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Tiwanaku is an easy day trip from La Paz. It takes approximate 2 hours by car from La Paz to Tiwanaku. I highly recommend to either hire a car yourself drive or take other private transport. A car with driver should not cost more as 80 USD for the day. Personally, I prefer to go private as I have more flexibility to stop at places where I want to make a photo or just look around. It takes approximate 2-3 hours to explore the archeological remains of Tiwanaku, an hour for the two museums and another hour for the nearby Pumapunku excavations. I left my hotel in La Paz at 9:30AM and was back well before dinner time, which is late in Bolivia.

The Tiwanaku ticket gives access to two separate entrances; the largest site is Tiwanaku and the smaller is Pumapunku just a kilometer away. The museums are located at the Tiwanaku site which I advise to visit first to learn about the Tiwanaku Empire. There are some interesting statues, steles, pottery, and other artifacts on display. The Bolivian government is expanding the museums collecting more artifacts from the empire in one place which is a good thing to see them together.

I enjoyed the sites, but I must admit that you can walk through it quite fast. Akapana pyramid was good. It gives from the top a good overview of the site as well. At various places there are foundation stones with pretty nice carvings but …

Can I tick off this site? A philosophical question I’m sure every World Heritage traveller has asked themselves at some point. For myself and Val d’Orcia, I would say technically yes although with some heavy asterisks. On a coach tour from Rome, we first stopped in Montepulciano, which is outside the core zone but offers a view of the idyllic Tuscan countryside. Well, it should but it was foggy when I visited so no luck there. From there we went to lunch, again outside the inscribed area, and finally to Pienza. The drive there certainly passed through Val d’Orcia and there were some good views from the coach (see picture attached) but I would always prefer to set foot in the site where possible. Finally, we had 30 minutes to explore Pienza at our own pace, which in my case was fast to see as much as possible. The fog had cleared so there were views of the countryside aplenty and just being in Pienza is a double tick. That being said, wandering around Pienza gives a good sense of why Pienza is inscribed but less so Val d’Orcia. Can I claim to have appreciated a site based on seeing it from afar, be it in a coach or from a hilltop vista? I don’t really think so and I would certainly like to return one day to visit San Quirico d’ Orcia, Montalcino, and the rest. The problem is there is just too much to see and do in …

After visiting Ohrid in Northern Macedonia in 2016, six years later we decided to visit Lin and Pogradec, both locations on the Albanian side. The closest we had come to the Albanian border was when we visited the Church of St Naum in Northern Macedonia.

Pogradec is located on a narrow plain between two mountain chains along the southwestern banks of Lake Ohrid. It is a very laid back place which was once a favorite summer escape for many Communist government officials, particularly Enver Hoxha. Nowadays, it seems to be a place where many locals retire. In the morning, many elderly locals meet up along the Pogradec Beach waterfront and Drilon Park to have coffee and play draughts or cards. We stayed in Pogradec for 1 night just in front of Lake Ohrid. Just before entering the city proper, there is a narrow uphill unpaved road which leads to the ruins of the Pogradec Castle which offer a great panoramic view of the lake and city in the morning.

Half way between Pogradec and Lin, there are several reed beds (good for birdwatching) and small camping sites. There's also a bicycle lane if you'd like to cycle to and from Pogradec or Lin. We weren't impressed by Pogradec as a WHS, so we decided to give Lin a try, which turned out to be a wise choice. If you had to opt for visiting only one of these two locations, definitely go for Lin. Lin is a village …

O Mammutbaum, o Mammutbaum! How towering are your branches. The giant redwoods are truly majestic trees, and the Redwood National and State Parks in California are a superb location to admire the sheer size and beauty of these ancient evergreens. As referenced in other reviews, this World Heritage Site consists of Redwood National Park, as well as Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek state parks. A drive along the California coast on Route 101 between Eureka and Crescent City will take one right through the heart of these protected groves; it is an extremely memorable experience.

