrum, you can see a big archaeological pit, with few stones – in few words: almost nothing. Visiting the Mausoleum of Hecatomnus (Hecatomnus was the father of Mausole, and a Satrape as well) in Milas will …

The Taihang mountain range stretches from Shijiazhuang in the north to the Luoyang in the south covering three provinces (Hebei, Shaanxi, Henan). It's famous yellow mountains will remind you of Huangshan if you have been there. The geology is similar I suppose. The bold inscription attempt is for geology and in fact there are many UNESCO geoparks in this mountain range already, as well as several unique species that live here that you wouldn't see as a tourist and are probably not seen by the inspection team when they come either. You get to see macaques though... 

I have been to Zhangshiyan, or cliff, a long time ago. It is the Canyonlands of China but not quite as spectacular as the Utah counterpart.

My recent trip was to Yuntaishan which I would say is the highlight of the Taihang mountains. To get here I took a G-train Zhengzhou (easily combined with other sites if you haven't done them such as Anyang, Luoyang) and onto Jiaozuo. There aren't many G-trains going to the latter from Zhengzhou East so I had to ride a specific one else exchange to the other station in Zhengzhou which is far away and even then the trains to Jiaozuo don't go late in the evening. I stayed near the train station overnight. All buses in town are 1 RMB to get around if you don't want to walk at all.

The next morning I took the #3 bus to Yuntaishan. The main bus …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 and I stayed in Olomouc for 1 night. Olomouc itself is very pleasant place in Moravia to explore in Czechia and it has a lively square with splendid fountains and statues which I found far more interesting than the ones which were recently inscribed in Augsburg, Germany.

The only monument that really stands out though is in fact the inscribed Holy Trinity Column, one of the smallest inscribed areas on the WH list. On the floor just in front of the column chapel entrance is the UNESCO WHS inscription plaque. The nomination dossier is an essential read to better appreciate the column's importance but I felt it didn't possess enough OUV. It's a very interesting peculiarity of most Central European towns and cities but that doesn't mean it deserves inscription on its own.

The best light for photography is in the morning when the statues and over-the-top decorations of the column shine bright (even though the stonework needs cleaning from pollution - quite a problem in Czechia as car-free areas are almost non-existant). I really liked the Art Nouveau facade details of two buildings just behind the column which reminded me of Riga, Latvia.

My dad had always had this question about the Bible: Why is it that the Sea of Galilee, being a relatively small lake, have such violent storms for Jesus to calm? Well, in April 2018, my family and I experienced those storms first hand. The night before, we had checked in at the Pilgerhaus, literally a pilgrim's inn founded and run by German missionaries. The next day, our packed itinerary indeed included important pilgrimage sites, notably Capernaum and the 2 old churches in Tabgha. We were, however, in for a bit of a surprise.

As afternoon came, the sky started turning brown and orange, and the rain started pouring heavily. Brown rain. Staining the car's windows and my raincoat. We were in for what the locals called a "dirty rain", which occurs when storms coming from the Red Sea pick up dust from the Negev Desert. The heavy rain and strange color of the whole place was accompanied by strong winds. I nearly had my raincoat ripped off me! It was then that it occured to us just how crazy the weather can get at this lake.

The Sea of Galilee is located in the Jordan Rift Valley, and it's fed and drained by the Jordan River. It's over 200 meters below sea level, which makes mere hills (in relation to sea level) appear quite tall, especially the Golan Heights on the other side of the lake. I reached the lake at 2 sites, at the shores near …

WHS#1

My very first WHS visit came from a trip to the West Coast of the USA way back when in 2008. It's so long ago that I can't even find my pictures of it (not that I took any pictures by myself as a child). On that trip, we met so many relatives and family friends, visited several cities, and did a lot of things. Being the child I was back then, I just so happen to remember none of that now. This is a part of my life that I really can't visualize, so it seems a bit of a stretch to even include this site on my personal list of WHS. But there are 3 vivid memories I have of that distant blissful bygone era, and they all happen to be in Arizona: my first encounter with snow (dirty, melting, meter-wide patch of compressed ice under a grove of pine trees) near Flagstaff, the unbelievable heat of Yuma that melted my ice cream almost instantly and made me feel like my butt was burning, and the Grand Canyon. Yes, those 3 still shine brightly in my imagination to this day, and it's time to discuss the 3rd one.

