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Palau’s Stone Coffin or Tet el Bad is one of the strangest entries on any Tentative List. It may be the smallest object in size: it measures 233cm by 66cm, at a height of 40cm. And it is a moveable structure, not only in theory but also in real life as it has been moved for research to a museum in Koror in the 1930s. It has stayed there until the 1980s, when it was transported back to its place of origin on northern Babeldaob. Despite its flaws, I am going to write a full 500 word blog post / review about it!

The coffin lies on Palau’s main island, Babeldaob. When I was young I was active with geofiction, and Babeldaob could have been a creation of mine (its name sounds like fiction already). Somehow the countries I created were always islands, often located in the Pacific. Always round or oval-shaped, with points of interest scattered around evenly across the surface. For sure I would have designed a flag for it, another one of my childhood interests.

Finding this stone coffin required some determination. I had rented a car from my hotel in Koror (on a different island, but connected to Babeldaob via a bridge), and drove all the way north to the ‘state’ of Ngarchelong. Possibly due to its long connection with the USA, Palau calls its communes ‘states’ – each often having not more than a few hundred inhabitants. There is only one main road into Ngarchelong, …

My expectations for Aranjuez were not too high - another royal palace close to a big capital -, but it's very easy to reach by commuter rail from Madrid, and the palace was actually quite interesting and well-presented (especially the Porcelain Room). I then went for a walk through the surrounding parks along the Tejo River, which feature many different fountains. It was an enjoyable half-day excursion, but as mentioned in other reviews, the site does not add a lot of new value to the WH list, as evidenced by the fact that Spain had to use the trick/work-around with the cultural landscape to get this site inscribed.

Alcalá is just a short train ride from Madrid and makes a very interesting half-day trip from the capital. Even though I visited on a Monday afternoon, which meant that many sights such as the cathedral and the Cervantes House were closed, I enjoyed my walk through a city oozing with history. Most tourists come to see the Cervantes-related sights, but the town's biggest claim to fame is the university (which offers guided tours also on Mondays). The Universidad Complutense was founded in the 13th century and was one of the most important ones in the Christian world during the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. When it moved to Madrid in the 19th century, the city became a bit of a backwater (a modern university was founded in the 1970s) and a commuter town. The historic university buildings are still well-preserved and make for an interesting visit. Guided tours seem to be offered only in Spanish, so I didn't catch every detail, but it was still a pleasant visit. From the outside, I also saw the neo-Moorish Laredo Palace and the former Palace of the Archbishops of Toledo, where Columbus planned his first voyage and where both Emperor Ferdinand I and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England, were born.

The walls of Campeche are nice but not complete and Not all original. I cannot imagine that there were not several similar or even more impressive even in the new world. For European standards they are modest. I either don't know enough to say if the colourful houses of the old city are unique and if there OUV is justified. However, to wander through the streets is a delight. Many houses are nicely renovated and the streets are full of shops, bars, restaurants and galleries. When you enter you see that the rooms are often beautifully and simply renovated. High ceilings with parallel how you can still find it in the buildings of Barragán and other modern architects. In some places the rooms extend in long sequences far into the building, sometimes combined with courtyards and fountains.

I got there after a day excursion to Uxmal, enjoyed my evening there and would have liked to stay for two days to explore the city with leisure. There are two original forts that I missed with interesting museums and at least one more worthwhile museum in town. Less then an hour away is the great precolumbian site of Edzna.

I visited this house during my one day in Mexico City flying home from Yucatán. The required reservation over the website did not work, therefore I just went there and was lucky to get a spot in a tour if though in Spanish.

The house is interesting: very clear but still full of asymmetries and surprises. Very modern but full of crosses as architectural elements and in old paintings. Very bright and open, but still protected from the outside world by high walls. It has many brightly painted walls and the predominant color is pink. It came to my mind I f Barragán was gay. A short glance in his biography seems rather to support this. Though the house is a museum you cannot enter all the rooms and it seems Barragán gave it in his will to his last architect partner. Perhaps it is him who still lives there.

The price for the visit is high with 300 Pesos. Our guide was ok but not great. He was not too happy to answer questions and looked from time to time into his chat messages...

While an interesting visit I am not sure if it is unique enough to justify the inscription and based on my internet search I am not even sure if it is his best work. The Cuadra San Cristobal in Mexico City seems a strong competition

Neighbouring to the museum in Nr. 20 is another house by Barragán that you can enter from 10-13.30h for 200 …

Cuenca makes a good stopover between the Mediterranean coast and Madrid, and the location of the Old Town is quite spectacular. Apart from that, though, I have to say that I didn't enjoy the place very much (ok, it was very cold and rainy, as opposed to heat and sunshine just a couple of hours before on the coast). It was just very grey and dreary, and the "casas colgadas" didn't strike me as particularly noteworthy either. The cathedral was quite nice, but also just one of many in Spain. The best thing about Cuenca was my stay in the parador on the other side of the gorge. It is a 16th-century Dominican convent with very nice rooms and a great breakfast (my first stay in a parador), and to reach the Old Town, you have to cross the narrow bridge that can be seen in many pictures of Cuenca. From the top of the Old Town, by the castle ruins, there are great views of the parador and the gorge.

