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I recently had the experience of viewing the mosaics at Paphos in the snow! I had the benefit of seeing the true colours and found it incredible that they were laid 2,000 years ago. The whole scale of the site was amazing and well worth a future visit. Having the amphitheatre to myself, as everyone else had been put off by the weather, truely was an inspiring experience!

Dubrovnik is the most beautiful city in Europe. Take your time strolling around the streets and the City Walls. Remember to take a drink with you for your walk on the city walls - because if you buy one on the wall, it will cost you a lot of money. The food in Dubrovnik is okay - definately not great in tourist season, and not nearly as good as in Bosnia. Dubrovnik restaurants should try to improve their fare and their prices. As well, if you want to sleep at night, do not get a room near the main street, especially on the weekend! Get a pensione off the beaten path, but definately within the old city walls. Take the ferry to Lokrum Island - but beware - there are no 'beaches', just SHARP rocks which will cut your feet.Purchase a pair of flip-flops or sandals and a mask and snorkel before you head to the 'beaches' - the water is magnificent and clear blue! What an experience.I cannot wait to return!

I'm delighted to see that you have listed the spectacular Dorset and East Devon coastline so quickly and that you have visited this beautiful part of the world. More information on this coast can be found on www.jurassiccoast.com and information on the area can be found on www.westdorset.com The swannary is in the beautiful village of Abbotsbury on the Dorset coast. The famous Chesil beach, a major feature of this World Heritage Site, is best viewed from the hill above Abbotsbury village.

A surprise visit this one was. After spending the Easter weekend in Weimar, I noticed I had to pass Eisenach to drive back to Holland. And my way-too-big-to-be-handy Germany road map showed "Wartburg Castle" next to Eisenach and the motorway. So I just had to take the chance. I always enjoy the anticipation that is involved in visiting sites unprepared. Will I be able to find it? I hope it isn't closed today! What's the story behind this site anyway?

The castle is well-signposted in Eisenach, even in Japanese! As castles go (and monasteries), Wartburg is located strategically on the top of a hill. According to reports I've read, the view from here on the surrounding countryside must be marvellous. However, the weather was so misty that morning that I didn't see the castle until I arrived at its bridge.

The castle has a quite unusual shape, a bit bulky. With a guided tour I visited its interior (I even had to queue to gain entrance, this is a really popular sight). In some rooms, only the Romanesque design can be admired (the 12th and 13th-century ones), others are brilliantly decorated (the ones that date from the 19th and 20th centuries). I finished my well-spent morning with a local Thüringer Bratwurst, providing more than enough calories to burn during the six-hour drive home.

Entering the town by car, I noticed a sign displaying Weimar's city partnerships with Siena and Trier. It has picked its partners well, as Weimar turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The town sees about two millions visitor a year after the German unification. I visited it during Easter, and was certainly not the only one around.

Although Weimar is quite small, it has enough on offer to entertain a visitor for a day or two. Its market square for example is one of the finest examples of a typical European square I have encountered. And then there are of course the number of elegant houses that belonged to prominent citizens like Goethe and Schiller. These famous artists are everywhere in Weimar, in the many book shops and on tacky souvenirs.

The Park on the Ilm is a good destination for a Sunday morning walk. The main point of attraction here is Goethe's Garden House. The author obviously had thought well about its location, as the views of the park from his house are lovely.

The video in the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar is a perfect introduction to the history of the Bauhaus school. It was literally a school: with pupils (men and women), a curriculum and inspirational teachers. A half-year introduction course with a strong theoretical emphasis (and some meditation!) was mandatory. After that, the students were trained by both artists and craftsmen.

The museum exhibits documents related to Bauhaus history and shows several functional objects made by Bauhaus artists. Some chairs and household utensils are still being produced. I found it really worth visiting.

I also had a look at the three WH-listed Bauhaus monuments in Weimar. The Haus am Horn is situated in a residential street near Weimars classical monuments in the Park on the Ilm. It's a simple building. The two buildings that housed the Art Schools are also preserved quite well. One can almost imagine the long-haired, artsy students coming and going.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is an important attraction in the Krakow area. It has a long history of tourism: already in the 15th-century visitors were taken underground. Prominent Europeans like Copernicus, Goethe and Chopin also visited. The site nowadays attracts thousands of visitors every day in summer, and group tours are conducted in several languages. Fortunately, I was here in February, when it wasn't too busy. There are frequent minibusses from Krakow to bring you here.

