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I was driving around looking for Bahrain Fort, but ended up at a sign for the Barbar Temple. So I decided to visit this Tentative Site first. It's a small archeological site in a residential area. A couple of men were doing maintenance work at the site, but there were no visitors.

Besides the subterranean shrine as pointed out by Paul Tanner in his review below, the offering blocks and pierced blocks that are thought to be tethering points for sacrificial animals are also noteworthy. There's a sign board at the entrance telling the history of the temple (there's no entrance fee). Via a paved path one can circumnavigate the dig.

It's a rather small site that I guess will never make it into becoming a proper WHS (or only maybe as part of a serial nomination).

P.S.: the Manama-suburbs (Karbabad) that lie near this temple are quite poor and ostentatively Shiite. Black flags by the side of the road, billboards displaying religious leaders, mosques heavily painted and also decorated with black flags. I had never seen anything like this before, only on TV when Hezbollah-sites in Lebanon are shown.

Dear Frank, Hoi An is my favorite destination in VN..so apprciate what u wrote about it. The noodle u mentioned above is generally called as " My Quang" or "Quang noodle", the most delicious i enjoyed is at a small restaurant at Ly Thuong Kiet.st, can't remember the name. Sorry, welcome back..

Valletta has only 6,000 people and is the EU's smallest capital city, but it makes up for that with a huge number of great buildings and fortifications unmatched by much larger cities. The best sight is St.John's Co-Cathedral - unremarkable from the outside, but pure Baroque splendour on the inside. Other interesting sights include the Grand Master's Palace, the Upper Barakka Gardens, the Archaeology Museum and the two harbours on each side of the peninsula Valletta occupies (a harbour cruise is not to be missed). The city is so small that all sights can easily be reached on foot, but it can still take quite a while, because on any given day, thousands of cruise-ship passengers crowd the streets.

Spread across Malta and Gozo, these temples are over 5,000 years old - meaning they are older than the Pyramids and older than any other manmade, free-standing structure on Earth. They are among Malta's biggest tourist attractions, and are certainly an impressive sight. Most people visit the temples at Tarxien in a Valletta suburb and the famous Ggantija temples on the island of Gozo. I went there as well, but I found the complex of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra to be the most impressive, especially because of their scenic location on the southern coast. Mnajdra especially has a beautiful setting, even though both temples are now covered by a tent-like structure to protect them against the elements.

The inscribed site also includes Ta Skorba and Ta Hagrat, but these seem to be little visited and not as impressive as the others.

A hypogeum is a pre-Christian underground burial site (a Christian one is generally called a catacomb), and the finest and most famous of these is Hal Saflieni, located in the Valletta suburb of Paola. A visit there has to be planned well in advance, but this is definitely an unmissable and unique site. The building above the hypogeum is an ordinary house in a small street near the church (there are enough signs to point you there), and inside, there is only a small waiting room. The tour starts with an introductory video, and then small groups of no more than 10 people are led underground to enjoy an almost surreal experience. It is quite hard to describe, but you really get the feeling of being 5,000 years in the past and discovering a unique, sacred place. In short, go to the Heritage Malta website and book your tickets now...

Beautiful site with a lot of history. Also the site of one of the seven wonders of the world; the Temple of Artemis (eventhough not much remains of this site).

Worth a visit and worthy to be a World Heritage Site.

Visited the site and was not impressed...

I really wonder why this site is on the tentative list of Unesco World Heritage... Must say that the site is important to Dutch archaeology/history/heritage, but this site does not have a significance for world heritage. A backwater Roman settlement of which hardly anything remains?? The submission text claims "the remains ... are extremely well preserved"; for Dutch standards: yes. For European standards: NO!

It was as a young man and I was standing at the World Heritage listed Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump in North America. It is a site that celebrates the hunting culture of the Native Americans prior to the introduction of horses. Part of the cultural centre had a display that described where the native tribes lived over the centuries. What was fascinating was the sweep and swirl of the tribal movements. Initially it was slow, as they relied on foot transport. But then something amazing happened. There were surges and violently rearranging tribal arrangements as the introduction of horses revolutionised the Native American lifestyle.

I was amazed at how such small changes have the power to fundamentally alter everything these people had known about life. It suggested that the "world" that we understand was not as real or as fixed as I might imagine. What do we believe to be a fundamental truth now that will be discarded tomorrow?

I had visited the Benin Iya in a few of its locations just once, but had been to Sungbo Eredo several times more than 100 times)at different locations (Eredo, Epe;Erunwon, Oke-Eiri, Odogbolu, Awa, Ijebu-Ode, etc).It is a wonderful experience both for nature tourism, nature trail, nature watch and adventure tourism. Its greatest threats are the soil merchants removing tonnes of soil on daily basis. Efforts to enact by-laws to protect it through Ijebu North East local govt were frustrated by the leadership of that govt; may be for lack of knowledge of intention or purpose or for some undisclosed reasons.

I have been to Masada 3 or 4 times the first with a tour party, the remainder with me acting as the guide for friends and colleagues and always during the Summer months.

I would always recommend the walk up (take plenty of water) and allow plenty of time to wander. It is imposing, it is much larger than perhaps you would surmise from below, but equalkly there is not much shade. However, take your time and see the different areas between the many tourist groups. I would recommend trying to get there either very early or go up for the last few hours of the day and wait until the number of people have fallen away. And if the people startgetting on your nerves look out at the views which on a claer day are outstanding.

Shimla (or Simla) can be approached by air/train/road. Although the train takes longest time (some 6 hrs)from Kalka, journey is certainely a worthwhile. Forest goes all along the route while the train moves to higher altitude (from 300 m to 1900 m above sea level), and it is very pleasant to see the sunrise across hills and valleys. A cup of tea at any station is not only refreshing, but has got a good taste too. As the journey starts, many people try to find seats in the train, but after few minutes, everybody seems to get off the seat and peek out of any opening available. I would recomment to go in non-deluxe train for real experience. And don't be shy to shout loud if you like, while the train passes through several tunnels.

