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I explored and enjoyed the primeval forests of Madeira very intensively during my visit in January 2012. I spent almost one week in the forested area of Madeira staying overnight in tent and sleeping bag.

The Laurisilva used to cover the entire area of the island (maybe with exception of Sao Lourenco peninsula). Now, it can be found in 4 clusters, and I had opportunity to visit all of them: (1) the large valley of Ribeira Da Janela river. The touristy part of this cluster is Levada das 25 fontes area around Rabacal; (2) Area between Paul da Serra plateau and Sao Vicente; (3) Area between Pico Ruivo and Santana; and (4) quite small cluster around Ribeiro Frio, which is one of the top tourist destination in Madeira. The parts 1-3 are linked together, while the cluster 4 is separated. There are also large areas in the central parts of the island around Pico Ruivo and Pico Grande that were strongly affected by fire, what I could see in 2012.

The Laurisilva is very dense forest, but due to a rocky character of Madeira and a presence of levadas one can enjoy wonderfull views there. I like all of the mentioned clusters, but I have maybe the best memories on the cluster No 2, which was the most remote and wildest (see photo).

My one and only visit to Karlštejn Castle took place nearly a decade ago, but seeing that there are no other reviews for it, even a dated one might be useful.

The grand castle is located some 30 kilometers away from Prague, and most visits to it are likely to be day-trips from the capital. If you join one of the many organized tours, it will pick you up at your hotel and deposit you back in under 5 hours. If you go on your own, budget 6-7 hours for the whole trip, including getting to the central train station in Prague, possibly waiting for the next train (they run once every 30 minutes), the 35-minute ride, then getting to the castle from the station, and later doing it all again in reverse on the way back. The visit to the castle itself takes just over an hour. The visits are guided, the groups depart at specific intervals, so there could be some additional wait there.

Walking up the hill to the castle from the train station may easily take an hour for the less athletic, but will definitely take at least 30 minutes (an organized tour will not bring you any closer to the top of the hill - you still will have to walk up). Thankfully, the village along the road up to the castle is full of souvenir shops and eateries, and also has a couple of nice art galleries. Some of it has a …

The three locations I visited from this nomination were railway infrastructure sites in the town of Nova Gorica, right up against the Italian border. The nomination is focused on the sites role in the First World War, and how the militarisation of the landscape and redrawing of the boundaries in the area left a tangible effect on the natural environment, something which was continued thirty years later as the Iron curtain fell across the same corner of Europe.

I have a hazy knowledge of the Isonzo Front and knew it was relevant to this area, even reading the notice boards around the station. I imagine if your were interested in this history Nova Goricia would be an incidental stopping place for you, and as such I can’t really make a judgement on whether this site as a whole is worth inscription, though the natural setting on the Soca/ Isonzo is a rather spectacular and as a whole it is a lovely area to visit.

However, It’s not about the shark!

I wasn’t in Nova Gorica to visit this tentative site. I was in Nova Gorica for purely functional reasons. I had landed at Trieste airport and wanted to get to Skocjan caves, the public transport connections led me to pretty much only one route and one place to stay overnight.

There isn’t a bus to Nova Gorica from the airport though, so I had to get a bus to the Italian town of Gorizia (or Old …

Because I grew up in nearby Jihlava, I visited the town of Slavonice many times, usualy in a one day trip together with Telč (WHS already), thus I can compare. Slavonice are located very close to borders with Austria, and it is quite remote place accessible by rather infrequent train connection (6 per day from Jihlava). The train passes through other interesting small towns that are worth-visiting: Třešť (castle, jewish quarter and cemetery, uncle of Franz Kafka lived here), Telč (magnificent WHS), Dačice (another pretty town, with the monument that a sugar cube was invented there), and the final stop Slavonice. The train used to continue to Austria, but rails were pulled out after WWII and never set again.