I visited this World Heritage Site driving north from the San Francisco Bay area in July 2017, and along the coast there are ample opportunities to visit other non-World Heritage Site state parks protecting redwoods. On the way, I took a detour through Humboldt Redwoods State Park to drive the Avenue of the Giants, which includes a tree with a house built into it, as well as (on private property) a drive-through tree. Leaving the spectacle behind, I was treated to a superb collection of old-growth forest when I arrived at Redwood National and State Parks. The trees in the parks are some of the oldest and largest in the world; a tree named Hyperion in Redwood National Park is currently the world's tallest, at almost 116 meters. The average age for these trees is between 500 and 700 years old, although some in the park are over 1000 years old. …

I had already given up on seeing more of these Atlantic Forests than a couple of birds spotted on a short forest walk. But the owner of my pousada kept pushing his contacts for tours to materialize, despite (1) it being a week day while Peruibe & Guarau live on weekend trippers from the big cities, and (2) it had rained consistently all day and the outlook for the next day was only slightly better at ‘medium rain’. Finally, I was able to join a private jeep tour to Praia Caramboré and Barra do Una with a company called Bioventura.

The WHS location that I visited was the Jureia - Itatins Ecological Station, the same as covered by several other community members. Fortunately, it did not rain anymore when we left for the park at 7.30 am the next morning. As others have noted, the road conditions are terrible, and they are even worse after days of rain. But we had a trusty 4WD. The guide, Ed, told that he is participating in jaguar research in the area – but they hadn’t found one yet. Lots of pumas and ocelots though show up on the camera traps. We would see few birds and no mammals during our visit – the forest is too dense and the weather was too cold.

From the village of Guarau, we drove inland to the reserve; it does have a guarded entrance gate, but no fee or other administration is required to enter …

As a kid, I loved to read P.M., a German popular science magazine. You would get stories about stealth bombers, ghosts, space lifts, and occasionally history. It was here that I first read the Masada legend.

In 60 CE, Jewish freedom fights (i.e., rebels) had revolted against the Roman occupiers and had valiantly fought for the liberty of their homeland. After being expelled from Jerusalem, they had retreated to Masada, an impenetrable fortress on top of a large rock overlooking the Dead Sea. They felt sure that there was nothing the Romans could do. But Romans being Romans, there was something they could do: They built a large ramp and siege tower. But when they finally breached the walls, they found all rebels dead. They murdered each other by drawing straws, and only the last rebel had to commit the eternal sin of suicide.

As other pointed out, the suicide pact is considered a legend nowadays. It's only mentioned by Josephus, a Jewish author with close ties to the emperor, considered a traitor by other Jews, so he may well have been biased. Side note: It's also Josephus who first mentions Jesus Christ.

But the suicide pact to me is not the legend that I meant. It's what modern day Israel has turned Masada into: a patriotic symbol of the state of Israel. Indeed, some official info signs in Masada call the site and rebels "patriotic". For me, this is never appropriate when dealing …

Having sworn off guided coach tours after a poor experience in Poland, I somehow had lapse in judgement and ended up booking myself on one from Rome up to Tuscany for the day. I thought, how bad could it be? In all honesty, not too bad at all although the day was clearly aimed at tourists looking to experience some Tuscan cuisine and culture rather than appreciate some Outstanding Universal Value and obsessively tick off another site on a somewhat arbitrary list. As such, we spent 1.5 hours in Montepulciano, which is a delightful village but tantalising just outside the core zone of Val d’Orcia, then 1.5 hours at lunch, which again was lovely although I would have liked larger portions, and finally just 30 minutes in Pienza itself. Admittedly, it is possible to see pretty much everything there is in Pienza in that time but I would like to have been a little less rushed.

Whilst the morning in Montepulciano had been too foggy to admire the view, from the terrace on the south side of Pienza by the afternoon the weather had cleared and there was a great view across the valley below with its iconic cypress trees and rolling hills. There is only one main road and you can walk across the whole town in no time at all but the all the little side alleys were a pleasure to explore, however briefly, with hidden tiny piazzas. On the main square, Palazzo Piccolomini is free to …

I visited the area on a moody day of December 2022.

The official description is rather vague, as it seems to encompass everything about the war in the whole area, and all the motivations and values of the site appear to lie on the intangible side. Anyway, the whole southern part of Gallipoli's peninsula in front of Çanakkale, this extreme corner of Turkey, is a national park and protected area, and, more in particular, most of the interest gravitates around the ANZAC cove, west of Eceabat on the Aegean. Here, the cove itself and its hinterland are dotted with countless very simple, elegant war cemeteries and explanatory signs and boards. On the hills, many trenches, now mostly in the woods (there were far fewer trees at the time of WW1) can be seen and explored. The site would be simply a beautiful natural park of Mediterranean vegetation and steep hills, were it not for the intense and tragic memories associated with it.

