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In readiness for its likely addition to Ireland’s T List, we paid a visit to the Transatlantic Cable Station on Valentia Island in June 2022. A simple review of the visit isn’t going to take very long as, in all honesty, there isn’t a great deal to see, and what there is isn’t that exciting! Perhaps of more interest to WHS travelers is its history towards nomination - informed by the visit itself and some pre and post visit investigations up to the site’s addition to the Irish T List in Feb 2023. 

At the time we were visiting “blind” regarding what might be proposed. The Canadian element at Heart’s Content Newfoundland hadn’t officially been added to its T List on the UNESCO Web site either, even though the Canadian Government Web site had it listed with a date of 20 Dec 2017 - presumably it/UNESCO were waiting until both ends could be added at the same time. The descriptions there implied that only the 2 cable station “ensembles” (whatever that meant) were to be included using Crits ii and iv. (“The Heart’s Content/Valentia Cable Station ensemble are outstanding monuments representing the remarkable advances in communication technology during the mid to late 19th century” and “The Heart’s Content/Valentia Cable Station ensemble is a well preserved and outstanding example of a telecommunications site”).

This was called into question when we picked up a nice brochure in Valentia for a “Transatlantic Cable Trail”. See this on …

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 at what is now called Te Pitowhenua Waitangi Treaty Grounds, perhaps Aotearoa New Zealand’s most important historical site. How the principles of this document are acknowledged and even embedded in schools, public offices, and workplaces reflects its fundamental importance. It is also registered in UNESCO Memory of the World. I visited the site in April 2022, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a quick review since the last and only review was written a decade ago.

I took a 3-hour InterCity bus from Auckland to Paihia. This town is also an ideal base for exploring the Bay of Islands and the neighboring Kerikeri Basin Historic Precinct, another tentative UNESCO WHS site. Across Paihia is the town of Russell, the country's first capital. I visited the site on a sunny afternoon, and it was a pleasant 30-minute stroll from Paihia Wharf. Visitors may buy the ticket online (currently NZ$60 for international adult visitors, free for kids), though I chose to just buy at the visitor center. The ticket includes a guided tour of the site and a Māori cultural show, both of which have fixed schedules per day.

To the left of the visitor center is the Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, a small but gorgeous building that provides visitors with the historical background of the site. Visitors walk through bushes and canopies before arriving at an open shelter that contains the Ngātokimatawhaorua …

Recently I visited both Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara. As the former is already covered in many reviews I will focus om the later. Through Elisabeth, the owner of the highly recommended Kimbilio lodge in Kilwa Masoko we got into contact with Osman, a very enthousiastic and knowledgable guide. The boat trip from Kilwa Masoko to Songo Mnara takes about 1,5 hour. You arrive at a rather primitive settlement of local fishermen and after passing through some mangrove forest on foot you reach the ruïnes of the former palace dating from 11 th century. Big baobab trees have partly taken over the buildings, but there is still quite a lot to see. The site was very quiet, our group of 3 had the place to ourselves, as was also the case when we visited Kilwa Kisiwani the next day. On the way back we did some great snorkelling. It was a great trip and the ruins were quite interesting.

Tripoli is Lebanon’s second largest city and a Tripoli day trip is worth it if you're in Lebanon. It’s a completely different world compared to Beirut. I left Beirut around 08:30 and was in Tripoli at 10:00. I visited both the International Fair and also Tripoli Old Town, both worth it!

Oscar Niemeyer designed the Rachid Karami International Fair in the late sixties for the World Fair in 1976. The fair ground was never finished as the civil war broke out in 1975. Today all the concrete structures are still there and not damaged by the war. The site is a 45-minute stroll as, honestly there isn't that much to see. I did climb, the tower, which was "partially locked". I think it wasn't allowed. Access is free to all the places. All buildings are empty but you can wander around freely.

When I visited, there was some youth event going on but a real new use for the place was never put in place.

I give it a 3.5 stars, as I like this architecture and this is certainly worth a place on the WHS list.

I visited A' ali on the 23rd of january. Just a few hours before I had marked all dilmun burial mounds on an off-line map of maps.me in order to find all relevant mounds in that area even without an internet connection.

