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As indicated in the previous review, a “tourist” visit to Surtsey involving a landing is not possible - and even such visits by scientists are strictly limited. We did however achieve a very close viewing from the sea (around half a mile) during a recent voyage from UK to Greenland. Indeed I even feel entirely “vindicated” in claiming a visit to the inscribed area since this includes a significant marine element as well as the island itself. A comparison of my photo of the display screen of our vessel’s navigation system with the map of the inscribed area from the UNESCO site shows clearly our passage within the inscribed boundaries and indeed later included a passage “over” the corner of the now submerged island of Jolnir to the SW of Surtsey. This island, named after another Norse God, emerged with Surtsey in 1963 but rapidly eroded after volcanic activity ceased in 1966.

So what did we see/learn from our “sail by”? Well such a rapid visit to Surtsey made solely for that purpose would certainly be hard to justify in cost terms! But we had been visiting the Westmann Islands and Surtsey was on a natural course from them across the Denmark Strait to Greenland. This visit mainly involved the island/town of Heimaey and encompassed such interests as bird life, Norse history, the Westmann “way of life” and of course the famous eruption of 1973 which led to the evacuation of the entire island, the partial destruction of the town …

This is an interesting place to visit and one that is incredibly linked to one of the most influential thinkers of the modern period. However I am not sure if it is quite good/ coherent enough to merit a place on the World Heritage List.

The house itself is reasonably grand but mostly unremarkable, and the garden is pleasant with a few small hints of it use for the cultivation of plant species that helped reinforce Darwin's belief in the evolution of species. I found it quite hard to make any concrete links between what was in the garden and its influence on Evolutionary theory, perhaps a good tour guide would be able to eek these facts out. There was however a pleasant walk through the southern English countryside at the back of the garden, it was laid out especially for Darwin to give him time to think and stroll, and it certainly can serve the same purpose for modern visitors. There is an audio tour of the house, narrated by the peerless Sir David Attenborough, who is something of a British cultural institution, and this did a good job of explaining Darwin's life in the house and the works he is most famous for.

The house is located just outside London, but still inside the southern boundary of the M25 ring road, if you don't have your own transport the you can get the train to Bromley South where bus 146 can take you on to the House.

This …

From Beijing, it takes 6 hours by train to Anyang - the northernmost city of Henan Province. The trip can be cut short into 3 hours if one takes the fast train or dongche.

To get to Yin Xu from the railway station, one can take bus 28 to Jian Hang (Construction Bank of China) and switch to bus 18 to Yin Xu Park (Yin Xu Bowuyuan).

This is an amazing site for those studying Chinese language - particularly Chinese characters. I have always been fascinated by how they have evolved and seeing the oracle bones museum in the Ancestral Shrines area was such an unforgettable experience for me.

We went there for 4 days - and ended-up staying for 2 weeks and that too was not enough. We LOVED IT. At some time in our life - we want to live there for as long as we can. Its beautiful, lovely, friendly and the weather is just perfect (most of the times). One of the best places we have ever visited in all my travels.

Sturve Geodetic Arc is a very stange multi-location site.

Each location is quite small, some corresponding to a 100 meter diametre circle centered on a traingulation point. Those points may consist just of a small mark on a stone.

I visited 3 of those sites in June 2009.

The first went to Tornea church in Finland. A simple church typical of that area, from which tower Sturve made a triangulation point. Easy to find in an otherwise unremarkable Finnish border town.

The second point I visited was Peera-Vaara in Sweden. It is a point atop a flat hill, which is supposed to be the highest point in the area. It is difficult to find. It is closed to the village of Hedenäset. The dirt road going to the point is not marked, and I was lucky to have printed the map included in the nomination file to find my way. Follow a dirt road going on the left from road 398 from the village. After 10 minutes turn right uphill, and after a few minutes, there is a small parking spot (place for 2 cars only). From there, 10 minutes walk on a wooded path.

You then reach a mark on a stone with a wooden sign above it. It is in the middle of the forest (hence no view). This place is only for the World Heritage collectors, even if the forest walk is quite nice.

