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I visited the Pantanal on a 4-day tour from Cuiabá. Not to the protected zone, but to another nice part where there are lots of animals. The tour included all the local fun, like walking, horse-riding, bird spotting and piranha fishing.

Although at the end of October, it was still very dry in this area. Fortunately, because of that, there were not many mosquitos. The wildlife was still abundant though. We saw a tapir, otters, capybara's and alligators.

I think a bird spotter will find real joy in the Pantanal. In almost every tree you can see a wonderful example of the local birds here. To the more common visitor (like I am), the Tuiuiu (a 1.40 m. high creature) is amazing to watch.

Locals here must be in good physical condition: the town´s cobblestoned streets go up and down and up again. These locals can enjoy themselves though, living in such a great city, wonderfully preserved and indeed very homogeneous in its looks.

I stayed here for three days, which is a good period to get to know the place. I visited museums and churches, but wandering around is also great fun. It doesn't matter where you're going, at about every street corner there's a great view.

Some great spots: the Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis (with Aleidinhija carvings), the Museum de Oratorio, and the view down from the road to Mariana. You can also explore one of the huge old mines (Mina de Pasagem) just outside the town. Which I did, of course, becoming some kind of mining expert after visiting other mining WHS in Blaenavon (Wales) and Spiennes (Belgium).

The Brazilian side of the waterfalls can easily be visited from the town of Foz do Iguacu. A bus takes you through the park, which is a bit too touristy for me (but maybe it has become necessary because of the number of visitors).

There's a lot of (manmade things) to see and to do here, but I came only for one: to see the falls in all their glory. And fortunately, that's still possible. From a distance of one or two km (?) you get an overview of the number of falls that together form a big and broad front.

A bit further on, you can get closer and let yourself get wet. Many rainbows colourize the falling water, lovely to see. The butterflies here are also great to watch.

From Foz do Iguacu, I took a public bus to its Argentinian counterpart Puerto Iguazu. From there, another bus brought me to the falls.

This side also has some theme park-feeling. I did give in this time, and joined the Great Adventure. That's when you cross the forest by giant car and then jump into a speedboat. The boat takes you up close to the falls, and somewhat underneath. I got terribly wet and didn't dry until I got back to my hotel in the afternoon and could change clothes.

Somehow the falls look smaller from the Argentinian side. However, strolling through the surrounding forest is very worthwhile here.

Diamantina really is very different from Ouro Preto for example, and not just another mining town. It's smaller (the historical remains can only be seen in the center of the current city) and soberer. I found that it has some basic beauty.

There were quite a number of Brazilian daytrippers around, but I didn't see any foreign tourists. Maybe that's because it takes 5 hours to get here by bus from Belo Horizonte, not the center of the world itself. It's quite a lively town, with music played in the streets and a number of good restaurants. And (of course) the Diamond Museum. Here you can see some real diamonds (there's a very strong man with a gun guarding them, and selling the entrance tickets). Also, there are paintings that depict how the slaves had to do the digging, and how their masters lived.

In the town center there are a number of good sights. I liked the pure and simple Igreja do Rosario. And also the small houses along the street from there to another church, do Carmo. Not to be missed too is the very blue passageway at the Casa da Gloria.

This review could be titled "Getting there and away". Getting there was much easier than I thought beforehand: there's one direct daily bus at 7 am from Ouro Preto. Getting away proved much more difficult: taxis and buses are very scarce in the surroundings of the Basilica to take you away. As are buses back to Ouro Preto - I eventually got there again after a 3 hour's wait in the village of Ouro Branco.

The church and the chapels are extremely picturesque. Set on a steep hill, towering above the humble buildings in the neighbourhood. A clear blue sky as its background. The statues of the prophets are unique pieces, each with its own pose and character. It's good to just sit here and awe.

Unfortunately, you cannot get in at the moment: there are restoration works going on inside the church and some of the chapels. I'm sorry to have missed the rococo interior of the church.

This is a strange city, that cannot be compared to any other in Brazil (or the rest of the world). To be honest: the first thing that came to my mind was that they dropped an atomic bomb here. It must have happened in the early 1970s, in a Bucharest-like city. The people are slowly starting to return now, occasionally you see one or two moving about the fields.

To see some of the architecture, I joined a 3-hour bus tour. We visited 9 places of interest. The most impressive I found was the Sanctuario Dom Bosco. When you step inside this church, you´re surrounded by a blue light shining through the many glass-tiled windows.

The other buildings are a lot soberer. Some are beautiful in their simplicity (like the Church of Our Lady of Fatima), others are quite depressing (like the highrise buildings that were built for the ministries).

I toured the eastern part of Hadrian's Wall by bus from Newcastle, in the appropriately named AD122. This public bus stops at all things worth seeing along the way, so you can hop off and catch a later bus after you've visited the site. A good service I think.

My first stop was at Housesteads, the remains of a fort just at the wall. Because it was built on a hill, there are fine views over the countryside here.