Slavonice has small and very compact historical core of prolonged shape with the block of houses around the church in the middle. This round structure divides the town into two squares: the larger one is somehow simillar to that of Telč, but it is much smaller than in Telč. The smaller square is maybe the most impresive part, because many houses have a vast sgraffito decoration on their facade dating back to 16th century (PHOTO). The sgraffito is not only ornamental as can be seen in many towns of central Europe, but also figural inspired by Biblical stories in line with protestant atmosphere in Slavonice of 16th century. Therefore, the main quality of Slavonice can be found in its houses, which are maybe finer those in Telč. The title of …

I have not yet been prioritizing visits to the WH sites when I last was in Tuscany, so my familiarity with this serial property is limited to Boboli Gardens. Even that is due in large part to my regular visits to Florence in the first decade of this century. With all that the city has to offer, Boboli Gardens do not exactly break onto the A-list of Florentine attractions. I only went to see them on my fourth or fifth visit to town. At the height of the season, in early August, this fairly centrally located attraction still gets just a fracture of the visitors found elsewhere in Florence.

The gardens are large, well-maintained, full of statuary, and with a few notable features, such as the grottoes, the amphitheatre, or the Neptune Fountain. As they are laid out on a steep hill, they offer various elevated viewpoints onto the city. A person who have seen many formal gardens around the world may find Boboli Gardens a bit dull, although objectively they are clearly a remarkable specimen of the gardening art.

Interestingly enough, Palazzo Pitti is seemingly not considered part of the WH site but is shown within the boundaries of the property on the official map attached to the entry on the UNESCO website. It offers a couple of impressive spaces and a couple of limited-interest expositions, so you can safely skip it.

When I am next in or around Florence, I will prioritize seeing a couple …

Finding myself in the beautiful WHS city of Sucre, I thought it would be a terrible waste to not visit the footprints at Cal Orck'o when they are so close and easy to access. We jumped on city bus 4 from about a block away from the central market and followed a winding route through town until it ended right at the entrance to the cement factory. The factory is still going strong (though the guide at the museum expressed hope that it would eventually be shut down) and if not for the fact that I could see the museum entrance inside, I would have been hesitant to walk around the busy cement trucks and in through the chain-link fence. 

Looking at the "wall" of footprints from outside the museum is nearly as good as from the inside. Bring binoculars if you don't want to rely on theirs being in good working condition or don't want to go inside. Or better yet, show up early enough for the 12.00 or 13.00 guided tours that walk you down right to the wall for a closer view. We didn't show up until later in the afternoon so unfortunately missed this opportunity but looking back it would have been the redeeming feature worthy of the price of admission. The museum itself had a few info boards and you can opt to take a free guided tour around but was mostly a park full of models with very few actual fossils or artifacts …

COMMENT TO EXTENSION (SLOVAK and POLISH COMPONENT)

I am sorry, Els. I cannot help myself and have to add further comments on the planned extension to the WHS Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe. The news that the ultimate extension of this WHS is going to happen made me very happy. It would be very strange world, where Sonian forest is the part of this beautiful WHS but fine beech forest in Poland and Balkan region are not. I am also happy that Bieszczady component (Poland) is included this time (unlike in 2017) as well as the forests of Czechia, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Italy, Switzerland, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

The Polish component comprises of ca. 11-% of National Park area. One of the parts is shown in the photo - This is the view from the Slovak-Polish border close to Kremenec hill towards Bieszczady mountains. After extension, the entire trans-national range of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine will be protected as WHS site.

WHS in the area: the church of Smolnik, part of Wooden Tserkvas of Carpathians

I only visited the Paro Dzong and I found it adequate to get an idea of them. You would have to be blind to miss it: a massive structure not in height a la Manhattan skyscrapers but wide, sloping along the relative large hill and compared to the small modest houses Bhutanese live in it looks like a palace. You can see it from the plane, from the airport, probably from EVERY house in Paro, maybe from space? ;) It is, however, not a palace but the government office.

The first time is on the obligatory tour. I say obligatory but actually you can select the itinerary if you have a private tour and this is just one of the must-do things in town and it is totally worth it. The dzong is still in use by the government, or religious government, and you cannot visit anything but the entrance hall and courtyard plus one of the temples. If you think stepping through the gates is already impressive just wait for the view from the terrace. Of course the guides can tell you everything you want to know. Try asking something about the place you think they wouldn't know after the hundredth or thousandth tour they have done - they will maybe not be able to tell you due to the language barrier but not because they don't know. I also loved that the driver drops you at the top of the hill's parking lot and you can descend …

In March 2019 I visited the four WHS in London. Because it is almost imposible to visit some WHS without online ticket/reservation (Westminster Parliament and Abbey) , I decided to buy all my tickets in advance, also Kew Gardens. The advantage is that I saved some pounds with every ticket in expensive London and I walked several times directly inside after scanning the ticket.

