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The Piazza del Duomo in Pisa is one of the most famous sites in Europe, entirely due to an aesthetically designed tower that was poorly engineered. Thankfully there are hordes of tourists willing to prop the poor tower up with a carefully positioned hand (or hands). I visited Pisa with my brother on a blustery day in the fall of 2003. We arrived by train from Florence, and noted the wind was so strong that the Arno River was almost flowing backwards. Despite the cool weather, the Piazza dei Miracoli was rather crowded with visitors, which made it a bit of a miracle to get pictures of the tower, cathedral, and the perfectly round baptistry with only a few other tourists in the background. I had hoped to go up the tower, but it was closed; I can't remember whether it was due to the wind or to construction. My brother was a bit tired of cathedrals and museums after his first week and a half in Europe, so we wandered around the square for about an hour before heading back to Florence. The architecture of the three main buildings in the piazza was incredible, and definitely worth a visit. Maybe someday I'll return and get to climb up the tower and tour the cathedral and baptistry.

Logistics: The Piazza del Duomo is small enough that it is extremely easy to walk around; the piazza may be reached by bus or by an approximately twenty minute walk from the Pisa …

Cape Verde has a very misleading country name. It was named after the closest point in continental Africa (Green Cape), whereas the country itself is not verde (green) but rather desert-like. There is, however, one exception, which is the island of Santo Antao. The island is the westernmost in the archipelago and takes the most precipitation. There are high mountains dividing the island in two parts, where souhteastern part is barely green, while in the northwest there are regular forests and lots of plants. 

Some parts of the island (all being on an usual tourist route and easy to access) were recently submitted as T-list site. The most picturesque is Parc Naturel Cova, named after the extinct crater of Cova volcano. All its surface is really green and used as agricultural land. Two other parts of the TWHS are green valleys of Ribeira da Torre and Paul. The most spectacular is the view of Ribeira da Torre (see photo), a stone steeple that surprisingly survived erosion. Along the valley of Paul, on the other hand, there are great-looking traditional stone houses, as well as marvellous stone bridges. Both valleys are used for agriculture, mostly for sugar cane, which is the basic ingredient for famous Caboverdian rum (called here grog). 

Overall, although it is quite hard to assess the outstanding universal value of sites of this type, this TWHS has one of the best views in Cape Verde and is definitely worth visiting. Although the island of Santo Antao does not …

On my last day in Italy I visited Ivrea from Turin. After loads of medieval /Renaissance/Baroque cities and churches taking in some modern architecture was a welcome change.

Ivrea was the location of the headquarters of Olivetti and all the components of the site were Olivetti buildings. While nowadays the fortunes of Olivetti have dwindled, it was a very successful corporation for most parts of the 20th century up to the 80s where Olivetti was the second largest manufacturer of PCs worldwide. Olivetti also created several industrial design classics.

Walking across town I saw multiple factories, office buildings, and residential buildings. These were constructed over the decades while Olivetti kept growing and their styles vary along with the fashions. Also important to note is that the company buildings are just a part of Ivrea. Ivrea is not a fully artificial town as e.g. Crespi d'Adda is. As such, I found myself repeatedly wondering if I was looking at the site or just a normal building. I do recommend downloading the official map from the nomination website before you visit.

The most iconic building is probably the Unitas Residenziale Ovest. The factories are greatly reminiscent of the Van Nelle Factory. And the Centro Studi Ed Esperienza Olivetti offers a colorful Italian touch to modern architecture.

OUV

As pointed out by Els and other reviewers the state of preservation of the site is not great. Many of the buildings show rust and could use fresh paint. The lawns …

San Gimignano is one of the sites I knew I had been to as a kid, but never counted as visited. The simple reason was that all I remembered from the visit was the wild boar dish we had for dinner; it was delicious I believe.

I had tried some years ago to right this wrong and combine San Gimignano and Siena in a day trip. But Siena's charm had gripped me and I decided to forego the trip to San Gimignano and spent the full day in Siena instead.

Several years had passed when I finally arrived in San Gimignano. My expectations were rather high. This is the iconic fortified Tuscan mountain town. And truth be told: It's quite a site from the road when you pull up the hill by car or bus with all the towers rising to the sky from the city. Still, having been to Siena it felt rather underwhelming. It's really touristy and pretty small. In addition, there are plenty more Italian hill/mountain top fortified towns on the list and I can't really tell how San Gimignano distinguishes itself from other sites such as Pienza or Urbino, let alone Assisi.