Site visited January 2016. The great city of Isfahan is full of marvellous sights. Imam Square and the famous bridges are usually in the center of attention. Congregational mosque Masjed-e Jāmé is often overlooked maybe because of its remote location. This architectural masterpiece was the latest addition to Isfahan’s World Heritage Sites.

One of the great things about this site is its location surrounded by the vast Grand Bazaar of Isfahan. It is 1,5 kilometres walk from Imam Square and finding your way in the labyrinthine alleys of bazaar to the mosque is part of the fun. Although the size of the mosque is enormous you can hardly notice it when you walk next to it in the bazaar. You just pop in from a modest gate and suddenly you are in the center of this historical complex.

Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan is one of the oldest and biggest mosques in Iran. It has been constantly constructed, reconstructed and renovated so there are many historical layers. It is the first mosque that was built in four-iwan courtyard style and it became prototype of this architectural style in the Islamic world. There are two great domes opposite each other. Behind the large stalactites of south iwan is the robust brick dome of Nezam Al-Molk which is one of the biggest domes of its time. Behind the north iwan is Taj Al-Molk Dome which is a masterpiece of Persian architecture. Its geometrically perfect and balanced structure is very impressive. The four iwans …

When traveling by train in central Europe, it's hard not to transit through Vienna, and the city is well worth a visit for the architecture and culture. This is the season for balls in Vienna, but when I visited the city with my siblings in the fall of 2003, we were off-season. Nevertheless, the tour of the baroque Hofburg Palace downtown was fascinating, and I enjoyed the opulent rooms and the variety of art and artifacts on display. Anchoring Stephansplatz, the gothic Stephansdom cathedral with its elaborate tiled roof and soaring bell tower was one of the most memorable sites in the city, and the interior was almost as beautiful. Also memorable was the baroque Karlkirche, with its elegant dome. Vienna is a city of music, with a long list of composers who at one time were employed there. Accordingly, we made pilgrimages to renowed performance halls which we had heard about, including the Muzikverein, the Konzerthaus, and the Staatsoper. Although the weather was a bit rainy when we visited, Vienna exceeded our expectations, and I would love to go back some day.

Logistics: The Historic Centre of Vienna has excellent public transportation, with a well-developed network of buses, trams, and U-bahn and S-bahn rail lines.

Cenotes are sanctuaries, and the site qualifies to be a mixed one. Complementary sites could be included in the buffer zones, too. It's unfortunate though that other sites in several Tentative Lists have been removed, so it is understandable that the peresquites change. Increasing the list of delisted sites should be considered, and maybe even the option of broader transnational parameters. Of course, UNESCO has to allow for a broader debate, true to its Specialized agency status, but that shouldn't impede the inclusion of more adequate membership and even agents that remain truthful to their conditioned situation as citizens or ex profeso nature.

We arrived at the Fagus factory on a Saturday with the intention to participate in one of the guided tours which take place on Saturdays and Sundays. However, because there was an event scheduled on Sunday there was no tour on Saturday (since they were already setting up things for the event the next day).

Therefore, we had to take a tour with an audio/video guide. But we were lucky: the workers preparing the event didn't mind that we walked around in the factory so we got to see the same as during a guided tour (and maybe even more?).

Next to the audio guide tour, we also bought the 3-in-1 ticket (UNESCO visitor centre, Fagus-Gropius-exhibition and Gallery). The visitor centre does not add much to the info you get from the audio guide, but you can play with a media wall with information about all WHS (surprisingly addictive!).

The Fagus-Gropius-exhibition in the former warehouse provides five floors of background info about Fagus, shoes in general and even wood in general. While very well done and certainly interesting, we got the impression that there is too much space to fill - the upper floors become very high level. The Gallery is located in the former warehouse basements and is an art exhibition (can be skipped in our opinion).

Since we took the 'full package' (audio tour plus 3-in-1 ticket), we have spent about 2.5 hours at the Fagus factory, ending our visit in the Fagus-Gropius Café in the factory's former …

We visited New Lanark on drizzly day in April. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily the best sort of conditions to visit a very grey Scottish mill town, but never mind.

The best view of New Lanark is also normally your first.

