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I visited this WHS in 2023 and it really is worthwhile destination when visiting Azerbaijan. Located in the north of Azerbaijan, Sheki is so deeply hidden in the mountain valley of the Greater Caucasus that only red tile roofs and pointed tops of minarets can be seen amidst the dense greenery of the gardens when viewing from above (perhaps the best panoramic viewpoint of the old city is from beneath the World War II Memorial).

The biggest changes in Sheki's old neighborhoods since the early Middle Ages occured mainly during the Soviet Union era (you will surely notice the prevalence of old Lada cars!). The current peaceful setting of Sheki came about through millenia of turbulence in the region. Three millenia ago, Sheki (then called Sakesana or Sake, was one of the most famous cities in Caucasian Albania and at the beginning of the first millenium AD, the doctrine of Christ was brought to Sheki, and the first Christian churches were built here and independent Albanian dioceses arose (the small Church of Kish is definitely worth a visit while in Sheki). Sheki is also a city that stood on the Great Silk Road and once huge bazaars rumbled on the squares, and merchants invited buyers into their tents in dozens of languages and dialects, seducing them with the wonderful aromas of seasonings (the excellent and tasty purple "sumak" springs to mind), a rainbow of luxorious fabrics, the glitter of jewels and the sharpness of foreign swords. A few family-run …

We chose the "traditional" way to reach Machu Picchu by walking on the famous Inka Trail which is arguably a part of Qhapaq Ñan and by this a WHS on its own. Apparently it was used by noble Incas for pilgrimages from Cusco to Machu Picchu and along the way many ruins of their culture can be found where they made stops on their pilgrimage. There is also a fast trail along the Río Urubamba that was for the messangers in the Empire and is today comparable to the train ride. The pilgrims though chose the hard way including the crossing of the 4200m Dead Women Pass. Apparently they had to physically suffer. I can really recommand the hike even though it's touristy, very inflexible as everything is regulated and expensive because it's popular. Additionally there is a thin line between hard work and exploitation of the porters that carry all the general stuff for you whereas you only carry your private stuff. We paid 580$ for the 4 days/ 3 nights and it was the cheapest offer we found with Xtreme Tourbulencia. The basics worked however there were many small hick- ups. All in all it was a good tour. Let me know if you want to know more about the experience. We had bad luck once reaching Intipuntu or "the Sungate", which is the first point from which the archeological site Machu Picchu is visible. It started raining and didn't stop anymore even though it's not even rainy …

The church is big and impressive, but there is not much to do if you are not religious. If you are in the area, you can go there, but definitely not worth a separate visit itself. While I enjoyed my visit in the town and walking around it, I don't feel like it deserves to be a WHS. I recommend walking to the main square and back. I went there, because it was the closest WHS from my home that I haven't visited and I didn't have any plans for the day. Anyway I spend some time on the main square, because I didn't want to leave so early, but after I come back to the church, I decided to go to Wadowice as I haven't been there too and it was on my way home. I have also visited a park next to the church. It is nice, but I have seen better parks.

I went to Echmiatsin and Zvartnots on a half day tour. Zvartnots was a beautifully sited circular cathedral dating back to the 7th century, now reduced to picturesque ruins. I found it to be very atmospheric Then we went on the Etchmiatsin, where we looked around the religious compound surrounding the cathedral of Etchmiadsin. I was not as impressed with the architectural merit as I had been by the remains of Zvartnots. The Treasury House Museum in the cathedral compound was more interesting than I had expected. It holds what it claims is the real lance that pierced Christ's side (a very large one -it must have been a very muscular centurion that wielded that lance) and some religious pictures. One in particular was quite unique, showing the Virgin and Child Jesus, in which the infant Jesus was shown with some rather over developed abdominal muscles for an infant!

Hard to rate the significance of the sites as I am not part of the Armenian culture, it was obvious the Etchmiadsin and the surrounding area has been very important for the Armenain church through history.

I visited this WHS in 2023 shortly after the Formula 1 Grand Prix organised around the Walled City of Baku. The metal/concrete protection on the fortified walls was still there as were the spectator stands and lack of painted road signs (really messy when driving through Old Baku towards Gobustan).

It is easier to appreciate the remaining walls around the old city of Baku from outside, especially near the city gates and double gates. From within the city walls, there will most likely always be a stark contrast between Old Baku and the modern high rise buildings outside the city walls. Earthquakes have devasted most of the historic buildings several times throughout history and as recently as the year of Baku's inscription on the WH list. Especially most of the residential buildings (with their wide wooden balconies) within the city walls have collapsed and have either never been rebuilt or have been rebuilt in a dull modern style. Therefore, the remaining historic buildings within the city walls stand out.

