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On the way from the Oslo Torp Airport to the city of Oslo I stopped at the Borre cemetery, which is part of Vestfold Ship Burials, part of Viking Monuments TWHS. 

I used this site for bus from Torp through Borre to Oslo: https://www.vkt.no/english

There is a direct bus from the Oslo Torp Airport to Oslo, but because I stopped at the cemetery, I ended up taking 2 buses to the cemetery and 3 more buses and 2 trains from the cemetery to Oslo eventually, all in one afternoon. This was due to the fact that, because 4th public bus from Kopstadkrysset did not come (A local told me that you were supposed to call the bus company if you want to be picked up), I had to take another bus to the Holmestrand train station, and because part of the railroad between the Holmestrand station and the Oslo Central Station was under repair, I had to take two trains and yet another bus.

But I would never hate Norway. It is my #1 favorite country in the world. 

Before visiting the cemetery I checked out the museum and a reconstructed Viking hall nearby. 

The museum was created over 15 years ago, but it did not seem to be in a good shape. Some of the collections did not even have tags with names or explanations, which was a surprise for such a wealthy nation. 

The Viking hall was similar to the reconstructed Viking …

Giant petrified trees! This site apparently doesn't have much chance of becoming WHS but I nevertheless found it interesting, enjoyable and something special to visit. It is probably not the most unique place in the world where traces of ancient forest can be seen by just stepping a few hundred meters off the "ordinary track".

The site is easy enough to find by car and had a few visitors, especially one big school group enjoying the large playground.Going into the special area is only by guided tour which requires 4 guests minimum and would go every hour and a half. To pass the time you can go to the rock park which was aimed at really young kids, and if you have enough time to hike in the forests nearby and you don't mind peaks then you can easily spend a whole day here.

Whereas I wouldn't go out of my way to visit I found it was a good few hours of forest air and interesting info about the "Prehistoric Pompeii" covered by volcanic rocks. 

I visited this WHS in March 2018. It started with a very pleasant and beautiful 50 minuts boattrip from V&A Waterfront, then in a bus with a guide (who actually was living on the island with his family) around the island to the prison where Nelson Mandela had been kept for 18 years. Our guide here was also a former ANC prisoner - and it was very interesting but also very sad to hear him speak about his time in jail. At the end of the tour we saw Mandelas prison cell.

The whole island is a museum now - a very interesting WHS and it is very important that we don't forget the history.

The “Ancient Greek Theatres” proposed site encompasses 15 theatres across Greece including three that are already World heritage sites (Epidaure, Delphi, Delos) and one, the Dionysos theatre, located on the slopes of the Acropolis, in the buffer zone.

The Greek theatres definitively possess an objective OUV for the world’s culture and history. It embodies the level of advancement reached by ancient Greece. Moreover, this serial site puts the light on several major ancient Greece sites but also on more remote ancient greek cities and ruins that help acquiring a broader view and understanding on Greek antiquity.

On top of those of Epidaure, Delphi and Athens, I have also visited the theatre of Argos which is quite impressive and surrounded by large ruins.

I visited this WHS in June 2018. The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland are one of those great WHS which I would have never visited were it not for their inscription on the WH list. Even more so, since their beauty lies mostly in their decorated interior. There are more than 400 of these decorated farmhouses (some you can sleep over in) and the vast majority are very similar with falun red painting. Since inscription, street signs with the UNESCO symbol have been placed near the inscribed farmhouses.

From Falun I drove towards Alfta to the restored and non-inscribed Ol Anderson decorated farmhouse which also houses an emigrants museum. During July and August, the visitor centre is open everyday from 11:00 to 17:00, during May, June and September it's open Friday to Sunday (11:00 to 15:00) and from October to April it's open only on Sundays (11:00 to 15:00). The staff here were extremely helpful and went out of their way to provide information, books, leaflets and contact numbers to visit the inscribed and privately-owned decorated farmhouses. There also is one of the UNESCO WHS inscription certificates in the visitor centre, even though each of the houses I visited proudly displayed one of these certificates too.

