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When researching visiting Mt Athos as part of my UNESCO Journey, I thought this was going to be one of my more difficult ones to achieve. I am not religious and can be best described as Agnostic with values and due to the actions of my parents baptising me for their beliefs, qualified me for entry under the "visiting pilgrim" of a different faith other than Greek Orthodox. I did however feel like an imposter as I was visiting to experience the Cultural and History of Mt Athos, not the religious aspect. Only 10 Non-Greek Orthodox visitors and 100 Greek Orthodox visitors can visit per day.

I reached out about 12 months prior to travel via email athosreservation@gmail.com to the reservation office to try and obtain my entry permit, a Diamonitirion, only to be told that they do not take bookings that far in advance and to recontact them 3 months prior to my planned visit. I set my calander and did so to the day. I had a week period based in Thessaloniki and when I recontacted them back, there was only 1 spot available over that week period and this was the 8th of October 2025. A copy of my passport was required to verify my idenity and they wished to know my baptised religion. I was advised to pick up my Diamonitirion on the morning of my visit and if I wished to stay at particular monasteries that I was to liaise with them prior to travel, …

Our initial glimpses of Huanglong were, truth be told, a touch anticlimactic. We'd ascended via the cable car and found ourselves on the first viewing platform. Compared to the turquoise pools of Jiuzhaigou the day prior, it all looked rather small and decidedly brownish. The day's cloudy weather probably didn't help.

Eventually, we reached the cascades. From there, it's a climb to reach Wucai (Five-Colour) Pond and the primary temple, Huanglong Ancient Temple. Even at this stage, the views hadn't quite grabbed me.

It was only as we began the descent that the site truly started to come into its own. The water tumbles downhill through a myriad of calcite pools and cascades. The Chinese authorities have done a superb job of creating boardwalks, allowing you to walk right alongside—or, indeed, directly over—the water flows.

If you compare Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong, I found Jiuzhaigou the richer experience while cascades at Huanglong are the more outstanding individual feature. The other obvious comparison also made by Els is to the pools at Pamukkale. Huanglong, however, feels far more like a natural site, and the environment seems better preserved than its Turkish counterpart. Given the Taoist temples on site and the Taoist significance, I was wondering if this shouldn't be a mixed site.

Getting There

Thanks to the high-speed rail connection to Chengdu, a day trip is technically possible, making it an addition to your Chengdu Hotspot. However, it's not a terribly sensible option, as you really ought to visit the nearby Jiuzhaigou, …

The first thing that surprised and slightly disappointed me was that no one checked my visa for visiting Mount Athos anywhere.

By 5:30 a.m., there was already a huge line outside the office that issues visas to pilgrims. Visas are issued fairly quickly, so by 6:15 a.m., I was able to get one. I immediately bought a ticket for the 6:30 ferry at the ticket office next to the pilgrims' office. The ticket costs €8. It takes about five minutes to walk to the ferry. No one asked for or checked my visa either at the ticket office or on the ferry.

Even though it had been raining all morning, the ferry to Daphne stopped three or four times at different stops. We finally arrived in Daphne at 9:00 AM. And even here, no one asked for a visa: it was truly disappointing...

Google indicated that the walk to Xeropotoma Monastery should take two hours, but completely by chance I discovered a very convenient stone-paved path that took me to the monastery in 30 minutes. The monastery was closed, but I could explore it from the outside and take some good photos. My path then led to the capital of Mount Athos and the monastery of Klouthmonosi. Unfortunately, the rain continued to pour, and my route (according to Google) included both paved roads and dirt paths. It took me two and a half hours to reach the capital on foot. I didn't encounter a single pilgrim the entire time: they …

Jiuzhaigou is a water-and-mountain wonderland, bursting with turquoise pools, breathtaking mountain vistas, and spectacular waterfalls. It's not without reason that it ranks as China's top Natural World Heritage Site and one of its top four overall.

