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At the parking lot, I bumped into a bunch of modern Druids. A cross-section of British society (old, young, men, women, white, black) were putting on white gowns that resembled bedsheets. On this day of the year, the 22nd of June, they held their annual rituals at Stonehenge.

Earlier I walked around the ancient stones myself. Well, in the company of at least 150 other people. And with about 50 people staring from behind the fence, not wanting to pay the entrance fee: this is a major tourist destination.

What can I remark about the site itself? It's just like you see in the innumerous pictures that exist of it. A somewhat mysterious circle of prehistoric stone slabs. To get a grip on what you see you'd have to do some serious background reading and imagining.

Blaenavon is a small town in the green hills of Wales. The surrounding countryside is a great place for hiking. I went to the old coal mine instead and took the underground tour. The tours at the Big Pit are led by ex-miners and take about an hour.

Before your visit underground, you get a sturdy helmet with a light in front. Off you go then, in the elevator 90 meters downwards. It's dark and cool. Water is dripping. The tunnels you walk in most of the time are just a bit too low to stand upright.

At one moment, our guide asked us to switch our lights off. It became as dark and scary as it can get. To hear that there used to run rats here and that children as young as 7 or 8 were employed under the ground, with no light but the odd candle, makes you really think ...

Arriving from Cardiff by train, Bath presents itself as a clean, quiet and green city. The railway station even is called Bath Spa, a double hint to the town's claim to fame.

The Roman Baths lie in the city center, amidst the 21st century shops and restaurants. The baths are now 6 meters below street level: amazing to think how many building generations have passed to add so many new layers of bricks.

Descending to the ground floor where the actual baths are, you pass the elegant Pump Room. This has been the place to taste water from the spa for ages (I didn't). Further down, the museum proudly displays its topclass exhibits, as the almost intact bronze head of Minerva. Finally arriving at the baths you can sit and relax, imagening yourself to be a real Roman.

Campo dei Miracoli, Field of Miracles - what a name. But the green lawn in northwestern Pisa, with its marble medieval monuments, does deserve it.

The leaning tower of course is the most famous attraction here. The beauty of the neighbouring 11th-century cathedral and baptistry is stunning though. They make the tower look small, both in size and elegance.

For a steep 15 euro (and some patience) you can do yourself the favour of climbing the tower. It takes about 300 marbles steps to get to the top, where large bells can be found on the edges of the highest platform. When you're on top you can sense that the surface under your feet isn't particularly straight. 

I spent 5 days on Easter Island - making a dream come true. Reading the books by Thor Heyerdahl as a child, I never imagined I would set foot on this remote island. But times have changed in the last 15 years: travelling around the globe has become much easier and cheaper.

As has to be expected, I didn't find a lost paradise here. It's quite an expensive destination, geared to the wealthy western traveller. But I had a fine time here. I walked, cycled and drove around the island. From ahu with or without moai to petroglyph to vulcano. Rapa Nui is an open-air museum in the best sense of the word.

The sight I probably liked best is Tongariki, the ahu with 15 moai in a row. Maybe that's because this was my reward after cycling 2,5 hours on Easter Island's roads that know no shade.

Wasn't it for the World Heritage List, I would never have heard of this place. It's left out often of Chile itineraries. Chiloe is a green island, or actually a number of islands, with a distinct culture and history.

During my Chile trip I stayed in Chiloe for a few days, both in Castro and Ancud, its main towns. I ate a lot of fish in little harbour restaurants. Salmon features prominently on the menu, for about five dollar you can have a delicious meal.

My most precious memories are of the day I spent driving around the islands, looking for old or remarkable churches. I picked up a Czech hitchhiker on the way, who was much better informed about the churches than I. I think we found six that day, in hidden towns at the end of gravel roads. 

I had heard raving reviews about this city, but it disappointed me at first sight. There is a lot of traffic and smog, and a real town centre is hard to find.

The special thing about this city is the division between its lower and upper parts. Via early 20th century elevators, you can travel between these two worlds. Only about 7 people fit in, and it's quite scary because of the steepness of the hills.

When you arrive in the upper town, a completely different world awaits you: bright colours, artistic buildings, narrow backroads.

I started my first visit to Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral. A real surprise when you pop your head up from underground, having used the subway to get to de Ile de la Cité. So this is Paris. I think I'm going to like it here!

To enter nearby Saint-Chapelle I had to queue for about 20 minutes. It's a lovely small chapel, but whether it's worth the EUR 5,49 entrance fee and all the waiting?

In the afternoon I took a boat trip on the Seine. In the time span of an hour you get to see several of the city's highlights from the water, for example, the Pont Neuf, Gare d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower. It was a cold experience (sitting on the deck while it's nearly freezing), but not to be missed.

Ten years later, I was back in Paris for a second visit. I had some more time to spend: on Saturday I enjoyed two museums (d'Orsay and Guimet), and on Monday I walked the whole WHS-designated stretch along the Banks of the Seine.

