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Traveling to Bethlehem from Jerusalem is not difficult if you are not an Israeli. There are some restrictions when going into the Palestinian Territories, and your van might get searched crossing the border, but dozens of buses and tour groups do this every day and it is quite normal. There are currently no safety issues going to Bethlehem.

Most groups visit the Church of the Nativity and leave. There is more to see in the area including the Milk Grotto and Star Street.

The church is very old. The current building was built in 565 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Over the centuries there have been many restorations and repairs to the building, including a recent restoration which took place in 2017.

The birthplace is in a very small alcove under the main altar area. There is usually a long line to visit the spot which is marked by a silver star, which is shown in the photo above.

The door into the church is also ridiculously small, so you will have to crouch to enter the church. This was created several hundred years ago to prevent horses from entering the church.

This serial tentative site is made of 7 buildings spread along Calabria peninsula. We visited 6 of them during our tour in Southern Italy in April 2017, from North (we had visited Matera before) to South. They dated back from times when Byzance was ruling this territory and are said to represent influence of Eastern monks in the area. Most of them were following Saint Basil rules, hence the name of “Basilian Byzantine” monuments.

Our first stop was in Rossano, were small San Marco church is located. The city is on top of a hill, overlooking Ionian see. The most difficult point was to park our car, then we easily found the cathedral in the middle of the old town and the Codex Purpureus museum (next door). This book (codex) is displayed in a small but recently refurbished museum and is said to be one of the oldest book in Europe, allegedly brought by monks from Syria who escaped from Muslim conquest in 7th century. This museum was a good introduction to the monuments we were about to visit. Friendly staff of the museum also gave us indications how to find the San Marco church, ten minutes walking distance from the museum and cathedral. The church is simple and very nice, just at the outskirt of the old town.

Later in the afternoon we drove to the old monastery Santa Maria del Patire. It is a long, narrow road in the mountain. There was a convenient car park, the church …

All nine sites of this serial nomination can be covered in a 30 minute walk, in fact several of these iconic early skyscrapers are adjacent to each other. I visited each without too much difficulty, however there are different levels of satisfaction. For example, some structures have little value remaining within as the interior has either been changed, significantly altered, or completed gutted. For visitors, there are 2 wonders included in this nomination that perhaps justify inscription together, regardless of the other sites. 

1) Rookery Building (1888) This structure is the gem of the ensemble and is note-worthy for both its exterior and magnificent interior lobby. The later was redesigned by a rising star at the time, Frank Lloyd Wright, who in 1905 was in his late 30's. The interior really is stunning. In addition, there is a Frank Lloyd Trust office and store in the lobby with handy FLW architecture maps of the Chicago Metropolitan area.

2) Marquette Building (1895) This is a must-see component of the Early Chicago Skyscrapers nomination. The front entrance is adorned with scenes of Chicago History. The History of Chicago and the Great Lakes region are even more richly adorned in the lobby, which is open to the public. Visitors are rewarded after exiting the lobby going straight past the National Historic Landmark sign to an informative display about the Chicago School or Architecture. Interesting panels about the History of the Marquette Building and this period of construction is displayed, providing excellent context to …

Several monasteries spread over a 30 km stretch of semi-desertic breath-taking landscape. The most famous, and easy to reach, monastery is Davitis Lavra, and the nearby cliff rock-cut chambers of Ubadno.

Getting there is quite easy, either with own car or with numerous day-tours organized from Tbilissi. Public transportation is limited to the daily « gareji line» shuttle bus, which I did not experience. Google map insist to get there through Rustavi, but this road is in extremely bad condition and not signposted at all. So do take the north road passing through Sagarejo and Udabno village, which is well signposted. It takes about 2 hours. The last 6 km is on dirt road, which are however passable by regular car. The road is spectacular, with magnificiant landscape.

Davitis Lavra (Saint David’s lavra) is the main monastery, nestled between rock cliffs. There is a church shop (only selling candles and icons). It is an active monastery, with two active churches in which Saint David is buried. It was founded in the 6th century, but most of the buildings, and the protective walls are later addition (17the century).

Ubadno monastery (not to be confused with Ubadno village) is located on a ridge above the Lavra. I really enjoyed discovering some of the rock-cut chambers forming this complex. To get there, next to the Lavra church shop is a dirt path going up the hill. The path allows fine views over the Lavra. It can be very slipery after rain. It splits …

Despite warning on the “Beast from the East” in the news, after a lucky day in Urbino, I decided to take a gamble to visit nearby another World Heritage Site, the small Republic of San Marino. After I left Urbino, it was snowing heavily for the whole evening, fortunately I reached my hotel in San Marino safe and sound after 4 hours for short distance in such severe weather. I only hoped that the snow will stop tomorrow morning. It was snowing for whole night and still continued for the next day. I waited and waited until snow seem to be OK to walk outside. The whole country was under the snow and seem to be shut down as nobody on the streets and all the shops were closed, only government office still opened.