Vindolanda is a bigger complex, somewhat inland from the wall. This Roman site is actually older than Hadrian's wall itself. Archeological excavations are still underway here, and some reconstruction has been done so it is easier to imagine what it looked like in ancient times. It's also the finding place of the historically quite spectacular Roman writing tablets, that tell about daily life in this area in Roman times.

The first view of Durham, from the train or walking down from the railway station, is very impressive. The town is dominated by what looks like a huge fortress; in fact, it is the medieval complex of a cathedral and a castle. Quite hard to encapture this sight into a picture, though. I climbed bridges and followed the riverside footpath, but to no avail.

The front of the Cathedral is massive, but the whole thing is huge when you look at it from the side. The grey stones also dominate the inside, giving it a heavy air although the pillars are distinctly decorated.

Somehow, I didn't find the time to go inside the castle. There are guided tours a few times a day, but I preferred sitting on a bench, reading a book, sipping some coffee, and looking up every ten minutes or so to enjoy the magnificent architecture.

Walking around in Riga (you really have to pack good shoes here), what most surprises is the eclectic architecture. Notably in the Old Town, there is always a medieval highlight next to some Stalinist leftovers. This diversity in styles adds a lively atmosphere to the town. Generally, Riga is less open-air-museum-like than Talinn for example.

The main reason for inclusion is Riga's fine collection of Art Nouveau buildings. They can be found a few blocks north of the city center. There are several streets adorned with great specimens. The buildings by Mikhail Eisenstein are well restored and freshly painted.

Another feature of Riga is the 19th-century wooden buildings. They are less prominent than the Art Nouveau ones and less often renovated.

Inaccessible for the medieval man, still a time-consuming trip for the modern traveller. From Sofia it takes almost all day by public transport to get there (and back), so I decided to be clever and rent a car. And this also took me the best part of the day....

Driving in Bulgaria means escaping the potholes in the streets, pedestrians crossing 'the highway', circling around the ubiquitous horse carriages, dead dogs and other runover animals. This can be fun, but what they add is totally erratic signposting. Although I had a detailed road map in Cyrillic, I took the wrong way seriously three times. In all, it cost some four hours to arrive at the monastery 120 kilometers from Sofia. What a day...

Here the lamenting stops: because it was worth all the trouble. Rila's is the most awe-inspiring, colourful and eccentric monastery I have ever been to (and I've seen many). Its location, in the dark green forests and with snow-clad mountains in the background, couldn't be better. The outside walls are a bit bleak, but entering via the Dupnitsa-gate, my mouth fell open taking in the spectacle. I can't begin to describe the colours, the frescoes, the architecture, and all the details, but I hope I can give an impression via the pictures on this site.

Over the last months, I enjoyed the 'discussion' below among the visitors about how to get to the mines in Spiennes (and even more important - how to get in). But gradually the basic visitor information became clear: there are guided tours on the first Sunday every month, and you have to be very alert in the town of Spiennes to spot the site. To make it even easier: via the link 'Mining site of Spiennes' above there's access to a map.

Besides an extra round on the Mons Ring road (there's only a small sign to Beaumont), I had no trouble finding it. In Spiennes the 'minieres' are even signposted. From above the ground, the site looks remarkable like any farming field. The archeological excavations are limited to two areas: one official site and one for volunteers.

One of the guides showed me around. First some open excavations on the surface. After that we descended a steep iron ladder, to get 10 meters below the ground. Here we arrived in a well-lit cave network (the electrical lights were only recently installed). The difference between the white chalk and the 2 flint layers was clearly visible. The guide explained the techniques used by the neolithic people to get to the flint. It was a tough and patient job carried out precisely. An amazing experience to stand here thousands of years later.

This involves a nice bus trip (costing 0,15 euro) to the outskirts of Beijing passing its university. The 'new' Summer Palace is awesome. It's a group of buildings scattered on a hill and along the lakeside. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the Temple of Wisdom. I think I've fallen in love with yellow and green tiles here in Beijing. And this temple has them all over, together with innumerable little Buddha statues (the ones closest to the ground missing their heads).

When I finally wanted a break after gazing at all the temples, pagodas, halls and so on, I stopped for lunch at the Palace's restaurant. After almost one week in Beijing I encountered them here for the first time: can't-be-bothered waitresses huddled together in a corner, hissing mei you when you order something not too spectacular. Enjoy the old-communist ways at the Tingliguan restaurant, with its yellow chairs, plastic table cloths, and darkened windows (no lights switched on). It was fun to see all western tourists peeking around the door, and immediately back off, while I enjoyed my shredded pork with green peppers.

The next day I went to the Old Summer Palace, which is now in ruins. It's like visiting ancient sites in Greece or Italy, though the Summer Palace is quite new compared to them. At most of the sites they placed a model to show how the buildings must have looked while they were still standing. They all look like reproductions of …

Maps were unfolded at my hotel when I asked about how to go to Zhoukoudian. It didn't become very clear if there is a bus going there, so I opted to hire a taxi for a few hours. The driver didn't know how to get there either, but with a map and some directions asked underway we drove to Zhoukoudian. After leaving the expressway, we even encountered a large sign "Peking Man World Heritage Site, Zhoukoudian", accompanied by a picture of Peking Man himself and the Unesco logo. At the end of the road through town, we stumbled upon a parking lot and a ticket office (marked Beijing ren). I was pleased to have made it here, as it looked like not many people ever got here.