The underground tour takes you on a walk of two km. It passes through 20 caves, many of them adorned with sculptures the miners made. It's quite clean and spacious here, unlike in a coal mine for example. The walls are dark grey everywhere; you can only see they are made of crystals when you hold a light to it. The gangways are held upright by complex wooden structures.

The highlight of the tour undoubtedly is the Underground Cathedral. Everything in it is made of salt: the wall decorations (The Last Supper and other biblical scenes), the altar, the religious statues, the floor and the ceiling. Even the chandeliers are made from salt crystals. This masterpiece was created by three miners in their spare time, taking 68 years of work.

Hourly buses connect Cracow in about 50 minutes with the town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. Of course, I took the wrong way from the local bus station at first, until I sensed that this road wouldn't take me anywhere else than the bleak outskirts of town. The correct way turned out to be a half an hour uphill walk. There are subtle marks to guide you (signs to Kloiszter), and to make it even easier the large Benedictine monastery can be seen from almost everywhere in town.

This Benedictine monastery and its adjacent church are the major landmarks of the area. The church, where frequent services are held, is rather loud on colours and gold on the inside. I arrived just after a service had finished, and could still smell the strong odour of incense. Worth seeing also are the traditional wooden houses on the right of the church.

I had planned to walk along the Stations of the Cross on this Polish Via Dolorosa. There are three separate tracks however, none of them are too visible under some 30 cm of snow. Without clear directions, I just roamed around a bit. In all, I was a little disappointed with my visit. I had expected Kalwaria to be more of an active pilgrimage site. Probably I just arrived in the wrong season.

Cracow's historical centre can be easily explored on foot. It was snowing a bit when I walked around (that's why the photos look somewhat bleak). At Wawel, the Castle, I joined a tour inside the Apartments. These living quarters exhibit many Renaissance decorations and furnishings. Some Dutch china (with oriental themes), Flemish tapestries, and Italian majolica chimneys. It got me thinking about the originality of many sites, and that I should stick to visiting the "originals" (Rome instead of "The Second Rome", Venice instead of "The Venice of the East", Jerusalem instead of "Polish Jerusalem").

The most impressive monument of Cracow is the 14th-century Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), situated at the centre of the square. It's a huge building with a very distinctive shape: all gables wherever you look. There are little (souvenir) shops inside now. On the first floor, there's a fine exhibition of large paintings by Polish artists from around 1900.

On Sunday morning I picked a walking tour from my guidebook and went to the old Jewish neighbourhood Kazimierz. Already a considerable number of people were present at the clothes market on Plac Zydowski, although it was freezing and before 9. There are a number of synagogues in this area, all a bit more decorated on the outside than usual (perhaps to rival at least somehow the exuberant Catholic churches in Cracow). The Jewish community in Cracow has been minimalized for a long time, so these synagogues and the adjacent Jewish cemeteries are merely reminders of …

They are everywhere in Alberobello, the Trulli. The Trulli phenomenon could be considered as one big tourist trap, by which the livelihoods of a whole town are supported. But I found them too picturesque and too much fun for that. The Aja Piccola area is less commercialized than the Monti, and therefore generates a more authentic feeling.

You can spend a few hours roaming around both quarters. Only more time is needed when you want to make a study out of the small differences between all Trulli (don't bother, someone has done that already and came up with 5 categories).

There are some exceptional Trulli in Alberobello. For example the two-storeyed Trullo Sovrano. It's quite spacious inside: it has several rooms downstairs, a garden and a second floor to house guests. Another, with more subtle differences compared to the normal ones, is the Trullo Siamese. Siamese twins are said to have lived here, or maybe it's just two Trulli under one roof.

I had read "Christ stopped at Eboli" by Carlo Levi in preparation for this trip. This classic describes the poor living standards and the neglect of the people in Basilicata, during the author's exile to the area in the 1930s. There's only a short passage specifically about the Sassi in Matera. However, it indicates that the conditions there were even worse than in the surrounding countryside.

What to expect in the year 2005? I had prepared myself for some gloomy rocks, with small passages between them. But it's quite different from that: the Sassi overlook an impressive canyon, and a wide panoramic road encircles the quarters.

