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As part of our community meetup in Eastern Bulgaria, we decided to tackle the at the time worst rated site: Srebarna. Srebarna is meant to represent the ecosystem of a contributary lake to the Danube. The Bulgarians also argue that it's a good birding site. When we came, though, birds were in as short supply as were other visitors or tour guides for that matter.

Peter was so kind to prepare some material to provide context. But without birds present it didn't help much that day. Indeed, Peter was adamant that Srebarna is not a very unique birding site simply on account of the limited diversity of the bird populations.

My personal impression was fairly underwhelming and I can see the following reasons:

• Size: It's a fairly small national park.
• No wow factor: The site doesn't have anything outstanding, e.g. a unique species or a great scenery.
• Accessibility: There are very few trails and it's really hard to explore the site.
• Upkeep: The site is really in bad shape. Trails are overgrown and several installations have fallen into disrepair. See Els' pictures.

To me the accessbility point is the key short coming of the site. You can't even get down to the lake proper. I did expect some learning trails taking you into the different parts of the ecosystem with some explanation boards: "This is a world heritage site and this is our claim …

I spent two months in Nepal, and good amount of that time was in the Kathmandu Valley volunteering in the town of Pharping and exploring the Valley outside the of the city. Kathmandu itself just oozes history and although it suffers from some serious air pollution, which leaves buildings and vibes a bit grimy at times, it's also easy to overlook that side since it holds so many historic sites. Although the earthquake damaged some of the main historic sites, they are not gone and the fact that most still stand is a testament to the city's long and rich timeline. 

If you're staying in the Thamel area of the city, know that there's a lot more to the city than just that, and you should explore not just the main sites and things to do in Kathmandu, which are spread across the city, but also the neighborhoods around these other sites—that's where you'll find so many other locals and restaurants and aspects that have made Kathmandu the historic city it is. 

My favorite of the key sites include:

• Boudhanath Stupa (of course, this is a key site and truly beautiful to visit and walk around the circle around it, just as the local pilgrims do when they visit). 
• Hanuman Dhoka (Durbar Square)
• The home and story of the Kumari Ghar
• Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)
• Pashupatinath Temple

Beyond those things, the next best thing you can do is leave the …

Meteora stands for a group of 7 monasteries built on high rock pillars, pillars which were created by erosion and earthquakes 60 million years ago. This is a really accessible tourist attraction (certainly a candidate for our ‘one million visitors or more’-connection, but I could not find details that confirm this) and much info on it is readily available. So I’ll just focus in this review on getting around by public transport and the enigma of the 7th monastery.

I stayed overnight for 3 nights in the town of Kastraki, which lies just in the foothills of the Meteora mountains. This proved to be an excellent choice; only for an ATM or bus connections to long-distance destinations you have to walk 2km to the next city, Kalambaka. When the bus tourists are gone later on in the day, Kastraki is a cozy place with a few restaurants and always those beautiful views.

4 times a day (at 9/11/13/15h), a public bus starts from Kalambaka, stops at Kastraki (opposite the church), and makes further stops at all monasteries. It is a normal public bus at just 1.80 EUR one-way. But the company does send an English-speaking guide along who takes care that everybody leaves the bus at the right monastery. Also, there is a 10-minute stop at a viewpoint included. This all combined results in a journey of about 50 minutes for the 8km stretch from Kastraki to the furthest monastery, St. Stephen’s. From there, I walked back all …

The Rockies are a happy place for me, and Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was the highlight of my summer travels. I spent two days in Waterton Lakes, in Canada, and enjoyed the laidback attitude of the park. Unfortunately, wildfires in 2017 had closed many of the park's trails, but I was still free to walk around the town of Waterton and the surrounding countryside, which were covered with wildflowers. On Canada Day, I enjoyed the morning parade, complete with bagpipers and Mounties, and in the afternoon, I took the boat tour down Waterton Lake and across the US-Canadian border to the peace pavilion on the US shore of the lake. After a relaxing couple of days in Waterton, I crossed the border to Glacier National Park in the US. The eponymous glaciers have been retreating, but the U-shaped valleys in the park show their former size. I took a Red Bus tour of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which was an excellent way to avoid the crowds that fill the parking lots during the summer. The tour is conducted in original park tour buses that have been in operation for over 80 years, which added to my enjoyment of the tour. I also made sure to get some hikes in at Glacier, enjoying the scenery of lakes and waterfalls. I highly recommend the Rockies to all North American visitors.

