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Visited March 2024.

I visited the Cité Frugès in Pessac while living in Bordeaux, which is what my review will focus on. I don't think it's worth coming here just for Le Corbusier, but it's worth the half-day detour for those travellers who're in Bordeaux as a base for other sites in the area.

As a new(-er) community member who's benefited immensely from previous reviewers, I'm continuing my mission to provide some 2024 updates to sites that others may not have visited in some time.

The other reviewer for the Cité Frugès unfortunately did not access the new visitor centre that has just opened. Upon first moving to Bordeaux and having a stroll round the neighbourhood with just the street signs to guide me, I found the whole thing very disappointing and indeed shocking that it was in such a state of disrepair. Pessac has invested quite a bit of money into the Cité Frugès recently and now has a full-time employee devoted just to giving free tours, as well as podcast-style audio guides (which aren't well-advertised). The Cité Frugès would be very disappointing without them.

Tours run at sporadic times and must be pre-booked online exclusively. They're conducted in French only, but I asked the guide and she said it's not unusual to have non-French speakers follow along too. She was absolutely excellent, a doctoral candidate on Le Corbusier. She utterly lives and breathes this stuff and was a breath of fresh air from …

It is funny that the last review of this WHS is my own from 2014 about Zaragoza. And now, ten years later, after having completed this serial WHS, I can report on my visit to Teruel. And of course, the question arises which of the two cities is the more worthwhile destination? Both have their highlights and complement each other well. Zaragoza stands out with the Aljafería Palace and its painted wooden ceilings, typical elements of the Mudéjar style. In Teruel, it's all about the bell towers, or more precisely, their exterior decorations.

Four examples of these Mudéjar towers make up the Teruel part of this WHS. The exterior of these towers is almost entirely covered with geometric ornaments. These decorations made of red brick and glazed tiles immediately captivated me.The best place to start your tour of Teruel is the Torre de El Salvador. You can climb the tower, which in fact is two towers, one inside the other, with the staircase between the walls. The tower houses the Centro de Interpretación del Mudéjar, in three rooms you can learn about the Mudéjar style and the history of Teruel. And from the top, you have a nice view over the city and to the other three Mudéjar towers.You will also learn about the legend of the construction of El Salvador and its twin San Martin. Two Muslim architects, Abdala and Omar, are said to have competed for the heart and love of the beautiful maiden Zoraida. The …

One of the best things about using WHS as your travel compass is that it sometimes pushes you to go somewhere that seems inconvenient and involves a subject you have no interest in. And after you complete that visit, you are glad you did it. That was how it went with my June 2024 visit to Saryarka, the WHS of Steppe and Lakes.

The Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve (the most accessible part of Saryarka) superficially has a similar geographical position to the Kazakh capital Astana as Tanbaly WHS has to Kazakhstan's second city Almaty. Both need a full day trip to visit from the big city, with a car (rented or hired with a driver). Korgalzhyn lies only 125km away from Astana, and although it is a secondary road with a speed limit of 80 km/h, we arrived after about 1h45. The outgoing traffic from Astana is nowhere near as busy as in Almaty.  

But while you can roam around on your own in Tanbaly, Korgalzhyn needs a proper local guide and a 4x4 vehicle. The Reserve is crossed by sand roads and tracks only, and we also did a fair bit of off-roading through the steppe grass. The tracks were muddy at times as well – it had rained a lot in the past weeks, and the grass was very high. There were still some flowers, but they mostly bloom here in April/May.

Most foreign visitors here are birders – my guide said that Dutch and Danish …

Tet el Bad is a very strange Unesco tentative site. It is a rectangular stone coffin or sarcophagus located on top of a raised platform behind the chiefs’ meeting house in Ollei traditional village in Ngarchelong State. The stone coffin is a fine example of expert carving of a sarcophagus with both the casket and the lid made of andesite rock. The coffin has a length of 233 centimeters and a width 66 centimeters and a height of 40 centimeters.No human remains have been found inside, leading to speculation about whether it was ever used or if the remains were removed or decayed beyond recognition. The absence of inscriptions or artifacts within the coffin leaves its story untold.This site was submitted to the tentative list in 2004, by a :Rita Olsudong Archaeologist, Palau". Nothing is noted in the submitted writeup on the significance of this site, or how it satisfies the criteria of outstanding universal value (OUV). Even if this is indeed significant, perhaps a better place to display it is in a museum, instead of leaving it exposed to the elements, with no explanation panels and little indication of maintenance or visitor management. When I mentioned this to a site caregiver of another attraction, she commented that the coffin could have spiritual significance to the local community, and possibly a relic related to the demigods of the region. That could be the reason why it was left there and not taken to a museum.

