All our reviews

Quite a lot of tourists visit Djenné, especially because of its famous mosque. However, the old two-storey houses in town are also very worthwhile.

When you roam around the streets, the first thing that strikes you is the stench: the preservation of this world heritage has reached so far that it is not allowed to construct modern sewerage.

The past of Timbuktu past is more glorious than its present. Now it is a little town on the edge of the Sahara, with sand-covered streets and souvenir selling Toeareg. The mosques are worth a visit, as are the old houses in the center of town with their beautiful manufactured doors.

My most remarkable moment was that when I arrived on Friday afternoon, its male inhabitants with their colourful robes just left the mosques. They made a wonderful contrast with the sandy streets and buildings.

Bandiagara is situated in central Mali (near Mopti) and is a good place for trekking from town to town. I did a 4-day trek, staying overnight in the villages of Bankas, Ende, Yabatalu and Begnimato. During the day we walked from village to village.

At night I slept on one of the roofs of the houses in the villages. This is very impressive, as you experience the daily life of the Dogon at close quarters. At 6 am the cocks start yelling, the donkeys begin to bray and the housewives get up to fetch water: an ideal alarm clock ...

It was a very memorable trip: admiring the fabulous ornamented woodwork of the doors, visiting the Hogon (traditional priest) and a mask dance was staged for us in the early morning hours.

The site at Sukhothai is a stylish park, where you can explore the ruins by cycling from one monument to the other. The statues and temples are much better preserved (though several centuries older!) than the ones at Ayuthaya, or is that just my imagination?

Sukhothai is more than 400 kilometers distance from Bangkok. I stayed at nearby city Phitsanulok, and went to Sukhothai by local bus, a good option.

Palenque has much in common with Tikal (Guatemala), but for unknown reasons it is a lot less famous. The park impressed me a lot, both the temples and natural surroundings.

The grave of Pakal looks a lot like an Egyptian sarcophagi. The decorations (as a deathmask) and the skeleton however have been transferred to a museum in Mexico-City.

During a standard 3-week tour of Sri Lanka you're likely to visit almost all of the country's WHS: it's just not that big. This new addition to the WH list is no exception: Adam's Peak for example (at the heart of the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary) is quite a landmark.

In 1996 we travelled to the center of Sri Lanka by train. There are many tea plantations in this area. As you go uphill, it gets colder and wetter. As the temperature only reached 15 degrees Celsius, we felt like we were in England or Holland. The locals were really cold too and wore thick jackets, fleece sweaters and hats.

From Nuwara Eliya we did a hiking tour at the Horton Plains. We were transported to the park entrance in about an hour and then walked for about 4 hours. The things to see are some steep cliffs (Little World's End and Big World's End) and waterfalls.

My trip diary notes do not mention anything very remarkable about this hike, and I must admit that even less is left in my memory.

Lots of stairs lead up to the temple. Except for the seemingly endless walk up there, the groups of monkeys are also still in my memory. They are certainly not shy and it is not recommended to eat something with some of them around: you lose it in a second ...

Dambulla is one of the numerous attractions of Sri Lanka, but not the most impressive one (neighbouring Sigiriya is the no. 1 contender for that).

The site in total is quite an experience. First you have to climb a number of stairs. You walk past the paintings of the women, an awesome sight in itself. Then you reach a platform where you can take a rest before the real hard work starts: between the claws of a lion an iron ladder reaches steeply upwards along the rock.

Finally, on top of the rock, you see the site where the palace of the Prince used to stand (now only the ruins are left).

The ancient, magic bo tree welcomes you as you enter the main complex. Its age (2300 years?!) is something to dwell on, although we were not really sure which one of the two prominent trees was the legendary one.

The rest of the monuments are spread out over a large area. Because of that, and because they are so old, Anuradhapura is not easy to grasp as a day trip (as I did).

This site is in much better repair than the one at Anuradhapura: there is actually more to see than just ruins. The old city can easily be discovered on a bike. Our bicycles were in terrible condition. I am not totally sure anymore (I have rented so many bicycles in Asia that I sometimes mix up the occasions), but in my memory I got a puncture before arriving at the first monument. According to my photo collection I still managed to visit a big part of the site, but how?

Kandy is a green city with 100.000 inhabitants. It is dominated by a large, central lake. Compared to the capital Colombo a stay here is a relief. There are several shrines to visit, and it is also a good place for walking tours.

The Temple of the Tooth of course is the major sight. Watching the pilgrims even more ... each day the room where the tooth is saved is opened up to let the numerous visitors catch a glimpse

The Dutch connection makes Galle an interesting place to visit (for me, as I am Dutch myself). Especially the church (Groote Kerk) and some of the little streets looked very familiar. Hire a bike, and you feel like you are in Holland.