As the science-oriented kid I was, the Grand Canyon was definitely a highlight of my life back then. It was just such an amazing image that became true in front of my young, still eyeglassless, eyes. My parents and I were on a road trip, driving from …

Visit in September 2019

As of this writing, there is still only one realistic way to visit this isolated rainforest site. Organized tours to natural sites are often not my preferred choice because my interests are usually focused on observing and photographing flora and fauna, especially birds. Tours offered to the general public frequently consist of a series of programed activities that take too much time away from those goals, and may also be quite crowded. Consequently, I tried to search for another route to the site that would let me see the forest in a more independent way. There were one or two sites on the Web that describe journeys to the southernmost of the three national parks that were combined and expanded when the site was inscribed. However, those were more like true wilderness expeditions, lasting around two weeks, and that would not have been practical during my current trip. Since I wanted to see the site, I relented, and signed up for one of the commercial tours that depart from Paramaribo and visit Raleighvallen National Park, at the northern end of the inscribed site. As it turned out, that worked out quite well for me in this case.

The standard tours last four days, two of which are mostly consumed by travel to and from the park. The trip from Paramaribo involves a one and a half hour bus ride on paved roads, another two and a half on a long dirt road, and then …

It is hard to figure out where these rock art sites really are. The only place I found was the Hima wells area and nearby the well was one, fenced off, with a sign stating tourist visits should be arranged with some phone number. Well, too bad. I noticed there is an opening to the right of that place and it was clearly used by others before. Not much climbing required. I don't want to promote breaking rules, especially in the KSA where you can get into deeeeeeep problems for doing this, but it is the only easy way to actually see them close up. Okay so you don't need to break the law if you have binoculars or a zoom lens. What I saw wasn't impressive either and there are a staggering 7 "similar sites" listed on the document alone, showing not just me that there are enough of rock arts like this. Sure, it's not the same, yes, it does show there was someone here before and lived in the area - but, hello, that's not enough for me looking at the site.

So I did some checking online and the rock art could potentially be impressive if it's open for us to visit. The Mediterranean rock art is open to visit while still being fenced off so we should be able to look at it without a 60m barrier around it that also protects sand. There is a lot of pre-Islamic rock art in the country …

Visited this site in September 2019. We arrived on Monday and there were not many people. Visitor center is still under refurbishment (the guide told that probably only 2-3 weeks are left to complete the works). We received free tickets to Knowth and Newgrange and visited both.

Knowth comprises one large mound and 18 surrounding small mounds. Two passage tombs are not accessible to tourists (only a glimpse into one of the passages), but there is a showroom, where the video demonstrates the impressive interior of the passage. Large mound’s perimeter is circled with 127 big stones, many of which are nicely carved. The guides specifically emphasize that the site has been continuously used from the ancient times until the late medieval period (and of course, the remind that these tombs are older than the pyramids). Knowth also has a reconstruction of timber monument probably used for rituals. It is possible to climb the large mound and enjoy a beautiful view to the surrounding green valleys.   

Newgrange is a single large passage tomb with 97 kerbstones with richly decorated main entrance stone; however, other stones are not so well carved as at Knowth. The highlight is 5,000-year-old passage, 19 meters long with a bit narrow stretch at the beginning, leading to a chamber with round roofs and three tomb chambers. The guide highlighted that after 5,000 years of Irish rains the roof has been still water proof! Inside stones have both historical visitors’ graffiti and ancient spiral carvings. …

Israel is bulging with Roman ruins. You can find them everywhere, whether you're in the heart of Jerusalem, in the deserts by the Dead Sea or Makhtesh Ramon, by the Mediterranean coast, or even in the far north of the Golan Heights. By far the most impressive, based on what's left of them, is Bet Shean. The site, which I visited in April 2018, is about an hour's drive south of Tiberias, passing by Deganya and Belvoir Fortress, but I didn't take those detours. With a packed itinerary for the day, I went straight to Bet Shean first thing in the morning. From the entrance, there's a great view of the city in its full glory, backed by the towering tel behind. I got to tour the theatre (grand and relatively well-preserved, though with a wooden stage and no back wall), the cardo (where rocks show the age of the structure, the black basalt pavements preceding the white marble columns lining both sides), and the bathhouse (with archaic heating technology intact, the little stubs hold up the then-floor while water was heated underneath).

