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Guatemala on the whole is one of my favorite countries in Central America, and Antigua specifically just oozes charm. This entire 16th century colonial city is the UNESCO site, and it means that no matter where you wander, there are interesting buildings and facets of Guatemalan culture to uncover. 

The city has done well preserving the older buildings in recent years. So would say to the point that it's been Disney-ified, but I don't think that's a fair assessment. Yes, it's touristy and the buildings are painted a rainbow array of hues straight from a box of Crayola crayons, but it's also just lovely. Keeping things nice doesn't mean inauthentic, and for that reason I enjoyed how charming it felt to wander the low-slung town and cobbled streets. 

A highlight of the town is that there are a good number of things to do nearby, including volcanoes (which you can see from town), and numerous historic churches. I had the pleasure of visiting during Holy Week, Semana Santa, and the Easter celebrations in Antigua were unparalleled anywhere else (even in Spain, I reckon). The city is known for its elaborate carpets that last for just a night before the Semana Santa processions destroy them. I loved seeing the town come alive with locals for the holiday, and the deep religion here is also a part of what enlisted Antigua on the UNESCO list, so at no other point in the year can you so palpably feel the …

March 2018 - After our visit in Durham we came here to Studley. The visitor center is very nice and modern.

After the rain paused for a bit wen walked through the park. A lot of pheasants walked around and made it an interesting experience. After a short walk we reached the ruin. It is the heart of the park and way older than the park itself. However it is not a ruin, but was never finished, at least thats what we learned in a documentary about Studley. The rest of the park is not that spectacular, but certainly a good example for English Garden Architecture.

March 2018 - After the night in Newcastle we vsisted Jarrow early in the morning. It is locate in a smal park, next to highways and a playground. Not worthy for a world heritage site. But the OUV of this site I cannot rate anyway. I dont know that much about architectural history, but there is no buffer zone, and the experience when visiting is modest.

March 2018 - After our stay at the Lake District we continued our Journey to Newcastle.

We looked for the nicest route which was always along the Hadranwall. Most parts however were not very spectecular, but some other parts whereas were quite interesting. We made a few foto stops, but at the end the whole drive to Newcastle was very fast.

The German Limes we haven't really visited yet.

March 2018 - Wow, what a cathedral. We walked one hour through the cathedral and one of the guides told us about the history of the building and we discovered a lot of details. There are even mauric influences, which can be seen in the pillars of the church. We also got to hear a short concert on the organs. Amazing acoustics.

The university, and the area around the cathedral is very authentic and historic. The Tourist information has a detailed exhibition on WHS. Very interesting town and good for a stopover from Newcastle to the south.

We visited this “about-to-be-inscribed” T List site in May 2018 and arrived at much the same conclusions about it as Zoe has since reported. Having viewed several recent TV programs which had included it, we had great hopes, but in the end it disappointed - the "on show" reality doesn't live up to the "vision" (partly because of the way it was presented) even if you try hard to add your own imagination. The Museum, however, is excellent, both architecturally and in terms of its contents - we probably gave it as much time as the site.

Entrance to the museum and site is, in theory, free only to EU citizens (but only Eur 1.50 otherwise). We were asked our nationality and this was recorded by the desk clerk. The entrance hall contains a number of (open and unused) guichets as if there was/is an intention at some time to charge more general entry fees. We asked if the impending inscription might mean that charges for all would be introduced and were told that the management hadn’t decided yet. The bus costs Eur 2.50 return with a reduction to 1.50 for “jubilados”. The road up to the site IS public and turns off to a restaurant and the monastery of San Geronimo a short way before the small site car park which is blocked by an electronic barrier which only staff and buses can open.

The naming of the site as it is to be inscribed has been …

March 2018 - it was one of our ultimate goals to visit on the trip. it was a half day drive from Liverpool, and different than the whole week before, it started raining. Very unfortunate, but when we entered the nationalpark it was foggy which added up to a mysterious experience. We drove up to Hawkshead, where we visited Beatrix Potter Gallery and made a small hike visiting sheep, sheep, and more sheep. Very nice part of the Lake district. However we wanted more mountaineous so we still drove to Keswick.

