All our reviews

I visited Ivrea from Torino by train on a Sunday morning and spent the first half of my 3 hours there walking around. 

There is a map at http://www.ivreacittaindustriale.it/ as well as on sign posts around town. I did not visit all the elements in the map of this industrial city of the last century but tried to see some of the more interesting places. 

One of the sign posts pointed to Villa Casana on a hill park in front of Talponia as offering the panoramic view of the town. There are 2 gates to the park, and one of them was slightly open, so I walked in. By the time I go to the Villa I learned at http://www.archiviostoricolivetti.it/ that this villa houses the Olivetti Historical Archive with a permanent exhibition called "One Hundred Years of Olivetti, the Industrial Project." But the Archive was closed on weekend. There was a security guard in a car parked in front of the villa, who asked me how I got in and told me to go back to where I came in from. So I turned back without seeing the panoramic view. 

I would say visiting Ivrea on a Sunday morning was good and bad because everything was closed. 

I spent the second half of my visit having a piece of dry pizza at the train station and waiting for my train back to Torino. 

My visits to Flanders (Brussels and Brugge in 2016; Antwerp, Mechelen, and Ghent in 2018) were also visits to some spectacular towers called the Belfries. Many of the towers I saw are attached to other huge structures. Many of them support the carillon bells, which are played every hour providing a soundscape that brings everyone back in time. I learned from my arts studies class back in college that etymologically, belfries have nothing to do with bells. The word is derived from the Medieval French word berfrei that literally means tower in a fortress (or a castle). Sometimes, it is used to denote the high watchtower of a fortification of the Medieval era.

Today, belfry is used to refer to Gothic, Medieval and early Renaissance architecture dominant in Belgium and Northern France. They were once upon a time symbols of power and influence. Many of them were extensions of Medieval cathedrals such as the belfry in Mechelen (attached to St. Rumbold’s Cathedral), in Ghent (attached to St. Bava’s Cathedral) and in Antwerp (attached to the Cathedral of our Lady). Some are the primary motifs of town or city halls (as in Mechelen, Antwerp, and Brussels). It makes sense that these towers are adjacent to churches and city halls because the Medieval era is the era of the Church’s authority. Once upon a time, the city halls were even owned by the Church.

During my travels to Flanders, I was able to explore the following belfries designated as WHS: …

During my ‘Czech 3 castle WHS weekend’ I stayed overnight in Kromeriz. It lies about halfway between Litomysl and Lednice/Valtice, and probably is the nicest of these towns. The hotel La Fresca and its restaurant are warmly recommended anyway. Its menu was only written in the Czech language, probably a sign that not too many foreign tourists stay for the evening and night. My reason for being here of course was the Gardens and Castle in Kroměříž, which have played an important role in the development of the baroque palace and garden design in Central Europe.

The WHS consists of 2 locations: the Castle and its garden (1) and the Pleasure Garden (a.k.a. Flower Garden) (2). Both are walkable from the city square. The locations are well-signposted and even connected to each other via a route with partial WH logos incorporated in the pavement at frequent intervals. I knew beforehand that the castle probably wouldn’t be worth entering (although it houses “a splendid art collection”), so I just focused on both gardens during my 1.5-hour visit on an early Sunday morning.

The garden at the castle opens its gates already at 7 o'clock. So after breakfast, I first went to have a look at that one. It is a landscape park in English style - so 'just' a park that you see in so many places in Europe. It has hiking paths, benches, ponds, and a bridge. There are also peacocks and a kind of petting zoo. I …

What is the ‘worst’ WHS? According to the ranking of most popular sites on this website, Kuk in PNG is currently rated the lowest among our community members - although it has only 1 vote and few have been there at all. Among the more frequently visited ones, Battir and Srebarna stand out negatively. Well – regarding the WHS visited by me I have just reached an all-time low: I gave Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape a 3 out of 10, which in my personal conversion table translates to 1 star. Even less than the little inspiring Srebarna where I was a month ago….

Last Sunday I spent an hour at the castle and garden of Valtice. I did so after having driven up from Lednice right across the cultural landscape that connects these two estates/towns, where the Liechtenstein family united baroque architecture with English landscape architecture. That it was a ‘bad’ WHS visit for me shows in several ways:

The number of photos: I took 23 in total of Valtice, of which 9 made it into my Flickr album which I use as a backup for the photos that I like to keep. At Valtice there is just little that captures your eye. My personal record at the other end of the spectrum by the way is for Machu Picchu, where I took over 400 photos in a single visit!