Kew Gardens is easy to reach with the underground. From the VERY busy King Cross Station I went in 40 minuts to Kew Gardens Station. From there it is a walk of less then 5 minuts to the Victoria entrance (gate). I was there at 9.45 AM and I was the first tourist waiting. Slowly more people joined me and at 10 AM the gate opened. With my online ticket I was in just 10 seconds inside and I went inmediately to my first goal, the Temperate House.

The first 15 minuts I had the greenhouse for me alone and I took some nice photos. What a diversity of plants there, all described, it is to much to read it all, but I really liked it. And not forget the architecture of the greenhouse, beautiful ! The second goal was the Palm House, also a special greenhouse from outside and inside. After I saw the two highlight without a crowd of people I took a break at the Victoria Plaza. In the next two hours I walked slowly the official route in the parc. …

SLOVAK COMPONENT - EXTENSION

I am very happy to see that the sad story regarding Primeval beech forests WHS of Slovakia is coming to an end!!! I commented it in more detail in my review to the corresponding WHS.

After more than 10 years, Slovakia state party will propose modifided nomination that should be in line with the WHS standards - it means sufficient protection, clear boundary and legal status, etc.. The existing sites will be re-nominated with modified boundaries and buffer zones (Havešová, Rožok and Vihorlat components will remain; Stužica-Bukovské vrchy component will be cut into two pieces: Stužica and Udava), and another component Kyjovský prales will be added. I have not yet visited the additional component. It has special regime because it is a part of military area with restricted access. I was ca. 3-5 km from the Kyjovský prales only... but not directly there yet. Despite the special regime, it is possible to visit the area. The schedule is published on-line. What I know, this somponent is of perfect quality and protection. Thus, it is excellent candidate to enrich this WHS.

I include the photo of Carpathian blue slug (Bielzia coerulans) from Stužica-Bukovské vrchy component. I am happy to know that creatures like this will be finaly protected by highest possible level.

Updates, February 2020 (more than 12 years after firts nomination of the Slovak components):

My enthusiasm towards the substantial border modification slightly faded, but I am still happy anyway...

…

Oh - another wine region! Note how the title had changed from a "Cultural Landscape" to just early farmsteads, making this unfortunately still confusing as the other cultural landscape ideas, and mentions said term in the criteria. It would be hard to miss the wine in Cape Town. There are farmsteads far off the city but why go all the way if you can just take a short trip east of Table Mountain?! I picked the Constantia region, just 20 minutes south of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The setting of the vineyards sloping down Table Mountain is beautiful on its own. The farms have been here for over 400 years. As a tourist you can have a look a the vineyard, enjoy lunch of dinner, do wine tasting, do a tour of the vineyard if available. This isn't anything special. So let's look at the criteria:

The document claims the Afrikaans language is due to these vineyards - I think not. I don't see any special building styles or materials either, perhaps this is more evident in the farmsteads further out of town after all but it clearly mentions Constantia as example. Did the wine farms impact settlement in the area? Very likely. Does it have a universal impact? Unlikely. Is the same true for all the other vineyards already listed around the world? No but there are plenty of them we would think don't quite belong and yet they keep creeping onto the list. Maybe it's the love for …

The documentation for this must be the shortest one in existence: "The only undisturbed original stupa containing relics of Lord Buddha. Built in 6th century B.C. and enlarged by being enveloped with bricks subsequently. The site includes adjacent monasteries." If not on the way from Lumbini to Chitwan I would be a bit pissed for the few minutes it wasted. Well, with the drive off the main road to the stupa area I suppose that's 20min wasted. For a non-religious person you will see a tree growing on a hill. Basically that IS the stupa. The stupid is underneath, now overgrown, "undisturbed" as the documentation says, and you don't see anything else. It had a lot of followers praying so I don't want to dis the place, just that I don't consider it world heritage material based solely on religious believe and relics as wikipedia would put it "according to Buddhist tradition", i.e. not facts. Maybe the "Science" in UNESCO doesn't apply sometimes seeing that a few sites are already on list based on mythology. A lot of places around seem to claim relics of Buddha are inside and I have a hard time believing it.