In one of the houses, you can also have a look inside. It doesn't look too bad at first sight - but you have to bear in mind that this one is now cleaned every day, the horse standing in the corner is not a live one and sharing the room with 18 family members is quite crowded. Besides poverty, malaria was also a big problem for the inhabitants.

A visit to the Amalfi Coast is a refreshment course on driving curves. In my rented Nissan Micra I followed the road from Salerno to Positano. Some of the views of the coast and the small towns are awesome, but when you're the driver you've got other things on your mind. There's another majolica church tower - but be careful, there's also another bus coming around the corner.

The highlight of my day was Ravello. This town lies a few kilometers inland. Loud traditional music sounded from the Dome square when I arrived, it could be heard all over town. A band was playing (in celebration of New Year's Day, I suppose) with children singing. The people at the square sang along to the catchy tunes. I felt so happy just standing there and being able to enjoy this moment.

After a while, the driving and the lack of places to stop got the best of me. The roads also got busier and busier. To enjoy this coast more fully, it's probably best to stay in one of the towns so you can sightsee on foot. I decided to end my trip to Amalfi with a fine lunch in Majori: caprese, with fresh mozzarella.

From my hotel in Paestum, I explored this rather large area in two stages. On the first day, I visited the archaeological remains in Paestum itself. The ancient Greek buildings are in unbelievably good condition. They are the best examples I've ever seen, they may even be the best around in what's left of Ancient Greece. The local museum is also worthwhile, especially to see the painted coffins like the Tomb of the Diver (as old as 480 BC).

Two days later I got back in the car and crisscrossed the valleys. I had some trouble finding the places I wanted to see (that happens quite often), so I spent more time behind the wheel than I had hoped for. But I did reach ancient Elea, where the round Porta Rosa gate overlooks its surroundings like a medieval tower.

In Padula, on the other side of the valley, the San Lorenzo charterhouse is a mighty building. It shows a far more recent episode in Cilento's history: the design is mainly Baroque. The city of Padula itself is strategically built on a hilltop, which you see quite often in this region. Roccagloriosa and Roccadaspide are two other good examples of these medieval building tactics.

The castle has been built on a hill, in the middle of nowhere. To find the road to nowhere was not so easy, the signposting is a bit scarce, but find it I did. You can see the castle from afar, towering above the endless number of olive trees in the quite lovely environment.

The perfect octagonal shape of the building is its main asset. Among the many comparisons that can be made, the Taj Mahal also sprang to my mind. The special kind of limestone with quartz used here from a distance looks like marble (from which the Taj is made). And the Moghuls had some inspirations in common with Frederick.

I also took a look inside, but there's not much to see anymore. It is hard to picture how people have lived here. From the many stories mystifying this castle, I didn't get the impression that it was used regularly. Probably it was "just" meant as a work of art. And for that the Castel del Monte still is admired, more than 750 years after its construction.

An easy drive of a little over 3 hours took me to Bremen. It's quite a pleasant city, not too big, nothing spectacular also. The old center still is its heart, which this time of year results in a big Christmas market on the old marketplace. The people of Bremen (and a lot of foreign guests) were clearly amusing themselves by drinking Glühwein, eating Bratwurst and shopping for Christmas decorations.

I was most interested to see the Roland statue: a real phenomenon of Northern European culture. There's a Roland in Riga (Latvia), where I was earlier this year. Bremen's Roland is supposed to be one of the best, but today it was almost hidden between the Christmas stalls. Difficult to get a good look at him this way, but some details do stand out. He has very pointy knees for example!

There's some discussion about the worth of this site as a WHS. The old Town Hall survived the Middle Ages (and WWII) quite intact, which is remarkable for German monuments. Its architecture though is very common in The Netherlands and Belgium. And poor Roland: not much of him is original. Even his head was replaced in 1983.

A rather profane remark first: the Reggia of Caserta has a large underground parking, from where a footpath leads you exactly to the front of the building. Great service in this often so difficult country for an average car driver. Caserta lies just north of Naples, on the way to Rome.

Because of the sunny (though also stormy) weather, I decided to start my visit with the gardens. Water is the central theme here. There's a large "canal" in the center, and innumerable waterfalls and fountains.