In June when I visited, daily guided tours were supposed to be organised at the Pallars and Jon-Lars decorated farmhouses, usually starting with Jon-Lars' at 14:00 and proceeding with Pallars' at 15:00. The combined guided tour costs a whopping 400kr per person or …

Stolac is already placed on the World Heritage map thanks to the Stecci. Indeed, the city possesses several Stecci and especially the Radimjla necropolis which is one of the greatest and most representative examples of these medieval tombstones. The town in itself is not very tourist-friendly as there are no infrastructures and sights are badly indicated. The city seems to be stuck in the post-Yougoslavian war state.

We managed to see several churches, mosques and historic houses along with one old bridge. The town fortress dominates the wall city and seems quite massive. We did not have too much time to spend in the town and no real motivation to stay more (no restaurants open) so we left after a couple of hours in Stolac, We did not find any indication for the Hellenistic ruins of Daorson which seem, nevertheless, to be of big interest for the history of the region.

The historic centre of Oporto is located along the hillside of the northern bank of the Douro River, just a few kilometres from the Atlantic coast. In guidebooks, the historic centre is often subdivided into an upper town with the cathedral at the highest point and a lower town, the Ribeira quarter. But that’s only half the truth. Actually, Oporto is an up-and-down-up-and-down city, a proper visit of the core zone can be an exhausting exercise.In May 2018, I spent two and a half days and three nights in Oporto. I had accommodation in Vila Nova de Gaia, just two hundred metres from the Ponte Dom Luis I. So I had several times the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful view of the old town from the top level of the bridge or from the opposite bank of the Douro. It is one of the most picturesque urban landscapes I’ve visited so far, almost a bit corny (take my photo as a proof): the river, wooden ships with old wine barrels, lines of colourful houses one above the other along the hillside.But that’s just the first, superficial impression, on closer inspection you get a different view. Some reviewers described Oporto as raw and dilapidated, I agree, and I also agree that this contributes to the special atmosphere. When I visited Oporto in May 2018, there were numerous construction cranes and scaffolding, many façades looked newly renovated, especially in the main streets such as the Rua das Flores. Obviously things have improved …

I have discovered Messene (not to be confused with the modern town Messini 20km from there) on my way from Mystras to Bassae, in Peloponnese. Messene was founded in 369 BC and became the capital city of the Messenian state for centuries before falling under Roman rule. The archeological site displays an impressive number or structures including fortifications, a 9,5 km wall with monumental gates and defensive towers, a theatre, several temples and an impressive stadium with facilities. The most impressive part of the fortifications (including so called Arcadia Gate) can be seen on top of the hill few kilometers from the archeological centre. To me, the site is one of the main missing WHS in Greece considering the extensive remains and uniqueness of certain attributes such as the monumental fortifications.

I visited this National Park in July 2017. Lençóis means sheets, a reference to the wavy lanscape of the park, a system of little lagoons among sand dunes. I don't know if a landscape like that can be found elsewhere, but for me it seems very unique. It's important to say that many of the lagoons can dry in the second semester, and I can't imagine the beauty of the park without them. To reach Lençóis Maranhenses first you need to go to Barreirinhas, a small city with hotels and the general support. Most of travellers arrive there from São Luís, the closest city with an international airport, and also with a historic centre listed as heritage site. On my road trip I chose another way, going from Parnaíba city, but that's not the easiest way for a foreigner traveller. Barreirinhas is just ok, not very appealing except for the views of a river there, but restaurants are nice.