The Baylar Mosque is worth visiting inside for its architecture. It has been converted into a Koran Museum with a permanent sacred relics exhibition. The Mohammed Mosque and Minaret dates back to 1078-1079 and stands at the heart of Old Baku between the city's two main highlights: the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. Other noteworthy buildings worth visiting in Baku are the Gasim Hey Hammam, the National Museum of History, the Ismailiyya Palace, the Nizami …

Visited Altyn Emel NP in 2022 while driving through Kazakhstan. It's most likely the easiest choice and on paper it also looks like a breeze from Almaty. Two problems with the location are: rental cars in Almaty all have a mileage limit because they DON'T want you to drive around the country with their cars so you'll need to look hard for a good deal that will give you unlimited mileage. In the end you are better off flying to the north for those sights and explore locally but even then the mileage limit of 100 km a day will be tight to do anything but just cruise around Almaty which is easily done by taxi anyway. Second problem is that if you don't have a car then you need to find some kind of driver but the tours (at least in 2022 which was still technically COVID time) there was zero infrastructure for this. You can try to find a guy who wants $100+ per day, and he probably won't speak English, but I got the feeling that nobody in Almaty really wants to do this as a job?! Before I start ranting, I eventually hired a car and did it on my own.

The park is only a couple of hours outside of town and once you are out of the city limits there aren't many cars on the road because it leads to...nowhere. I visited some weird rock carvings on the way which aren't inside the …

The serial transnational site ‘Cold Deserts of Turan’ was added to the World Heritage List last week. It consists of a number of fairly remote and obscure nature reserves in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Only four community members claimed to have visited one of them, based on the respective Tentative Site entries.

However, there is a loophole (and I must give tribute to Clyde for pointing it out to me). Everybody who has made the road transfer between Bukhara (Uzbekistan) and Merv (Turkmenistan) via the land border at Turkmenabat will have crossed Repetek Nature Reserve. The main road goes right through component #8 of the nomination, as confirmed by the official maps, and the road is not excluded from the core zone. It even gained a bit of notoriety in the IUCN evaluation, as an example of “recent linear infrastructure development” that poses a threat to large mammal migrations – not only is Repetek crossed by the M37 highway, but also by the Turkmenabad-Ashgabat-Bereket-Turkmenbashya railway. But both are well-established nowadays, so there’s nothing to do about it.

I still remember the desert landscape on this drive and have written about it in my travel diary, although my observations and photos could easily have come from 10km before or after we crossed the Nature Reserve – I guess the buffer zone looks fairly similar. My photos show sand dunes covered in tough large plants (possibly the characteristic Black Saxaul), unidentified funny shrubs and a dung beetle at work. …

There may have been a time when viking sites were underrepresented on the world heritage list but by now I think they are already overrepresented. Firstly the viking period is a rather limited era and has already 6 sites or more on the list. I haven't visited all of them but I have visited Jelling and Hedeby (and St. Kilda but there the Viking connections is not central). While I found both visits worthwhile and interesting, in both there is very little to see and they need a lot of explanation and imagination and I am not so sure at all that they really need to be on the list.

The other important viking places are Birka where seems vey little original to see but a few tumuli, and also the sites on Greenland and L'Anse aux meadows are more interesting about the early exploration of the western hemisphere than about their scant remains. 

So there seems no need to add another site that doesn't add much and is possibly even less interesting. When I travelled around Denmark I felt that visiting Jelling should be suffice for viking sites since it is the most important viking site and already very modest as a WHS. But on the way from Kopenhagen and the eastern island the Jutland I travelled through the nice city of Odense where I stayed for one night to explore the old town and the Andersen connection (I found the new museum/park about him less interesting …

Nahanni was my last Canadian WHS and there's a good reason for it. It's not exactly tough to get in but you need to have the right timing and definitely money, not crazy amounts but let's say you spend less flying to Belize and back than getting there domestically. Moneywise we are talking a couple of thou easily and that's just for the flightseeing. You won't save money on the alternatives and it will take you heaps longer. So I finally managed to see it this year after Covid, park closures (park closed again due to wildfires this year just after I went in July) and not being in Canada in summer most years doesn't help too. The season to visit the park is only from June to September and we are talking LATE June to EARLY September if you want to have a good experience.