I walked alone in the “winter wonderland” of snow and ice capital of San Marino. Many roads and pathway were full with snow. I tried to walk to the famous Mount Titano and San Marino’s well known towers, despite the sites were opened, the pathways to reach those attractions were almost inaccessible unless you were equipped with ski gear! The snow was so high that it reached my knees! I walked to tourism center to get the cheeky 5 Euro souvenir visa stamp on my passport, saw Basilica and the tiny parliament. After twice slipped and fell from the snow, I decided to stop and carefully walked back to the hotel. To be honest I was …

On the first week of March, the “Beast from the East” almost made me to cut Urbino from my plan after I heard that there was a weeklong heavy snow to this city causing many roads to be closed and some municipalities near Urbino declared emergency situation. After successfully secured rental car with winter tires, a hard to find in Italy and found out that clear sky would happen for only one day, I drove to Urbino directly from Rome in early morning. When I reached Urbino, the weather forecast was accurate, it was cold only -6 degree Celsius but with clear sky. The whole city was under the thick snow; however, the city was really lively by the locals who came out to use this one-day chance to clear snow from their home and moved their cars to underground parking which the city just announced to waive all parking fee, good news for me.

Unfortunately, because of heavy snow, all the attractions and most of the shops and restaurants were closed. Even it was closed, the Ducal Palace complex was really a main attraction for its sheer size compared to other places in town, the view of its front façade from the square in front of the City Gate was classic postcard. From there I took an elevator to upper part of the city and aimlessly walked around the city along the streets that full of piles of snow and broken ice. I walked to the famous steep …

It was a rainy day when I visited the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi in Kampala, Uganda, in summer 2014. The grey afternoon served as a fine backdrop to a World Heritage Site that had seen its share of troubles after a fire destroyed several of the buildings in 2010. The site had been inscribed for its cultural significance for the Baganda people, and the centerpiece was a large thatched house containing the royal tombs of four Buganda kings who reigned in the 19th and 20th centuries. When I visited, all that remained of the central house was a steel frame and a concrete platform awaiting reconstruction, all surrounded by a metal fence. Sheaves of straw were positioned around the hill in preparation for the repairs of some of the thatched houses surrounding the central house. I walked through the drum house and other houses that were not destroyed or had been rebuilt, and admired the craftsmanship of the roofs as seen from inside. One thing that surprised me in some houses was the presence of modern material such as concrete and steel in addition to traditional materials; these changes had been made in the 20th century. As I understand it, the overall reconstruction work of the tombs is still in progress, but I would love to see them once they are rebuilt.

Logistics: The Kasubi Tombs are located in Kampala, and can be reached by private transportation.

The Necropolis of Bet She'arim: A Landmark of Jewish Renewal is a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site in Israel. It was inscribed into the list in 2015 and is part of Bet She’arim National Park.

Unlike many of the other World Heritage Sites in Israel, it primarily deals with post-Christian era Jewish Heritage, so it only tends to attract Jewish visitors. Nonetheless, it deals with an interesting part of Jewish history and is worth a visit if you are in the Haifa area.

Bet She’arim is located approximately 20km from Haifa and it easy to visit the park on a day trip from Haifa, Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem.

If you are planning to visit other World Heritage Sites in the area, it is in close proximity to Bahá’i Holy Places, the Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel, Tel Meggido, and Acre.

There are several parts of Bet Guvrin which I found fascinating. First, it is one of the only places in Israel where the public can participate in an archaeological dig. There are numerous caverns which were dug under the houses of people in the area which were later used for garbage. Because the artifacts in the garbage were mixed, there are no formal strata that need to be preserved, so they are willing the let the public help out in digging.

Also, all of the caverns were dug by hand and many of them are enormous. They were dug over centuries by just extending the floor of the cavern further down. It is a popular attraction for Israelis but few foreigners bother to visit.

Teylers is an 18th century museum complex and former scientific institution in the centre of Haarlem. It has been on the Dutch Tentative List since 2011, and even already was brought up for nomination in 2013. However, ICOMOS advised a ‘Rejection’ and the nomination was subsequently withdrawn by The Netherlands before the WHC session. The nomination failed to convince of the building’s scientific purpose (next to being ‘just’ a museum) and only small part of the complex was seen as exceptional. The Dutch still have hopes for a future renomination though, especially after several extensive renovation projects will be finished.

