I visited this WHS in August 2018. Borobodur is Indonesia's most visited site and is known as the world's largest Buddhist archaelogical site. That said, I must confess that what impresses most is not its size but its architecture and the quality of its reliefs.
Borobodur is built in the form of a step pyramid with an important focus on symbolism and cosmology. It is built as a single large stupa with 9 platforms, the lower 6 being squarish and the remaining upper 3 being circular. It is symbolically divided in 3 realms of Buddhist cosmology: Kamadhatu (the world of desires), Rupadhatu (the world of forms), and Arupadhatu (the formless world) and the reliefs' themes follow these 3 realms. Unfortunately, these magnificent reliefs are often overlooked or ignored nowadays as most visitors rush to the top platform to see the 72 photogenic small bell-shaped stupas surrounding the larger central stupa and the panoramic views especially at sunrise and/or sunset.
Don't get me wrong, the views from the upper platform at sunrise and sunset are sublime and worthwhile. They can be less noisy and crowded then other sites famous for sunrise/sunset such as Bagan or Angkor Wat to name a few as there is no specific iconic building/temple or spot were everyone gathers. Moreover there are two huge volcanoes and 3 uncovered small stupas with Buddha statues so this helps.
However, in ancient times pilgrims to Borobodur circumambulated the narrow corridors on each level in slow succession. Keeping …
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These caves are very impressive, and the visit is see them is definitely worthwhile. However I did struggle a little bit with understanding why these caves, compared to the many other impressive caves systems around the world, are under the protection of UNESCO.
Nevertheless, I can certainly recommend a visit. There are three tour options available, Tour 1, the classic Underground tour for EUR 18 per adult, Tour 2, to follow the Reka River further, for EUR 12.50, or a combined ticket for both tours for EUR 24 per adult. Tour 1 is guided only, with no photography allowed, whereas Tour 2 is self-guided and photos are allowed. I opted for Tour 1 only and was pleased with this decision. Tours run hourly, on the hour and take around 90 minutes (excluding the walk out at the end).
Initially all ticket holders are walked together for around 800 meters, off the visitor centre site, along the road, into the forest and down some steps to the cave entrance. I wasn't expecting this!! At the cave entrance the group of around 50 people was split into two groups, one for Slovenian speaking visitors, one for English speaking. On the day I visited, around 45 visitors were English speaking. We then had a briefing on the discovery of the caves, the geography of the area and details regarding our visit.
Entering the caves, you pass through two caverns, large but not huge, filled with stalactites and stalagmites. I was …
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The spume sprayed high up over the bow of the Maid of the Forth as she cut through the giddy swells of an incoming tide. Ahead, the choppy grey water and the blue cloud-flecked sky were delineated by a false horizon: the spans of the great Forth Bridge. There was a high Victorian arrogance to the way it marched across the firth, undaunted by the waters swirling around its piers. Yet as our boat slid into its shadow there was also beauty revealed in its criss-crossing web of steel girders, the matt red-brown of Morocco leather. I expected the clatter and flare of a surging steam train overhead, sparks flying, Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps leaping for his life. Instead the regular blunt-nosed two-carriage Scotrail commuter trains grumbled above me seemed out of place, unlovely caterpillars on the spreading boughs of a mighty Scottish oak.
I think Frederik Dawson’s comments below noting the journey from the 1781 Iron Bridge in Shropshire to the 1805 Pontycyllte Aqueduct in Wales to the 1890 Forth Bridge is very insightful. As I was born-and-bred in Manchester I have tended to see the so-called ‘Industrial Revolution’ as a story of manufacturing – ingenious solutions to make more stuff, quicker. But it was also a story of communication – ingenious solutions to get more stuff from one place to another, quicker. While the mills may still exist – vide Cromford or New Lanark on the UK’s List – the manufacturing solutions, the looms and …
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The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier (Inscribed)
I saw Villa Savoye in June of 2018. The villa is considered a prime example of Le Corbusier's architectural manifesto with all five principles on display: pilotis, free façade design, horizontal window, roof gardens, and free floor design. There are only a couple of random pieces of furniture in the house and no other household objects. Villa Savoye looks too barren; makes it hard to imagine the place as livable, which in turn leaves nothing but the Concept on display - and that rather diminishes the impression of architectural innovation.