There are three ways to visit the park. One is to hike in...yeah well I figured I should mention it. If you are on of those (you'd have to Canadian to be crazy enough) then you still have to either get dropped in by plane or take your own car to the Nahanni Butte which is a former First Nation village and nowadays has nothing. There are some small towns nearby. Having said that, it's a looong drive to the Butte. You will have to be hardcore into this trip to drive up and then cayak around and it takes a day to …

I visited this WHS in 2023. After a quick visit of the few original remains at the small visitor centre a few metres away, geared mainly to entertain the the many school groups visiting this site, I made an extra effort to also "see" the Roman inscription at the very edge before the restricted area. The Latin inscription needs cleaning as it is almost impossible to see now due to lichens and weathering. At least I got to see plenty of pygmy owls and the marble UNESCO WHS plaque in the area so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Next, I headed towards Boyukdash, the main component open to the general public in a sort of loop trail.

I must confess I had low expectations, as with many rock art sites, you never know what to expect until you get there. The rock art here covers a huge historical period from the Mesolithic to the Late Middle Ages. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, mostly due to the quantity, quality and variety of the rock art. The rock art here truly sheds light on the lifestyle, occupation, religious beliefs and early art of the people who settled the area thousands of years ago. In an area of 3,096 hectares, archaeologists discovered more than 6,000 rock drawings, settlements, burial mounds, formerly inhabited caves, megalithic structures, traces of settlements and tombs.

Humans who settled in Gobustan more than 20,000 years ago are believed to have lived in a communal clan …

To be clear, SGang Gwaay is ONLY the site on what used to be called Anthony Island and getting here takes either your own yacht/boat or do a tour. The tours will visit a lot in Gawaii Haanas (another tentative site on its own that expands a LOT) and try to include the world heritage site although you aren't guaranteed if they are busy. My low review score, which you will have seen right way and I'm sure you are wondering why, is because this is a very small site of the Hadai nation and it should be extensive. In fact I didn't even like the poles so much and the remains of houses on SGang Gwaay and I found other sites like Tanu more rewarding to visit. To make it clear: this site is for cultural parts on the island, NOT the wonderful park. I'd definitely give Gwaii Haanas a five star rating when it is inscribed because the cedar forests, primal and untouched territories are a dream come true for someone like me. In retrospective the visit was one of the low-lights of the 4-day tour.

So for this review I'll stick to ONLY the site in the zone. Your tour operator (I also went with Moresby Explorers by the way, clearly a good choice!) will contact the Watchman on the site to arrange a time. If they are busy then you have to wait. Only ~15 people are allowed on the site per visit. The Haida …

In September 2019 I went there with my parents on a road trip. It is in Konya borders. around 30 minutes to city and 15min to the main road.

You can take a taxi from Konya or with Dolmus (small shuttles) you can take from Cumra.

It was very interesting to see how people lived thousand years ago and seeing one of the first human settlement in history. 

You can see 9.000 years ago what they ate, how they did the agriculture, where they sit and slept. House designs etc. 

Design of the houses were interesting to protect themselves they made the entrance from the roof with a wooden ladder. so all the houses are connected to each other. there is no street. 

You have to plan ahead for this one. You need to book a tour in advance and are taken by boat to the secluded, monkey-filled island where the underground river is. 

It's worth the effort. The sea and islands themselves are pristine and beautiful, and the caves themselves are a true natural wonder. I am always amazed by the sounds of life within caves and the well-preserved nature of these, with no artificial lights installed, makes it hugely important. Worth visiting and supporting. 

This is a small and quiet area, out of the way and far less of a tourist draw than nearby Nara. While I found the sites in Nara beautiful, the Horyu-ji sites felt more meaningful for me, knowing I was standing in the presence of the oldest wooden structures in the world. You can feel the age of the place and it was incredibly peaceful to simply walk around the grounds and appreciate the beauty and craft in their design and construction. Very easily reachable from either Nara or Osaka for a day trip. 

The size and scope of the temples, mausoleums, and other buildings of Nikko is astounding. Each site is hidden behind the others, surrounded by massive cedar trees and climbing up into the mountainside. I was somehow unaware until arriving that this was the final resting site of the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which of course lends massive historical importance to the architectural beauty. It's a lovely day trip from Tokyo, but the town itself is also in a beautiful stretch of country, so it's worth coming out and taking the time to enjoy the scenery as well. 

There are generally lots of visitors, both foreign and Japanese, so just be aware of that going in. Bring solid shoes and be prepared for many steps! 

Trier had been on my bucket list for a long time, as a history buff, and it was a treat to finally be able to go there and go bit by bit through the extensive Roman ruins there. What remains of the bathhouse is surprisingly well-managed and allows one to get a sense of the size of the old Roman baths. Plus, it was cool to be able to walk through what would have been the underground service levels of the facility. The Black Gate well deserves its iconic status, as it's one of the best preserved Roman structures outside of the Mediterranean region. 