CZECH COMPONENT

Extension approved in July 2021! and I am very happy with this. From beech forests I have visited/seen, the Slovakia/Ukraine/Poland cluster + Foresta Umbra in Italy + the Czech component are all beautiful and deserve the WHS status.

Thus, five stars again to beech forests!

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I re-visited the site in June 2021 just before the realease of the IUCN evaluation. It was an uncomplicated day trip from Prague (excellent bus connection to Liberec, and then to Oldřichovice v Hájích by local train - there are marked trails uphill to the site: National Natural Reserve Jizera Mountains Beech Forests). I must say that I was pretty impressed by the quality of the forest and its ecosystem I found at the site. Several parts of this component have very similar character to the sites in Carpathiens. Nevertheless, they are at the same time very different because of the difference in geology.

The Natural Reserve and its buffer zone (all together ca. 2000 ha) encompasses almost 17 km long range and I walked around/through at least half of it during my last visit. Only the parts around Poledník Mt. (PHOTO) and Štolpichy canyons (444 ha) are proposed as the core zone, and the rest is planned as the buffer zone. The strength of the site lays in its size and diversity. Even though no genuine virgin forest survived there, quite large parts have very natural character (the core zone) and the entire site has very …

Three of the chola temples are part of this WHS. Tanjore and Gangai Konda cholapuram are famous for their scale and grandeur. Darasuram is famous for its carvings. Hope Tiribuvanam temple too gets added in this list. That will complete the chola architecture timeline. I have visited all these four sites multiple times.

After Partition at Independence in 1947, India found that both of the, then known, great sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC – I am using the phrase to cover all of the periods across which the relevant sites developed/declined), whose very existence had only been established as recently as 1924 i.e. Moenjodaro and Harappa, had finished up in Pakistan! There is much academic (and “nationalistic”) debate about the contribution of the IVC to later “Indian culture” but a combination of myth and reality means that India sees it much as Egypt and Greece regard their respective “founding civilizations” - except that India had been “cut off” from its “foundation” sites! To rectify this, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) set about trying to discover further IVC sites within its new boundaries. Efforts were concentrated in the area of Gujarat, south east of the Indus valley. In 1954, a significant success was recorded with the discovery of a “city” which could be shown to have “belonged” to the IVC. This became known as “Lothal” ( = “Mound of the Dead” after the burials found there. Was it merely a "coincidence" that "Moenjodaro" means the same???).

Subsequently, a number of other sites associated with the IVC were discovered within India - the most important being Dholavira in 1967 (situated some 350kms NW of Lothal very close to the Pakistan frontier). India placed both these sites on its T List in 2014 - separately!! Meanwhile Pakistan had actually gained …

I'm happy to contribute the first review of this area!

I visited 7 of the 8 sites across four days October of 2017. The only one I missed was Termes. I came primarily to see the castle ruins, such as the ones nominated here, but there are so many other beautiful natural and historical man-made places to visit that I was thinking this was my new favorite part of France. If you like castle ruins, this is the place for you! They are best visited with your own car, although be prepared for narrow, winding, mountain-side roads with no guard rails between you and a steep drop off. Visiting in the shoulder season was great because it meant very little traffic, and I had a few of the castles to myself.