Logistics: Private transportation is recommended, and passports, and potentially visas, are absolutely necessary to visit both parks completely. If you do only …

Turf houses were actually the primary (and almost solely) form of housing in iceland from the viking ages till the 19th century. Trees and timber were in very short supply in iceland. Turf houses have only a light wood framework, the roof and many walls are made out of turf blocks. Turf houses have the advantage of a good isolation, but are difficult to maintain and could only be built to a certain size - which is why even bigger turf buildings are an aggregation of relatively small huts. Turf houses only last for roughly a century, which means that all of the islandic turf houses are no older than the 19th century. Many of the buildings are mentioned in older sources, but were rebuilt again and again throughout the ages. It is not really known if the existing turf houses look like the ones in medieval times, but no fundamental difference is assumed.So what is it like to visit these houses ? Quite a nice experience, I must say, and a nice change to all the overbearing landscape in iceland. Of the roughly a dozen buildings in the proposal, I visited four locations, all of which where quite easily reachable by car from the ring road. In fact, there were so close to the road that it is surprising that they are not featured more prominently in travel guides for iceland. Some notes on the individual houses:

• Arbaer: An original turf farmstead and a relocated turf church,forming …

No single description or image can encapsulate the sheer beauty of Kyoto's ancient temples. On the one hand, it's a large and fast-paced modern city and that surprised me. I was taken aback when walking through shiny metal buildings and city blocks to find my guesthouse. But once you realize that Kyoto is a modern city with an ancient history preserved within several districts of the city, it's easier to find the fascinating areas and the deep history. 

I spent four full days exploring the city and about 10 hours per day of that was spent just walking and navigating to the many things on offer. And while that may seem like a lot, the temples and gardens are diverse and unique, meaning you don't reach temple fatigue quite as much as you might in other areas. Since the city was founded 794 AD, the temples range through a large span of history, meaning the styles, architecture, and aesthetics are all very different.  

I walked the vast majority of the Northern and Southern Higashiyama Districts, as well as the Arashiyama district, Fushimi Inari Shrine, and the Gion District, too. Out of all of that, my favorite temples were: 

• Kiyomizu-dera Temple
• Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)
• Shoren-in Temple
• Chion-in Temple
• Honen-in Temple
• Hiking behind the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine

And Nara is an easy day trip from the city, so it's worth heading there for one of your Kyoto days as well! 

As a recent visitor throughout the Malaysian mainland, I wished to visit the WHS of the Lenggong Valley!

This site is not really difficult to find but it seems that most of the guide books ignore this place or allocate to it few lines with fewer details! More surprisingly most people around seem to even not know the existence of a WHS nearby & its interest! One must say that the site of the Museum is not accurate, especially for the date of completion of lengthy renovation works!

I finally found a taxi driver who seems to know the area! (he was very interested by the visit & told us afterwards he will return with his children!).

With my travel companion, we arrived at the Museum which was closed... after some chat between our taxi driver & the entrance guard we were introduced to a very nice guy who appeared to be one staff member! He accepted to bring us inside & visit some parts of the Museum!

He gave us precious information about the place : In some Lenggong Valley caves were discovered elements proving human life spanning over 2 million years & records of early men, the oldest outside the African continent! Most interestingly there is the skeleton of the Perak Man, the oldest most complete human skeleton (probably more than 10 000 years old!).

This souvenir of this man is soulful as he was probably handicapped with one of his arm so …

Tucked away in a North Eastern corner of Argentina are three Jesuit missions. The Jesuits were granted the rights to operate independantly from the local government by the Spanish crown. Their goal was to spread Christianity to the locals. But they also protected the natives from the frequent incursions of slavers and brought some progress to the area.