Almost exactly 14 years after I visited Shilin near Kunming, one of the most famous parts of this World Heritage Site, I had a chance to visit Wulong Karst and got a glimpse of Jinfoshan Karst during my trip to Chongqing. For Wulong Karst I only saw 2 of its components, the Three Natural Bridges and Furong Cave. Like Wulingyuan that tourism industry people prefer to call it Zhangjiajie, Wulong Karst is known as Xiannvshan or Fairies Mountains after the nearby booming tourist town that full of fake European especially Italian architectural style bungalows. From the big pyramid shaped tourist center there are frequent bus services to the Three Natural Bridges, the most well known and most visited part of Wulong.

The bus took us to the entrance and then we used the glass elevator down to the below canyon or Chinese called it Tianlong Tiankeng or “Heavenly Dragon Pit”. From the elevator exit we saw the first natural bridge, Tianlong Qiao or "Heavenly Dragon Bridge". The bridge is amazing with its big size probably the biggest natural bridge I have seen, in my opinion this place should be called the natural tunnel. We needed to hike down under the arch to reach the pit, along the way is the famous viewpoint of Chinese pavilion inside the towering karst pit, the one in Transformers: Age of Extinction! When we reached the pavilion which is a historic rest area since ancient times but heavily refurbished to use in many …

Cuetzalan or Cuetzalan del Progreso – site visited in February, 2024.

On a map it looks as nice stopover while travelling from Mexico City to El Tajin. It is a bit more than 300 km from MEX airport but since the roads are not perfect and you drive partly through the mountains it took around 8 hours to get there (instead of 5 - 6 as shown in navigation). In fact it was one of the worst road I have encountered in Mexico (so many holes in asphalted roads, speed bumps while driving through populated areas – some of them require speed of 10 km/h and they not always marked). All in all not recommended to get there in the night.

Cuetzalan is a small town located in mountainous region of Sierra Norte. It was proclaimed Pueblo Magico (Magical Town) in 2002 - Mexican idea to promote small historical and heritage towns including those already on UNESCO list like Tequila, Tepotzotlán (Camino Real), Tepoztlán (Popocatepetl monasteries), Jalpan de Serra (monasteries of Sierra Gorda) or Pabellón de Hidalgo (Camino Real). And Cuetzalan is no exception. Historic center is quite picturesque full of cobbled streets and old stone houses covered with red tiles. Daily life is focussed on market square (Zocalo) where municipality buildings are located and numerous trading posts with local craft, souvenirs and food. There is also a big church (Parroquia de San Francisco de Asís, interior is visibly of XIX century) and a huge pole for ancient …

I visited the pedra de les orenetes on tuesday,the 28th of may. I am no aficionado of rock art sites. Thats for sure! However,the pedra de les orenetes site really suprised me in a very positive way.

But first things first I took the bus nr.500 at exactly 8.45 near the metro station "Artigues/Sant Adria in Barcelona. The bus was punctual and on the minute. Luckily, I arrived at the supposed bus stop around 15 minutes earlier.....well, I couldnt find the bus stop...it was not there where it was supposed to be according to google.I asked some locals but nobody had an idea where that bus stop could be.I was running out of time when I discovered the thin pole with the timetable of the bus 500.That pole was the bus stop. Actually,it is only 50 meters away from the place indicated by google,but bloody difficult to find as the time table can only be seen if you walk on the street and not from the side walk.What is more confusing is that just 20 meters away is a big bus stop with a covered waiting area that is served by many bus lines. Look out for the stand of a bike rental company with their bright red bikes....the pole/bus stop is between that bike stand and the street. Easy to find if you know what you're looking for. As for the bus its colour(blue) is quite different from the usual city buses+quite an old bus. It took me …

There's just enough left of the Tiwanaku site that I was able to get a decent appreciation for this ancient culture. The museums are very well done, featuring several impressive stone sculptures. The highlight of the museums is the Bennett Monolith, an amazing 7-meter tall statue in excellent condition after over 2000 years. It survived the Spanish by being buried until rediscovered in the 1930s. Out in the main site, we started our tour at the Akapana Pyramid which gives a nice overview of the site. While the Sun Gate on the Kalasasaya courtyard is probably the most famous artifact here, I really liked the semi-subterranean temple. This sunken area is where the Bennett Monolith was found. The walls of the temple feature rows of numerous skull sculptures, some more like a human skull and others are more stylized.