In the hotel they offered some options of day trips to the park. I went only to the tour of Blue and Emerald lagoons, but there's also a popular tour to the Bonita lagoon, a little more distant. These two lagoons are more famous because of their colors, but there's a countless number of them. Arriving in the park is a little adventurous. The usual way is to go in seats in the back of a pickup truck, not so uncomfortable as it sounds, but it can be a little …

I visited this WHS in June 2018 as a day trip from Stockholm. There are frequent flights daily from around 07:30 till 19:00 from Bromma Airport with SAS and the cheaper Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA). My visit happened to be just a few days before the Almedal Week, known as the biggest 'political' festival in Sweden so booking well in advance was an asset to secure the cheapest options available. If you travel from Stockholm on a sunny day, try to secure a window seat on the left hand side of the plane (first come, first served basis on BRA) as the panoramic view of the walled town with the Baltic Sea in the background is worth viewing before landing.

During the summer months, the Flygbussarna Airport Coaches offer a shuttle service to the city centre which is timed around 15 mins after each arrival. Tickets can be bought on the bus with credit card only and free city maps, leaflets and wifi are available on the bus itself. It's not a very long walk if you want to save money and are not pressed for time. The bus stops 3 times at different points around the city walls and after less than 10 mins I decided to stop at the first stop, Norgatt (photo - morning light is great here for photography), to enjoy a lovely walk around the 3.4km ringmuren or town wall built in the 13th and 14th centuries with 27 preserved ground towers and 9 …

The Episcopal complex of Zadar includes the Roman forum, the cathedral of St. Anastasia, the archbishop’s palace, the church of St. Donatus, the Zmajevic seminary, the orthodox church of St. Elias, the Benedictine nunnery with the church of St. Mary and several other buildings / museums. The central point of this site is the main square with the ruins of the roman forum and the church of St. Donatus, with rotunda shape, with the cathedral tower on its side. The site is a fine and esthetic ensemble. St. Donatus and the cathedral are historical masterpieces. However, Croatia will have to make efforts in justifying the OUV and uniqueness of this place compared to other religious ensembles in the country. Extending the site to include the whole Zadar historic center would maybe be a possibility to explore considering the rich Venetian heritage also existing in the town in addition to Roman and Christian buildings.

Having made my way up the hill to see the dinosaur steps at Cal Orck'o I found myself in front of a closed museum door. As so often before; I really need to work on my travel itineraries.

Now I had come to understand that even without the museum offering some context information you would be able to see the site. I was standing at the museum gate on a platform and all I could see were plenty of trucks driving in and out in what to me looked like a usual quarry, a pretty busy one at that.

I was about to climb the fence hoping to get a better view of those dinosaur steps around the corner on the quarry edge (picture). But then a local teen intervened and was so kind to give me a short tour of the side. Indeed, I was already seeing a major part of the site from where I was standing. The seemingly random holes I was seeing on the other side of the quarry were those fabled dinosaur steps. Originally, the steps had been on the ground, but tectonic shifts had turned this 73 degrees upwards. The footprints were found due to work in the quarry.

OUV

Looking back millions of years to see the footprint of dinosaurs is plain amazing. So I would encourage you to make the small detour if you happen to be in Sucre anyhow. However, as long as the site is …

I visited this WHS in June 2018. I slept over in Falun in the miners' neighborhood of Elsborg which allowed me to spend more time not only around the Great Copper Mountain, Kopparberget, but also at the inscribed components around the wooden town of Falun.

My favourite red falun wooden buildings were those housing the waterwheels, the large 'three-tiered' one and the smaller one (photo). Incredibly enough, the former houses the highest bridge in Sweden (till 2012) at 208 metres above the Creutz shaft. To give you an idea of the enormous depth of this shaft, the Millau Viaduct in France at 270 metres is the highest in Europe! The Creutz water wheel was erected in 1845 and has a diameter of 15 metres. The Falun Mine is also part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH).

The slightly uphill hike round the circumference of the Great Pit and slag heaps is worthwhile with several information boards and peeking points. In summer, in the late afternoon and in the evening, birdwatchers should head straight to the viewing platform just opposite the visitor centre. From here, with a bit of luck and if you allow enough time, you should be able to spot a pair of one of the world's biggest and heaviest owls - the Eagle owls - which nest in the Great Pit and love resting on the two mining vehicles at the bottom of the pit.