It's an impressive ancient site especially considering that the restored area is only about a tenth the size of the Roman city. I was particularly impressed by the sophistication of the bathhouse. Bet Shean was also the only time I got to step on authentic Roman floor mosaics, though better preserved ones or more intricate ones can be found in Bet Alfa next door, nearby Zippori, …

I'm typically biased towards nature site but this one is really nice and worth a visit. An hour's drive from FdF at the most through beautiful scenery already (although the roads can be narrow yet in good condition) you arrive at the parking lot for Mount/Montagne Pelée. The lookout is nice too but the mountain is obviously what you came for - yes, ignore that ugly power station at the start of the hike /cough cough.

The hike is roughly 6-7km depending where you actually go. The goal is Le Chinois, should I be offended here? The peak doesn't really look like a "Chinaman" at all. You do not necessarily get to the top to enjoy this place. The start of the hike is steep and you may be wondering why the path is so tiny. The mist can make this also a very wet hike and the top is often covered with clouds as you can still make out in my picture, this was the best one I got before it was covered up again. This also meant that some of the hiking is frustrating because the view is not that great sometimes. Don't let it stop you from circling around this lovely and once deadly volcano.

The nature here is just outstanding and fresh. So green. There are other places that want to be inscribed such as Caravelle à Trinité but I stopped there and wasn't that impressed. There are many places on Martinique worth visiting …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 on a bright sunny morning. The pilgrimage church of St John of Nepomuk on the green hill of Zelena Hora represents the culmination point in the work Jan Blazej Santini, a third generation member of an Italian artistic family settled in Prague in the 17th century.

The church represents a timeless work of art, supposed to be complete in itself, free from any single conventional elements of architecture of its time. Construction work began in 1719, when an allegedly preserved tongue was found in the crypt of blessed John of Nepomuk in St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague, and when preparation for his canonisation also began. The church was consecrated in 1722 and became the first major shrine dedicated to St Jan of Nepomuk.

The cloisters around the church are set out on a 10 pointed star ground plan. Pyramid roofs over the gates supported allegorical sculptures, three of which remain. There was once rich decoration with stucco figures and frescoes on the vaults, but little has been preserved. The church itself has been built on a 5 pointed star ground plan according to a legend saying that on the spot where John of Nepomuk drowned, a crown consisting of 5 stars appeared. The number 5 as a symbol was also used throughout the building: the premises are accessible through 5 gates and there are 5 chapels and 5 altars inside the church.

At the top of the cupola, there is …

Over 240 community members so far have ticked off Mount Etna as ‘visited’, but I wonder how many of them have just ‘seen’ it from a distance versus entered the core zone and witnessed its OUV. Most reviews to date indeed seem to have been in the former category. By far the best of them is Joel’s video, made during terrible weather conditions. I recently spent a long weekend in the area to try to make mine into a ‘good visit’. It all got off to a fitting start as my flight from Rome was delayed by an hour because air traffic to Catania was temporarily limited due to Etna's ash clouds.

The next day at 5.15 a.m., I left Taormina with my guide for the journey to the northeastern slopes of the Etna. We drove to the parking lot of Rifugio Citelli, which lies already at an altitude of over 1,700 meters. Everything was still dark and quiet, although we were able to stop underway at a bar for an Italian stand-up breakfast of cappuccino and a cornetto. The breakfast bars along the route open early (this one at 4.30!) to serve the local mushroom hunters and the maintenance staff of the park.