As you come down the hill from the car park, you are presented with a nice little panoramic view of the entire site. Consisting of four mill buildings, several terraced housing units and a scattering of extra buildings such as a school, engine house and a church, the site is nestles tightly along a bend in the River Clyde, surrounded on all sides by wooded hills. It feels quite intimate, and has peculiarly picturesque quality to it.

The visitor centre does a good job in explaining the background of the site. However, the presentation is very modern, and doesn’t feel very in keeping with the setting. Most egregious is the weird tram-like gondolas that take through the story of one of the historical residents. I guess it’s meant for children, but I’m not sure whether they would find it engaging or not. Other slightly dubious choices include a large glass and steel bridge connecting two of the mill buildings, and an out of place (though none the less pleasant) roof garden.

The rest of the site is fine. We completed the tour, looked around the fairly standard gift shop, and spent a pleasant few hours doing some of the riverside walks (not technically part of the heritage site, …

Palau’s best chance of a second WHS is the serial transnational nomination of the Yapese Disk Money Regional Sites / Yapese Quarry Sites. This collection of 4 locations in two countries has already been brought forward in 2010, but ended up with a Deferral advice from ICOMOS and a subsequent withdrawal of the nomination by the Federated States of Micronesia (representing Yap) and Palau. They will try again in (possibly) 2018.

Orrak Island with overgrown causeway

Palau played an important role in the origin and practice of the use of stone disk money on Yap. Although the island state lies almost 500km away, with its fine limestone it provided the source for producing the large disks that were used on Yap as stone money. In 1883 it was reported by judicial commissioner G.R. Le Hunte that he found around 100 Yapese at Palau cutting stones and preparing them for transport.

The two locations on Palau included in the original nomination are called ‘Uet el Doab ma Uet el Beluu’ and ‘Chelechol ra Orrak’. After the discussion we recently had on the Forum and some further research, I’m quite sure that both are located on the island of Orrak (the former in the interior, the latter near the beach). I found the original ICOMOS evaluation of 2010, which sheds further light on the boundaries of this nomination. The locations on Orrak Island are both quarry sites.

Approach to Airai

Orrak is a tiny island, which was connected to Airai Village in …

With the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, I ‘finished’ South Korea’s batch of 12 entries on the current World Heritage List. Like many others – 6 to be precise – it lies well within the range of the Seoul Hotspot. The Joseon Tombs comprise 18 different locations, of which I chose the Donggureung Cluster to visit - “the largest and most attractive” according to Lonely Planet ánd our own South Korea expert Kyle Magnuson.

Donggureung lies in Guri, a city typical for the Seoul metropolitan area with its many numbered grey high-rise apartment blocks. The bus driver alerted me where I had to get off the bus, but I had seen it already myself as there are big signs in Korean and English pointing to this royal cemetery. Despite the urban setting, this is a peaceful location in a forested area. There were few other visitors when I arrived on a Friday morning, only a couple of the ubiquitous Korean pensioners and even a small group of birders. Entrance costs a nominal 1,000 Won (ca. 0.80 EUR).

Donggureung literally means "East Nine Royal Tombs”: there are 9 tombs that hold the remains of 17 Joseon kings and queens. Each of the nine has a separate setting in the forest, and paths link them. The paved paths behind the entrance gate to each tomb follow the same principle as those at the Jongmyo Shrine: the main path is for the spirits (not to be walked on by mere …

The Baekje Historic Areas cover 8 archaeological sites in 3 clusters, representing the 3 former capital cities of this historic kingdom. During my stay in Seoul, I visited the Gongju cluster on a day trip by public transport. It was my first experience with Korea's long-distance bus system since my earlier visit in 2001, and it was a real pleasure to be transported on time for only 7.20 EUR on a luxury coach with wide and comfy seats. It took 1.5 hours from the Seoul Express Bus Station to Gongju Bus Station.

Gongju nowadays has an odd city plan, with the river splitting it in two. A quick look at this provincial city proves that not everywhere in South Korea is as modern and prosperous as Seoul. The two components of the WHS are clearly visible from afar, each covering a hilltop near the river bridge closest to the city center. I first walked to Gongsanseong fortress. As I had spent the day before at Namhansanseong, I couldn’t bring up much enthusiasm for yet another Korean fortress. The flags are yellow here (“the national colour of Baekje, representing the center of the universe”), the walls are steep and the main area is without many sites of interest. Very little remains of the Baekje area: the absolute low point is the “Site of Baekje Building”, which is just a flat piece of grassland.

After half an hour or so I decided to move on to the second component of …

Namhansanseong was the ‘contingency capital’ for the Korean Joseon Dynasty, built as a mountain fortress in the early 17th century. I visited it on a day trip from Seoul – although it lies only some 25km outside of the capital, it took me 1.5 hours to get there by metro and bus. Looking at the number of large parking lots and restaurants, the site must see huge weekend crowds (over 3 million visitors already in the year 2010, before WH inscription!).