The third point is luckily much easier to find ; Avasaksa is a …

Haiensa temple is a very nice place to visit. The limite of the WH site seems to be limited to four wooden building atop the temple complex, which are depositories of the Triptika Koreana. I went in may 2010, not knowing what to expect, since the internet site anouned the site beeing closed for the year. In fact there is no guided visit, but the site not totally closed. You can still view the wooden building from outside. And you can get a glimpse at the woodblock though the windows (slatted windows thourgh which air can penetrate).

I enclosed a picture take through this window. There are signs banning photos, but many of the Korean tourists did not seem to care.

The rest of temple compex is completely open, as is the mountain trails around which allow very nice walks.

I was there on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the temple was overflowed by Korean tourists. But in the late afternoon, the place emptied. And in the evening, the place was almost empty.

You can stay the night in various temple lodge, or to a bigger hotel close by. The village nextdoor is full of nice restaurants.

I went to the Mogao Grottoes more than years ago, and I wish I had paid more attention to it, because it surely was one of the best places I had ever visited.

The paintings and artworks were fabulous, to say the least, unfortunately I hadn't quite grasped their historical significance back then. The tour group my family was travelling with could all speak and understand Chinese quite well, but the guides in general are not very helpful and tend to rush their speeches through, especially when speaking in Chinese. The many historical words associated with the cave did not make my understanding very much clearer either. But I did love the artworks in the cave, and wish I could have taken some photos, or had time to do some sketches. The sculptures are truly enormous and awe-inspiring, as well as the huge caves covered from floor to ceiling with the most colourful murals. It's amazing how the paint has managed to even retain colour through the centuries; much of the artworks of bygone eras have faded beyond redemption!

We went in autumn, the only season where non-locals could possibly survive (Dunhuang is located in a scorching desert which freezes over each night) so with that season being the most popular tourist season, it was rather crowded, however tours were spaced well apart to give each group some private viewing time and not have to all cram into a single cave. There were maybe 2 or 3 groups in a …

The Paharpur Archaeological Site Museum was the first of its kind in the then East Pakistan.I myself as its first asstt custodian arranged the museum single handed.I expected a promotion,but I was transferred to the epigraphic section.As a Baptist Christian I was taught to be dutiful right from my childhood and at Paharpur I guarded the ruins as a faithful watch dog.All artifacts described in K N Dikhshit's book were there in 1962 when I resigned as I found section of excavation and exploration was very lucrative yo my bosses.

I am bemused by some of the remarks here. Speyer Cathedral is simply one of the great Romanesque buildings of western Europe, and - for anyone with any sensitivity at all for the style and the spirituality of the eleventh century - it is an incredible building, easily the peer of any other church of the period in Germany, France, or England. I do wonder, though, how many visitors have any knowledge of, or even care about, the turbulent history of the Salian dynasty which is so present everywhere in this building. The cathedral itself is not just a house of religion but a mighty fortress and a show of strength by an emperor on a collision course with the papacy. Henry IV, the great Salian emperor whose remains lie in the crypt, ended his days in humiliation after begging the forgiveness of Pope Gregory VII in the snows of Canossa, barefoot and dressed in sackcloth. It is one of the great dramatic moments in the history of the Western church, and Speyer was the front-line of the battle between pope and emperor.

I visited the Mezquita and the architecture of the former mosque was amazing. It is also good place to hide hot weather. It was +41 celsius outside but inside the Mezquita was nice and cool. The streets of the old town are narrow and nicely confusing. I wandered there for long time finding beautiful streets.

I think that everything is said about this site. You should definitely book tickets to Alhambra in advance. When I visited this site in June it was +36 Celsius and people waiting in a long queue. Not nice. I took my booked tickets easily from ticket machines. Area was beautiful and views to the city were amazing. Sad thing was that the Court of the Lions was still in construction. Good thing was that there were many drinking fountains in the area. And the area of Albayzin is definetely worth of visit.