The town is a typical adventure, outdoor experience kind of town, like there are in the US NP. We found a campsite and had some more beer and dinner. The next day we took a famous hike to Pennyworth.Next to Derwent water. From the top you copuld oversee the whole area. It was beautiful in the morning, especially the lake landscape.

What i do not really understand, is why Lake district is not a mixed WHS. The Lakes and mountains were not build by men, but are a product of ice age. Anyway we enjoyed our stay here very much and will definitely come back some day.

We lived in Paris for 10 years and tried for a long time to find a way to visit this building with rare name. To the best of our knowledge, there is only one way to achieve this: it is open for Heritage days (usually held on the third weekend of September), not every year, and registration is needed prior to the visit, as it is done by guided tours only. Watch up for the Heritage days program on the city of Meudon website (usually published end of August) and follow instructions for registration.

We visited that place in September 2014. For safety reasons, only one part of the building was accessible (and this must be the main reason to restrict the number of visitors), but this was enough to get a clear picture and understanding of the structure and the volume of the building. These visits can take place thanks to volunteers, part of an association aiming at protecting this building, trying to attract investors to restore it and, maybe one day, turning it into an airship museum. There were informative panels and people were here to answer questions. The tour also included a walk to the nearby hexagonal pond (“Bassin de Chalais”), once part of the park of Meudon palace.

This building was designed to host machines and engines during Paris World Exhibition in 1878. At the end of the fair, it was dismantled and rebuilt at its current location as one of the buildings of …

March 2018 - We arrived in Liverpool late afternoon. Enough time to walk along the docks, see the 3 gracies and get a glimps of the city. Of course we visited the Beatles exhibition first, well actually just the gift shop, went to the Tate Modern in the Albert Docks and marveled at the gigantic early skyscrapers.

Liverpool reminded us of a mixture of Hamburg and Seattle. It had a very specific spirit. The area around Cave Club was crowded with drunk tourists, but the harbour area was definitely worth a visit.

The next morning we drove along the abandoned factories in the north, that are being discussed at the moment, due to lack of conservation. Nice architecture and very authentic, but who knows how long. The picture was taken 3km north of the centre.

March 2018 - During our visit in Whales we passed the Menai bridge and walking around Conwy we could of course vist the Conwy Suspension bridge. the architecture is interesting, but OUV is not given at least not obvious. We have seen more amazing suspension bridges on our way. e.g. in Bristol.

March 2018 - Oh no, we arrived in Ironbridge, but the main attraction was under renovation and wrapped in white sheets. What a pitty! Anyway we took a walk to both sides of the bridge and tried to get a glance of the historic sites of the gorge. We had pastries, fish and chips, and there was a nice shop with a tremendous selection of gin and beer.

Hay Brook Valley we did not want to visit, due to time constraints and due to the high prize. By car we drove further up the valley to see some more factories and finally left the WHS again.

I guess we could have seen more and reap more from the visit. But without the bridge the experience was anyway just moderate.

What an incredible landscape. Although all of England is lush, green, and beautiful, when you arrive in Lake District National Park, the landscape changes. Hills rise higher and a bevy lakes appear around every winding road. The larger landscape was shaped by glaciers in the Ice Age, but some of the prettiest parts of walking the area is the more modern agro-pastoral system in places, where rock and wooden walls enclose large fields, holding in place the sheep that graze contentedly on every visible hilltop.

Having visited other areas of England, including the picturesque south like Devon and Cornwall, I can without a doubt say that the Lake District is unique. There's history here too, and when you take any of the dozens of recommended walks, you are seeing the landscape that inspired the likes of Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth, among others. 

The Lake District, despite being insanely touristy, is just wonderful. And the staff running the information centers are incredibly helpful at helping you select walks, hikes, and bike rides that meet your abilities. They also have information on the most scenic drives, and routes that stop in some of the tinier towns, where just a guesthouse, pub, and a few locals add color to the experience. 