I cannot see its OUV: Lednice-Valtice’s OUV statement is full of hollow phrases, such as “bringing together in …

Litomysl Castle was one of the three castles of southeast Czechia that were still on my to-do list. I decided to tackle all of them (Litomysl, Kromeriz and Lednice/Valtice) during one fast-paced weekend break. Early Saturday morning I flew to Vienna, a more convenient hub than Prague for this scope. There I rented a car and drove for 3 hours until I arrived in Litomysl. Not all rental companies allow you to take the car from Austria into Czechia (Sixt does). And you have to be aware to buy a Czech toll vignette at a petrol station after crossing the border. Otherwise, it’s all straightforward.

Thanks to its ca. 8,000 sgraffito ‘bricks’ that fully cover its exterior, this Castle strongly stands out amidst its baroque surroundings. It is located above the town center on Castle Hill and surrounded by a French formal garden, the English style castle garden, the brewery, riding hall, stables and carriage house – which all belong to the core zone too.

I did not plan to take castle tours at all 3 castles this weekend, but for Litomysl I thought it could be worth it because its tour includes a visit to the 18th-century theatre. Between April and October, there are regular tours scheduled. At the ticket office, I was put on the list for the 2 pm tour. So I had over an hour to spare, which I spent in the city center (‘dead’ on a Saturday afternoon, just as I experienced in …

I visited this WHS in August 2018. Instead of opting for a live-aboard boat trip from Lombok, also due to the several earthquakes and tsunami threats, we opted to fly to Lambuan Bajo, Flores instead and based ourself on a diving resort island close to different areas of interest within the Komodo NP for 4 nights.

Not being much of a diver myself, I have to confess that the Komodo Dragons were the main reason why I visited and I had planned separate boat trips at different times of the day to Rinca Island and to Komodo Island. We were lucky to see plenty of Komodo Dragons on both islands even though the ones in Komodo were much more active when we visited in the late afternoon (top right photo). On both islands there are 3 types of guided tours (long, medium and short treks) and your assigned guide (armed only with a stick) will most probably do his utmost to convince you to opt for the latter two to avoid the scorching sun and to be as close as possible to the ranger station (where most likely you'll be able to spot deer and Komodo Dragons lazing about.

I've read several reviews on the web saying that most probably these dragons are fed on some day/days every month by the rangers/guides which explains why some of them keep coming so close. This may or may not be true but I wouldn't go as far as saying that …

At the time of writing the Liangzhu sites are gearing up for an inscription attempt. I went to the Liangzhu Museum on the outskirts of Hangzhou a couple of years ago. It can easily reached by bus from the city center areas and the bus is semi-frequent plus very cheap. Now I have to say I did not actually go to any of the archaeological sites with the assumption that they are off-limits, but I don't know for certain. It certainly looks like nothing on the map so I did not want to "waste" my time trekking around in the heat. Either way, unless you are purist you are better off going to the museum for all the insight into the Liangzhu culture and the findings at those dig sites.

Update: I ended up going back to this area a week later and went to an archeological site called Mojiaoshan where you can see some dig sites, rather unimpressed, but it allows you to say you went there. I was correct to assume they left nothing valuable here but some dirty canal covered with a plastic roof.

The museum is big. Really big. You can spend 2-3 hours here depending on the temporary exhibition on offer. In a typical museum fashion everything you see is behind glass panels with descriptions. The best ones I found were the jade artifacts, usually rings or some kind of vases (they called them "cong").

With Hangzhou being a bit of a …

I drove right over the mountain to Uafato, a crazy drive alone but luckily only 10 minutes tops (not that you can't drive the flat northern cape "road" unless you have a 4WD and even then I don't recommend it). I think I wasn't really supposed to though as the villages and beaches in Samoa are private and people looked at me oddly. Nevertheless I made it to the end of the road and one thing is for sure, the views of Fagaloa Bay are great. How about all the stuff they consider world heritage status?

I don't buy the cultural aspect. I mean, sure, they still follow the traditional ways, but a chief system is very intangible. The houses are now "modern" for Samoan style. The entire village was playing cricket and I saw nothing of the sorts of cultural heritage. Even if there is it's so hidden for us because there is no tourism for that kind of thing at the moment. Perhaps one can try to find a home-stay and learn more about it.

Beauty should never be a criteria for a world heritage site. It's what tourists like me look out for. The forest does reach from the mountain to the shore and it does look great, but I don't find that unique. I also didn't see any wildlife so I can't say for sure what I could see.