I had visited Teylers before in 2010, but was very disappointed at the time because of its small size and presence of crowds of inexperienced museum visitors. Now, in 2018, they have finished one of their major projects: the Lorentz Lab. This shows the office and laboratory of physicist Hendrik Lorentz, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1902 and “leading spirit” in an international network of early theoretical physicists that also included Albert Einstein.

On a rainy Sunday in March I paid the quite hefty 13.5 EUR entrance fee plus 1 EUR extra for a tour of the recently opened Lorentz Laboratory. I was one of the first to enter the building and directly walked all the way to the end, to the Oval Room. This was the only part that ICOMOS deemed of exceptional value, although its value also is as much about the (moveable) exhibits as about the …

Ver-o-Peso is a market complex, and it's the major tourist attraction of Belém, a city in North region of Brazil. It is located in the historic centre of the city (Campina district), on the banks of Guajará bay, so it's very easy to find. I visited this site in january 2018. 

For me the most important when going to Ver-o-Peso is to understand it is a mix of open air spaces and buildings, like a small district. I don't know which exactly is the proposed heritage area for this tentative site, but the protected area by the Brazilian Institute of Heritage (IPHAN) comprises Boulevard Castilhos França, the dock, the Fish Market (also known as Iron Market), the Municipal Market (also known as Meat Market), the Açaí market, the Clock Square, the Dom Pedro II Square, and Ladeira do Castelo street.

It's a big area, and I didn't visit the Dom Pedro II square, and the açaí market, an open air space for selling only a very popular local fruit named açaí. The major fair area is along Boulevard Castilhos França, in an open space with a tensile fabric roof, and there you can find things like fruits, spices, sauces, general food, some small animals alive, essences and natural medicines. The diversity of products there is impressive. I have to say the fabric roof is not very appealing, and I think they could find a better solution for protecting the area. I don't know how old this structure is, but it …

The ruins which compromise the Incense Route of the Negev mostly date back to the crusader era, even though the cities themselves are much older. That is why you will see Christian iconography and other symbols. The towns were part of a network of trading sites which extended from Oman, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. The Nabatean city of Petra was also part of the same trading network.I visited Avdat and Shivta National Parks, which are pretty easy to reach by car. You could visit all of the sites by car on a day trip from Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv. 

Tels are hills or mounds created over centuries by communities building over the ruins and refuse of the previous structures. Archaeologists often liken tels to a layer cake with each layer being a different period of time. As the mounds grow, they usually become narrower, which eventually leads to a shrinking of the population, and eventual abandonment of the tel. This process, however, can take centuries.

This world heritage site consists of three different tels in different parts of Israel. While there are many archaeological tels in Israel, these three were chosen for World Heritage status because, 1) they all have at least a brief mention in the Old Testament, and 2) they all have extensive human-built water systems. The water systems for all three tels are quite impressive and not obvious when you first arrive at the site as they are underground.I visited all 3 of the Biblical Tells during my 2016 trip to Israel. By far the most heavily excavated and visited is Meggido. Given its association with the Book of Revelations, it gets many religious tours who stop here on the way to Galilee. Ber Sheeba is very close to the city of the same name and gets many school groups. Hazor is the furthest away from anything and gets the least number of visitors. 

Lithuania gained independence after World War One, however Vilnius was soon after given to Poland. Kaunas was then designated as the new capital of Lithuania. As a consequence, many buildings were built in homogenous modernist style in a short period of time – actually till 1940 when Lithuania was taken by Germany then USSR.

It is easy to identify this part of the city on a map of Kaunas, with its straight and large streets, at the East of the historical area. Laisves avenue is the main street of the area. Arriving in the morning from Klaipedia, we stayed one night in Hotel Kaunas (easy to remember that name!) right in the centre of that area, before making our way to Vilnius on the next day, in August 2017.

Tourist website of the city provides a good list of most interesting interwar buildings; most of them close to each other. Walking Laisves avenue from East to West, we could see the post office, the former headquarters of Pienos Centras Company (at a street croner), Romuva cinema (on the north side of Laisves avenue, not immediately on the avenue but some 50 m back). Still walking to the East on Laisves avenue and turning next right (South) after seeing the cinema, we immediately found the former Officers’ Palace. One block north of Laisves avenue, you can easily reach Unity Square, surrounded by many “interwar” buildings: former ministries, schools, and the War museum. We wanted to end our tour at Christ Resurrection …

I have visited the Baha'i Holy Places twice now, and both times I've had limited access to the gardens in Haifa. Really just bad luck. The gardens are beautiful and are one of the top attractions for tourists visiting Haifa. At the top of the gardens, you get a great view of the entire city and the harbor. The view from the bottom of the gardens at night is spectacular and it is a great place to eat in the evening as well. Make sure to check before you arrive as to the operating hours of the garden and if there are any holy days or other special events going on. On my first trip I could only take photos through the gate. On my second trip, I could only visit a limited part of the garden. 