Unfortunately, the right once granted to the Jesuits was eventually revoked as the king came to fear their independence. This was a trend across the whole of Europe. In the Spanish case the suppression came when the Spanish rulers tried to take more control of their possessions in the Americas.

With the Jesuits gone the whole system quickly fell apart as the economic system failed and the towns were raided frequently by slavers. Eventually, the cities were abandoned and the natives returned to their previous lifesystle. These sites turned into ruins and were absorbed by the jungle.

On my way to Iguazu from Posadas I managed to visit the three sites lined along Highway 12. They offer plenty of variety when it comes to the remains, the reconstruction and excavation..

Loreto: Nowadays covered in jungle this gives off a real Indiana Jones vibe. Some excavations were done, but they didn't do big restorations or clear the forrest. Loreto was also one of the largest Jesuit Mission, so I would definitively encourage you to make the trip here if you visit the missions.

Santa Ana: …

The Vatnajökull National Park area is a bit unusual, as it includes the Jökulsargljufur National Park, which has no borders to the rest of the park, creating a second location for the site. Having just visited this exclave, I can highly recommend it. It features some of the most spectacular scenery in a country overflowing with great landscapes. The glacier-fed river Jökulsa a Fjöllum (which orginates a long way down south in the main park area) is cutting through a landscape formed by raw volcanic rock. It creates a large canyon and tumbles down a series of waterfalls, including the mighty Dettifoss waterfall. It's a gripping display of raw elementary powers, with hardly any plant life or greenery in sight. Getting there is not too tough if you have a car, although the east side road is a bit rough (though probably a bit more rewarding). No 4x4 is needed, at least in summer. However, getting there as a day trip from Reykyavik is definitely out of the question. Most people do it as part of an Iceland round trip on the ring road 1, where the 2-3 hour detour is certainly worth it. Visiting in early autumn, there was no lack of tourists, but the large scale landscape could cope with it pretty well. Further north lies the Asbyrgi canyon, which is more fertile but less spectacular, but still highly enjoyable.For the Skaftafell section in the south, I had good luck with the Jökulsarlon glacier lagoon, as there were …

Having roamed the eastern part of Canada for three weeks the summer of 2018 seeing three different fossil sites we were kind of tired of fossils, but we we knew this would be quite something else and really there is. A morning flight from Quebec took us to Calgary Alberta round noon and another rental car brought us to the park in two-three hours. As others have done we also found the scenic overlook just before the park entrance – and watched the stunning badlands from above. The three in east Canada are all coastal sites while this is far inland.

We had pre-booked the Sunset tour knowing we would arrive in the afternoon (after 3 p.m.). The tour starts at 7 p.m. so we had time to do something on our own. We began with the rather well-organized and informative visitor center and continued with the 3.2 km loop drive with short hikes seeing some of the badlands up close and some fossils, all in the non-reserved zone. After q quick bite at the café at the parking lot we were ready for the Sunset tour.

It was a really hot afternoon (between 30 and 40 degrees) so the 10 to 15 people group were recommended to bring a water bottle each and something to cover your head. On the bus, into the reserved zone, off the buss – and then we were walking between dinosaur fossil bones and teeth – amongst typically local hoodoos. Fantastic! We …

The Franja Partisan Hospital is a small simple clandestine field hospital located in the narrow, barely accessible Pasica gorge. The hospital complex is composed of 14 wooden buildings and several small auxiliary facilities. It was gradually set up in the period from December 1943 to May 1945 by the Slovenian resistance with the help of local inhabitants. It included an operating room, X-ray apparatus, an invalid care facility, and a small electric plant.

Most of the buildings have been wiped out by a disastrous flood in 2007. It was reconstructed using original elements whenever possible.

The hospital had a capacity of up to 120 patients, and provided treatment to a total of 522 severely wounded persons of various nationalities (Slovenes and citizens of Yugoslav nations, Italians, French, Russian, Poles, Americans and an Austrian). One of the patients, a captured German soldier, joined the hospital staff after his recovery and remained there until the end of the war.