It took me 3.5 hours, without getting inside any of the landmark sights I came across. I enjoyed it tremendously: around every corner, there's something pretty or remarkable to see. I saw so many equestrian statues that I think a whole book could be written about them. I had a glimpse into the Grand Palais through an open side door, what an amazing iron/steel/glass construction. I have …

Mystras is the best thing I saw (so far) in Greece. The city from the Middle Ages is plastered against a mountain near Sparta. It's December, but it looks like fall: brown trees, fresh but chilly air, some dark clouds. The entrance gate to Mystras welcomes you in true medieval style: I knew at once I was going to like it here.

What remains of the city are its churches, a monastery, some walls and roads. The steep, cobbled streets are mostly genuine and give the feeling of actually walking there in the 14th century. The roads were narrow then, so narrow the edges of buildings were removed to leave more space for passers-by. Of course, there were shops then, markets and handicraft businesses. It would be great to be able to time travel on this spot.

The focus points are the Byzantine churches of Mystras. They were restored, both inside and outside. Frescoes, with a lot of dark blue colours, have come to the surface. The red round or octagonal roofs stand out between the now brown and green trees that surround this site. You can only walk around this scenery openmouthed.

I was in this area on St. Stephens Day, the day after Christmas. All archeological sites would be closed, but I decided to go there anyway (hoping to catch a glimpse from the outside).

The first stop is at Tiryns. Walls, very thick walls, that's what you see. I park my car at the closed entrance and decide to take some pictures from different angles. All solid rock as far as I can see. When I walk away from my car, a little barking dog appears. Those stray dogs are a frequent sight in Greece, and I am not at all happy with that. Five minutes later the little barker is joined by a bigger friend, a German shepherd. They both stand barking and growling between me and my car. No other human being within sight, I walked away to regain courage. A few minutes later I try it again, coming from a different angle. The dogs seem to have forgotten about me so I can sprint to my car. But I got my pictures!

Ancient Mycenae is an hour's drive away. Lovely surroundings this time: brown hills, green olive trees. And those walls again. But the outlaying of a city is recognizable this time. Here an old man keeps guard. A good look from the outside will have to do. The tholos-tombs can be seen from the road: there, in graves shaped like beehives, the Mycenean royalty was buried. I would have liked a closer look at …

Finally, after 10 days of being a lonely visitor to Ancient Greece, I saw them: The Crowds. On Sunday all archeological sites have free entrance, and a lot of Greek families take this opportunity. Also quite a number of foreign tourists - may be because of Delphi's relative proximity to Athens.

Ancient Delphi was built against a mountainside. An impressive setting, though not many remains. A steep walkway connects the monuments - The Sacred Way. This was once littered with gifts by graceful city-states and made a promising entrance to the temple of Apollo.

Highlight nowadays is the sanctuary of Athena, across the street from the main site. The graceful "tholos" there features in many Delphi pictures (including mine).

The site lies in a dark green pine forest, with air as healthy as you normally can only wish. There's a huge parking lot, but at the end of December, I was one of only a few guests. I had the amphitheater, which sits 14.000 people, to myself. It's like a football stadium, without the fences and the advertising. Unbelievably well preserved also.

Besides the theatre, you can visit a museum with local findings (mainly statues) and the excavations. Not much is in place of the hospitals, hostels, bathrooms, and what more was needed to serve the stream of visitors looking to improve their health.

The location of the site is its major drawing card. It's like a retreat, like the secluded places where they construct monasteries in Japan or South Korea.

This archeological site is still quite intact. Well, the outlines at least are (not the buildings). At the center is the Zeus temple. Around it is the residence of priests, the training rooms facilities for the athletes, the guesthouses.

Via a passageway, called the Crypt, you reach the stadium. The place where the athletic games were held measured 212 x 28 meters. There were no seats, but the embankment could hold 45.000 spectators.

In the nearby museum, you can see a model of how Olympia looked like at its heydays. An amazing, bustling site it must have been: think of the athletes practicing, but also the numerous spectators and officials that were around. Not unlike an Olympic Village nowadays, but on such small grounds.

At a height of 1130 meters, it was freezing cold. Snow-covered the surroundings. I was a lonely visitor, again. You must be mad to visit a site like this in winter, but well, I was in the area and just couldn't drive past it.

Due to extensive restoration works, the temple now lies beneath a large tent. This tent has to guard the ancient building against the sometimes severe weather conditions around here. Also, precautions are taken against damage that can be done by earthquakes. Once the work is completed (who knows when), the temple will be back in the open air.

Because of the works going on, not much can be seen of this precious temple. You can only view the columns from the outside, but the inside is forbidden terrain. That's a pity, I'll have to return in a few years to see what they have made of it.

On a sunny Saturday, I drove to the town of Bruges, about 2 hours from my home. My preparations (websites and a travel guide) left me with high expectations for "The best-preserved medieval town in Europe". I wasn't disappointed, but I rate Tallinn (that I visited a few months ago) higher - probably because Belgian towns are so familiar to me.