The auxilliary site of Puma Punku is also worth a short visit. There isn't a lot to see there, but it is worth checking out the jumble of remaining building stones and walking around the perimeter.

I joined an organized tour from La Paz that was pretty cheap (about $US 13), and had a very good guide who did a nice job of explaining the site. Overall, I enjoyed learning about another impressive pre-Columbian culture.

VISIT: LATE NOVEMBER 2023

Orkhon Valley has been covered a couple of times in reviews but never in winter. I made a combined visit with the Deer Stones at Khoid Tamir valley. I did not stay overnight in Karakorum but visited two places. Balgas Ordu Baliq on my way from Ulaanbaatar to Tsetserleg and the Erdene Zuu Monastery on the way back. The roads are well paved and also cleaned if there is snow but still in winter the drive takes long.

Balgas Ordu Baliq can only be reached in winter if there is not fresh snowfall and you can see the tracks of others. As, it's off-road and if you do not see where you go you will get stuck in a ditch in no time. Luckily, on my way to Tsetserleg there was not that much snow so I visited Balgas Ordu Baliq first. The site is not huge, there is a wall left, a pagoda and several towers around. It is however in ruins and weather has a big impact. I walked around an hour and left to Tsetserleg.

On my wat back from Tsetserleg I visited Erdene Zuu. The iconic view outside from the wall and pagodas in the snow is mesmerizing. Inside the walls, I kept my visit short as temperatures dropped to minus 29 Celsius (about minus 20 Fahrenheit). Luckily I was just in time to witness a short ceremony of the monks. After warming up inside the temple, I continued …

Bač - to my surprise - is next year's candidate for the World Heritage List for Serbia. It was to be expected, as they already tried in 2023, but the very fact that this sleepy little town has been targeted for Serbian heritage protection agency is thought-provoking. There are many truly outstanding sites in the country, from Lepenski Vir to the synagogue in Subotica, that are not even on the tentative list. Bac is neither a tourist site nor a historically significant one. There are quite a few castles like Bač on the territory of historic Hungary, and the only one that has made the World Heritage List is the castle of Spis. However, the fact itself that the Serbian heritage authority has placed Bač on the tentative list suggests that there is a twist in the story that is missing from the general descriptions of the castle. There must be "outstanding universal value" somewhere. Well, actually there can be - but I"m far from sure that it will be enough to convince the ICOMOS. If yes, that will mostly be due to the fact that Serbia is very much behind in World Heritage terms.

Today, Bač is an insignificant little town in Vojvodina with a population of just over 5,000, close to the Croatian border, with only 15,000 inhabitants, including the small villages that belong to it, and the number is falling dramatically year on year. On a sunny but cold winter's day, there were barely anybody on …

I stayed in Tetuan from april the 15th to april the 17th,2024,two nights. I had been to Marrakech's(4 days) ,Meknes(2 days)',Rabat's(2 days),Essaouira s (1 day) and Fez(3 days) medina a few years before so that my expectations were influenced by my experiences. 

Tetuan's medina turned out to be a quite authentic one,a friendly one,an accessible one. Usually a medina in Morroco means to be careful, to run with foresight, to watch out for motorcycles and other obstacles, to scan potential dangers in advance, to be on the lookout, to beware of money-thirsty sharks and rabble of all kinds. Tetuan's medina is hassle-free and no maze witout any exit. 

I stayed two nights in the Riad "Soul of Tetuan" which turned out to be an excellent choice: just a stone's throw away from Bab Tut,one of the entrance gates to the medina. Whats more the riad 's manager was an amazing person. As soon as I arrived he told me that he would show me the medina after I have eaten. He was born in the medina,grew up there,and still lives there.He knew almost every inhabitant of the medina,every alley,every corner and every building. What was supposed to be a short tour through the medina turned out to be a more than 2,5 private tour through every hidden corner of that world unesco heritage site. 

After that free private tour I strolled alone through its magical streets till around 21.00,having a mint tea there,then a coffee in another …

Sanqingshan is another under-reviewed WHS in this part of Central-East China: the last report dates from a visit 7 years ago. I got there in May 2024 from the hub of Shangrao, where I took a private Didi taxi to take me in 70 minutes via a toll highway to the site’s Southern Cable Car station (a.k.a. Waishuangxi station). I visited on a Monday and there were no queues. After buying your ticket (entrance + cable car rides = 252 yuan in total) near the Hilton hotel, you have to walk up via a shopping/restaurant street to reach the lower cable car station.