The Tbilisi Historic District is part of the Tentative list of Georgia. It’s a small neighbourhood in Georgia’s capital that can be explored on foot. The rest of the city is of course much bigger: over a million people live there and one moves around the easiest with the subway that still dates from Soviet times. I went several times to Didube metro station for example, to take buses to Mtskheta and Gori from the eponymous bus station. A ticket costs a mere 0.5 lari (0,17 EUR).

I first explored the Historic District by the 3-hour 'free' walking tour of Tiblisi Hack Free Tours. This was under the guidance of Russian(!) Anya and together with about 15 other tourists from all corners of the world: Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany, Canada, United States, Jordan. Her key question was "Do you think Tbilisi is more Asian or more European?" This befits one of the two key elements in Tbilisi’s claim to OUV: the location of Georgia (and especially Tbilisi) on the cross-roads of Europe and Asia with all consequent historical conditions. I think the Historic District is more oriental, to a certain extent it resembles Istanbul or Sarajevo. The traditional sulphur bath houses and their domes also contribute to that image.

The Historic District also has many dilapidated and vacant houses. These were abandoned by their owners in the 80’s and 90’s, when the economic situation in Georgia was very bad. There are no clear plans what to do with them. …

From just seeing the title I am thinking that this site and the Chinese 'Imperial Kiln Sites of Jingdezhen' are pretty much identical but I can't say this from not being at the latter. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes along and says there should be a cross-nation connection to inscribe both places.

Arriving by car the site is very easy to find. There are signs from the highways and the navigation was correct to find it. Once I had arrived, however, I wasn't sure what to do. There is not visitor center per se, in fact there is no ticket for this site and aside from a bus from an adult Down syndrome center using the park facilities there were no tourists whatsoever. Said park facility are basic but accomodate coming even with a crowd and picnicking is easy. There are also several shops for buying food items.

But we want to review the kiln site, right? At first I didn't find it. In the end the kiln processing units are hidden behind the museums. In what I would call a very "Korean" approach (see Jeju Island) there at least half a dozen museums spread about, with the biggest one probably the pottery museum. As everything was Korean I did not want to waste my time going inside so I cannot tell if there were sections for the kiln processing - I doubt it.

So after I skipping this and following some obscure signs into …

I visited this WHS in June 2018. Apart from the falun red earth-and-timber furnace with engraved milestones (photo), the other components of this WHS are quite similar to the agricultural and idyllic setting of the decorated farmhouses of Halsingland rather than part of an industrial landscape.

The ironmaking traditions of the Norberg mining district go back to the Middle Ages even though iron had been worked at Engelsberg since prehistoric times. In summer, guided tours can be pre-arranged everyday by contacting the tourist office in Fagersta, but make sure to have some kroners as only cash is accepted (very rare in Sweden!). The area can be easily visited for free without a guide by following the numerous information boards. To me, the highlight of this WHS was the area around the manor house with the clock tower, two ornamental slag-stone towers and the nearby forge powered by waterwheels.

Opposite the ferry point to the world's oldest preserved oil refinery on Oil Island, make sure to visit Nya Serveringen, an excellent place to have some shrimp skagen and freshly baked pastries. All in all, the WHS in Engelsberg was a worthwhile picnic stop en route to Falun.  

Ever surfaced from a dive to be greeted by a herd of dromedary camel herd? Going diving at Sharm el-Sheikh gives you an easy opportunity to go diving at Ras Mohammed National Park. The fuel costs to go that extra bit means the dive shop will charge you more but it's totally worth it. You can of course stay close to the park if you plan on dive there for longer and they shouldn't charge you extra for the trip.