The ANZAC sector, which includes the famous cove, is what most people visit, and so did I, with one of many tours departing from Çanakkale/Eceabat. Most tours go here, and with a reason, as it was the place where the harshest and most important episodes of Gallipoli's campaign took place. To do it justice, a good afternoon is needed, and the same, if not more, for the southern tip around Seddülbahir (so I was told). When I was there, it was a …

When you fly from Salvador to Belo Horizonte as I did, it looks like you have arrived in a different country: ‘White’ Brazil. A prime example is the suburb of Pampulha, created as a Garden City to attract the wealthy. I stayed overnight right at the lake in the Pampulha Design Hotel.

To get around there is a system of Community Bike Rentals for only 6 R$ a day, but I could not get it to work online. So I did the full loop around Pampulha Lake on foot: it’s 18.3 km. Along the way, I encountered many commercial bicycle rental shops, so in hindsight that would be a good option to cover the distances.

From my hotel, I walked clockwise, with the Art Museum (pictured) as the first of the four main monuments on my route. This former Casino has been closed for renovations since 2019. It is fenced off and it didn’t look like it will reopen soon. Its close following of the Corbusian principles is visible in its reinforced concrete pylons supporting the main rooms. It is set in landscaped gardens that barely are hanging in there.

Walking onward, I enjoyed the many views towards the other side of the lake. A footpath (also part of the core zone) fully encircles the lake. More recently a separate bike path has been added too. Some red information panels (with the WH logo) can be found that explain minor elements – a kiosk that once was …

Site visited in November 2022. During my trip to Ethiopia, I visited the village of Gamole, which is a living open-air museum and a monument to the culture of the Konso people. Within three lines of stone walls (once protecting against wild animals and invaders, today only of symbolic meaning) people live mainly engaged in farming on the terraces, which are a symbol of the region. Such terraces are commonplace in the Philippines, China or Vietnam, but in Ethiopia they are a real revolution - only the Konso have transformed the landscape in this way, other tribes have treated the mountains as a demarcation line, and only goats graze there from economic activities.

Our fixer arranged a guide with whom we safely explored the village. From the guide we know that the Konso people are divided into 9 clans, and marriage is allowed only with a person from another clan. The people are ruled by a king, and when he dies, everyone pretends to be sick. They embalm the corpse and keep it for 9 years, 9 months and 9 days, and only after this period they stop pretending and celebrate the coronation of the new king, the eldest son of the predecessor. What if there is no son? I don't know, we didn't go into details about Konso's succession rights.

The people are also known for putting so-called waka, wooden monuments in memory of rulers and other distinguished figures. And in the center of the village he …

"What's your religion?" I stood at the entry to the Muslim side of the Cave of the Patriachs/Ibrahimi Mosque and an IDF soldier was asking. I answered: "None, I am an atheist." He was befuddled and repeated the question: "Sorry, but what is your religion?" Again, I truthfully answered "None." At this point, he concluded that asking me for my religion wasn't going anywhere. "Okay, what's the religion of your parents?" Honest answer would have been "None" again. Understanding that he needed an answer, I asserted that they were Christians, culturally. This made him happy, and he allowed me to enter to the site.

The main site of Hebron is the Cave of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Mosque which is 2.000 years old and a structure dating back to Herodot, i.e. pre-Roman. The belief is that Abraham and his kin are buried here. Muslims in addition believe that Mohammed stopped here, before ascending to the Heavens in Jerusalem.

The structure has undergone several changes from a Jewish temple to a Byzantine church to a mosque and back to a church. In modern times, the site is primarily a mosque with a Jewish place of prayer attached to the side. Both faiths have a view of the tombs and the underlying cave. As "Christian", you are allowed to explore both the Islamic mosque as well as the attached Jewish synagogue.

While the structure is impressive, as an atheist I find it hard to ignore how much violence is …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2022. This ancient port city is one of the most visited cultural sites of the country, being very close to the modern ferry port city of Sarande. Thanks to the Italian Archaeological Mission, who worked here for nearly 10 years in the 1920s-30s, Butrint offers today a remarkable journey through the ages of history, dating back to the 8th century B.C. The old city retains a unique testimony of Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman cultures and civilizations.