Poissy is but 5 minutes off Autoroute de Normandie, easily reached from Paris. Once you park on a nearby street, under an hour is entirely sufficient to see Villa Savoye.
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So - we had visited the “replica” Chauvet Cave but had we really “visited” the WHS? Now, each of us will have their own “rules” for deciding when to “count” a site as visited and I wouldn’t criticise anyone who “ticks” for the replica visit alone. But it did seem a bit unsatisfactory just to leave it at that since the replica is situated outside both the core and buffer zones of the inscribed site. Indeed it could have been situated anywhere – imagine a “Chauvet franchise” which could create additional replicas a la Disneyworld. The cost of the original was c $59 million – no doubt a further “Chauvet Asia” in China could be done far more cheaply. Would one have seen any less of the “WHS” if one had seen a replica in a location beyond France? (Some would argue - “Yes”, because the nearby “Pont d’Arc” could be considered significant for the site in terms of contributing to whatever “spiritual value” caused the Aurignacians to use the cave for paintings. But this wasn’t argued in the Nomination). And where would counting such distant replicas lead to in terms of what constitutes a WHS “visit”? We could have “World Heritage Parks” with replicas of numerous WHS and “holodecks” running virtual reality visits to others!
The creation of this replica as a “visitor attraction” hasn’t passed without criticism. . The article provides “food for thought” but I don’t “buy” the arguments used and would recommend visiting the …
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Having arrived on the overnight train from London, I found myself with a couple of hours before I had to be at a meeting, as such it was time to get a proper tick and travel across the bridge, some seven years after first exploring the structure from South Queensferry. All in all it is an hour return from Waverly station to Inverkeithing Station.
I don’t have much else to add to the reviews already here, on the way north I got the excitement of crossing the bridge for the first time, however you can’t really see much of the bridge itself.
On the way back south I noticed that I was in the last carriage and there was a window facing backwards, as such I was treated to this rather wonderful view, which is probably the best you can get.
Site 6: Experience 5
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I visited the botanical gardens in late September 2018 on a warm and sunny day. Having seen a lot of old towns and churches recently, these gardens came as a lovely surprise. Not being particularly interested in gardens or gardening, I was not greatly enthused by the thought of this visit, however I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hours I spent here. The garden is in two parts, the old, historical garden and a new garden contained within a large metal and glass building. The two could not be more different, but both were equally enjoyable, focusing on different aspects of our interactions with plants over time.
The old garden was not at its best at this time of year, and I felt that it was a little untidy and unloved in places. The sense of history was palpable though, and it was fascinating to understand the role of the garden in influencing other botanical gardens and botanical studies around the world.
The new garden had a similar feel to the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, in that it housed plants from different climates, such as Arid, Temperate, Rainforest etc. The focus here though was more on human's relationship with plants, through history, and into the future. It was actually very interesting.
The cost, which includes both gardens is EUR 10 per adult. The gardens are located to the south of the city, just past the incredible St Anthony's Basilica, and about a 25 minute walk from the …
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With the wars that have been fought over Belgium and France, I am amazed that so many belfries are still standing or have been rebuilt. The Ypres Cloth Hall bell tower was one of those reconstructed after World War I, and I visited the tower as part of a visit to the In Flanders Field museum last month. The tower was rather plain, but it offered great views of the town and countryside. There was also an exhibit on the historical cat festival, during which a cat (thankfully now a stuffed animal) is tossed from the top of the tower for good fortune. From Ypres I continued to Bruges, and its bell tower, standing tall over the market square, was more impressive. It also afforded excellent views of the city environs. I visited two more belfries in Antwerp. The tower on the Antwerp town hall was covered in scaffolding, and did not seem particularly memorable, but the belfry on the Cathedral of Our Lady was exquisite. Unfortunately, it did not appear that tours were available for this tallest church tower in Belgium. I still am not certain why so many belfries in Belgium and France needed to be inscribed for this World Heritage Site -- it seems rather excessive. That said, I had a great time hunting for the towers with friends while in Belgium.