When I asked about the conservation zone they didn't really know what I was …

Like other reviewers I was so impressed with Sacro Monte of Varese that I had been seeking opportunity to visit the Sacro Monte of Varallo, the first and most important of the 9 Sacri Monti. Between checking out the new production of Oedipus at the Teatro Olimpico in Palladian Vicenza and the new World Heritage Site of Ivrea this opportunity has finally come for me.

There used to be a railway to Varallo, but today the only way to get there by public transportation is by bus, so I took a bus for 90 min. from Novara to Varallo and from Varallo to Vercelli on the way back. 

From the bus station in Varallo I walked for a few km to the station (45°49'04.0"N 8°15'11.5"E) of cable car, which took me to the top of the Sacro Monte and closer to Heaven in just a few minutes. 

Varallo is situated in the beautiful Valsesia, a valley created by the Sesia River, which originates in the nearby massif of Monte Rosa, the highest mountain in Switzerland. So at the top of the Sacro Monte I realized that it was in such a mountainous area. 

Unlike in Varese where 14 chapels and the Sanctuary are arranged basically from the bottom to the top of the hill, this one in Varallo has whopping 45 chapels and the Sanctuary along a path that meanders on top of the hill. 

This Sacro Monte was the prototype and inspired all the …

I will say right away: this place isn't my favorite. It looks great on pictures, it's a must-do when in Sri Lanka, it has all the things of an epic day out, I was so looking forward to finally reaching it, or let's say reaching the top, but alas I was disappointed in the end.

The climb is almost a tourist trap. There is a really tiny staircase for most of the way. There are always some tourists trying to get past you, there are always some tourists stopping on the way taking pictures of the not-very-special monkeys and thus EVERYONE needs to wait. This may be more of a rant towards tourists, so how about the rock fortress? The frescoes half-way up are great - I love it. Most people actually go here by mistake judging from their response when they have to turn back towards the stairs. I actually find this the best part of the climb. When you reach the top and look at the all the frustrated faces trying to line up going back down I knew I shouldn't have done it either. What you get is a pretty good view, I wouldn't call it fantastic in anyway, and some much needed wind in the Sri Lankan heat, but from what's left of the ruined fortress is absolutely a waste of time. Instead I should have spent more time in the museum but I figured I should first head up to the top and see …

I had visited Palladian Vicenza before but went back there on the occasion of the Robert Wilson production of Oedipus by Sophocles at the Teatro Olimpico, originally designed by Palladio. Known as the oldest surviving indoor theater in the world, the Teatro opened with Oedipus in 1585, which makes this the 433 anniversary production. Why 433 anniversary? I don't know. 

Teatro Olimpico is basically a Greek theater enclosed in a Renaissance building. Its most distinguished feature is the seven streets that extend into the back and the sides of the stage. They were originally created for the first production of Oedipus and were supposed to represent the streets of Thebes, Greece, where Oedipus was set. 

Wilson, an American artistic and theatrical giant of the last half a century, also staged Oedipus at the Teatro Grande of Pompei this past summer, but he was commissioned mainly by the Teatro Olimpico for this production tour, which will bring it to Naple next January and then to the Epidaurus Theater in Greece, yet another World Heritage Site, in June during the annual Epidauras Festival. (Wilson, who works mainly in Europe, has 7 different productions around the world this October alone.)

It was such a pleasure to see a Wilson production on a World Heritage stage.

To think about it, a few years ago Wilson gave a Peter Stern lecture on his aesthetics at the World Monuments Fund, the organization that does the real restoration of world's monuments. 

The cenotes were part of my plan but a lot of these are impossible to get to. Cenotes are everywhere in Yucatan, basically sinkholes, but there are only 99(?) as part of the Chicxulub crater which are supposed to be listed on some website but it doesn't work anymore. I had already given up on this until the second last day of the Yucatan trip until I met a French hitchhiker at Uxmal who actually mainly wanted a ride but was talking about "senoetes" and after some thinking I finally understood he was ALSO looking for the cenotes and he was told by a local guy at Uxmal where to find one! Now I don't know if it was part of the crater and will later be inscribed if ever but I was so happy to get to one in the end.