Getting There

The closest train station is Poggiboni/San Gimignano. The city is another 12km from the station. There are busses running uphill directly in front of the station. You can buy the bus tickets at the bar in the train station. To save yourself the hassle also buy the return ticket. If …

[Visited Chengjiang Fossil Site on Apr. 5, 2018]

THE LOGISTICS

Chengjiang Fossil Site was somewhat an easy day trip from Kunming. The metro connectivity from the airport took an hour to Kunming South Passenger Coach Station. There were hourly buses for 18 RMB to Chengjiang County taking another hour via an expressway. And the ease of visiting this WHS stopped upon arriving at bus station. After almost three years from the last review, the situation of going to and of the site itself had not change - still no public transport except hiring a car, taxi or Didi (Chinese Uber for those with no Mandarin knowledge).

There’s Chengjiang Fossil Land Exhibition Hall in front of the bus station but that’s not the main reason to visit. Scrolling at the Didi app, there’s Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum which seemed somewhere near or at the inscribed area - a logical choice to see. The drive would have cost 35 RMB and took about 30 minutes but the driver missed the right turn so we ended up cruising along the banks of Fuxing lake, a nice diversion that I did not mind paying twice the amount.

To my surprise Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum, about 2 km uphill from the resorts construction boom of the Fuxian Lake Scenic Area, was still under construction and likely NOT inside the inscribed area. There’s no return transport from there either. Luckily, the driver was still around and knowing I was a captive market with limited Mandarin skills …

Visited April 2018. Diyarbakır is the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan. The city is really big and still booming thanks to the GAP Project, but the part interesting for tourists is located on its eastern outskirts, closer to the Tigris River. The Kurdish people call the city Amida as it was named two thousand years ago.

I have very mixed feelings about this inscription that was put into WH List 2015 after ICOMOS referral. Surely it is not my favourite WHS in Turkey although I have to admit that the inscribed part has a kind of a charm… There are 6 components which constitute one rather big unity: Içkale with Amida Mound, City Walls, Hevsel Gardens, Ten-Eyed Bridge, Natural water resources, Tigris River Valley.

1. Tigris River Valley. It is hard to believe that this river (locally called Dicle) together with Euphrates gave birth to Mesopotamian civilization. Now Tigris is just a 30-meter wide, shallow and dirty. Only eastern bank of the river has a walkable path, the one on the citadel site is partially in the private hands so wired fences are not uncommon. 2. Natural water resources are the most difficult to find. Just west of the outer walls, between Urfa and Mardin gates, after a moment of wandering around and asking locals, you can see Anzele Spring. Now it looks like a small pool, some of it hidden in the tunnel. Children are playing around, 3. Ten-Eyed Bridge is located around 3 km south of the Mardin …

Slovenia’s Tentative List features The timeless, humanistic architecture of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana and Prague. As the title already implies, this was meant to be a serial transnational nomination by Slovenia and Czechia. Last December however, after consulting ICOMOS, Slovenia decided to continue with the efforts alone: “the transnational bid was assessed as having little chance of success”. It is unclear yet whether they made the 1 February 2018 deadline for submitting the dossiers to be nominated for the WHC 2019, but we can safely assume that Slovenia will put this site forward within the next couple of years.

Jože Plečnik was a Slovene architect who made his most important works in the first half of the 20th century. He is nicknamed “the Gaudí of Ljubljana” for this architectural imprint on the city. I visited Ljubljana in 2014 after a few days checking out (T)WHS by rental car around Slovenia. This site wasn’t on the Tentative List at the time, so I had to revisit my photo archive of the day to see if I had visited (photographed) any of his buildings anyway.

The city is strong on Art Nouveau as well, and examples of that style stood out more to me in the streets of the Slovenian capital than the works of Plečnik. I spent most of my time at the embankment of the Ljubljanica River, an area in the city centre with lots of cafés and restaurants. This is already Plečnik Central. He was responsible for …

Sharjah: the Gate to Trucial States probably will be the next nomination from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A visit to Sharjah and the selected locations provides a great excuse to dive deeper into the history of the UAE. Between 1820 and 1971 they were known as the ‘Trucial States’ because of their treaties with Britain, which effectively made them a British protectorate. ‘United’ is an important word here: the main thoroughfare of the Dubai metro is called ‘Union’, and you may recognize ‘Etihad’ (Arabic for Union or United) from the Abu Dhabi airline.