Logistics: These belfries are in major cities, and are accessible by train. Many other sites would seem to require either private transportation or advanced …
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After an overnight stay in the pleasant border town of Ruse, located at the Danube and connected to Romania by a bridge, the WH Travellers community went into the countryside via inland roads. We entered the Roussensky Lom national park, which is on Bulgaria's Tentative List. The official description of it has only 2 sentences: it is a "unique combination of natural beauty and cultural elements" and it is home to endangered birds of prey such as falcon, vulture and buzzard. Maybe they should work on that OUV statement a bit more…
What is special is that there is already a WHS in the park: the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo. That is our main goal of this morning. The Rock Churches comprise a complex of former monasteries, churches, cells and chapels, carved out of the rock by monks during the 13th and 14th centuries. The interior walls are covered with murals, which are regarded as special examples of medieval Christian art from this region.
To visit you pass through a forest via a gradually sloping path. Along the way, there are beautiful views over the nature reserve and I found it wonderful to walk here in the glorious weather.
The only accessible rock church can already be recognized from a distance by its wooden extension. This seems to protect visitors from falling out of the cave chapel from a great altitude. The church itself has been roughly cut out of the rocks, perhaps it’s a widening of …
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In advance, we had a lot of fun with the inclusion of Srebarna on the itinerary of our 2018 WH meetup. At that time it was the worst-rated WHS on our website. Would we be able to collectively raise the score after our visit? Srebarna is a freshwater lake that is an important breeding, transit and wintering place for waterfowl. The lake was originally connected to the nearby Danube - now the two are only connected via a channel. The protected area measures only 6 square kilometers. 75% of it is covered with reeds and other marsh plants.
During the preparations, I had tried to arrange a serious birding guide to show us around - but the few English-speaking ones I was able to track down were guiding elsewhere (even up to Sofia, perhaps a telling sign). Fortunately, we had with us Peter, a fellow world heritage traveller who is also a keen birder. He even prepared a presentation for us. Through this we became acquainted with the 4 most special birds of this area, that lies on the migratory route along the Black Sea: the Dalmatian pelican, the pygmy cormorant, the glossy ibis and the spoonbill.
From the visitor center we first walked down towards the lake. At least, 'in the direction of': around the lake, there is a dirt road that you can also drive by car. The trees and shrubs that separate the road from the shore have grown so high that the lake isn’t …
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In the Ancient City of Nessebar, several successive civilizations have left their mark over a period of 3000 years. It started with the local Thracians, followed by the Greeks, the Romans and their eastern successors the Byzantines who made it into a Christian spiritual center in the Middle Ages. Not much substance has been written in reviews so far about this little Bulgarian town, which is threatened by its proximity to the resort of Sunny Beach (the name says it all…) and overrun by day-trippers of the worst kind, especially in summer.
Nessebar’s attraction nowadays lies mostly with its Byzantine churches - there is virtually nothing left of the other periods of his existence. It reminded me a bit of Ohrid in Macedonia, a small town with Byzantine churches dotted here and there amidst souvenir shops and restaurants. None of the old churches in Nessebar are in religious use anymore (they are either ‘museums’ or ruins), while there is still some (albeit limited) religious feel to Ohrid.
You can buy different combination tickets to visit the various museums and churches in the town. I took one of 18 Lev (9 EUR), with which you can enter the archaeological museum, the St. Stephen Church and 3 other churches of your own choice. I started my tour at the archaeological museum, which lies right after the city wall when you enter the peninsula. There was hardly anyone there. They display here mainly relics from the Greek and Roman periods of …
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I visited the site at Cividale del Friuli today and must say I was a little disappointed. Maybe if I had visited additional sites included in this listing, I would have gained a deeper understanding into the inclusion of this town by UNESCO. The included area in the town is small, comprising only the cathedral and the area immediately surrounding it. The cathedral is nice, but nothing particularly special compared to others in northern Italy. The main highlight is the Longobard Temple in the Monastery set behind the cathedral. This is lovely but very small, and has a real sense of feeling special. The problem being that for me at least, I failed to grasp the reason for it being so special. The site didn't seem to have any detail on how this place fit into the wider listing.