The new part of Galle is hell, but the old town I found quite charming (though very small).

In my opinion, Rome is the most beautiful European capital. So much history in such a small area, without being turned into an amusement park ... where else in Europe can you still find that?

One of the lesser-known sights is San Clemente, a pretty 11th-century church. Stairs lead you down to the remains of a 4th-century basilica, which was devastated by Northmanns. Via another pair of stairs you arrive at a Roman house from the 2nd century, that served as a shrine for Mithras.

In 1994, I travelled around Yunnan Province for one month. It was one of the best trips of my life, and still at the right moment. Kunming was just starting to become a big, modern city and Lijiang and Dali saw the first influx of tourists. However, I did visit more remote places during that trip, of which Zhongdian stands out the most. We arrived after a long bus trip by night through the mountains. The air was thin, making the climb to the first floor of our hotel already difficult.

In the next days, we explored the surroundings. With a car and a female driver (I still clearly picture her immaculate white gloves), we went on a day trip to (what I now think was) Napa Hai. Writing this review, over 10 years later, the memories of the heavenly landscape all come back. The fresh mountain air, the endless views over the plateau, the yellow hey stacks, the rivers and lakes, numerous yaks. Still sunny in October, we enjoyed just strolling around, having small talk (the mime-type) with local women doing their laundry in the streams (members of the minority groups that populate this area).

I have been hesitant to add this site to my Visited list, mainly because it's not very clear what exactly belongs to the "Three parallel rivers of Yunnan protected areas" and because I didn't write down the names of the places visited in 1994. After some research, I believe the place I …

Lijiang is situated in the remarkable Yunnan province, in the Southwest of China. I went to Lijiang via a very long bus trip through the mountains. Nowadays, there even seems to be an airport.

The little city certainly deserves a stay of a few days from tourists that are interested in culture and history. The food also is recommendable: I still remember the baked cheese with sugar (?!!).

The Walled City of Jaipur has (after some debate) received WH status this year. The city in Northern India already has 2 WHS within its borders: Jantar Mantar and Amer Fort (the latter as part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan). The city authorities however still seemed to have longed for the recognition of its historic center in general. The core zone of the proposed WHS will be limited to the area within the old city walls – this leads to an exact location inscribed twice connection for Jantar Mantar, but not for Amer Fort which lies in a separate village within the municipality some 11km away.

I visited Jaipur in 1993, arriving by Pink City Express train from Delhi. The city was part of a whirlwind group tour across Northern India and Nepal and I think we stayed for 1 night only. My photo album of the trip shows that we covered the City Palace, Nahargarh Fort, the observatory, Amer Fort and a cinema. It would have been hard to have not seen the Hawa Mahal (the Pink Palace) as well, but I have no photos of this landmark left.

The Nahargarh Fort and cinema lie just outside of the walled city. This leaves the City Palace (dating from 1732) for me to describe. This was the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur and thus a core element of the 18th century planned city that is to sustain the Outstanding Universal Value of the nominated site. It …

In 1993 I visited one of these forts: Amber Fort. It was my first trip to India, and I was completely overwhelmed by its street life and visible poverty. Jaipur, the nearest city to Amber Fort, also was the first place we visited on our tour.

The Fort is located on the top of a hill, and we walked there in the late afternoon. I remember that it was getting dark when we returned and that there were lots of local kids yelling at us, walking with us, or wanting to hold hands.

The fort was built from 1592 and "shows the evolution from the purely defensive fort settlements of the early medieval period to the palace fortress type of architecture typified in the 16th century." It is quite an extensive complex, with several courtyards, gardens, a temple, audience halls and living quarters.

My visit was so long ago that I cannot really argue if this is a viable WHS or not. But certainly "palaces" in general are still a very prominent feature of Indian history and culture.

Khajuraho is a little town somewhere in Northern India. The little town aspect has stuck in my memory more than the monuments. It is an ideal getaway from overcrowded Indian cities. Rent a bike, visit the surrounding countryside, relax ...

As you could expect from a ghost town, the atmosphere is somewhat dead. It clearly is a monument and not a place where people live (or even have been living). Only the big Mosque with the tombs of saints is regularly visited by pilgrims.

Fatehpur Sikri is located only 40 kilometers distance from Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. When you are in the area, Fatehpur deserves a visit of a few hours. But beware: it can get terribly hot there.

The most beautiful places always seem to be the most remote. Nemrut Dag is a good example for this theory. It is situated near the little town of Kahta, deep in the heart of Turkey.

From there you have to drive 1,5 hour by jeep through inhospitable surroundings. Finally a half hour-climb of the mountain itself awaits you, before you can see the magic sight with your own eyes.