A'ali is easily reachable by public transport. I just took the bus from Manama's central bus station to Isa Town Bus Terminal and from there another bus to A'ali . The bus stopped a stone's throw away from the royal burial mound nr. 2 ( If I remember correctly) . I visited as many burial mounds as I could in A'ali. I lost track of how many I really saw there. One of them had its own guard and a tiny guardhouse. I just asked the african guard if I could go inside. He had no objections and even opened the gate for me. All other mounds were fenced off by a more symbolic kind of fence. I climbed up on some of them.

I spent around 2 h in A'ali, visited many burial mounds,had a karak tea in an indian cafe and a long chat with two elderly australian ladies.

All in all I had a pleasant time in A'ali and the trip was worth the spent time and energy. A'ali is a strange place with all the mounds plastered around the city. Makes it a kind of unique place in the world.

As Frederick wrote:""" The mounds were quite underwhelming, but collectively …

I visited Muharraq and its pearling path sites as well as quite a lot of other buildings there(for example all buildings of the sheikh ebrahim foundation,entrance fee for all sites 3 Dinar) on january the 24th.

I took the bus from Manama's central bus station to Muharraq bus terminal( almost every 5 min a bus leaves for Muharraq or the airport). Across the street on the other side of the bus terminal there is the entrance to the pearling path center.

Well,the center is a disappointment and no great help at all. I had a very interesting chat with a guard from kenya there though.I left the center through the second entrance/exit which leads to the al quasariyyah soukh(siyadi shops) . In the morning I had marked all interesting sites in the old Muharraq area on an offline-map of maps.me-whether they were unesco sites or not.I had had the intention to visit all of them.I actually did visit most of them and had a truly great time in doing so.

Lots of renovating and reconstraction is going on in the old Muharraq area. Without any doubt the pearling path unesco sites and the entire old Muharraq area turned out to be the most iinteresting and fascinating visit of all three unesco sites in Bahrain.

I stayed in the old Muharraq area from around 10.00 in the morning till around 19.00 in the late afternoon. I had a coffee in three different old cafes.In two of them …

The botanical gardens may not be in your list when visiting Jakarta and for world heritage enthusiasts you will soon move on to better places in Indonesia. I was going to quickly look at the gardens after arrival but the flight was typically delayed and they already close at 16:00 which probably means they'll eventually start sweeping you out before dark. Instead I visited early morning which I highly recommend instead anyway, plus weekday should keep the families away.

You can reach the gardens by car, or even by train which terminates just west of the park. It is super cheap (10,000 plus you need to buy a travel card if you don't have already) for the 90 minutes ride along the red line, and if you need to exchange it shouldn't be much longer. Because of traffic jams I recommend this was and there are commuters going south in the morning, very few going north when you are done. They only problem with the train approach is that the station is a good 15min walk from the entrance gate at the south of the gardens and it means taking the overpass across the street before heading south and eventually crossing to the entrance. I can see that maybe taking a taxi isn't bad, you can also take a moped from the station to the entrance if you wish... Just FYI there were 4 middle aged Americans doing the same as me so it's not a crazy way to …

The subtitle ‘Capital of Lanna’ discloses the common thread of this future nomination: Lan Na, the long independent Northern Thai state which developed the fortified city of Chiang Mai as its capital from the 13th til the 18th century. Chiang Mai in the past decades has rediscovered itself and found the need to distinguish itself from Bangkok and ‘mainstream’ Thailand. A lot of effort has been put into the restoration of its monuments, which had lain in the rubble for a long time.

I read up a bit beforehand on Lanna art and architecture, but for a non-expert the differences with the classic Thai Buddhist structures are subtle. Teak is often used in construction, and typical buildings have steep overlapping roofs. Overall they show stronger Burmese influences.

In February 2023 I went to all 4 locations that are now considered to be in scope according to the latest information presented at the Forum, which differs from the official TWHS description.

On my first day in Chiang Mai, I visited some 10 temples that all lie within the walled old city or close to it. I still walked 12.6 km! The remains of the city wall itself aren’t much to look at, the wide moat however is still fully present and filled with water.

My Top 4 of these temples consist of:

1. Wat Chedi Luang: huge brick chedi (originally 82m high), with a lot of interesting smaller shrines and temples surrounding it. The …

Edificio Palacio Gustavo Capanema is a pioneering modernist building located in the heart of Rio De Janeiro. It is just a short stroll away from other interesting buildings around Centro, such as the Theatro Municipal, Fundaçao Biblioteca Nacional, and the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. As Walter said in his review, it is easily accessible by metro, and so I had no excuse not to check it out when I was in Rio in October 2022.