Nevertheless the town itself is lovely, a series of winding, narrow and cobbled streets with a picturesque bridge over the river offering great views of the town and cathedral. I enjoyed my visit, but wished for more context. I will try to visit other sites in the listing in the future in the hope of broadening my understanding.
Note that the monastery, and thus the temple, is closed over lunchtime (12-2pm in winter, 12-3pm in summer). The entrance fee was EUR 4 per adult.
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The Madara Rider is the symbol of the Bulgarian nation. An image of it can be found on the back of most of its coins for example. The relief carved into a cliff at an elevation of 23m is seen as the climax of pagan Bulgarian art. It shows a rider on a horse, attacking a lion with his spear. A dog walks behind the rider. Next to it are 3 inscriptions in Greek that refer to the Bulgarian rulers of the 8th and 9th centuries.
Madara lies an hour away from the Black Sea coast in Varna, where we started this day. "We" is the WH Travellers community, gathered for its annual meeting: 15 people from 10 countries and 3 continents. We travel for two days with rental cars through north-eastern Bulgaria, with the aim of visiting 4 World Heritage sites plus a few tentative sites.
After a pleasant start to the day in nearby Pobiti TWHS, we were in Madara before 10.30 am. Given the status of the site, one would expect a spacious terrain and buses with tourists. But it does not even have a parking lot: just dump your car by the side of the road. There are a few souvenir shops however and – after worrying beforehand and bringing our own snacks for lunch - we counted 3 restaurants to serve lunch.
To get to the relief with the rider, you have to tackle a stone staircase with more than 200 steps. …
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I have to thank Czechia for adding the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc in the World Heritage List, before the inscription I have seen many similar columns in many places in Central Europe, but had no idea the meaning of those columns, at first, I thought they were just decorations similar to fountains or some kind of religious devotion. The inscription sparked my curiosity and reading nomination document not only gave a good explanation of these columns but a fine reason why this specific column in Olomouc be selected by UNESCO.
Similar to many travelers who visited central square of Olomouc old town, the sheer size of the column was really eyes catching since there was no buildings nearby to steal attention making the column to be the true center of the square. Attracted by its dominance, it was a duty to directly walk to the column to see the details. The column was adorned with many beautiful statues, too bad that there was no explanation and because of great height, the upper part was a real neckache to see, use camera to take zooming snapshot was a real help. Despite the immense size and great details to admire, without some experts to explain, it was really hard to keep people to admire it more than ten minutes in my observance from nearby café! Maybe this kind of column was nothing special in this region, its superlative size may give a curiosity and get some attention, but it was …
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This was the second site we visited on our tour through Finland. Generally speaking I've quite enjoyed industrial Heritage sites like those in Germany and England, and I quite enjoyed this one as well. The large main mill building is excellently preserved, and is apparently much as it was when the factory shut down in the 1960s.
The first stage of the mill tour involves watching a film that details the workflow of the mill, showing how the raw logs were eventually turned into cardboard and the like. It was quite cool to walk out of the presentation room into the factory proper, and see the exact same locations and machinery we'd just seen on the screen - a little jarring, but cool in its own small way.
Around the mill itself there's also the large owners house which is quite impressive, along with several other outbuildings of the mill. We spent a bit of time wandering the grounds, though the highlight was definitely the mill building. The cafe in one of the buildings had some tasty local Finnish specialties which we hungrily devoured!