I visited Red Bay in July 2023 on a family camping trip to Newfoundland and Labrador. We began our visit at the interpretive center right on the waterside. The history of the Basques and their whaling in this area is well presented and documented. Many interesting artifacts are on display (including clothing, boat parts and crockery) and contribute to the exhibition. It's worth noting that most of the archaeological remains of Red Bay's economic activity are at the bottom of the bay, having been carefully returned there after discovery, inventory, and study.

A shuttle boat runs (now for free) every hour between the interpretation center and Saddle Island. A well-marked trail dotted with information panels circles the island. It's possible to visit it independently or with a Park Canada guide-interpreter. Since my mother doesn't understand English, we opted for the first option. It takes about an hour to walk the entire trail, taking the time to read all the signs and take photos, which allows you to return just in time to catch the next shuttle. It's nice to walk around the island and tread the ground where the Basques processed whale blubber, but there's very little evidence of this activity. We can only guess at the shape of ancient furnaces in the grass of the island. It's instructive, but not very impressive. A much more recent wreck catches the eye.

It should be noted that the most interesting archaeological piece preserved out of the water, a small …

The OUV of Matobo Hills is a bit hard to grasp, but it boils down to the meaning this landscape had for the San hunter-gatherers (Stone Age, Iron Age) and the Ndebele nation (from the 19th century onwards). Nowadays most tourists come here for the Rhinos and the Rock Art. I visited for 1.5 days as part of a small nature group tour (4 pax). We stayed overnight at the recommended Rowallan Camp, a small ‘glamping’ site with self-catering amenities just inside the park’s borders.

My 3 Australian tour mates were surprisingly smitten by the Matobo’s distinct landscape of rocky boulders – something that they could have observed very well at home I think. At sunrise and sunset, it provides a picturesque setting, as do the neat bundles of hay waiting to be picked up that have been gathered during the day by female workers. There is some overflow of cattle from neighbouring areas into the park and several fires had encroached as well when we were there.

For the Rock Art, we went to Nswatugi Cave and Bambata Cave. The road system in Matobo has severely deteriorated over the years and one now needs a 4WD to get around properly (there’s a paved road that crosses it but you won’t see much from there). Nswatugi was the easiest of the two to get to by car; its access road has only one nasty stream to cross. The paintings are in a rock shelter about a 15-minute …

After several years of extensive renovations the Sümela Monastery (Μονή Παναγίας Σουμελά) was reopened partially in 2019 and 2020. We were very lucky to participate in a restricted service on the day of the Dormition of the Theotokos or Feast of the Assumption of St.Mary on 15 August 2020. Only about 50 people could attend due to Covid-19 restrictions. This made it a very special and moving event.  

The monastery, on the WHS tentative list since 2000, is high up in the mountains above Trabzon on the slope of Mt. Karadag in the town of Macka facing the Altındere valley and can be reached by car. It is advisable to check if any special permit is needed on the day you want to visit (this is normally the case on 15 August). Opening hours are daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m; the address is Altındere Mahallesi, Altındere Vadisi, 61750; E-mail: trabzonmuzesi@kultur.gov.tr ; ticket price is 450 TL. You need to climb a few steps from the parking lot to the entrance of the monastery complex.

The monastery, dedicated to Virgin Mary, was founded in the 4th century by two Athenian monks, Barnabas and Sophronios. It became a centre for science and culture with a well endowed library. It continued to exist after the Ottoman conquest of Trabzon; and was used until 1923. It was reopened for religious services in 2010, with a liturgy celebrated by the Ecumenical Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeus, and closed again temporarily in 2015. The …

Bad Kissingen

I had my bathing suit with me just in case, even though I was visiting Bad Kissingen only for 3 hours between trains around noon in late August. 

The first thing you might want to know about Bad Kissingen is that it is located in the state of Bavaria, under whose auspices this town has developed. 

From the train station I walked north and first came across Wandelhalle. The main feature of this structure is the 90 meter long space (See Hubert's left photo), part of which also dabbles as a concert hall. To the side of this space in Wandelhalle is Brunnenhalle, with Rakoczy Spring, a spa water drinking facility.

To the directly north of this Wandelhalle is a rather small Kurgarten, where outdoor concert can also be held.

To the west of Kurgarten is Arkadenbau, which is also interconnected with Wandelhalle to the south and Regentenbau to the north. Arkadenbau is the oldest structure of the three, seit 1838, and today houses a large info center where I found a free, round souvenir badge (lower right photo). I was happy to find this and put it on my shoulder bag. It proclaims "Great Spas of Europe, We are World Heritage! Bad Kissingen," and also lists all names of the other 10 great spa towns. Arkadenbau also houses a concert hall called Rossini Saal. Rossini seems to be the best known composer associated with Bad Kissingen.

Today Regentenbau is accessible to …