The cenote is called X'Batun and is 10 minutes off the main road. We tried to find another one as marked on the highway going the opposite way but after 5 minutes we gave up and figured it was indeed one of those that you would have to wade through the bush to discover. Anyhow, the X'Batun was open for visitors for a small fee and it includes two spots. The first one was large wide as pictured above and already had many people swimming in the cool water. With the temperatures so hot/warm this is the best place to dip and cool off. One actually doesn't …

I regret taking a tour for this. You pick one of the activities and spend most of the day on a bus from Hue and back on the same day, and Hue being a WHS makes this an easy follow-up but what I really recommend is staying in the park for 1 or 2 nights and do more than one activity. Don't just "tick" this one off for the sake of completing a list.

I chose the Paradise Cave because it was recommend to be the most beautiful one. It is a big cave and rather impressive for someone who has seen even a few around the world, but was it worth coming all the way for? I ended up chatting with the people on the tour most of the time and we all felt the cave was okay but the guide did not even explain anything to us. There are other caves to explore, zip lining might not be your thing, nor is mud cave exploring (i.e. a bath!), boat trips, and then there is still the forest which is inside the ancient karst region. Having just spent a few minutes at the tourist information booth where some people were dropped off to stay at a local accommodation, I knew there is a lot more to do here instantly.

Summer of 2011, I made my first trip to Japan. My arrival was in Kansai. I have always wanted to visit four Japanese cities since my collegiate years: Kyoto, Nara, Nikko, and Hiroshima. On my first trip to Japan, I decided to see Hiroshima first. To date, the city prides two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (popularly known as Miyajima) and the Genbaku Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial). This post is about the latter.

6 August 1945 changed Japan and the world - the first atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima killing almost 300,000 and continued the suffering of many others in the city. The detonation also marked the end of World War II.

A few meters away from the hypocenter (ground zero in the English-world context) is the Genbuku Dome or the Atomic Bomb Dome, which despite its location avoided a complete destruction. The remains of the building still stand today. Hiroshima decided to keep the ruins as a reminder of the senselessness of war. The memorial was inscribed a World Heritage Site in 1996 with the entire complex its buffer zone, which for the Japanese a symbol of the true value of peace.

At the time of the detonation, the building was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The blast exerted about 35 tons of pressure per square meter and created a fierce wind speed of 440 meters per second. According to visithiroshima.net, “the building absorbed the powerful explosion and heat and burst …

"I'm getting too old for this s**t", Danny Glover said when arriving at the Glover Garden. And I thought the same having to suddenly ascend from the tram station on the Glover Skywalk to reach the entrance of the garden. The main reason I walked quickly was because it was already 5pm, the church and garden close at 6 and you never know about the last admission times for these places. So I quickly looked at the Oura church. It is Japan's oldest church and part of the Hidden Christian WHS, one of those few places where you have two separate inscriptions 100m apart from each other and yes, you can see the church from the gardens for those interested in trivia. As it is more of a museum regarding Christianity in Japan I quickly moved on the still reach the Glover Garden in time. Luckily this was the last day it was open until 9:30pm! So the summer times are maybe very different, especially because of a harvest celebrations (Nagasaki Kunchi) still ongoing. Many students were in the park and staying late is actually better to see the town/port from the viewpoint and the illumination of the gardens. All the houses are open, with the Glover House being the best place to see old furniture and some facts about his time in Japan. I didn't know that he was the inspiration for the Kirin beer logo, or so they say. For Westerners they have seen many houses better than …

Visited in July 2018, Felix Romuliana was a temple complex created by Galerius, a Roman Emperors who used Christians as part of the spectacles of the Ludi (Roman festivals). Incidentally, during his reign as Caesar, he came out with an “edict of toleration” (311 CE), which despite his strong prejudice against the Christian religion, ended Christian persecution.

Going to the site was not easy. I wanted to do it on my own (i.e. public transportation). However, several blogposts did not recommend public transportation. Several online posts were suggesting to rent a car. Others were suggesting to book a trip via travel agencies or via private guides. I decided to look for an agent. Luckily, a colleague from Belgrade introduced me to Miross Travel Agency (Thank you Miross for saving me and for a very amazing itinerary. I give you 5 stars for an outstanding service). Its staff members are most helpful (Another 5 stars!). They drafted an itinerary and I gladly took it. My guide was Goran. I was happy that he knew Serbian history very well and that included some historical notes regarding Galerius.

The site is a 3-hour drive from Belgrade. At first, we navigated the expressway and after two hours, we exited towards the city of Zaječar. From the exit toll, another hour-long drive along a vast plain of sunflowers and wild shrubs. When we reached Felix Romuliana, I thought it just popped out of nowhere!