Conspiracy and security were of crucial importance to all clandestine partisan hospitals. The only access was a path with footbridges and drawbridges hidden in the steep Pasica gorge. The wounded were blindfolded and carried to the hospital by staff, most often at night. There is now a wooden path leading to the facilities, and it is easy to imagine how difficult it must have been back then to go up carrying wounded patients. The path was defended by machine-gun nests still visible today.

The hospital was never discovered, and …

In August 2018, I visited Belém, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pará. I stayed in the city center, a short walk to the Ver-o-peso market, where enormous freshwater fish from the Amazon are sold. In the outdoor areas surrounding the gothic fish market, shopkeepers offer açaí berries, fruits and vegetables, and Brazil nuts, and at least one resplendent vendor was peddling love potions and get-rich-quick elixirs.

The Augustow Canal was constructed in early 19th century. It was designed for exporting grain and presumably timber to Baltic ports bypassing the territory of Eastern Prussia, which introduced excessively high taxes on goods shipped up the rivers Vistula and Nieman to the Baltic Sea ports.

It was completed in 1839. Economically, the canal did not meet the expectations as railroad replaced its role as main mean of good transport. It was locally used until 1939 to float round timber within the region. It is now developed as a major tourist attraction in both Belarus and Poland.

I visited the Belraussian part of the canal from Hrodna (Grodno). Renting a car made it easy, being about 30 minutes from Grodno center. Some of the roads are made of gravel, but still easy to drive. There are several buses getting to that area though. It was on a Saturday, so numerous day visitors were around, either hiking, cycling or canoeing. The Belarussian part is the smallest,18 km long out of a total length of 101 km. Three locks are on this part, two of them easy to reach : the Dambrowka and the Niamnova lock, both constructed in 1829. They have remained in their original form with wooden locks and a drawbridge. The Nemnava is the last on the canal, with 3 chambers. From there, the canal flows into the river Bieman.

The canal is bordered by nice area of preserved nature, with anglers. Some historical buildings …

In August 2018, I made a day trip by bus from Belo Horizonte to Ouro Preto, a colonial-era town constructed in Brazil’s gold mining area in the 18th century while under Portuguese rule. I spent the day wandering the cobblestoned center, dotted with Baroque churches built with wealth from Brazil’s gold rush. After the gold boom, Ouro Preto was economically isolated for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, which helped preserve its historic buildings and urban pattern. I visited on a Monday, bad news since I couldn't visit the interior of the churches or the museums, but good news since I didn't have to deal with mobs interrupting my photos.

In August 2018, I visited Iguaçu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina, the largest cataract system in the world. Iguaçu National Park in Brazil was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1987, three years after the complementary park in Argentina. Commentators often claim that one side of the falls is superior to the other, but having also visited Iguazu Falls on the Argentinian side in 2011, in my view, it’s a tie and both sides rank among the world’s greatest natural wonders as the best waterfall system.

I also visited Parque das Aves, an aviary located near the entrance to Iguaçu National Park, which exhibits more than 1,500 birds from 150 species, most from Brazil, including toucans and parrots and plenty of unusual birds that I hadn’t seen before. More than half of the birds were rescued from mistreatment or animal trafficking. The park rehabilitates and releases into the wild as many of its birds as possible.

In August 2018, I spent a couple of days in São Luís, the capital of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. São Luis was settled by France in the early 17th century, the only city founded by that country in Brazil, and occupied briefly by the Dutch before being conquered by the Portuguese in the middle of the 17th-century. The late 17th-century core of São Luís, where many of the buildings are covered with traditional azulejos tilework, is the best preserved Portuguese colonial city in Latin America, so no surprise it was added to the list of World Heritage Sites.

The Saint Boris and Saint Gleb Church (Borisoglebskaya in Belarussian, but also called Kalozha Church), in the city of Hrodna (also spelt Grodno), in Belarus, was built in 1180s on the high right bank of the river Nieman. It is a unique example of ancient stone architecture and is one of the oldest building standing in Belarus. The original walls were made of brickwork of different size an colors, including large colored, face polished, granite and gneiss stones, and figured glaze-covered ceramic tiles of various sizes, shapes and colors (blue, green, ras), which form various geometrical figures and crosses.