We spent a day hiking in the park. From the park entrance, we took the shuttle bus up to the Primeval Forest bus stop at 3200 meters altitude, then followed the water's flow down to the Nuorilang Falls, and ended our visit in the Tibetan village of Shuzheng. Admittedly, some legs we hopped onto the shuttle bus as shortcut.

Our original plan was to spent 1.5 days in the park. We had arrived from Chengdu by lunch time the day prior and were hoping to visit the lower parts of Jiuzhaigou in the afternoon. However, we discovered that the park had already stopped selling tickets for the day. This highlighted a crucial point: tickets must be bought online and in advance.

What initially felt arbitrary turned out to be the park's method of crowd control. Jiuzhaigou is immensely popular with domestic tourists, and to protect the fragile natural environment, strict limits are enforced, including a daily visitor cap.

This brings me to the main challenge for anyone who has experienced other great national parks. In vast places like many American parks, where visitor numbers are low relative to the size - I recall having Los Alerces mostly to myself - you get more freedom and the visit feels more intimate.

In China, this system …

We visited Nyungwe National Park on a day trip from Kamembe, but in retrospect, we really should have stayed longer. The forest is absolutely stunning – said to be one of the oldest rainforests in Africa and a true hotspot for biodiversity. It was the most beautiful forest we saw on our trip, with ancient, moss-covered trees, steep and rugged terrain, and several viewpoints overlooking the “broccoli-topped” hills and valleys.

The park is home to a remarkable variety of wildlife, including 13 different primate species. We only saw two – the Colobus and the L’Hoest’s monkeys – but even that was a treat.

This is definitely a park for those who enjoy being active. There are many things to do, such as chimpanzee and Colobus trekking. We didn’t try any of these since we had already done chimp trekking earlier on our trip. However, we met people who had, and while they described a long trek before finding the chimps, many said the Colobus trekking was very rewarding. You can also join a night walk. The ranger told us, that they are introducing gorillas in the park and that they will offer gorilla trekking in a few years.

There is an impressive network of trails – around 130 km in total – offering hikes of different lengths and difficulty levels. Keep in mind that the park lies between 1,600 and 2,900 meters above sea level, with the Visitor Center located at around 2,400 m.

From the Uwinka Visitor Center, they’ve …

On a day trip from Chengdu, we visited both Baodingshan and Beishan. We started our visit at Baodingshan. As it was our first full day in China, we still needed to groove in. We spent more than an hour trying to find the actual entry to the site. We made the beginner's mistake of relying on Google Maps which has a nasty offset (error) of 100 meters in China.

Eventually, we made our way to the Dazu Rock Carvings Museum, which is where the main visit path starts. The museum houses several pieces of Buddhist art and attempts to put the site in context with other rock carvings and grottoes across China. They also provide an extensive overview of preservation methods, highlighting that a key research question is the restoration and preservation of the original colours.

Baodingshan itself is truly great, featuring many rock carvings of different styles and sizes along the path. The Circle of Life is pretty spectacular, as is the big golden Buddha with 1,007 Hands. Here and there you still find flecks of colour, which allows you to imagine how magnificent the site would have looked in the past. Shengshou Monastery, which marks both the beginning and end of the visit, is spectacular in its own right.

After our visit, we took a Didi to Beishan. At Beishan we found a more sombre site. The main carvings are smaller and less narrative-driven. Not to be missed are the two giant Buddhas on a nearby …

We visited the Vézelay basilica 20 years after Solivagant, but my wife and I had already done it 15 years earlier, hitchhiking.

At that time, the common thread of our trip was Romanesque architecture in Burgundy and Provence, the guide La France romane published by Guide Arthaud in one pocket and a few coins in the other... and we can say like Solivagant that there are other religious buildings that are just as good elsewhere in Burgundy.

But Vézelay has assets that other cities perhaps don't have? I must admit that the capitals of the Vézelay basilica are among the most beautiful in France. This is a personal point of view, of course. Vézelay is also the starting point of one of the four routes to Santiago de Compostela in France, the place where Bernard of Clairvaux preached the 2nd Crusade in the presence of the royal couple in 1146 AD, and finally, it contains the relics of the controversial Sainte-Marie-Madeleine since the 8th century, which was moved there from Provence because of the Islamic threat. And so the church is not only an abbey church but also a basilica. That's a lot.