Most of these castles are famous partially through their association with the Cathar, or Albigensian Crusades of the early 1200s. (Neither name is particularly appropriate. They were erroneously thought to be centered around the city of Albi and Cathar is a relatively modern name for them.) A lot of the ruins you visit today are of castles built on the spot of the Cathar-era strongholds that were torn down. The castles then served as border posts against Spain, but that function was rendered moot by the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrennes which fixed the border further south I had never heard of any of this history before visiting the area, and it was very interesting to learn. …

Pienza is pretty. Pienza is very little. Pienza is WHS with OUV that is rather philosophical, I would say. Pienza is located on a hill, so, there are beautiful views on the Orcia valley (another WHS) and towards Monte Amiata (photo), which is also worth-visiting: The Monte Amiata mountain is covered by thick beech and chestnut forest, and the open-air thermal baths can be visited in Bagni San Filippo at the foot of the mountain, and... freshly proposed TWHS Via Francigena crossed Monte Amiata in Abbadia San Salvatore! It is not necessary to say more about Pienza, all basic data is given already in other reviews. There is actually only one square (Piazza Pio II) and ca. 4 buildings (Cathedral, Palazzo Piccolomini, and several others palaces) that deserve attention. However, it is enough to make Pienza so special. Besides the architecture, food is also very delicate in Pienza.

Even staying for 2 weeks in Kyoto, I still didn't manage to visit all of the city's temples, but for those that I did visit, they each present different, unique landscapes and buildings to wander through - and that is the way I found myself, wandering slowly in a sort of otherworldly revelry, admiring every little detail which had been created, from the ponds to the pagodas.

Obviously, as possibly the most famous temple in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) is especially busy, so expect to wait about 10 minutes to get the pond edge for that perfect photograph. You can expect a decent number of people around each major temple in the city, even if it isn't UNESCO listed.

Though not as impressive as Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji (The Silver Pavilion), is a place I highly recommend visiting. The complex sits at the foot of the mountains and so feels more secluded than many of the other sites, and it is an exemplary display of the Japanese landscape design which is famous across the city.

Enryaku-ji, though harder to access (one must drive or take the train to Sakamoto, then take the Funicular up the mountain) is perhaps the most surreal place I have ever visited. There is very little sound except for the periodic ringing of the peace bell, and the clouds often settle around the height of the temple, creating a misty aura, as if you've stepped into another world. Most people will only visit the …

You have to come here on a sunny day else it's pointless - not really, I'm joking, but who would visit a place called "Sunbeam" if it's not! If I would be sick and my mom would tell me "Zoe, they'll place you into the Magic Sunbeam hospital" I would probably mentally cure myself within days of anything! Jokes aside, it was a lovely weekend even though the photo filter I chose makes it looks a little gray. Most people came here to have a stop between their bike tour and enjoy lunch at the cafe. The rest of the sanitarium, oops I mean "Sanatorium" was closed but a few entrance hallways. The place has soooo many windows that you can see everything from the outside. A lovely walk. The architecture is very retro.

There should be a group of sanatoriums established one day with Paimio, Losheng, plus of course the infamous Arkham Asylum ;) Unlike these places, however, Zonnestraal is attempting to inscribe it for an iconic architecture - fair enough, although I would prefer the place then open for a visit and not be like Van Nelle Factory, so perhaps wait until it is not in use anymore or have guided visits on weekends.

The documentation is very old, 1995, and still mentions restoration work. This must have been complete ages ago because there is no sign of restoration or anything that looks out of place.

Edit: so just after writing the review the site …

Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Lower German Limes, together with the Dutch Limes TWHS, is scheduled to be nominated in 2021. Together they form the 3rd of 4 clusters of separate stretches of the Roman frontiers up for inclusion, after the already inscribed UK/German one plus the ‘western Danube Limes’ (2019) and before the ‘eastern Danube Limes’ (2022). The Lower German Limes is concentrated along the river Rhine, which acted as a natural border of the Roman province of Germania Inferior.

I had ‘been’ to its Dutch counterpart already in 2011, which was a very underwhelming experience. Both Lower German parts together are said to comprise 55 locations. Among the locations in Germany, it’s hard to say which stand out so much that they warrant a visit. I choose Xanten, which is home to 4 of the locations ánd has a well-developed archaeological park plus Roman museum within its borders.

Xanten is a mid-sized town just across the Dutch/German border near Nijmegen. In Roman times it was the site of the Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The proposed locations include a road, a defensive structure, the late Roman fortress Tricensima and the legionary fortress Vetera. The tentative site description at the UNESCO website puts them somewhere off the coast of Somalia, but by turning the coordinates around I could trace them back to modern day Xanten. At least Tricensima is part of the Roman archaeological park, the others may be slightly outside.

The Xanten Archaeological …