The southern wall and part of the western wall was destroyed by a landslides and the southern apse collapsed in 1853. Repair works were carried in the 20th century, with riverbanks being stabilized and the southern and western walls rebuilt using simpler modern materials, mostly wood. The end-result is peculiar with a church cut into two halves : an original complex bricks half (left on the picture) and a simpler modern reconstructed half (right on the picture). There are plans to restaure the southern wall to its original aspect however.

At the present, it is a small active place of worship, so dress modestly. I came on a Saturday morning at he time of the mass, to be sure to be able to look inside. Mass hours are written in front of the church. Visiting at time of mass is also very atmospheric, with priests singing holy incantation. …

The Myvatn lake in northern iceland is aptly named "midge lake", as it is home to clouds of annoying flies, at least in summer. The flies can be a real damper on your travel experience here, to the point where putting a flynet around your head turns from a ridiculous tourist folly into a totally reasonable and diserable act. The area is a major tourist destination, with multiple sightseeing stations around the lake. A typical trip around the lake could include:

• Skutustadagigar: An area of the lake shore with a lot of the typical pseudocraters. Nice views and a pleasent walk, if you don't mind the swarms of flies chasing you (Views 3/5, Flies 5/5).
• Dimmuborgir: A lava field next to the lake, with enormous lava rock towers to walk amongst. Crowded with tourists, but most do not advance far from the shortest walking circle (Views 5/5 Flies 4/5 at parking, 1/5 at church rock (most distant point)).
• Hverfjall: A hill-sized ash crater, which can be climbed for views and bragging rights. Too strenuous for me.
• Grjotagja: A nice little natural hot water grotto, about 10min. from the lake. Bathing is no longer allowed, and it can get overcrowded, still worth it in my opinion (Views 4/5, Flies 2/5).
• Nature baths: Hot water springs, about 10min. from the lake. Fully developed with spa building and entrance fees, so not too much nature. Not visited.
• Namaskard: A geothermic area with fumerols and mud pools, …

In August 2018, I visited Brasília. The city is particularly inhospitable to pedestrians, so I engaged a local guide with a car, Juan Luis Hermida, one of the very best I have ever encountered. Atheist Oscar Niemeyer achieved the apotheosis of his nearly eight-decade architectural career with the Cathedral of Brasília, which was completed in 1970, a dozen years after its cornerstone was laid in 1958. In 1990, the cathedral’s outer roof was lined with stained glass, now filling the ineffable place of worship with color and light, where the nave is overlooked by three angelic statues. The city was created on a grand scale, more for automobiles than pedestrians, so the streets and plazas were generally devoid of people, except for a few protesters in front of the Palace of the Supreme Court calling for the release of Lula, the former president, from prison so he can run in the election scheduled for October 2018.

One of the first sites inscribed on the world heritage list is Aachen Cathedral. It was part of the first batch of sites in 1978 and is also the first German site to be inscribed. While some German additions in the 80s are dubious (looking at you Hildesheim), there can be little doubt that Aachen belongs on the list.

Standing in the octogonal chapel you can clearly trace the architecture back to San Vitale in Ravenna. There is a reason they call the period Carolingian Renaissance. They were trying to reclaim some of the glory of Rome and Late Antiquity and it shows. And albeit the Cathedral pales in comparison to the Pantheon, the Hagia Sophia or the afore mentioned San Vitale, it is clearly a major step up from the Longobards in Italy.

Now I have to admit that I am a bit biased on this one. Aachen is my alma mater, having studied at the glorious RWTH. I have visited the site frequently while I was a local. Every guest of mine had the privilege to see what the Öcher (local term for person from Aachen) got in their trade with the devil (more below): a unique church and the single most outstanding example of Carolingian architecture world wide, a truly world class site.

Since Charlemagne's times the cathedral has undergone significant changes. The original palace complex of Charlemagne to which the church belonged is gone. The church has …