In 2023, we went back there in memory of our bohemian days and camped with Wilson the mobile home at the municipal campsite. On the official UNESCO website, the listed area is divided into two: there is a part below the hill next to the campsite and the other which includes the village. From what I understand …

When the Korean War started, the North Koreans quickly conquered the northern parts of South Korea. Seoul being very close to the border fell in 3 days (June 28, 1950, after the invasion began on June 25). To organise their defenses and continue the government, Busan, the 2nd largest city of South Korea and located the furthest from the front lines, became temporary capital from August 18, 1950 to August 14, 1953. Apart from the government many Koreans also fled from the frontlines to Busan, to evade the fighting. Due to its harbour, Busan also became the military centre, specifically of the US Americans.

The proposed nomination combines government, military and refugee sites across the city. We managed to visit several locations across Busan. On our first day, we visited the Tombstone Village. The next day, we started the day at the UN Cemetery, then took a bus to the Cowshed Village, from there we went by bus to the Temporary Palace and the Temporary Parliament (a university and museum) and peeked in at the former US Embassy, now a library. We ended our day in the former US base, Camp Hialeah, not the Busan Citizens' Park.

The Koreans do a rather good job of making the sites and the history accessible. Even the Cowshed Village has a public museum providing context (it seems CugelVance missed that one, it's marked on the map).

The president's temporary palace provides a very detailed recounting of the executive affairs of the government. Only …

Perhaps I don't quite share the same enthusiasm as my predecessors because we were less lucky? We had decided to stay at the municipal campsite in Zaragoza, which was nice in itself, and to reach the city by bike, which was less so due to the lack of infrastructure. Probably because cycling is less common among the Spanish: a policeman made us dismount in the old town.

Since the Seo was closed, we took the opportunity to have lunch in the Plaza de Nuestra Senora del Pilar where the atmosphere was festive: the people of Zaragoza were celebrating their children's first communion. Then we cycled around the Seo before visiting the Aljaferia. The problem with the Seo is that there is not enough space to admire it in its entirety; it is crammed into a dense building, even though only certain parts of the cathedral are listed: the apse, the wall of the "Parroquieta" and the Cimborio according to the official UNESCO website. Note that the church of Santa Maria Magdalena and its bell tower, a stone's throw from the Seo, are interesting and not listed, but there too there is not enough space to fully admire it.

I am a fan of Islamic art, but I must admit that I felt less enthusiasm at the Aljaferia than in Andalusia, such as Seville, for example, or in Cordoba or Granada.

Jean-Paul Roux gives the following definition in the dictionary of Islamic arts, ed. Fayard, 2007, Mudejar art "designates …

Time of the visit: the 15th of oct.,2025

I would like to focus a little on logistics, including the routes between the individual sites and the ideal route for visitors using public transport.

There are two options if you come from Busan

1) take the kmx train from Busan station (subway stop:Busan station) to the KMX train station Ulsan,you can either take a taxi from there or the bus 383 to the Ulsan Petroglyp Museum,

2) take one of the frequent buses(every 40 min) from Busan Central Bus Station to Eonyang Intercity Bus Terminal, you can either take a taxi (there is no taxi rank near the terminal but I counted at least 4 taxis passing by while waiting at the bus stop for bus 383) from there or the bus 383 to the Ulsan Petroglyp Museum.

The bus from Busan is a direct express bus with a fixed route from Busan to Tongdosa and Eonyang Bus Terminal. During weekdays, the buses are quite empty, and most of the few passengers get off at Tongdosa Station. The Tongdosa Temple is part of the Sansa UNESCO World Heritage Sites and probably the most impressive individual World Heritage Site in South Korea, with Gyeongyu as a whole probably earning the title of best WHS.