My first stop in town was the Church of Our Lady, with a delicate statue of Mary and her child. It was made by Michelangelo, and it's the only work of his that can be seen outside Italy. Inside (or beneath) this church there are also impressively decorated graves of Burgundian Kings.

In the center of Bruges, at the large Market Square, the enormous Belfry Tower and Cloth Hall dominate the scene. The Tower just seems to be too high for the building underneath that has to support it. Other interesting places to visit are the Beguinage and the Gruuthuse-museum (in a lovely building).

On my trip to South Korea in 2001, a trip that lasted only 2 weeks, I visited the country's all 8 WHS. And a number of other nice places - the distances within South Korea aren't that far, and it's an easy and rewarding place to travel in. Two of these sites now have become a WHS in 2010: Hahoe Folk Village and Yangdong Folk Village.

The bus ride to the Hahoe from Andong takes only 35 minutes. The very well preserved village "Hahoe" appeared still in deep rest when I approached. At the town's entrance is a ticket gate, otherwise, it is an ordinary village. The weather was wonderful, the town smelled just how a rural site should (after manure). A wonderful quiet place. Almost all of the thatched roof houses here are still occupied, so it's not possible to look inside them.

Hahoe is especially known for its mask dances. From the village, it's a 2-kilometer walk to the Mask Museum. About 200 Korean masks are exhibited: a glimpse into the folk history of this often so westernized country.

I also visited Yangdong. This village is located near Gyeongju. I was the only passenger on the local bus, and the driver dropped me at a crossing from where I had to walk another 1.5 km. However, a car stopped after a few minutes and gave me a lift - that happened so often in Korea!

There was no entrance fee to be paid in …

Jeju island is the equivalent of a tropical paradise, especially for regional tourists. The Hawaii of South Korea, with its sunny climate and even real palm trees. On the flight that I took from Busan to Jeju were at least 100 elder women, excited as children going on a school trip.

Arriving at Jeju airport, however, the island is covered in fog and rain.

The next day it is still raining. I decide to join a bus tour, to get an easy (and dry) glimpse of the island. The tour takes 8 hours, and circles the eastern part of the island - the volcano crater, lava caves, and the open-air museum are included. I'm joined by about 10 Koreans and a German girl. We (the westerners) haven't got a real clue where we are going, so a surprise tour it is (the guide only speaks Korean).

First, we stop at the "Mystery Road", an optical illusion. Really strange, but funny.

The Sangumburi crater is stop number two. This should be an impressive sight, a large green volcanic crater. Now only fog, just the edge of the crater can be seen.

So we go on. Most of the Korean passengers are fast asleep now. The next stop is the Song-Eup Folk Village, an open-air museum where we are lured into a tent where a sales presentation of health products is held (tea, pills). The Koreans are wide awake now and buy in large quantities.

After …

This is probably the best sight I have seen in Korea. Beautifully located in the mountains (in a national park actually), miles from everywhere. Haeinsa is a big and colourful temple complex. There is a lot to see and to do in the area.

The wooden blocks are of course the main point of interest. They are housed in 4 buildings behind the main temple. You can look at them via the windows.

Remarkably, the blocks are still in their original housing, and due to the way of construction, they are well preserved. A few years ago a new building was erected for them, but the condition of the carved blocks started deteriorating quickly. So they moved them back, to their original places.

Seowons were private institutions combining education (in the form of preparation for admission to the national civic service) and Neo-Confucian worship. A serial proposal such as this is always worth checking out in detail, as there may be hidden surprises among the selected locations. Personally, I was happy to discover Dosan Seowon among the entries listed, a site that I visited on my Korea trip in 2001.

Dosan Seowon is located not far from Hahoe WHS, and I visited both on the same day (I even included a third 'national treasure', Jebiwon Buddha). My trip notes about Dosan Seowon are brief: “Idyllic location. Very quiet, only a handful of visitors. Lots of Korean film directors apparently come here for shooting traditional Korean footage.”. All memory of my activities of that day have since blurred, and the fact that I had not labeled the photos in my Korea photo album does not help either (mind you, 2001 was the pre-digital age).

There’s a large difference between the way I am visiting (future) WHS nowadays and how I travelled 15 years ago: I now put considerably more effort into arriving prepared. This research has only become possible because there is so much more information readily available. Dosan Seowon for example has a very detailed official website, where you can virtually walk through the complex. Each structure is shown and described. Thanks to that I was able to add captions to the photos.

Trying to relive my visit, I found …

The fortress is still quite intact: a lot of different towers, four gates, and the city wall can be seen today. The best thing to do is walk the city walls - then you pass all sights. This tour is about 5.5 kilometers long but will take you an hour or two because of the steep climbs involved.

Because of the burning heat on the day I visited the site, I did only half of the tour. Still worthwhile though: as most of the monuments I visited in Korea it is renovated very well.