In case of this TWHS, the road taken was even more interesting than the actual site. We saw the burial tumuli of Al-Ayn and then decided to drive the shortest way possible to Al-Rustaq. Long story short, don't. The road seems to be okay for a while and then it gets worse before getting abysmal. 4WD would have been better, as the road gets bumpy and dusty, but at least you can catch glimpses of some unique local places. Anyway after a bumpy ride we arrived and parked our car by the fort. It was Friday, so it was closed in the afternoon, therefore we opted for the next best thing and walked around it. It's huge. If you've seen some other places of the Omani irrigation system WHS, this one has some too: there's a visible aflaj around, oasis and some wells.

Just to confirm the previous guesses, the heritage trail is still not really happening, so for anyone wishing to visit some or most of the locations, just mark them in your maps in advance. Having said that, the Sheikh Isa Bin Ali House is easy to find. Bahrain overall is best enjoyed with a rental car and there's a parking lot directly behind the property. The present opening hours are rather wonky: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday through Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and closed on Friday so plan your visit accordingly.

The house is a delightful site to visit: it is extensive and even though there isn't any furniture or decoration that remains, I particularly enjoyed the plaster embellishments of walls and gorgeous carved doors - though the best example can be found in the Bahrain National Museum. It has become a popular site with tourists nowadays so prepare not to have it to yourself.  

The Kuwait towers belong to the category I like to call "My First UNESCO": nominate anything as a WHS, make semi-sensible OUV description and you will get nominated if your country doesn't have a WHS of its own. I could look at some candidates. But I actually liked Kuwait towers, as they are an artistic and architectural representation of water towers, a structure inherent and important to the country. They were designed and built in seventies, by Swedish architects and Yugoslavian gastarbeiters were used in the making. They're a mix of actual water towers, observatory and restaurant. There's an observation deck open until 11 p.m. and you can get inside at the last moment. The entrance fee is 6 kuwaiti dinars. We enjoyed our visit, though I have to say the best view is of the lit up towers themselves than of the city skyline. 

It shouldn't have been a World Heritage Site that made me finally get around to visiting San Antonio, but I'm afraid the relatively newly-inscribed San Antonio Missions were the impetus for my visit last December. Well, that and the opportunity to see the San Antonio Riverwalk at Christmastime. The only mission most Americans are familiar with is the famed Alamo, where the American folk legend Davy Crockett died in a Mexican massacre during the 19th century Texas Revolution. While the Alamo excels in telling the story of the revolution (and indeed, re-enactors and a Mexican army bivouac were in place the day I visited), the older history of the San Antonio missions can be found at Mission San José, one of the four missions south of San Antonio. The churches of three of these four missions are open for tourists; I particularly appreciated the intimate interior of Mission Espada. The goal of these Catholic missions were to evangelize the native Indian population, after which the missions were turned over to the Indians. Their history reminded of my visit to the Jesuit training college museum in Tepotzotlán, Mexico, earlier in the year. The buildings of each of the missions have been kept up well over the past 300 years, and I highly recommend taking time to wander each of their grounds.

Logistics: The San Antonio Missions are connected by a fifteen-mile trail, as well as by a public bus route; there is also parking at or near each of the missions …

We visited this site recently after seeing both Bahraini's WHSs. We drove towards the Oil Museum, then back through many burial mounds and ended up in the village Barbar. There are three temples on this site, one on top of another, the oldest one dating 3000 BC. The culture was Dilmun, the temple apparently dedicated to the diety of the freshwater. There's a well with steps leading down towards it as a part of the site. The most popular find was the head of a copper bull that's one of the symbols of Bahrain and a symbol of the site. It can be found in the National Museum in Manama. 

The site can be found off the main road, it's signposted. In front of it is a large sports playground, parking spaces are available. There's no entrance fee, you just wave to the guy guarding the place. There's a lovely paved footpath circumnavigating the diameter of the excavation site. As a part of the efforts towards subscription, a brand new visitors' centre was built. Info panels are in English and they tell the history of the site, archaeological digs and have interesting pictures. The overall visit takes no more than 30 minutes and is easy to do when you navigate around Bahrain with a rental car.