Behind the entrance, following steep steps through the woods, the first place to see is the Peking Man cave (the one that was discovered in 1921). Signs in English detail the findings here. I had the place all to myself, it was so quiet that I expected some prehistoric animal to creep from under the stones. A great place to contemplate man's life during the past 500.000 years though.

I walked around the other caves and the interesting museum. The phrase 'Few go to visit Peking Man site anymore' (the title of a Seattle newspaper article you can find in the links section above) didn't prove true today however: about half an hour after I had arrived, some twelve buses filled …

I spent two full days in this city, four hours north of Beijing by bus. Chengde itself is a nice enough encounter with Chinese city life outside the capital. No Mcdonald's or Starbucks can be found here. What it does have is steam trains - an internet search in preparation for this trip resulted in many exciting stories by trainspotters.

But I had my own spotting to do: the Chengde Imperial Resort as World Cultural Heritage. On my first day, I explored the huge park. Don't be fooled by the somewhat standard Chinese gates and buildings at the entrance: when you've passed them you enter a lovely landscape park. There are several lakes, a steppe, and a forest. In the best "natural" spots, pavilions and temples were added. For example the tall and elegant Yongyou si Pagoda.

The next day I walked to some of the outlying temples. Most prominent is the Putuozongsheng, modelled after Lhasa's Potala Palace. It's a strange sight to see it here, in northern China, as well as in the neighbouring Xumifushoumiao (a recreation of the Tashilhunpo monastery in Xigaze). Both are well looked after and brightly painted, but lack the atmosphere of an active Buddhist monastery.

The Forbidden City is a huge complex at the center of Beijing (behind the Tiananmen gate), that nowadays attracts thousands of visitors every day. I entered from the North, so I was met with innumerable (mainly Chinese) groups that had started from the main entrance in the South.

The funny thing is that everybody clings to the main path (the North-South axis) and that 10 meters to the right or left you're almost on your own.

The complex is surely meant to impress: everything is just huge. You have to take your time to find and look at the details. What I liked most were its simple but effective colours: bright red walls, with green and yellow accents in the tiles.

I visited the Ming Tombs on a day tour with a Chinese group. The trip, every day available for 50 yuan at the Qianmen bus stop, also took us to the Wall at Badaling. For the tombs, we stopped at Changling and Dingling.

Changling consists of three courtyards. It's a fine place to walk around. At Dingling, also known as the Underground Palace, you can go .. underground. About seven meters below the ground, there is a series of large, hollow rooms. Here, the coffin of Emperor Wanli was found, together with two of his Empresses.

Because of the tour, I didn't have the opportunity to see the Great Palace Gate or the Avenue of Stone figures. My guidebooks recommend those, to see it, you have to go there on your own (by taxi, for example).

It's a joy to explore Vienna's center on foot. You don't have to worry too much about traffic, and this slow pace enables stopping every 5 minutes or so - to stare in awe at the buildings. Almost every one of them has special ornaments: iron balconies, circular towers, frescoes, statues, and marble pillars.

The City Hall ("Rathaus") is a relatively recent addition to Vienna's splendour (19th century). This huge building at the Ring is in neo-gothic style, and this way blends in very easily with its surroundings. Another highlight for me was the "Am Hof"-square - this is where the medieval predecessors to the Habsburg family had their main seat. Nowadays the fire brigade inhabits one of the magnificent buildings here.

Vienna was a pleasant surprise. Having visited Prague and several German cities, Vienna does stand out because of its overall character: its cleanliness, the condition of its buildings and the general chic atmosphere.

Although completely off-season, there were quite a number of other tourists around in Schönbrunn. Walking from room to room caught between two Spanish tour groups is no fun.

However, I experienced that the best things are to be seen outside anyway. Starting with the formidable yellow palace building itself. The colour of the buildings to the left and right is a shade darker, and shiny in the February sun. We spent quite some time walking in the huge garden, climbing to the Pavilion Gloriette. Here you can have some coffee and enjoy the view of the palace.

After visiting the Palm House, we concluded our visit at the Wagenburg. Old carriages are shown here: little ones for the princes and princesses, and big black ones used at funerals. Until 1918, the carriages were in frequent use by the royals. The oldest in the collection even dates from the 1760s.

Greenwich is part of London, but actually more a kind of village to itself. Going there via the Dockland Railway you pass glittering skyscrapers and modern industrial scenery.

The National Maritime Museum is one of the attractions here: large, with well-presented exhibits. Next door is the Queen's House, a small white building where you really have to see the inside (lovely rooms!). On the hill behind these two buildings is the Royal Observatory - another must-see.

Besides these monuments, Greenwich is also a very attractive place for a walk. The distances are not big, and there are things to see on almost every street. The whole village has a good atmosphere. I found it a great destination for a weekend trip.