And no matter if you explore by foot or car, you also have to add in a boat ride on Lake Windermere, or one of the smaller lakes. Seeing the landscape rise high from the Valleys while on …

What can I say about the Greater Blue Mountains? Well, they were there, tantalizingly shrouded in the fog when I visited in June of 2012. Eucalyptus trees lined the bluffs above the Jamison Valley on my hike from Echo Point to the famed Three Sisters rock formation, and a host of invisible birds announced their presence from the valley floor below. The Three Sisters revealed themselves at the last moment as an almost Avatar-like landscape of rock islands floating in the clouds, making the bridge crossing over the fog-covered chasm a rather surreal experience. Although I found the scenic viewpoints pretty useless during my visit, the experience of a natural wilderness revealing itself with each step into the unknown was pretty amazing. The Blue Mountains are only an hour or two west of Sydney, but they felt a world away, and I can only imagine what the park is like with better weather. The town of Katoomba, gateway to Echo Point and the Three Sisters, was pleasant and reason enough for me to return. And I'll have to make my way back if I ever have hope to see the vistas promised in all the travel literature.

Logistics: The Greater Blue Mountains are approximately one to two hours west of Sydney, depending on traffic; there are many trails near the base town of Katoomba.

Chichen Itza is the most iconic site in the Yucatan Peninsula for a reason—it's memorable. It's also incredibly well preserved and an easy place to wander and begin to understand the Maya civilization. I traveled there once solo, and then on a family road-trip with my nephews and they loved the grand scale of Chichen Itza, it impressed them in a way that nearby Tulum did not. Perhaps it was the shady paths that made it feel more like the ruins of an ancient city, but they could really imagine that this was once a place people lived and worshipped. 

Most memorable on both visits is the Grand Ball Court. Not only did the acoustics and the story of the sports played there impress me on my first visit, but it was the story that my nephews also most remember in the months and years after our visit. Dating to 600 A.D., the Maya had sometimes brutal games, and guides in Chichen Itza describe that the losers of the most popular game—Pitz—faced decapitation. 

There's just enough scale and drama at Chichen Itza to captivate even the youngest visitors, and it's an absolute must visit site for any travelers, including families. Since we were on a road-trip of the Yucatan Peninsula, we were seeing a lot of things, but also trying to make each day interesting. One hit was that we went to Cenote Dzitnup after Chichen Itza. It was a hot day and using this as the …

Erdogan must have had a master plan to spoil my trip to Istanbul as much as possible. Now I am not referring to the recent escalation of the conflict with the Kurds and in Syria or the overall political situation in Turkey, both of which had me postponing my long planned trip to Turkey for a year or two. No, I am referring to the (re)construction frenzy that has gripped most of Istanbul.

While I couldn't care less about another skyscraper being built in the suburbs, it felt as if each and every key tourist site of Istanbul was hidden in scaffolds. Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Hagia Irene, the Harem of the Topkapi Palace and the Chora Church, all were only partially accessible. If I were running the joint I would focus on one or two sites, finish and move to the next sites. My Turkish hairdresser back in Germany only rolled his eyes at my suggestion: Construction sites are good for your pocketbook, the more the merrier, the longer the better.

The scaffolds may have been one of the reasons why Istanbul didn't come together for me. Another was the traffic which makes it hard to just wander around in Istanbul as a pedestrian. Last but not least, I was left wondering how much had been lost when the city first fell to the 4th Crusade in the 13th century and finally to the Ottomans in the 15th century. This is best exemplified by the Hagia Sophia.

Albania is a country which seems to “dribble” in additions to its T List, unlike others which have wholesale revisions every 10 years or so. In 2017 Bashotva Castle was added – could this mean that nomination activity might soon follow? It sits only around 15kms off the Berat - Durres highway so we decided to take it in as we passed nearby in Apr 2018.