I visited the building on a rainy afternoon, which proved to be quite inconvenient as my visit coincided with the rush hour. Approaching the site from the Cinelandia metro station, I was greeted by a building that was fenced off by corrugated metal sheets, which were pretty much covered in graffiti. A signage installed at the northern side of the building says that it was still being renovated and “modernised”. While I was not expecting to see the interiors of each floor given the time of my visit, I was hoping to take a peek of the garden and get a full view of the stilt-like columns. I had to content myself with walking around the perimeter, which was helpful enough to appreciate the façade and the external structures of the building. Unfortunately, the only highlight I could share during my visit was the azulejos on the wall facing Avenida Graça Aranha (see photo). 

Though my visit was limited, I don’t expect this site to be inscribed soon given that Brazil’s celebrated …

This one's not easy but not complicated either: get to the Solomon Islands, book a dive liveaboard that goes to the Marovo Lagoon and you are all set. In fact I find the SIs only have 3 things to really offer me anyway: west diving like the above, Munda (diving) or East Rennell which is a world heritage site but takes even more effort to reach.

So I booked a 10 day cruise and 4 are spent in the Lagoon with the rest around Florida Island etc. We visited one village but as it wasn't near the Lagoon and I figure it may not be what wants to be inscribed, not that I think the culture is that different from one neighboring village to the next these days. Cultural dancing and flower lei were a nice treat nonetheless.

I can thus only focus on the coral sea as the bird life was mainly parakeets or perhaps parrots and swallows. I wouldn't count thay special but who knows what is contained within the small islands and the larger mountains. Setting foot on a random island isn't done and there will always be some locsl suddenly appear from the bush to watch the boat or follow my kayak to barter.

The coral sea is unfortunately very poor these days. Rumor has it the Taiwanese fishing industry has already devastated the marine life for over a decade, now they are gone, replaced by a mainland China logging company...wow! Dead corals …

I have always associated modernist architecture with minimalism and utility, but also with grittiness and to some extent, urban decay. It did not help that modernist architecture originated brutalism, which is another architectural style that I did not appreciate until recently. Visiting Brasilia has changed all of that—this is the place where I finally got to understand and even admire this architectural movement. The previous reviews pretty much said everything about the history, OUV, and logistics of visiting Brasilia, but I thought I'd add another review by sharing my experience visiting the city at the end of September 2022.

I flew from Belo Horizonte to Brasilia and from above, you could really appreciate the distinct shape of the city. Most of the government and cultural buildings of interest are built along Eixo Monumental (the main axis), while residential buildings are located in the wings. The areas adjacent to the axis on both sides are organized into sectors, which are named after the type of establishments they contain (e.g., Setor Comercial, Setor Bancario, and Setor Embaixadas). The city is bounded by Lago Paranoá and Parque Nacional de Brasilia to the east and northwest, respectively. Additionally, the international airport is situated in the south wing. 

The first day was spent roaming around:

1. Museu Nacional da República – shaped like a spaceship or the planet Saturn cut in half. Exhibits local contemporary and edgy art.
2. Catedral Metropolitana – arguably the most iconic modern religious structure in Brazil just …

January 2023 - Just after arrival in Tallinn in the morning, we left our luggage at the hotel next to the harbour and went rightaway to the ferry to Helsinki. We booked Eckeröline which is fairly cheap when booking a return that same day. At approx 2 pm we entered the skerries of Helsinki, one of them in the distance was Suomenlinna.

Of course that was not enough for a tick, thus first thing we bought a dayticket, took the tram to tuomiokirrko and walked the few meters to the line taking us over to Suomenlinna. The views of early sunset, the islets and ice floating on the baltic where one of the most magnificent impressions I ever had at the Baltic. We took advantage of the last sunbeams that day discovering the southern tip of the snow covered island. I can warmly recommend to come here in winter, and there is even a brewery in the Island. Except from Fortress buildings, there are some stereotypical wooden sheds and a toy Museum. 

2 hours later we took the ferry back to the city and still had a long nice evening drinking Beer, Shopping Moomins, watching Ice Hockey and eating finish liquerice.