The Trip to Skellig Michael is a must see if your visiting Kerry. The views are breath taking on the walk up and even more spectacular on the way down. If your carefull and watch what you are doing at all times the walk up is within the capability of most people. The walk up is a series of stone steps which can be uneven and different sizes and shapes. Care needs to be taken on the steps at all times. My aunts who are in their early 70's walked up all the way to the beehive huts. They took their time with plenty of short stops to catch their breath. My advise about the boat trips would be to do a little searching on the web before booking your boat operator. The shortest route is to go from Portmagee. Most operators take 45 minutes either way from Portmagee, however there is one operator who takes 1 hr and 10 mins from Portmagee as he has a smaller engine boat. He shall remain nameless. If you enjoy a longer boat trip then there's no problem but personally, 45 mins is enough for me on a small boat. Despite what some reviews are saying, I did not get a drop of water on me on the trip out. If it's calm, you will not get wet and the boat operators generally wait for relatively calm sea's because of the problem of docking at the pier.

Just visited the Tower for the second time since 2004. I suggest you to be there about 15 minutes before it opens. Like this, everything can be seen without crowds and thus without queuing. I bought a London Pass for one day which (properly used) cuts the effective costs of many attractions (including Kew Gardens)to 50%. Some kind of discount is really needed, as the price has now risen to 17! pounds. Even for a Swiss guy this is a shocking price.

I presently visited the Orto Botanico di Padova, the original of all botanical gardens throughout the world and I was appalled by this place. The leading role in the introduction and study of many exotic plants was difficult to detect and the museum is farcical. Even if the garden is notable for its age it is not in a really good condition when you are focussing on plants and not on historical design. There is no reason to bewail the size of the squares where plants are allowed to grow because of the size of the garden. But there are no excuses for that concussive way of presenting plants - in any botanical garden. Many of the herbaceous plants were undernourished or even absent (please have a look on the photograph). I commendatory can say that every square has its nameplate but it really shocked me to discover for example missing Thyme which is very robust genus and able to cope with fierce conditions. In my eyes it is also questionable whether strawberry can be seen as a poisonous plant. Maybe the classification into that category portends that the leaves can be pharmaceutical useful but classifying Fragaria vesca as poisonous is incorrect. Anybody might explain this decision to me.

For me the visit in the Orto Botanico was a degrading event which really upset me a fortiori if you see this garden from an angle of an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It might represent the birth of science and scientific …

There are a few sites where if you want to visit, timing is important. Tyre is one of these sites because its so close to the Lebanese Israel border and comes into play during any conflict. Its no secret that Hezbollah (Party of God) controls this part of Southern Lebanon and often the region is close to travel. After the last conflict with Israel in 2006, Southern Lebanon was closed to tourists for a few years due to dangers from unexploded ordinance and the roads being bombed out.

Nonetheless, the situation has calmed down and there is a window of opportunity and I made it there last month in April 2010. The drive down the coast is so pretty and idyllic but you know immediately when you are close to Tyre because the roads would be lined with the Hezbollah yellow flags and there are banners of Iranian mullahs everywhere. Also you see many UN troops in their blue helmets guarding intersections.

Beyond those signs, everything else seems perfectly normal. In fact when we had lunch in a seaside inn, the owner encouraged us to return in the evening because he transforms the dining area into a bar with rock music etc. Not as conservative as you would expect.

Tyre was founded by the Phoenicians and they prospered as sea faring traders. The commerce that made Tyre famous was that they could harvest a certain seashell called Murex that produced a purple dye used by royalty across the Mediterranean. Unfortunately …

After a little bit of scouting I discovered that one of these Observatories was located in a leafy part of central Kiev, so decided to head there for a bit of a picnic and a potentially pre-emptive tick on my list of visited sites. From looking at pictures on Google Earth I already knew that there was not going to be a huge amount at the observatory. When we finally arrived we found out there was really not that much to see. We were greeted by a rather large dog and what we took to be a caretaker. He was very friendly and gave us a quick tour of the site, lasting about 10 minutes. There was a rather bemused Ukrainian camera crew there filming us, so who knows maybe I have 'starred' on Ukrainian TV by now. I have to admit that there was not a huge amount for the non specialist to see but some of the instruments and computers in the observatory looked pretty antique, and my friend was impressed by their small selection of Soviet camera's and lenses.