From what I learned from my guide and …

After the First World War a first version of Yugoslawia was formed consisting of Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. As a consequence the importance of Ljubljana grew as it became a regional capital. To reflect the growing importance and to create a distinct national identity in their capital they asked Jože Plečnik to remodel the city.

Jože Plečnik was a successful architect, having made himself a name in Vienna and Prague. In Vienna he was a figure of the Vienna Secession movement . In Prague he redesigned the Prague Castle.

He applied his ideas to the center of Ljubljana. The most notable structure to me were the river banks he constructed.

If you have ever been in Ljubljana you will have seen his work.

OUV

I am not sure that the narrative of the great Jože Plečnik holds. Looking at his wikipedia page I can't shake the feeling that an enthusiastic Slovenian optimized his English page. The German page is far less enthusiastic. Looking only at his CV he seems to be primarily of regional importance.

The buildings I saw in Ljubljana are not ground breaking. Indeed they seem to be watered down Art Deco buildings, nice to look at but inconsequential and a bit late to the party.

The two most distinctive examples of his style are the Roman city gate with the pyramid on top and the Trnovo Bridge. They are not special or great or even unique. Comparisons to Antonin …

We climbed Mount Kilimanjaro end of September using the Machame route (six days, five days up and one day down).

The first day – starting at the Machame gate (1.600m) to Machame camp (almost 3.000m) – is a 10km walk through tropical forest where some monkeys can be spotted.

Day two is short with only 5km but also steep since it ends at Shira camp at 3.800m. Right from the start the forest changes to heathland/moorland.

Day three is again a 10km walk where you climb to 4.600m but descend again to Barranco camp at 4.000m. Plant and animal life disappears further in this alpine desert.

The fourth day (9km) takes you from Barranco camp to Barafu camp at 4.600m and also crosses alpine desert.

And then finally summit night! We got up around midnight to start the 6km climb to the arctic ice fields at Uhuru peak at 5.895m, which we reached after 9 hours of climbing. However, what goes up must come down so the same day we descended back to Barafu camp. In principle, it is not allowed to stay at Barafu camp after summiting but taking into account the physical state of one of our group members an exception was made.

However, this also meant that on day six we had to go all the way down from Barafu camp to Mweka gate at 1.600m, or a 23km walk.

Plenty of detailed information about the different routes is available …

Yakushima is one of those places that just wows you as you even get close to it. It's so amazingly green for one, and the mountains seem to stretch forever even though the island is quite small. Most visitors seem to do a 2 day trip, with the first day of arrival making a visit to Shitatani Unsuikyo (ravine) which inspired the movie Princess Mononoke. This part is great and a 3h hike through mostly roots, rocks, rivers and steps prepares you well for the rest of the hikes on the island. The ravine is NOT inside the UNESCO protected area but I do recommend it for a half-day trip after landing on the island assuming the water levels are low as the river crossings aren't easy.

Yakushima was inscribed for 2 reasons. The "natural beauty" is a little odd-ball because those opinion-related inscriptions are all in the eye of the beholder. The second one is for the vertical distribution that changes with altitude and can be easily observed inside the protected area. There is a great illustration of this inside the World Heritage Center up at the Yakusugi Land museum (free entrance for the center and lots of info on world heritage, Ramsa and other stuff around the island). Basically they make an example that the height of the island has similar climate as up north in Hokkaido but the island is located very south, and the vegetation has EVERYTHING of Japan in one tiny spot, i.e. from …

Listening to recommendations I picked La Isabela for this. It had at least a road going to the point of the museum on the map. From Santiago it takes around 30 minutes up a steep mountain by car. The first thing you will see is an observatory which requires a hike going up. I doubt anyone goes up here but there was a busload of people having lunch at the cafeteria. This place has nothing to do with the coffee plantations, which I find a great shame because the road continuing on becomes impassable without a 4WD or risk of getting stuck with your crappy Kia. The road to the coffee plantation is another 2km and I drove it for another 1km before giving up on the road, and I'm glad I did. In fact I think I wasn't supposed to drive in here at all and walk all the way from the cafeteria but anyway the last 1km is doable on foot with amazing views of the surrounding lands. There are even some local restaurants which I doubt anyone ever visits. When you reach the marker on the map there is a sign pointing up the the coffee plantation museum including a UNESCO sign.

A few steps higher and you can see the house peeking through the treeline. After arriving you are greeted by a Spanish-speaking museum guide to pay an entrance fee, including paying for taking pictures. There was of course no ticket or whatever but it …