After 10 PM the ferry went back to Tallinn, where we arrived early enough to theoretically still enjoy nightlife in Tallinn. But we just fell asleep and really enjoyed breakfast next morning.

Note: the photo is not Soumenlinna itself, but taken from the ferry

I visited this WHS in 2022 and special thanks go to Nan who not only took care of booking our zodiac-style trip around Surtsey but also managed to include 2 walk-ins to further decrease the overall costs of our truly unforgettable boat trip. This was certainly the highlight of my trip in Iceland and was the main drawing factor that convinced me to finally book my trip to Iceland's "summer", and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The boat trips organised by SACA require a leeway of at least a week if you want to absolutely be sure not to miss out due to bad weather or sea conditions. For that reason I had planned to drive along the ringroad from Reykjavik in an anticlockwise direction if things were to work out as planned (and luckily this was this case) or in a clockwise direction and leaving Surtsey for last. This meant that I only kept online bookings for accomodation with free cancellation at least 24-48 hrs before which is very hard in Iceland's peak season, even if you book well in advance and eventually I could not find any hotel room available for the night after the boat trip. The night before our boat trip I slept in a B&B close to the gravel road leading the turf church of Keldur. Very early in the morning I drove to the ferry departure point of Landeyjahofn were I parked my car for free and bought my return passenger tickets to Heimaey …

As Huai Kha Khaeng is a forest reserve with a lot of ‘special’ mammals, a type of WHS that I usually enjoy, I had considered awarding extra time and money towards a visit. But, unfortunately, you still are not allowed to stay overnight inside the park. And I wasn’t going to pay 500-800 EUR for a 3-day tour that essentially meant going in and out every day just to sit in one of the watchtowers. So I am saving that money for Borneo later this trip in the hope of seeing an orangutan in the wild.

For my day visit to Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Reserve, I set out from the friendly and ultra-clean Numhom Resort near Thap Thang at 7.15 and arrived at the park gate just before the opening hour of 8.30. They sold me my tickets which had risen in price (for foreigners) to 400 baht per person and an additional 60 baht for the car. They also called ahead to the park headquarters (HQ) that 1 tourist was coming in!

It's another 9km drive to the main area, on a smooth unpaved road. I drove slowly with both windows open and the camera ready on the passenger seat, as it’s more of a safari drive and you never know what you will encounter. Nothing spectacular showed, but there were some colourful birds including a (mostly yellow and green) black-headed woodpecker.

The HQ almost feels like a military camp, with a stern guard (apparently …

I visited this WHS in 2022 as a very early rise and shine visit (since I couldn't sleep much due to sun almost never going down in the summer months in Iceland). The WHS proper within the Thingvellir National Park is always open 24/7 and parking (any time) in most of the car parks comes with a fee payable by credit card in one of the machines. I parked just next to the visitor centre (still closed when I arrived and eventually left), and in front of it is a very nice viewing platform as well as the UNESCO WHS inscription plaque.

The only really OUV (arguably more of a national value really) lies in the "story" related to the Lögberg”, the rocky outcrop marked with a white flagpost (the Iceland flag is only flown during the visitor centre's opening hours) where the Speaker of Parliament had his seat and from where public speeches were held. If truth be told this current location might not even be the exact location after all due to changes in the surrounding landscape. In my opinion this should really be extended to a mixed site to cover the interesting natural features of the national park which are by far more tangible than the current WHS as it stands. 

From the visitor centre I followed two main signposted hikes, mainly on wooden boardwalks, which are worth doing, namely the hike to the Öxarárfoss waterfall and further beyond if you are not pressed for …

Durham Castle and Cathedral were lovely to visit but unfortunately not as tourist friendly as I would’ve liked them to have been. The castle itself has been completely turned into student accommodation. There was a really cool Harry Potter dinner hall to visit (I’m pretty sure it either was the filming location or was the place that inspired the main food hall in the films) and the cathedral itself had a really cool lego model of it inside (which my little girl loved). Pretty town though and definitely worth spending a half day in and around :)

The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas is inscribed based primarily on the outstanding works of Baroque art it contains and how it represents a period in religious architecture in Latin America. The church and the stairway may also be reminiscent of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga, Portugal. Highlights of the site are the 12 statues of the prophets and the 6 chapels that contain depictions of Christ’s passion. As previous reviews have already written about these, I will focus on the interior of the church and the Sala dos Milagres.