The Observatory was set on the Kiev meridian, however due to light pollution it is now not used that much. I would be surprised if this became a WHS, but maybe the other observatories in the Ukraine are more of interest. If you want to visit this one it is located on Vorovskogo str. right behind the City Park Hotel (take the ramp next to the front of …

I have lived in Europe (the Netherlands) for the last 13 years. For me the Cathedral in Köln is the main attraction that has grasped my attention in the whole of Europe. I enjoyed going there whenever I have the possibility even for a week-end just to enjoy the atmosphere in that beautiful historical city and at the same time enjoy a refreshing Kölsch in my favorite place (Sion) with very tasty sausage! I have made sure that all my visitors and friends visit that city! I love Cologne and wish one day have it as my home town!

Naglaa Elhag (Uganda)

This was my first real experience of an eastern orthodox cathedral and the interior of St Sophia’s cathedral certainly didn’t disappoint. I wasn’t quite expecting to see such a beautiful set of frescos. I found myself wandering from arch to arch staring up and marvelling at the next new impressive sight. I spent quite some time wandering around the interior, losing my travelling companion only to be reunited with broad grins across our faces; neither of us was really expecting a site of this quality. The rest of the precinct of St Sophia’s was reasonably nice but not especially interesting.

A day later we visited the Lavra Monastery a little further to the south of the centre. This is a much larger complex and is still an active site of pilgrimage. The upper part of the Monastery was fairly busy, the Bell Tower was closed for renovations so we headed into the Cathedral, and this has been mostly rebuilt and was only mildly interesting inside. The highlight of the Upper Part was the Refectory Church, which had a magnificent interior, really showing the Byzantine heritage of the architecture of the buildings.

We then proceeded down to the lower part of the monastery, taking in the wonderful views over the Dnieper flowing through the centre of Kiev. The Lower part of the complex is the focal point for pilgrims as this contains the caves for which the site is famous. All are welcome to enter some of the caves to view …

I visited Paharpur last month, May, 2010.

Points that I felt should be in highlights are:

1) In one of the sides of the site, there was no wall, rather a barbwire fence only.

2) On the other side, where there was the wall, I felt walls around sites like these could have more of the archaeological kind of look. It would preserve the ambience of the place in a much better way.

3) This place very happening in its time. But, its story is told in two mere black and white signboards. They were more like giving information than the story.

What happened in each of those areas, what exactly could have been there inside the main high building, I wish I could find. I wanted to know what used to happen in each of the specific areas in that huge premise, where the monks used to sit, where new ones were taught and more.

4) This was once a very sacred place to Buddhist people and climbing an archaeological monument like this would be prohibited in almost any country of the world. But here, I found no sign telling not to climb to the top of the monument (as opposed to what I saw in another vihara at mainamati in Bangladesh, which is a tentative WHS) and many people were, indeed, climbing up to the top.

5) I wanted to know what the terracota figures actually depicted but could seemed to know details.

However, It still was a …

Since a trip to the beautiful city of Dresden (which is definitely WH-worthy, despite the stupid bridge) didn't add anything to my WH count, I went by train and bus to the scenic small town of Bad Muskau. The Muskauer Park, created by the nobleman Fürst Pückler in the 19th century on both sides of the Neisse River, today straddles the German-Polish border, and that's really the most interesting aspect of it. Since both countries are now in the Schengen zone, there are no passport controls anymore, and it is fun to rent a bike at the visitor center in the palace, cross over into Poland, and go back again. The trouble about the whole park is that there are no signs whatsoever, so you better get a decent map first. The town and the park make for a pleasant day trip, and the scenery is very pretty, but the World Heritage value of the site is to me somewhat doubtful.