Well there is nothing really to write about! There were no entry "barriers", no fees, no "tourist paraphernalia" such as interpretation boards, and no other people ... anywhere near! It is a very large and empty square shell of 4 walls (photo of 1 "corner"). It was built by the Venetians in the 15th Century (possibly over earlier fortifications) and its current main claim to fame seems to be that it lies in a flat area of land near to the Shkumbini River estuary – whereas most castles in Albania are built at the top of rocky crags. When built, it might have been more able to make use of water as a defensive element but subsequent sedimentation and river movements have left it "high and dry". So the T List description states that “The special feature about Bashtova castle, is that it is the only Castle in the Balkans built on a field.”! That would not surely be enough to give it OUV even as an addition to the existing “Venetian Works of Defence”. 

My Web searches have thrown …

March 2018 - Caerleon is the first place in Wales to visit when coming from Bristol.

It should definitely be on the whs list together with the Limes and Hadrianwall.

It has a nice mseum on roman history, some excavations and an authentic amphitheatre.

The Ananuri fortified ensemble is conviniently located on the very touristic Georgian Military Highway some 70km north of Tbilisi. The view on the fort from the highway is phenomenal, with the (artifical) Zhinvali lake as a backdrop. Ananuri is a very popular toursit attraction, and the parking lot is full of souvernir stands. Entrance is free, and once inside the walls, there is no commercial activity anymore, and we can concertrate on visiting those historic buildings.

This fort was the headquarters of local feudal dynasty, controlling the valley, and the scene of several battles. Within the walls of this fort are two 17th century churches, the smaller Saviour’s church and the more imposing Church of the Virgin. Both display nice relief carvings on their exterior walls. On the west end of the walls is a 5 stories square tower (Sheupovari), built in the 12 the century, very worth climbing for a good view of the complex. In between the two churches is another 12 century watchtower.

Ananuri is a nice and atmospheric place to visit, and a convenient stop on the Georgian military highway.

A few extra points to those made by earlier reviewers about visiting the Donana WHS.

a. There are still unanswered “issues” regarding the inscribed boundaries of this WHS which create a problem if you want to ensure that you not only see its “natural environment” but also actually cross into the inscribed area. The 2005 WHC agreed a “Minor boundary modification” which was said to “bring the boundaries of the World Heritage property in line with the extended National Park; thus the total area of the World Heritage property will be 54,251.7 ha”. The following map titled “Boundary as extended by the 29th session of the WHS” (sic) was then lodged with UNESCO. Nb the “shape” of the NW of the Parque around El Rocio – a straight line following the A483 to the coastal developments.

b. However, maps of the Parque Nacional (PN) which we saw at visitor centres did not coincide with these boundaries. These 2 examples of maps on the Web are the same as the ones displayed in the PN - first  and second.

c. The "problem" area is the “panhandle” stretching NW from the La Rocina visitor centre. The UNESCO map doesn’t include it, but the Maps of the PN do! Furthermore, all descriptions of the current area of the PN describe its “Superficie total” (which presumably includes the “panhandle”) as being 54.252 ha i.e the same as the “extended” WHS!!! E.g from the same web site as the first …

WH Travellers who have visited or are planning a visit to the Antequera Dolmen might be interested in a couple of “mysteries” concerning what they saw/will see which haven’t as yet been raised in any review and, in one case, isn’t even mentioned in the Nomination file! They arose during our visit in May 18 and have been supplemented by a degree of extra investigation on my part since our return.

As you climb from the visitor centre up to the Viera Dolmen you will pass a modern plaza titled the “Centro Solar de Michael Hoskin”. It contains a sun dial and a bust of said man. Born in 1930, he is an eminent British Archaeo-Astronomer, “one of the pioneers and driving forces behind Archaeo-astronomy” who has spent many years studying prehistoric sites in Europe/the Mediterranean area with reference to their astronomical orientation. This article gives an impression of the “esteem” in which he is held in Antequera and the extent to which he is credited with identifying the factors which enabled its dolmens to gain WHS status. As a point of trivia - he also has a “Minor Planet” named after him - “12223 Hoskin”! 

The Nomination File states - “one should note - according to studies conducted by Dr. Michael Hoskin, professor emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and one of the pioneers and driving forces of Archaeoastronomy - that over 95% of the dolmens in Europe …