Having arrived at the parking lot it became clear that it would be a serious walk: I got a helmet buckled to my backpack, two hiking poles pressed into my hands and even shoes with a better profile fitted on. Also, guide Davide and …

Erosion sites are a tricky topic. How unique or impressive must one be to have its own OUV? This is the question I ask when considering the makhteshim. I visited Makhtesh Ramon, the largest makhtesh, in May 2018. It was a few days after the flash floods, but when I got there, it was hazy from the dust. I couldn't see very far from the highway I was riding through, and the haze kept up when I reached the viewpoint from the visitor center in Mitzpe Ramon, on the cliffs forming the northern edge of the makhtesh. Despite this, it's not hard to see that it's a scenic site. It's almost like a canyon, but much wider and without a river. Although I didn't have time to engage in activities within the makhtesh due to time constraints, I had done prior research on what there was to do, in case I did have the time. What I found was quite interesting. 

Within the makhtesh is a multitude of geological localities. From the viewpoint in Mitzpe, one can see clearly that there are many volcanic features in the landscape. Indeed, within this single erosional wonder, one can find magmatic dikes, hexagonal columns, volcanic and plutonic zones, colorful clay hills, ammonite and other fossil localities, and various mineral deposits. Together, they tell the long story of this little slice of the crust that has been exposed to us by this already great geological oddity.

Yes, the makhteshim have been described …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 as a stopover between Wroclaw and Czechia. The main highlights of this industrial heritage are the Historic Silver Mine or Zabytkowa Kopalnia Srebra (photo) and the Black Trout Adit or Sztolnia Czarnego Pstrąga.

I agree with Nan's review that although the boat trip between the Ewa and Sylvester shafts is pleasant enough (if you're not claustrophobic!), there are other far more pleasant underground waterways on the WH list which possess OUV. So even if it might be a unique touristy experience, that surely doesn't mean it deserves inscription!

Silver and lead mining in the Silesia area of Tarnowskie Gory was recorded as early as the 13th century, yet the first mines on this territory were established after 1490. The 18th century was the time of the renaissance of the ore mining industry whose remnant is the network of several kilometers of underground excavations, a fragment of which were opened for tourists to visit together with gangways and drain adits as well as the lead, silver and ore mines. The underground tourist route at a depth of 40 metres is 1700 metres long, including the popular 270 metre boat ride from Sylvester shaft. Make sure to arrive early (last tour is usually at 3pm!) and if possible book ahead.

The historic silver mine and outdoor mining machinery give you a good overview of the importance of this site for the region but it really is a drop in the ocean next …

If this is actually inscribed in 2020 I can already "tick" it off, and that's mainly why it was on my itinerary. An early morning drive to Royan was required to match my schedule. Parking at the port is not free although I think it's free if you park outside of that lot? Anyhow it's also quite an expensive trip if you include the ride + visit, and as pointed out already it's NOT worth taking a boat trip just to see the lighthouse from close-by. The best parts are inside. It is also quite an effort to get there, a bumpy boat ride, then an LCVP to the sandy patches, a not-so-much-fun walk through the wet sand and algae-covered rocks until you finally get to the lighthouse area. It was also very windy and cold in early May.

You get to spend a good hour at the lighthouse, or maybe it was 80 min. The French-speaking crowd got a guided tour of the tower and the rest of us could enter it first and explore with a nice little brochure. There are several floors of interest, and the top layer with the dual-color glass gives you a look of the sea and what lies below - well, not much really.

You may already be thinking why I give it the thumbs down. I just don't find it unique enough. One of the rooms even had a lot of posters of other towers, or at those gone now? …