Which option is better depends a bit on where you stay in Busan. For me, both the train station and the bus station were the same distance away. In the morning, the subways towards downtown are packed with …

During our 5 nights resort holidays on Djerba, I managed to visit most of the components spread over several mornings. The WHS can roughly be divided into mosques and agricultural zones. Plus, a church, a synagogue and 2 town centres. Mosques clearly make the biggest part, and it was fun to hunt them down. It required a fair amount of dirt and sand road driving to tick them all. Many mosques are still in use and thus closed for visitors, but from those I saw the interior through the windows I can confidently say, that you don’t miss out on anything for not entering them. Other mosques are no longer in use, and you can freely enter all rooms of these complexes.

What is quite special about this site is that, even though looking at the map it feels like the whole island is inscribed, it’s actually easy to miss. Even the reviews of those who visited before inscription show that. Not counting the mosques you probably drive by but would not notice as WHS material, your best chance to enter the core zone is probably visiting the old part of Houmt Souk for shopping. None of the component are that remarkable, that you would have visited anyway.

Do you need to visit that many components? Certainly not. But I can’t just sit an entire day by the pool, so here we are. For those who are as dedicated as I am, here’s an overview of my visits:

Sidi Ismail

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Our second World Heritage Site on our Uganda road trip september 2025.

We started our day hike from the Mihunga main gate (Nyakalengija), heading into the Rwenzoris. As others have noted, it takes several days of trekking to reach the alpine zone with its unique flora – similar to what we were lucky enough to experience on Mount Kenya around 3,500 meters, earlier this year.

Our hike covered about 10-11 kilometers return with 500–600 meters of elevation gain. The first four kilometers were fairly gentle, following a good trail through lush rainforest and fern forest, with two river crossings and a few ladders, before reaching the first shelter.

From there, the trail became much steeper. We had hoped to climb high enough for a clear view of the peaks, but to get there you’d likely need to continue all the way to the first camp at Nyabitaba – about 1,000 meters of ascent and 10 kilometers one way. That makes for a very long and strenuous day, more than we were ready to take on.

Even without the big panoramia, the hike was rewarding. The rainforest was vibrant and full of life, with butterflies, wildflowers, wild bananas, and dense ferns creating the atmosphere of true wilderness. We also spotted both red-tailed monkeys, colobus monkeys and even an chimpanzee along the way. An armed park ranger accompanied us – and while I believe that’s mandatory, the path was easy to follow and well marked.

The drive to Mihunga gate added to …

Visiting FRIM was a rather plodding experience. Firstly, the site is not as easily reachable as I had hoped. The local mass transit in Kuala Lumpur seems to be much less efficient than expected. Trying to reach FRIM during a stopover on Sunday, I discovered that the public rail system is quite slow - the trains crawl along the tracks, the frequency was very low ( about one train per hour), and none of the major tourist spots seemed to be on the same line. Every change of a train added at least one more hour to the travel time - I was faster walking than taking a train. As a stopover from the airport, this means at least 40 minutes with KL express to KL Sentral station, than 60-90 minutes with a local train in the direction of FRIM. However, none of the trains actually reaches the FRIM garden, so you have to take a bus or walk for half an hour in the tropical sun. FRIM itself obviously expects the visitors to arrive by their own car - there is no support for other possibilities. The bottom line is that I think the 4-5 hour minimal stopover time mentioned in another review is unrealistic - I wouldn't risk it even with an 8 hour stopover time. You need to assume a three hour connection time (one way) from the airport, and this is assuming that nothing major goes wrong. Zipping around the city with local trains like in …

Our first stop on our road trip through Uganda was a visit to the Kasubi Tombs, the resting place of the Buganda kings. To be honest, we didn’t have very high expectations before going, and some in our group weren’t even planning to join. In the end, we all went together – and everyone agreed it turned out to be a truly memorable experience.

Much of this was thanks to our guide, Fredric, whose knowledge and engaging storytelling brought the history to life. He guided us through the traditions of the Buganda kingdom, the lives of the four Kabakas (kings) buried here, and how their legacy connects to the wider history of Uganda.