My only real complaint with this site was that photos and videos weren't allowed inside! I'm really not sure why - there isn't delicate painting to be protected, no trade secrets, and it's definitely not crowded enough to be a crowd management issue either. Maybe they've had problems with people filming the tour guides? Either way, we found it strange and it made …
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Philippi – now part of Eastern mainland Greece - developed into a strategic provincial town under Roman rule and became an early centre of Christianity. Although its remains are not up to par with the great Ancient Greek sites such as Olympia or Delphi, I found it interesting enough. With its Roman and Christian roots, it has a completely different background story than the other pure Greek WHS.
I walked around the archaeological site at ease for more than 2 hours. It is a large area that consists of different sectors. The path from the eastern entrance first passes the theatre. This originally Greek theatre was transformed by the Romans into an arena for animal fights. Their descendants, the early Christians, wanted to have nothing to do with that. They put it out of use and let it perish. Nowadays it is again a recognizable theatre with rows of seats, where a theatre and music festival is held annually. Interesting reliefs and sculptures still adorn the outside of its walls.
Central to the site is an open square, the former Roman forum. Just like in the rest of Philippi there is not much of it left: the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 619, but it looks like it happened last week. All stones that have fallen are still lying on the ground. Only the contours of such structures as a row of shops can still be seen.
At the edge of the archaeological site, there …
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We visited Petäjävesi on an overcast day in early July, as part of our tour around southern and central Finland. This really is a very small site, just the church and it's surrounds. We've seen lots of small wooden churches now on the World Heritage Journey, in Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and neighbouring Norway, and this one felt quite similar as well.
It dates from around 1765 and is almost entirely original from that time, although the bell-tower is a later addition. Inside there's some fascinating carvings and decorations that are excellent examples of vernacular art - just local artisans doing their own thing, so they look quite unusual and eccentric, particularly the large carvings of Jesus and the apostles.
Although it was out of service for over a century, these days it's an active church with services every Sunday, and is a popular wedding venue as well. It's generally only open during the summer months - dates and times can vary so check the official website for details. And of course it's closed while services are happening.
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I visited the Heinsa temple in the first week of May 2016. I participated in temple stay program - 1 night 2 days.
I was expecting guided meditation and stuff, but we were allowed to explore and do everything on our own.
It would have been great if it was more organised, guided and if we were informed of the tea with monk timing(I Missed that) and about the meal timings etc.
You are supposed to bow whenever you encounter a monk. Sometimes the elderly monks are friendly and has a small talk with you while you explore the temple.
The temple is famous for its Tripitaka Koreana - the whole of the Buddhist Scriptures carved onto 81,350 wooden printing blocks which have withstood the test f time. The temple has housed them since 1398.
Not sure if they allow the pictures of Tripitaka Koreana. I was told off by the Security. The temple has a stone lantern, a three story stone pagoda in front of the courtyard of the Main hall (Daejeokkwangjeon).
There is a bell pavilion in the first courtyard - consisting of The “Four Instruments” of a Buddhist temple. This include a bell, a drum, a wooden fish and a cloud plate symbolically used as elements for broadcasting Dharma to beings of the earth(bell), beings who are dead (drum), beings of the waters (fish), and beings of the air (cloud).
Do not forget to visit the Hill of scholar there. …
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In 2001, I visited the Athens Acropolis for the first time. I went on a Sunday morning. The entrance was free on that day of the week. I made no note of other visitors, only of being welcomed (or: slightly scared) by 2 stray dogs at the entrance gate. Last month I went back and witnessed what impact the surge in mass tourism has had: the entrance fee is now 20 EUR for this single site and you really have to coordinate your visit well to avoid queuing.
I arrived at the gate at 7.50 am, 10 minutes before opening. This awarded me with spot #5 in the queue for the ticket office, where 5 people in a row just were getting started doing their repetitive work all day. This is not the kind of job that in Greece is replaced by machines quickly – although you can buy e-tickets. At 8 am the queue had grown to some 40 people. Two dogs also came over to have a look, probably not the same individuals that I encountered 17 years ago!
I was one of the first persons at the site that day and on my way up I even met the party of soldiers that hoist the national flag there each day. The Parthenon is a massive structure, still with scaffolding covering most of its interior. This has been the case for a long time and will go on until 2020 at least. The effect is that …
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