In all fairness my "thumbs down" is given without having visited the site closely, but even then the building is too little to be unique. The history of the site is interesting though, being "rescued" by Nestle. Nowadays there is a regular tour twice a month but it did not fit into my visit to Paris at all. I drove right into the visitor parking nonetheless, went to the front desk and demanded some chocolate. Not even THAT! Wow...after visiting the Ritter chocolate factory where they basically throw chocolate at you in the museum you would think they can do something with the site here that isn't so taboo. Anyhow, I walked out of the lot and turned right to come along the fence where the picture was taken (there is a plaque too). The official website uses the same angle and it is pretty - that's about it. I don't think I would visit the factory unless it REALLY REALLY fits perfectly into a visit to Paris. If you are a group of 15+ you can actually request a tour for any day.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are indeed one of the great written archaeological finds of the past century. I visited the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum where reproductions of these ancient scripts are accessible for the public to visit and where many of the original finds are actually stored. This review, however, is not about the scrolls, but the place where they were originally found, Qumran. Qumran today is another ruin in Israel's national park system, but there are a few very interesting things to note about it. First of all, Qumran is actually within the 1949 UN-recognized boundaries of Palestine, but as implied earlier, in territory completely controlled by Israel at present. It is located along the main road by the Dead Sea, which causes it to fall under the itinerary of most tourists on a Masada and Dead Sea day trip from Jerusalem, and we were no exception to that. Just as we visited most places in Holy Land, my family and I visited Qumran with our own vehicle and guide. As much as Qumran is advertised as the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls, one wouldn't know that simply by looking at the site, and as such, that (over-hyped) significance of the find should not sway our opinions of the site. To be honest, the ruins didn't look too impressive at first glance, and I think everyone who visits is just waiting to get to the view of the legendary caves. I think that this …

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019. The Centennial Hall of Wroclaw or Hala Ludowa in Polish occupies quite a large part of the modern city of Wroclaw and the arena is capable of housing some 10,000 people. There are ample parking spaces just next to the hall or near the surrounding gardens but beware of the traffic on a hectic working day.

The Centennial Hall together with the Four Domes Pavilion, the Pergola, and the Iglica are a Polish National Monument. There 'uniqueness' or importance lies in the fact that they represent an early landmark of reinforced concrete architecture. On a sunny day, the stroll around the concrete structure and dancing water display with an ice-cream in hand was rather pleasant but the whole structure is not much of a sight to behold in my opinion. Although it was ahead of its time when built, most huge sports complexes nowadays have a similar structure and the same defect in my opinion - they might be functional but immediately after some years, their overall state and appearance easily turn shabby and ugly without constant painting and maintenance. 

There's a plastic UNESCO inscription plaque just by the entrance and photos of the metal ceiling from the inside which is the only thing to actually see but it won't make much of a difference in the overall impression. A similar experience can be had if you visit an indoor concert in a sports venue and look above. The majority of …

I visited Parque Cretacico from Sucre back in April 2016. The park is quite touristic and kiddy, with nothing much of value, but it has binoculars and a great view of the limestone quarry wall that is Cal Orck'o. If you have your own binoculars, you can just not enter the park and see the footprints from nearby, but definitely the best thing to do is to take the scheduled tours to the quarry itself. Unfortunately, I hadn't planned that out at the time, but I was satisfied with the view from the park. If you're a group of 4, you may simply take a taxi to the site from Sucre, as my family and I did.

I don't get the fuss UNESCO makes over this site. Regional importance? This is the largest and one of the densest collections of preserved dinosaur footprints in the world, with about 10000 on that single rock face! The fact that the site is on a cement factory and limestone quarry, and is in danger of erosion and destruction makes the situation even more urgent. The site needs international awareness and protection, and is undoubtedly worthy of it, enough said.

Visited this site in August 2019 during weekend trip to Poland. Visitor center is located in lovely rural setting, however the main entrance seems to be for administrative and the cash desk is located on the lateral side. There was no English tour available, so I joined Polish tour for 18 Zloty. While waiting for the tour it is possible to browse adjacent Archaeological museum, which only has explanation in Polish. There were many illustrations of shrimps and crabs at the information stands, so afterwards it was interesting to find out myself through internet the process of flint formation, in which indeed they played leading role.

The site seems to be quite popular among locals and approximately 20 people continued to the forest with the guide. Krzemionki is on the world’s largest concentration of flint mines with more than 4,000 prehistoric mines. On the route, there are first two covered restored mines with human figures of prehistoric people followed by the most interesting part beings, underground chamber mines. These were most advanced among different mine types and reached the depth of 9 meters. The tourist route is currently 465 meters long. It is full of black flint formations embedded in the white limestone. One of the highlights is prehistoric charcoal anthropomorphic drawing of a human figure near the exit from underground tunnel. This figure serves as the logo of Krzemionki. Some researchers support the opinion that this pictogram is a forgery (made by a student during internships in the …