The historical site of Butrint lies in the Butrint National Park which also includes "natural monuments" such as Ksamil's Islands, Butrint's Forest, Vivari's Channel, Bufi Lake and Mulleri Salted Springs (and some excellent birdwatching spots too). While approaching Butrint from Sarande, you'll be able to spot some of the Venetian/Ottoman fortifications from above and after parking near the entrance (or also by car if you want), you can catch a fun little barge to explore one of the triangular fortifications across the channel to the Vrina plains.

After paying the entrance ticket, the first thing you'll see is a 15th-16th Venetian tower and from there you can visit most of the different sites in a clockwise or anticlockwise loop. The vast majority tend to visit in a clockwise fashion, so we decided to visit in an anticlockwise fashion and had the sites mostly for ourselves for most of the time of our visit. Also, this way we started mainly with scattered ruins in a …

“DUM-TI-DUM TA-DA-DA-DA-DUM”

“DUM-TI-DUM TA-DA-DA-DA-DUM”

(Repeat 400 times)

I was staying in a Brazilian historic city centre again, at the Pousada Solar dos Deuses in the street between the Cathedral and the main Franciscan church of Salvador de Bahia. Brazil may be the only country in the world where I can afford a boutique hotel in such a prime location. They have a permanent stage here, where singers, bands, and Olodum-like percussion groups perform during the day and evening. Especially the sound of the bass drums reached my room well.

Would these people come here to perform if there weren’t any tourists? Where do they live? The same question can be asked about the omnipresent women in Baiana dresses, posing for photos to earn money. Armed police is present at every street corner in the old town, but (or: thus?) it feels safe during the day and the evening. At night, when the restaurants and bars have closed, the streets become deserted. Only the street dogs that have chosen the Cross of the Franciscans as their overnight place, remain.

As the first colonial capital of Brazil (1549-1763), the city’s importance is undoubted. It still has a special atmosphere, though it feels a bit staged. The many churches are its most notable tangible structures from the past. They are still used for services, but during the day they ‘behave’ like museums. They open only at 9 a.m. and a small entrance fee is asked for. The …

The Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble comprises 19 locations spread across Brazil. It seems that Brazil is trying to copy the Mexican and Belgian federal approach to give every federal state its own WHS: the fortresses are located in 10 different states. Surely these fortresses can’t be all equally important, so I wonder what ICOMOS will make of this series when it’s up for discussion in 2023.

I ‘visited’ six of them in December 2022, in Recife and in Salvador.

The two forts in Recife are generally open to visitors as they are in use as museums, but I had the misfortune to have planned a visit on the same day as the Brazilian national football team had to play at the World Cup at noon Brazilian time. And I had learned already from earlier matches that Brazilian society then fully shuts down. That meant that I arrived too early for Sao Tiago and that Batista do Brum didn’t open up at all that day. The Dutch West India Company originally constructed both forts, so from a Dutch colonial history perspective, I had especially looked forward to seeing them.

Sao Tiago is now the Recife City Museum, a very recognizable fortress with bastions. It is nicknamed the Five Tips Fort, but it changed shape later from 5 to 4 corners. It was here in 1654 that the Dutch surrendered to the Portuguese-Brazilians after attempting to take over the colony.

Fort De Bruyn (Batista do Brum) lies about 2.5km …

It is possible to take the commuter train to Södertälje, and then a few steps to the steam ship Eidern that goes to Birka once a day in the summer months. 350kr return for adults, 160 for under 18yrs.

Birka itself is mostly a green grassy field, an archeological site. The buildings, forts, and ships are reconstructions of Viking artefacts. 

If the weather is bad, you will not enjoy the site. If it is a glorious summer day and you bring a picknick and enjoy the boat ride you will have a nice visit. 

Unofficially an extension to Russia's Golden Mountains of Altai (which should also be extended to the nearby Mongolia) it features the southern area of this landscape. Unlike the northern, LARGE area, this section is quite small and mainly exists as a tourist spot. I'll give it thumbs up because it's great nature and the Russian part alone is worth a visit so the extension doesn't hurt.