The park is extremely popular with tourists and for a good reason. Excellent diving, flawless conditions for most of the year, easy access, abundance of corals, fish (many sharks including whale sharks if you are lucky, ignore the oceanic whitetip shark attacks from 2010), turtles, nudibranches, and crustaceans. The ecosystem doesn't seem unique at first sight, it may be great from a tourism point of view, but the few instances of glimpsing the underwater world hardly covers a fraction of the entire park. I will have to take research, management and dive reports to understand that the uniqueness of this place

The fragile corals in the park are at high risk according to the management, in part they say due to divers and snorkelers. I've seen my good share of bad diving behavior and snorkelers can easily reach the shallow soft corals from the surface, with trampling being the main cause for concern - you can't and shouldn't walk/sit on corals! More protection would improve the state of …

I visited Sweden's only tentative WHS in June 2018 shortly after landing in Arlanda airport. 

It is just a short drive away to Uppsala where a visit to Carl Linnaeus's home (museum) and garden will give you an interesting overview of who Linnaeus was. Linnaeus was known as the father of modern taxonomy and he was one of the most reknowned scientists in the 18th century. Although it was an interesting stop and it is definitely a site of regional importance especially for Uppsala, I failed to appreciate any OUV overall.

Being a couple of kilometres away from Uppsala, towards the direction of my next destination, I decided to stop by another component of this strange WHS, namely Linnaeus' summer home, Hammarby estate (photo). This falun red estate is hailed as one of the most authentically preserved estates from the 1700s with plant species from all over Europe which were mentioned in Linnaeus' major publications, Systema Naturae and Species Plantarum. From May to August, it is open everyday from 11:00 till 17:00 except on Mondays. Its setting reminded me of the Brickendon Estate in Tasmania, Australia. Again, nothing really of OUV was evident even though there are information boards everywhere clearly hoping for inscription on the WH list.

Having visited quite a number of WH gardens, I would be surprised to see this tentative WHS inscribed. Perhaps making it a transnational site could help, but until then what made my efforts worthwhile was the delicious fresh strawberry …

On the outskirts of Edirne you find a former Ottoman medical center, the Sultan Bayezid II Complex. It was founded in the 15th century and operated for 400 years. Nowadays it houses a museum showcasing the training and procedures of Ottoman medicine. Apparently, this was one of the first institutions treating psychological ailments as something other than being possessed by a demon. Or worse.

The site consists of a madrasa, some houses and a large mosque. I felt reminded of a Christian monastery with a clear Ottoman tilt.

OUV

The site's focus on Ottoman medicine provides a unique angle that should at least warrant review by Unesco. If the site were added, it wouldn't be one of the great ones, but more one of those niche nominations that are all so common in my native country Germany nowadays.

Personally, I wouldn't mind inscription and I do recommend visiting if you are in Edirne for the Selimiye Mosque. One alternative to inscription as a separate site would be to extend the existing site in Edirne to include the hospital and potentially more sites in the town itself.

Getting There

See my comments on the Selimiye Mosque for getting to Edirne. From the town center it's a 20min walk to get to the site.

The Mata Nacional do Buçaco is located 550 meters above sea level at the highest point of the Serra do Buçaco mountain range. The forest area is surrounded by a high, 5-kilometre-long wall. Actually, it is an arboretum with a multitude of endemic trees and shrubs and exotic species brought by the Portuguese seafarers from the colonies.

Coming from Coimbra I arrived in the forest in the morning and in the thick fog, which often seems to occur in Buçaco. I entered the forest through one of the eleven gates and paid 5 euros for parking, the entrance is free for pedestrians and cyclists (you can also park the car outside the walls).In the centre of the park is the neo-Manueline Buçaco Palace, built for the last Portuguese king. Today the palace is a 5-star hotel, I could only take a short look into the entrance hall and the restaurant, looks nobel and luxurious. From the outside it has similarities with the Quinta da Regaleira Palace in Sintra.Right next to the Palace is the former Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco, or rather its remains. Large parts were destroyed for the construction of the Buçaco Palace or are today integrated into the hotel complex. The chapel of the convent has been preserved, but unfortunately it was closed for renovations. The façade is decorated with black-white mosaics and looks quite nice.There are a number of hiking trails starting at the palace, I chose the Via Sacra up to the highest …