The tombs suffered a devastating fire in 2010, which destroyed the main building. Fortunately, the graves themselves were untouched, as the kings are buried deep underground. Rebuilding the tombs was a challenge, since much of the old construction knowledge had been lost. After several attempts, they returned to the architectural style of the original 1882 structure. This time, the process has been carefully documented, and photos of the restoration are displayed on site.

Built in traditional style with natural materials, the tombs are considered the largest grass-thatched structure in the world. While modern reinforcements like concrete have been added for stability, the architectural style remains striking and unlike anything we have seen before.

The hight inside is 9,5 m, with a beautifully patterned ceiling. Inside pillars – including the concrete ones, are covered with …

Visited August 2025

Do not expect anything! This is the best advice I can give you. On UNESCO website you can read: From transition in architecture to development in tool-making techniques to introduction and diffusion of lentil in the north-western India, the site of Burzahom is a unique comprehensive story teller of life between 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE. Yes, storyteller. Or rather storywhisperer, so quietly… You cannot see it.

Yes, the site is very important for the development of agriculture and house building, not only in this part of India, but in the whole area at the border of Deccan and south-east Asia. Neolithic period, aceramic culture. From oval subterranean dwellings with wooden post for protecting plant cover to mud houses on level ground. Next step: Neolithic period, first ceramic, probably imported and locally copied. More mud brick construction, more wood used in construction techniques. Many artefacts (few of them in the National Museum in Delhi), burial pits and trepanned human skulls. Next step: Megalithic culture. With menhirs, more pottery and more remains of cultivated plants.

You can read this in many articles – and the reading suggests more than you can see.

Artificial hill on the outskirt of Srinagar town. Easily reached by rickshaw or city bus. No ticket counter, but cows enjoying the fresh grass. Undulating terrain. A temporary roof over the archaeological digs from Y2K. Menhirs not in their original position (but the most spectacular). Reconstruction of wooden piles. Muslim cemetery on the norther edges of …

I visited three component parts in August 2025: 1) Panhala Fort, 2) Vijaydurg Fort and 3) Lohagad and Visapur fort complex.

Just a short introduction: all forts are liked with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj… The only problem with this inscription is that the forts are located in pretty remote areas and it takes time to get there using public transportation, but it is not impossible. Panhala and Vijaydur were kind of natural choices because I was coming from the south, from Belur and Halebidu – there’s at least two buses daily (check and book on https://www.redbus.in) going all the way from Mysore to Pune calling at Banavara (30 km from Halebidu) and at Kolhapur located just 20 km from Panhala. Kolhapur is also a good starting point to tick Western Ghats with a half day visit to Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary (only part of the reserve was open to public during the rainy season).

To get to Panhala fort I took a rickshaw, but it is possible to take a bus from the bus station (the first one is at 7:30). Today Panhala looks rather like a village then the fort – there are house, hotels, shops around the central part of the fort. To appreciate its strategic location and the military architecture you have to follow the path connecting the “points of interest” as marked on the old map placed on the board close to the main round point on the main street. And these points of interest are (as I …

I was on Reichenau last week and it appeared that elements of the special exhibition in Konstanz (mentioned by Caspar) have now been given a place in the new building next to the main museum on Reichenau in Mittelteil. I found this a very informative multimedia experience. Of course, it doesn't change that the original paintings, manuscripts, etc. are kept in various other places, but that is about the first thing that you read when entering the museum. Still, judging previous reviews, this modernisation of the museum seems a good step forward in demonstrating the history and importance of the island. So do go there, before visiting the churches.

Or, as they say themselves: "Zum Jubiläum wurde auch das Museum Reichenau unter Mitwirkung des Badischen Landesmuseums neu konzipiert – mit dem Ziel, neueste Forschungsergebnisse und fundierte Fakten ebenso verständlich wie anschaulich zu vermitteln. Die durch archäologische Grabungen oder neue Ansätze in der Handschriftenkunde gewonnenen Erkenntnisse flossen in das Ausstellungskonzept mit ein. Eine innovative mediale Vermittlung schafft nun ein Besuchserlebnis für ein breites Publikum am historischen Originalschauplatz. Diese neue Dauerausstellung auf der Insel Reichenau bleibt natürlich auch nach Ende der Großen Landesausstellung bestehen. Zudem werden zwei interaktive Medienstationen, die für die Ausstellung in Konstanz entwickelt wurden, in das Museum Reichenau gebracht und dort nachhaltig weitergenutzt."