1. The interior of the church – the church was open at the time of my visit, although police officers curiously guarded its main doors. A crucifix is at the center of the high altar, which is beautifully decorated with gilded carvings and statuaries. Framed religious paintings showing some of the events in the life of Mary and Jesus adorn the walls of the church nave. At the anterior end of the nave there are two elaborate altarpieces containing rather small statues. The ceiling seems to be made of wood panels and is likewise boldly painted. 
2. Sala dos Milagres – the “Miracle Room” is a small museum on the left side of the church. It exhibits votive offerings (ex-votos) from devotees who wanted to express their gratitude for the blessings or answered prayers they have received (especially among the sick), though I also noticed prayer letters and offerings. This is quite a historically …

A visit to ‘The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves’ nowadays has to start in Kuching, where in the wonderful Borneo Cultures Museum they have ‘Deep Skull’ on display. The museum’s fourth floor holds an intriguing exposition about the findings in Niah. 

When I arrived at Niah National Park itself, I was surprised to see banners all around stating ‘Niah National Park Toward UNESCO World Heritage Site’. As the nomination is only up in 2024, this is a bit premature and just shy of failing Commandment #7! The facilities, including a large car park, cafeteria, and tourist bungalows, already are set up for high numbers of visitors. On a weekday in March 2023 though, there were only a handful of other people.

There still is no bridge however to enter the park, so two young guys were ferrying the visitors across (1 ringgit, 1 minute). On the other side, the 3km long trail to the caves starts. I had read reports beforehand about how slippery the walkway is, even dangerous. To make things worse, it had rained heavily all night and was just starting to clear up when I arrived at Niah. So I took it slowly and used the handrails wherever I could. It was indeed slippery in places, but I think the park already has taken some measures to improve such as placing additional red-and-white coloured iron bars on the steepest parts.

After about 50 minutes I arrived at the stairs to the caves …

As I recently in my review already called Koh Ker a ‘Tier 3’ Khmer site, Si Thep can only be Tier 4! The nomination, up for discussion at the WHC later this year, will undoubtedly focus more on the remains of the Buddhist Dvaravati culture which share the same area as the unremarkable Khmer structures of a later date.

I visited Si Thep (sometimes also transcribed as Sri Thep) by rental car from Bangkok, a car that also gave me access to the more remote Huai Kha Khaeng WHS further to the northwest. When I arrived at the main location, the outside temperature was 37 degrees, so I was pleased to see an electric cart waiting to ferry me around. We first stopped at what the driver called ‘three temples’. Two of them are quite plain Khmer-style stupas, the third is a lower rectangular structure where up close you can see that it has a beam all around decorated with funny carvings of crouching men and animals. These ‘stucco dwarfs’ stem from the Dvaravati culture. A protective roof now protects them from the elements.

After that, we went to see the excavation site where they found five human skeletons and one of an elephant, which probably date from before the Dvaravati period. And that was it – after half an hour or so I was brought back to the parking lot. Nothing visible at the site refers to “the long-distance maritime trade and exchange network with people in …

Gunung Mulu National Park scores in superlatives. Mulu has the Second Biggest Cave Chamber in the world (Sarawak Chamber), the Largest Cave Passage (Deer Cave), and one of the Largest interconnected cave systems (Clearwater Cave System). It has among the highest number of palm tree species anywhere ánd even the longest canopy walkway. It has been inscribed as a WHS on all 4 natural criteria. Even on our website, it ranks 30th of all 1157 WHS, with an average score of 4.5.

Despite knowing all these accolades, it blows you away on arrival. Its rainforest setting is stunning, it is much prettier than pictures can convey. I found it especially hard to take good photos here, I took over 500 and kept only 90 or so. I tried all kinds of settings, both on my large zoom camera and my phone, to no avail (others had more success with their latest generation high-end iPhones). The rainforest and the cave interiors are very dark, and pouring rain doesn’t help either. Animals are either very skittish or tiny. Trees, cave entrances and stick insects are the best bets!

The park is very well-managed from a visitor's perspective and accessible to all. One of the guides joked that you can see the Sarawak Chamber for only 35 ringgit (7 USD), while Son Doong in Vietnam (which recently surpassed it as the Biggest Cave Chamber) takes a 5-day expedition costing 3000 USD. I took 3 guided tours in Mulu, the 4th, …