Another thing absolutely not to be missed here is the giant staircase that leads up to the apartments. It's all marble where you look, with imposing statues looking down at you. Don't forget to look upwards, where colourful paintings decorate the ceiling.

The site at Pompei is extensive and takes at least half a day to explore. The granary shows plaster casts of victims of the eruption, their expressions especially impressive after hearing the stories on the news about the South Asian tsunami disaster. Just like those victims, these ancient Pompeians had no chance.

I've seen quite a lot of ancient excavations, but due to the special circumstances under which it was preserved this one is really special. The feeling of the town as a whole has survived: not only the major buildings but also the streets, the normal houses and the restaurants. Take for example the ubiquitous Thermopolia, where snacks could be bought. You can just imagine having a quick lunch there yourself.

The rich preferred to build their villas just outside the town, overlooking the sea. One of these is the Villa of Mysteries. Here I sheltered from a hailstorm. The villa is decorated with several extremely beautiful and well preserved/restored frescoes. The dining room in the front has a large painting of a woman's initiation to marriage. Elsewhere there are delicate Egyptian motifs waiting to be admired.

The night before my trip to Naples I read the ICOMOS evaluation of this WHS, which states "It is difficult to identify a city or cities with which Naples might be compared. Its cultural roots are so completely different from those of any other Italian city that comparison would be worthless. It is equally difficult to equate Naples with other major Mediterranean cities such as Barcelona or Marseilles."

There are so many historical city centers on the World Heritage List that this came across as an exaggeration. Walking around Naples by myself proved me wrong, however. Naples is a unique European city, which in my opinion can only be compared to places like Jerusalem and Kathmandu because of the narrow dark streets and the overall highly religious atmosphere.

Probably the artistic highlight of Naples is the inner courtyard of the Santa Chiara monastery complex. Between 1739 and 1742, Domenico Antonio Vaccaro here created a garden with blue, yellow, and green majolica benches and pillars. The surrounding walls are totally covered with frescoes.

In one day you can only get a glimpse of this fascinating city. Another part that I loved is the area around Via San Gregorio Armeno. This time of year the streets here are filled with the stalls of the Christmas market, selling all from tiny trinkets to huge pastoral scenes.

The Brazilian town of Paraty holds the record of having submitted an incomplete dossier: no less than 4 times! But finally, the Brazilians succeeded last year in putting everything together and Paraty will be brought forward as their WH nomination for 2019. Its new title ‘Paraty Culture and Biodiversity’ suggests a very broad approach.

As Gold Route in Parati and its landscape an earlier incarnation of this site was already Deferred in 2009: the main objection at the time was that only a small part of the Gold Route was included. The focus was on the town of Paraty, on which the verdict was “a 19th-century colonial town, although attractive, it is not exceptional and ICOMOS does not consider that Paraty on its own justifies inscription on the World Heritage List”. Possibilities were seen though to include a longer stretch of the Gold Route and/or to extend it to a mixed WHS or a cultural landscape “with high natural values”.

The new nomination called ‘Paraty Culture and Biodiversity’ is a mixed one indeed and a cultural landscape as well. The “Gold Route” has disappeared from the title, so we may assume that the natural setting will become more prominent than the historic route. But let’s be clear: in the end, it’s all about Paraty, a pretty coastal colonial town that is already well on the tourist trail. They might be wanting to attract even more international visitors.

For me, it was an exciting trip just getting to …

My visit to Rio de Janeiro was a short one, and I was rained out on the first day.

The next morning it was more or less dry. By bus, I went to the Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf). This is the most prominent hill in the landscape of Rio. You get to the top via two cable cars. There may have been 75 people inside and it was pretty busy. At the halfway stop I found the most beautiful: the views of the beaches and the Sugarloaf itself.

A day later the sun was shining again. So a quick taxi ride brought me to the Corcovado, the mountain with the well-known Christ statue. It is reached by a little train, a tourist attraction by itself in Rio. What I found striking was the number of people engaged in the train. It looked like an employment project for the local youth. The train ride took about 20 minutes, passing through the Atlantic rainforest of the Tijuca National Park. A beautiful ride. Up near the statue, there's a beautiful view of the city.

Back at the bottom again I visited the Museum of Naive Art. Definitely worth it, with paintings of Rio and the history of Brazil on show.