The site is part of our Visual effects of Cloud, Fog and Mist connection and its OUV (one criterion only) relies on the granite peaks that are shaped by vegetation and continuously changed visually by meteorological effects. Although it was dry downhill, it had started raining when I arrived at the upper cable car station. It was bad enough that I needed to buy a bright yellow raincoat on site for 25 yuan, with which I blended in nicely with the Chinese visitors. Half an hour later it got dry uphill as well and I did not need the raincoat anymore for the rest of the morning.

There are signs with maps that show trails that you can hike, but all seem to involve a fair bit of step-climbing (I can testify that even in 2024 it is possible to hire 2 porters to carry …

Mysterious ancient city built on coral rocks on the SE corner of Pohnpei. You can either get a boat there (nice approach from the sea) that can be arranged via Pohnpei Surf Club (google them) or drive about 1.5 hr to get there. I will talk about the second method since I did not take a boat. A taxi will cost you US$80 for one person and a bit more for the whole car if more than one person. I went with the taxi driver named Augustine (691)9264085 who is recommended by many on Facebook EPS. For US$80, he can drive you to multiple sites all over Pohnpei for a full day.I do not suggest you drive yourself due to the complexity of finding one’s way to the ruins from the car parking area. Your taxi driver can guide you to the ruins, especially on a foggy or rainy day when the very rough footpath (around 500m) becomes hazy and unclear. At the car parking area or shortly after, one will be approached by 2 separate locals asking for “entrance fees” of between US$1 and US$3. They are supposedly the local squatters and representatives of the traditional tribal ruler. The footpath is rocky (some parts of muddy) and slippery, and in my opinion, can potentially be dangerous for the elderly. At the end of the footpath is a narrow sea channel by the main ruins. Depending on the tide, the water can be between 20cm and 1 meter or more …

Visited March 2024.

Other reviewers were immensely helpful in planning my trip and I shan't repeat their excellent advice, but I felt a 2024 update may be in order as certain things -- most notably the fact that entirely online pre-booking is now available at all the sites! -- seem to have changed very recently.

That's right, no more queueing at 6am required, at least for the sites that were open when I visited in March (the last month of the 'off-season'). For the sites within Les Eyzies that don't have a welcome hut, you must go to the one at Font-de-Gaume to have your ticket checked, but this is the only necessary remnant of the old system from what I can tell.

This does -- however -- seem to be something not many have cottoned onto. I was able to book onto my desired times at the most popular sites just days in advance of my trip. Most other people I met on the trip had apparently queued. I credit finding this out with the fact I was able to visit three inscribed sites and both museums in a daytrip from Bordeaux.

I always challenge myself to visit sites without the use of any private vehicle and without having to overnight if I can avoid it. I was living in Bordeaux at the time and did this as a daytrip. The train journey is long but comfortable and you must change trains at either Périgueux …

 The site is very rundown and dilapidated. Nevertheless Niemeyer's buildings are always imaginative and interesting. The site is reminiscent of the Sputnik era when we looked to what our space age future would be like. It reminded me of the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair designed by his disciples that I visited when a child. Unfortunately his vision of wide open public spaces never seems to attract the masses as he intended. Even Brasillia felt empty and neglected. There were virtually no other visitors here, yet the grounds could have been a lovely park for families. The good news is that it has been identified as a future Arab convention center and Qatar and other Arab countries are planning to invest heavily into refurbishing it and bringing some prosperity into this rather depressed area of Lebanon

VISIT: LATE NOVEMBER 2023

Mongolia in winter? It was not my initial plan, but when my business trip to Beijing got rescheduled from early October to late November, I had no choice. Ok, I had a choice, but I wanted to visit Mongolia. Period. Mongolia is a huge country, and visiting the various WHS in one trip would take a lot of time, so I decided to visit two in a total of 3 days (plus, of course, arrival and departure days): the Orkhon Valley and the Deer Stone Monuments. The Deer Stone Monuments were inscribed in 2023, and their locations were well documented with good maps at UNESCO. There are many more Deer Stones in Mongolia, though. From the 3 locations, the Uushigiin Övör site would be easy if driving west from Ulaanbaatar, and the other two, Jargalantyn Am (two sites) and Khoid Tamir Valley, from Tsetserleg. In summer, Jargalantyn (actually the most important for locals) would be easy, but in winter, it's too far from Tsetserleg, so I chose Khoid Tamir Valley. I didn't know what to expect as information online is very scarce.