On a weekday though, the place is the domain of elderly hikers. Most of them actually got off one bus stop earlier than I did, for the start of the trails that run on and alongside the walls. I eventually found myself at the roundabout of a tourist village, wondering what to do. I noticed some more traditional-looking buildings a bit to the north. These turned out to be the newly restored Emergency Palace, plus ticket and information stalls. I first went to get a ticket, which I was given for free although there is a usual entry fee of 2,000 Won. Maybe it was a special day, or were they just happy to welcome a foreigner? The ticket is for the Emergency Palace only, the rest of the site is free of charge.

At the entrance of the Palace, an older man in a traditional costume was strategically posted to catch any innocent visitors. He turned out to be an official guide with good English. So …

I began 2017 with a return journey to Sonora, Mexico and the stunning "Reserva De La Biosphera El Pinacate Y Gran Desierto De Altar". I was determined on completing two specific hikes/drives, which I missed during my first visit in March 2014. First, I wanted to hike to the dunes and second I wanted to see the reserves iconic otherworldly craters. We were graced with rain the previous night before our visit, which turned out to be a special surprise.

Here is the view from the dunes:

From the visitor center, you can take a 3km dirt road to a small parking lot to begin the hike. The road begins in a strange way, but its well-kept. the hike itself takes between 1.5 - 2hrs, depending on how often you take pictures and how far you want to go. Once you make it up to the summit of the nearby dunes you will have a great view of El Pinacate, and in the distance you can sea the Gulf of California.

No other hikers made the journey. In fact, only a handful of people made it to the visitor center in the couple hours we were in this section of the park. Most Arizona travelers are purpose-bound for the drinks and resorts in Puerto Penasco (Sandy Beach). I felt like I was the slowest driver on the highway, since I followed the (kilometer) speed limit, perhaps the Americans thought it was miles!

El Pinacate receives less than 4 inches of …

My trip to Barcelona in March 2015 was initially sparked by a desire to attend an artichoke festival. That turned out to be disappointment, but the trip was made worthwhile by the gem that is this Art Nouveau WHS.

Whilst the tour was great, clearly the best time to visit the wonderful music hall for a performance must be a matinee, when you can benefit from the vast amount of natural light that floods into the hall through the side and rear windows and of course the magnificent skylight, nicknamed ‘the Glowworm’.

A short metro ride away is the Hospital. We accidentally went into a modern working hospital before being directed round the corner to the Modernist original. It has the feel of a small city, consisting of something like 27 separate buildings, connected by underground service tunnels.

Of the seven sites I have so far been to three: two in Umbria (visited April 2015), and one in Friuli-Venezia Guilia (July 2015).

The Clitunno Tempietto wasn’t easy to find, but I had been prepared for that and we soon located it. For a while we were the only people there, which was nice. I love it when I go to a World Heritage Site and there is nobody else around. You can see the Roman-style architecture of this temple – it looks nothing like a church, yet it was built for Christian worship in the Dark Ages.

Remnants from this period of history are not generally well-preserved; it is underrepresented on the UNESCO list, so you can really pick up something novel from visiting the Longobard sites.

The basilica of San Salvatore is just a short drive away, in the Umbrian town of Spoleto. It is a much larger building, and totally empty inside. I liked the basilica’s Byzantine depiction of Christ the Teacher.

The Gastaldaga area and the Episcopal complex in northeast Italy is in the charming town of Cividale del Friuli. We arrived there after seeing Škocjan Caves and Idrija mercury mine in Slovenia. The carved figures in the temple were inspired by the Porch of the Caryatids in the Erechtheion on Athens’ Acropolis.

Kew holds a special place for me because it was the first WHS I visited once I decided to embark on this esoteric hobby. It is also, now I live in London, my local WHS - being only 1.5 miles from my house. I've been a number of times since my first visit, in June 2013, and am now a member (entry is very pricey if you pay the normal entry fee).

I'm no herbiphile but it's always nice to enjoy the tropical environment of some of the glasshouses. Look out for the nine Water Dragons that live in the Princess of Wales Conservatory!

The first thing to note about the Tower of London is that it’s pretty steep to get into, at £25 for an adult! This is up from £22 when I last went, in October 2013.

One of the sights that was of limited interest to me at the time was the supposed spot where Henry VI was murdered. Having since then enjoyed watching Benedict Cumberbatch's Henry being murdered in the fabulous 'Hollow Crown' adaptation of Shakespeare's trilogy, I now appreciate it all the more.

As others have mentioned, the Martin Tower is an unexpected pleasure – within an unprepossessing corner tower unconnected to the main Crown Jewels building you suddenly find yourself face-to-face with a selection of glinting crowns.