I visited and indeed lived and worked in Israel off and on between 1996 and 2000. The one thing I have always recommended to those going to Israel is to spend a few days walking around the Old City. Take in the smells, sights and sounds as you wander around, particularly the busy Arab Quarter. One one of caution and it's a personal view but the "rejuvenated" Jewish quarter has, in my opinion, lost much of its character and is far too sanitised in comparison with the other parts.

This place was spectacular the day I came to Miyajima, the sun was brightly accompanying the cloudless sky to create the perfect atmosphere for sightseeing and tourism. The torii shone in the sunset as the sun leapt over the mountainous horizon.

This is the perfect place to be on a sunny day in Hiroshima I highly recommend it

I have visited three times the temple.

The temple is in a great danger because of the humidity.

The textile cover supposed to be temporary but is more than 24 years that is still there.

The cover keeps the humidity which damage slowly the marmus

Hope that UNESCO will take care as soon as possible

Went with a friend Sept. 8-11th.

Many things have already been said on how beautiful this place is; so I won't add anymore on that. It is definitely a place to visit!

From the Wutaishan Railway station, there are buses to Taihuai town for 20RMB - takes about two hours to get to town. The entrance fee for Wutaishan is 220-ish RMB per person (quite pricey) though the free shuttle bus rides within Taihuai help in visiting many temples.

Trips to the mountain peaks will need bus tickets ranging from 60-80RMB, depending on which of the five peaks one wishes to visit. My friend and I decided to choose the South Peak since our guide book mentioned it is the most beautiful among the five. In general, these mountain peak bus trips take 1.5 to 2 hours (one-way) and the driver gives guests 40 minutes to one hour time to worship and/or take photos. The shuttle needs a minimum of ten passengers before it leaves.

I have to agree on the comments written earlier about the new buildings constructed in Taihuai town. Many restaurants, hotels, toilet rooms and souvenier shops were built "temple style" to somehow fit with the scenic landscape of Taihuai - and some were poorly designed and even ugly. Clearly, these buildings are for tourism purposes but I would sure hope they'd be placed far away from the Tayuan Pagoda area.

We were lucky to visit Wutaishan during the weekdays. I can imagine how crowded the place …

Like most people in this forum, I have been to A'dam a few times, and I have always wondered how it could be that this unique place is no WHS - especially when the Netherlands has some rather obscure sites inscribed. Well, it finally happened, even when the name is the slightly unappealing "Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht". Amsterdam certainly has its (well-known) downsides, but the cityscape with its pretty canals and townhouses is very attractive and makes it one of the most recognizable cities in the world. A boatride through the canals is something no visitor should miss. I guess on my next visit, I will concentrate more on the immediate historic centre away from the main tourist areas.

Located in Southern Hungary near the Croatian border, Pécs is Hungary's second-most visited city, and rightly so. It has a compact old town which can be easily explored on foot, with buildings from many epochs (late Roman to 20th century) and religions (churches, former mosques converted into churches, active mosques and synagogues).

The Roman sites are very central and very well signposted (they make a lot of their WH status). There is a brand new visitor centre above the main site, called Cella Septichora. The remains themselves are reasonably interesting (of course nothing compared to Rome, but nice for a provincial town), and show biblical scenes from the dawn of the Christian era in the Roman Empire.

Pécs is connected by direct trains to Budapest and Vienna. Like Christer, I stayed at the Palatinus, which is a really nice and traditional hotel.

I visited this site on September 11, 2010, a pleasant day trip from Paris with frequent trains both ways. There is no problem getting to the cathedral; its towers dominate the town. The cathedral's stained glass is certainly the highlight though scaffolding and sheets covered several of the windows. The soaring rib vaults are also spectacular.

The cathedral is smaller than others when inside, and it can get crowded. It is well worth it to climb the north bell tower not only for a view of that countryside but also for a look at the many architectural details that can only been seen from above. As mentioned before, the labyrinth is covered by chairs.

A great guide, in fact it probably will tell most visitors more than they ever wanted to know about Chartres, is Henry Adams' 19th century work.

I have visited Anuradhapura almost six times now and each time its not that hard to find a new place that I haven't visited before. If you are visiting Anuradhapura then you should plan it before hand. If you are a tourists a tour guide is highly recommended.

If you are a tourist visiting all the pagodas might make you boring because you don't know the historical facts attached to them. If you are there for a one day visit I can suggest the following.

The Ancient bo tree

Ruwanweli Maha seya ( pagoda, considered the best in SL )

Moonstone in Queens Palace

Kuttan Pokuna ( beautifully carved pond )

Samadhi statue ( beautiful statue of Lord Buddha )

Isurumuniya Temple ( beautiful stone carvings )

When it comes to tourists my experience is they are mostly pleased at visiting Isurumuniya, because of the beautiful stone carvings.

I visited the site in 2009. The region has been populated since the end of the 7th millenium when the hunters - gatherers settled down. A fire burnt the wooden walls of the two dwelling but "baked"(preserved perfectly) the clay foundations. I saw the walls, an oven, stone grinders, a clay bed, ritual stones ... The duplex is enclosed in a special museum which exhibits lovely ceramic from the neolithic and chalcolithic eras in the adjacent rooms.The experience is amazing, showing how sophisticated people were 8 000 years ago! The site and the whole region is long overdue to be included into the WHS list!

Also the new Regional museum of History in Stara Zagora is an architectural marvel, built above an ancient Roman street!The city is 2.5 hours drive from Sofia.