The only way to get to the Deer Stones is by private transport. In winter, do not attempt it solo (in summer it is easy), and take a local with you. It's best to go with two cars in winter to save time if you get stuck, which happened twice to me. So really take care if you go in winter. From …

I stayed three days in Seville in april 2024 where I had spent 4 weeks in 2008 taking part in an intensive spanish language course. I revisited some places,discovered some new places,had a guided tour on the roofs of Seville's cathedral " la Giralda"( fantastic tour with a knowledgeable guide), revisited the alcazar( just horrible,totally overcrowded with tourists and extremely long queues) and a visit to my missing part of the seville's unesco heritage site,the archive of the americas(quite exciting to see the treaty of Tordesillas -which changed the new world- with my very own eyes).

As for Italica I visited it on the 14th of april 2024. I took the bus M170a inside the bus terminal of the bus station "Plaza de Armas" There is an hourly bus to Santiponce/Italica. The archaeological site is just 2 minutes away from the last stop of the bus line M170a.

Italica, named Italica after Italy and founded in 206BC, was an ancient Roman city in today's spain and also the first roman settlement on spanish soil. It was also the birthplace of roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian and probably Theodosios. Most of the old city is now occupied by today's city of Santiponce.

First I visited Italica's small and totally insignificant museum. I then entered the amphitheatre and spent around 20 minutes there. Impressive but nothing from another world when familiar with other roman amphitheatres. I then went to the ruins of the new town visiting all important places …

Wulingyuan has already received a lot of praise, with a very high 4.32/5 community rating, and it was also the undoubted highlight of my 2 weeks in China in 2024. I visited on a Wednesday, arriving by taxi around 8 a.m. from the city of Zhangjiajie. Although there were plenty of people around, there were no queues at the ticket office, bus stops or cable car so it was all enjoyable. This also was the first site on this trip where I encountered Western tourists – about 6 of them during the whole day.

The site is all about the tall peaks. I had set myself to do at least one peak and one lower-lying area. Like other Chinese mountain WHS, site maps are mere sketches and I just went with the flow without singling out a specific area. As I arrived at the South Gate, the shuttle bus took me to the Huangshi Village cable car (one of three of those systems in the park). There I bought a one-way ticket up, as I planned to hike down. The cable car experience here surely isn’t for people with a serious fear of heights. The cable pulls you up steeply to the top of one of the pillars.

A big difference between Wulingyuan and the other Chinese mountain WHS I visited on this trip is that barely any climbing is necessary. The cable car arrives on a plateau, and you can walk a circuit of 3.8 km from …

Visited in April 2024. When I was preparing for my trip to the Netherlands I realised that I've visited this site already on all my previous trips to the country. Basically every road and train line out of Amsterdam goes through the core zone of this site and I have done multiple trips out of Amsterdam before. I might have also visited some of the forts around Utrecht but that was a long time so I can't count on my memory anymore. But this time I wanted to visit the site consciously.

I chose to stop by Fort Uitermeer, near the town of Weesp. The fort was perfectly on my way to the northeast and the Unesco website had a photo of it on their website, so that made me want to stop by it. I could've stopped in more interesting Muiden or Naarden but I was strict on time so one small fort was enough for this time. Fort Uitermeer is part of both New Dutch Waterline and Defence Line of Amsterdam. It's a small circular fortification and quite funny looking because of its shape. The fort was built to protect important roads and train lines, and there is also a lock next to it, that can be used for the flooding of the fields.

On a drizzly Thursday April morning I was the only tourist around (unsurprisingly). Only one dog with its owner was exploring the paths around the fort. The fort has its own parking …

I visited the beautiful Lake Titicaca from both the Peruvian and the Bolivian sides. From Puno, Peru, I took an excursion out to see the Uros floating islands. While they are unique, these islands constructed out of reeds seem to have mostly devolved into platforms for little floating markets. At least the one I visited seemed to be supported by the resident family selling touristy souvenirs and cloth weavings. All things that I'm sure they bought wholesale and are just reselling and providing us visitors a way to thank them for letting us tour their little island. And I got the impression that's how most of the tours work, just to different little islands. I guess you're kind of sunk if you aren't lucky enough to attract a tour boat to your island. The traditional simple reed boats are also mostly a thing of the past -- they've been replaced by increasingly elaborate constructions (still made out of reeds, but covered in lacquer and paint). It was still fun to take a short ride in one (the double hulled "cat" boat in the center of the photo here) while the little boy from the family serenaded us with simple folk songs in 4-5 different languages..

On the Bolivian side, I spent a few hours in the lakefront town of Copacabana. Unfortunately, our Peru Hop bus was delayed for 4-5 hours by road construction, so I didn't get to do the Isla del Sol tour that I had scheduled. Copacabana …