One can only get here by plane from Urumqi. Taking a car is possible, forget about public transport, and you can see some things on the way but it's a very, very long drive. You are better off renting or hiring a private car to see things you want further south of the airport if you really think that's necessary. Once you arrive (and foreign guests are picked off for special questioning) you get to board a bus that goes to the natural park, or they try to offer you a private ride but it was quite expensive so the bus makes more sense. You get a return ticket for getting back to the airport at the same time. The bus ride is a good 2 hours.

Once you arrive you will need to walk a bit more to the ticket center and a sightseeing bus that takes you further in. You can stop at some places on the way and get the next bus to continue on if you want, do that on the way back, or just take pics from …

Visited on November 4th 2022.

The citadel is a museal site. It is said that one family still lives here, but to the visitor it seems deserted. There are a couple of small sleepy one room museums, and a tourist souvenir shop. The citadel is more impressive from the street level looking up. Once inside it does not have much to offer the visitor, besides the feeling of being present in this historic fortification. Allow 25 minutes for a visit. No entry charge.

The terraced coffe shop below the gate is a perfect place for brunch, and the teeming market below is joy to visit with all its raquous activity. 

This is a kind of Stoclet house that welcomes you with guns.

It may have been the fascination for the prohibited or the downright incomprehensible that led me to spend a whole morning exploring this part of Beşiktaş during my Turkish week in the first half of December 2022. This was a neighbourhood that in my previous (2012) trip to İstanbul/Turkey I had completely neglected, but on this dark, cloudy but rather mild late-autumn day I enjoyed the greenery and the more ample and aristocratic atmosphere with respect to Unkapanı/Cibali/Fener (on the southern shore of the Golden Horn), where I had come from by ferry.

This point has to be made clear: unfortunately for Zoë and many others, this site, or at least the more relevant parts thereof, is totally out of reach, closed for visitors now and for any foreseeable future. A source of confusion are the many descriptions, even very recent ones, that can be found on the web, which state that the palace museum is open, or the Şale (= fr. chalet) pavillion, or both, or maybe the carpentry and/or tile and porcelain museum, while others say that it is closed, but no explanation is given (for my old, 2009-ish guidebook the whole area was still accessible and open to visits). Probably the most authoritative source is the directorate of national palaces stating that the chalet pavillion is closed for restoration, but this is also misleading: from other sources and speaking with …

Although Wojciech and Michael already captured the essence of this site excellently after visits as recent as 2019 and 2020, I have a few observations to add after my 1.5-day stay in December 2022. They consider (1) the logistics, (2) the core zone, and (3) the criteria the site was inscribed on.

Logistics. Azul now has direct flights from Recife three times a week to Sao Raimundo Nonato, some 30 km from the main park entrance. Whether this connection is viable is questionable, as the park is mostly visited by school groups arriving by bus. Park admission is free, but you have to hire a local accredited guide beforehand (still 200 B$ a day, when you bring the car) and sign up at the gate. I teamed up with Antoniel (+55 89 8108-8706), by whatsapping him the night before my visit. I came to think of him as my personal trainer, as he walked quite fast and liked to climb (we hiked 8 and 6 km respectively per day). I think he would be happy to take you on one of the more strenuous hikes in the park! But he knows his rock art and birds well also. He only speaks Portuguese.

Core zone. Both the old and new official maps are unhelpful. Important to remember is that the park is huge and has four entrances + some isolated locations around it. The amount of sites and trails is overwhelming (there’s a great book available that …

Serra da Capivara’s natural features have twice been blocked from entering the World Heritage List, but Brazil still keeps them on its Tentative List. The focus is on the semi-arid caatinga biome, which cannot be found outside of Brazil and of which this is one of the prime examples. In addition to the Serra da Capivara National Park (already a WHS for its rock art), the TWHS comprises three other protected areas in the same region.

One cannot visit Serra da Capivara and solely focus on either its cultural or its natural values. All rock art sites for example have cute little guardians: rock cavies, an endemic species of rodents. They are related to the (much bigger) capybaras, after which the park was named but they became extinct here because of the drought. There is no permanent water source in the park, though it can suffer from sudden flooding in the rainy season. When driving around the park, you surely will notice all the drainage canals which have been dug by the park authorities (they’re like inverted speed bumps). This way the park stays accessible all year.

The caatinga “consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally”. There’s a “Before and After”-photo in the visitor center, which shows the huge seasonal differences. In December, I found it lush and green. On my first day in the park, the guide led me to climb to a higher viewpoint, and along the way, we saw an interesting …