Time of the visit: 24+25+27th of june,2025

Naha is a somewhat over-the-top city and has American elements to it ... something untypical of Japan..it feels more like Hawai.

I first visited the Shuri Castle.I took one of the monorail trains and got off at the stop "Shuri station"

From there I walked to the castle,but had to flee into a small Japanese restaurant when the sky opened its gates flooding the streets with heavy rain.I was trapped in the restaurant for 45 minutes before the rain turned into a light drizzle.

Shuri Castle is a historic Ryukyuan gusuku (castle) located in Naha, Okinawa's capital. Once the royal palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879), it served as the political, cultural, and diplomatic heart of the islands.Perched on a hill overlooking Naha, Shuri Castle combines traditional Ryukyuan architectural style with influences from Chinese and Japanese design, reflecting the kingdom’s position as a hub of maritime trade and diplomacy in East Asia. At the center of the complex stood the Seiden (Main Hall) — an elegant wooden structure where royal ceremonies, audiences, and important state rituals took place. Shuri Castle was destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, later reconstructed in 1992, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the “Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.” Tragically, a major fire in 2019 destroyed much of the reconstructed main hall, but restoration work is actively ongoing, with efforts to faithfully rebuild it using traditional methods and …

There are sites that, despite their seemingly innocuous appearance, hide a striking reality!

We visited the site of the former Schokland Island in August 2024. What a shock!

We had an excellent approach to this site because, as there is no campsite in Schokland itself, we camped a few kilometers away in Urk, which is another former island in the Zuiderzee. The day before, we had decided to visit this port village by bike, crossing a wood from the campsite. In this wood, there are glacial stones discovered during the creation of the polders. Legend has it that the future father of a child from Urk had to go to Schokland to fetch "a key" which he then placed on his return on one of these half-submerged stones. At the exit of the wood, another forest is revealed: wind turbines! And then once you climb onto the dike, it is the North Sea that reveals itself. The strong impressions announce the island of Schokland because the sea is very powerful and the icy wind violent.

So the next day, we headed to Schokland. We couldn't understand the WHS site and its universal scope without a historical explanation:

In prehistoric times, the area around Schokland consisted of a large peat bog covered with sphagnum, a succulent plant. A landscape somewhat reminiscent of the Hooge Veluwe National Park or the High Fens Nature Park in Belgium. Semi-nomadic hunter-farmers lived there. This was roughly between 4,900 and 1,800 BC. Afterwards, the peat covered …

We visited the pumping station near the town of Lemmer during our stay in the Netherlands in August 2024. It is said that Dutch hydraulic engineers are among the best in the world and that their expertise is sought after worldwide because they share a long history of coexistence with the sea and water management in general. The visit to the pumping station, which is still in operation, albeit in occasional support of the more efficient Stavoren pumping station from 1967 PC (+/- 12,000 kW), seems to illustrate this point well. Its name comes from its designer, Engineer Ir D.F. Wouda.

Its purpose is to lower the water level of the Friesland. It is capable of pumping 4 million liters of water per minute at full capacity, or +/- 6,600 kW. The Friesland watershed covers 3,400 to 4,000 km2. This station is the largest steam-powered pumping station in the world! Initially, the fuel was coal; the boilers were converted to run on oil in 1967 PC.

From a practical point of view, a parking lot has been set up a short distance from the station; you can get there on foot, by bike, or by organized shuttle. The buildings are a nice way to get around. A contemporary building containing the reception, a shop, an educational museum, and a restaurant has been built next to the pumping station. This is where you buy your ticket and follow a volunteer guide, either in Dutch or English.

We decided to follow the …