Sharjah is the third ranked Emirate within the UAE, after Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Politically, it has much less influence than the other two which emirs always act as the union’s president and prime minister respectively. I went there by public bus E307A from Dubai’s Abu Hail metro station, an easy 25 minute ride. The cities of Dubai and Sharjah have actually grown together, many people live in the cheaper Sharjah and work in Dubai. The TWHS consists of numerous (too many?) locations, most of them in the capital Sharjah City but some lie much deeper inland until as far as the Oman Gulf coast (such as the Khorfakkan Fort, 140km away).

From the Sharjah bus station, I walked on the Corniche along the Sharjah creek to the historic center. This 'Heart of Sharjah’ is largely a reconstruction, and it is still being developed. It is intended to become a traditional style neighbourhood with museums, shops, …

I'm glad I visited La Fortaleza and San Juan Historic Site in Puerto Rico when I did in the fall of 2016, since I learned how beautiful and atmospheric Old San Juan is. This historic city is one of two Spanish built World Heritage Sites in the United States, and includes forts on either end of Old San Juan, most of the city walls, and La Fortaleza, home to the governor of the island. I didn't get to tour the palace, but I did visit both Castillo San Cristóbal, the fort on the east side of Old San Juan, and Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro), the fort on the west side of town at the entrance to San Juan Bay. San Cristóbal offered great views of the city, and was laced with tunnels and batteries to explore. Across town, El Morro's prominent position atop a hill, with the Caribbean crashing into the rocks below, helped contextualize its defensive importance. The walls of both forts were lined with the guard post towers, known as garitas, for which San Juan is famous. The US National Park Service offers informative historical programs at both forts, and I highly encourage a visit. This is particularly relevant now, since Puerto Rico can use as much tourism as possible to help its people recuperate in the aftermath of 2017's devastating Hurricane Maria.

Logistics: La Fortaleza and San Juan Historic Site can be explored on foot, although warning must be given that Old San Juan …

I visited this tentative WHS in April 2018. In my opinion, the French-colonial design still present in Casablanca is not of OUV and would definitely not contribute anything which is missing from the WH list.

On the other hand, Casablanca is a pleasant stopover between the two WHS of El Jadida and Rabat but mostly to appreciate the impressive Hassan II Mosque (photo) by the Atlantic Coast. 

I visited this WHS in March 2018. Since the site opens at 08:30 and the morning light is best for photography of the main features and mosaics, I decided to start my day trip early with Volubilis first, Moulay Idriss next and Meknes afterwards. This is a very easy and enjoyable day trip. Even though the sites may not be the very best on the list, together they make one of the best day trips I ever did.

Volubilis is a partly excavated Roman city which is commonly considered also as the ancient capital of the Roman-Berber kingdom of Mauretania. It has all the features and ruins you'd expect in a Roman city and exterior mosaics still in place without any means of protection except a few ropes to prevent tour groups from stepping on the tesserae. The absolute plus point is the beautiful natural setting which the site still enjoys except from the neatly perched town of Moulay Idriss some 3km away.

Arriving by car from Fes, I already saw a road sign displaying Volubilis' inscription on the WH list from some 18km away. There is a marble UNESCO inscription plaque too immediately after the ticket booth where you pay your 10 dirhams for an entrance ticket. There is a small (but ugly!) concrete 'interpretation centre' with a few information boards, capitols, columns, tools, remains and a couple of splendid mosaic fragments. It's amazing to be able to see hints of the beauty of an ancient Roman city in …

I visited this tentative WHS in March 2018 as part of my day trip covering most of the Meknes hotspot. Just before noon, I drove up to the highest hill looking over the hill where Moulay Idriss Zerhoun is perched beneath Mount Zerhoun.

On the day of my visit (a Saturday), there was a huge car boot sale and market going on so driving my rental car uphill through the narrow streets packed with locals, improvised stalls and donkeys was quite a challenge. The panoramic view from the top though was well worth it and helped me find my bearings afterwards from one alley to the next around the mosque area (open only to muslims). The experience was quite similar to the medina of Tetouan but here the whole focus of most locals and visitors is on religion.

For Moroccans, six pilgrimages to Moulay Idriss Zerhoun during the annual festival honoring Moulay Idriss is equivalent to one Hajj to Mecca. In 789, Moulay Idriss I arrived in Morocco bringing Islam to Morocco and starting a new dynasty. In addition to founding the sacred town named after him, he also initiated the construction of Fes, continued later by his son, Moulay Idriss II.

Therefore, the heart of this town is the Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss I accessible only to muslims. A quick peek (photo) just off the main square will still give you a gorgeous view of the central courtyard and minaret. I spent most of my time here watching pilgrims …

Have you seen the movie Mission Impossible 3 and ever wondered...wait, haven't? Okay, watch that first...done? Ok, good. So the last part of MI:3 was filmed in Xitang. You'd be surprised how many people think it is Suzhou because they think "canal + these bridges = Suzhou" as they went there for the gardens. Well, Suzhou has those canals and bridges but it is not the same. Also I heard people say that Suzhou would be the Venice of the East but actually that was the term also reserved for the water towns (and apparently Hoi An sometimes too). Seeing that the towns are so close to Suzhou I can understand the mistake. As a side note I booked the tour from Hangzhou but I bet public transport to at least one of the water towns is easy in this "Suzhou-Hangzhou-Shanghai delta".

I personally picked Wuzhen (as pictured) because for one the tour offering was better and second they told me this is the best preserved one of the four places. I think what they meant was that you get more shops but never mind that now.

When you go make sure it is not the deep summer. You will die of the humidity. The tour takes you on a boat ride through the village and then lets you freeroam for another hour or so. It is just enough time to stroll through the area, take pictures, avoid all souvenir shops and get a refreshing drink while doing so. The …

Al Ain is the second city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a pretty large one with over 750,000 inhabitants. It actually lies closer to Dubai than to its own capital, Abu Dhabi. I had somewhat underestimated these distances during my trip planning and also wanted to see the recently opened Louvre museum and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. So I cut my visit to Al Ain short to the Al Ain Oasis and National Museum to fit it all into a day trip from Dubai.

The oasis and national museum comprise only 1 out of the 17 inscribed Cultural Sites of Al Ain. Both places are very conveniently located next to the bus station of Al Ain, which is served every 30 minutes or so by comfortable direct buses from Dubai’s Al Ghubaiba Bus Station. The oasis is easy to see near the bus station, and the national museum is signposted.

I started at the museum, which charges a 3 dirham entry fee. At 0.66 EUR this is only a nominal sum, comparable to the fees I paid at similar sites in Oman. I guess these public museums are heavily subsidized by the government. I never encountered many visitors, often I was the only one. This museum is quite interesting, displaying mainly the archaeological findings (lots of pottery) from the various Al Ain locations such as Hilli.

I peeked into the old Sultan Fort next door as well, but they were busy with …

The long-dormant volcano of "Long White Mountain" is very hit and miss for viewing. Naturally winter is super cold up northeast China but summer brings lots of fog into the area. The entry fee to the park is also quite steep which all you can pretty much see is the Heavenly Lake after another paid bus ride. All this should be included if you get on an organized tour from Changchun or similar big towns nearby. Aside from strolling alongside the rim of the crater there isn't much to offer in the park, but having been on a tour maybe they just don't give you the chance to see anything else. It felt a little bit disappointing after driving so far and spending all the time queuing for the bus. A lot of people just quickly hide into the cafe/shop to escape from the cold up there. Even in summer you need to bring a light jacket to see the the world's highest volcanic crater lake. As a final note they are quite paranoid being next to North Korea here with army personnel stationed frequently and they want to ensure you do not cross the fenced off areas. I think technically the path goes all the way into North Korea so with some luck you can say you went to that hermit nation without doing an extra tour ;)

Absolutely one of the most charming cities in the world, I would recommend Tibili's Old Town to any traveler looking for inspiration that might reignite the travel spark. The Republic of Georgia itself is fascinating and my favorite places in the lower Caucasus region — the food, wine, architecture, history, and culture are completely unique in the world. 

For the Historic District itself, the best way to explore is on foot and with a camera in hand. The aesthetic is just gorgeous, with lattice-worked balconies sighing from colorful buildings. It's a fading glory though, and you can feel some of the Soviet-era destruction and just lack of ability to maintain. In that way, Tbilisi reminded me a lot of Havana, Cuba — it's so pretty, but some of that comas as a decaying beauty that is the priced the city (and residents) paid for living through history. 

The impressive Narikala fortress and Mother Georgia statue rise above the Historic District, which are also completely explorable and enjoyable. I've visited quite a few other UNESCO cities, including Antigua, Guatemala; Luang Prabang, Laos; and Hoi An, Vietnam — this one ranks high on this impressive list of cities. 

Perhaps even more enjoyable, however, are some of the more intangible aspects of traveling in the Republic of Georgia. The hospitality, the beautiful polyphonic signing (also UNESCO), the long history of wine (and the drinking of it that is quite present in current culture). Then, the city also makes …

The transition from Antiquity to Medieval times can be well traced with world heritage sites. You start in Split where you get a last peek of Roman culture in Diocletian's Palace. Ravenna comes next and you already start noticing that a major culture shift has taken place. Everything is a lot smaller all the while less worldly and more religious. With the Longobards you complete the transition to the Medieval Age with small and mostly simple churches remaining.

As a short stop over on my way from Assisi to Rome I visited the Basilica San Salvatore in Spoleto. I was really lucky as the chapel is currently (April 2018) closed due to renovations. However for Easter they opened the door so you could take a look. There wasn't all that much to see, though, as it's a fairly plain chapel with simple painted decorations.

A few years before I had been to Santa Giulia museum in Brescia, originally built as a monastery by the Longobards. In comparison I found the site more interesting and accessible. A highlight is the oratory that was added in later centuries. Also, my understanding is that the nearby Roman ruins are also included in the inscribed site.

Getting There

Brescia is conviently located on the major North Italian railwail line running from Torino to Venezia offering easy access to all sites of the Milan and the Veneto hotspots. It's also from here that you can catch the train to Valcamonica.

Spoleto can be …

Coming in a few weeks later than Fredrik I faced neither snow nor cold. And at least in the morning when I departed from San Quirico the weather was great for a hike. I followed the historic Via Francigena from San Quirico to Bagno Vignoni with a stop at Vignoni and got great views of Ripa d'Orcia and Rocca d'Orcia. San Quirico itself is nice with it's cobble stone streets.

Only after I had left Bagno Vignoni and found myself stuck half way between Bagno Vignoni and Pienza with no village or shelter in between, did I notice the dark clouds forming to the North. They made for an excellent backdrop for my pictures. But after checking the wind direction, I knew what was coming my way. The plain Tuscan landscape may seem picturesque if the sun is shining. With heavy rains pouring down and me looking anxiously for any form of cover, some less barrenness would have helped. Lucky me, it wasn't that cold and my pants dried quickly when the clouds had passed.

The hike itself was really nice, disregarding the frequent times I had to walk on the road. I got to see both the rather mountaineous side of the Val d'Orcia as well as the more hilly parts around Pienza. The area offers plenty more hiking opportunities and I really feel that this is the best way to experience it.

The frequent complaint brought forward by community members is that site is redundant with Pienza already …

I need to propose an addendum to Els rule about all Italian sites being closed on Monday. If Monday is a public holiday the sites are open, but the following day (= Tuesday) they are closed. At least that's what I learnt the hard way when I showed up in Cerveteri the Tuesday after Easter Monday. It had been a two hour trip from Roma Terminale to the site and I stood in front of a closed gate. I had checked the website before and it did not have any notice of Tuesday being closed.

Without hesitation I did what any seasoned WHS traveller would do in such a situation. No, I did not climb the fence or bribe the guards. I also didn't throw in the towel and head back to Rome. Instead, I accessed the Unesco page and openend the map of the inscribed property. Coming up to the museum gate I had already noticed plenty of tumuli and caves, so I figured that the core zone may well extend past the museum's fence. And indeed: The core zone of Cerveteri is way larger than the fenced area of the museum. Several tumuli are open all year round. The same applies to plenty of the burial caves. Especially, on the back side of the site you get great views and I would encourage you to go there in any case. In addition, there are several spots where you can peek through the fence.

Getting There

Roman public …

As a stopover on my way from San Gimignano to the Val d'Orcia I had an hour or so to kill in Siena. I had been before twice, but still looked forward again at the chance to have another peek at Siena.

The previous time I had visited my original plan had been to also tick off San Gimignano the same day. But when faced with the choice on skipping on the Duomo in order to catch my train to San Gimignano or staying in Siena for the rest of the day I fortunately went all in and stayed. It was well worth it and I would encourage you to do the same.

Siena to me is the quintessential Tuscan city world heritage site. Pisa may have the most iconic construction in the Leaning Tower and the Piazza del Duomo, Florence the greater collection of individual sites in the Duomo, the Uffici and the Ponte Vecchia, San Gimignano and Pienza the more picturesque location. But none offer anywhere near the same level of consistency or size that Siena offers all the while not being short on stellar sites itself: the Duomo of Siena, the Campanile, ... there is plenty here to take in. Interestingly, Siena feels a lot less touristy than any of the other Tuscan cities. I would guess it's a combination of the relatively large size and the lesser publicity it gets.

Getting There

Siena is connected by train to Florence and Pisa. On weekdays there are also …