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Pergamon is spread across multiple areas of the modern city of Bergama. The official locations given by the inscription are a bit misleading as the main components are grouped into the "city", while minor parts, e.g., the many tumuli each get their own.

In the city locations of note are:

• Situated atop of the hill overlooking the town is the ancient Acropolis. As fortresses from antiquity go, this is stellar. Admittedly, signposting and trails were lacklustre, especially, if you descend from the hilltop.
• On the foot of the hill is the Red Hall. The state of preservation or presentation is rather poor, but the dimensions of the temple from antiquity are stunning.
• Personally, the best component I visited was the Asklepion. It's a bit off the central city, but had wonderful views of the acropolis and radiates a wonderful tranquillity.

The modern city itself is a sprawl. There are Ottoman roads and houses, but always mixed with modern concrete buildings. I am not sure; I would consider this part of the OUV as I have seen better Ottoman towns.

As pointed out by previous reviewers, a major component of the original site is now housed in another WHS. The Pergamon Altar is shown on the Museumsinsel in Berlin in the aptly named Pergamon Museum. They have been renovating the whole Museumsinsel for decades, but I think the museum is open for visitors. In Bergama, you will find a stele …

Ver-o-Peso is the reason you’d want to come all the way to Belém. It’s the sprawling regional market that has been held at the same riverside location for over 300 years. You might have seen it in one of the more memorable episodes of ‘No Reservations’ by Anthony Bourdain – somehow a hot and sweaty atmosphere always comes across well in that show.

I walked there from the city center in the early morning and wandered around on my own for an hour or so. The area didn’t feel unsafe and there also is some visible police presence. The ‘complex’ consists of a number of specialized markets; I visited them in the following order:

• Semi-covered market stalls: here they sell mainly vegetables and fruits, including local favourites such as the yellow tucupi sauce made out of the root of manioc, and tapioca flour. Intriguing small bottles hold medicinal herbs and perfumes made from native plants.
• The Iron Market a.k.a. the Fish Market, it is the iconic neogothic structure with its four towers; inside only fish is sold, and here I saw the gigantic pirarucu, that had been jumping up and down in front of my cabin in Mamiraua, dead on the counter.
• Directly behind it are the docks, where the fishes are unloaded from boats and also are sold fresh directly on the streets.
• The Clock Square has an iron-cast clock tower from England and a row of colourful colonial buildings.
• The Açaí …

Having already been to Versailles and the apartments of Napoleon III in the Louvre earlier that week, palace fatigue for my week in Paris was starting to set in as I departed from Gare du Lyon on the train to Fontainebleau-Avon station. There were regular buses but I opted for the slow route, walking ~3 km through some unremarkable French suburbs alongside the railway viaduct to the entrance to the park to the east of the palace. This is part of the core zone already but there is a tentative extension to cover more parkland and the surround forests, appropriate given Fontainebleau started life as a royal hunting lodge, although the large game animals are long gone. I did not venture further out into the woods so cannot comment on the validity of that extension. Between two seemingly endless perfectly straight rows of trees, I eventually emerged onto the road and crossed over to enter the formal gardens, which were nice enough but nothing out of the ordinary for this sort of site.

After resting at the café in the Courtyard of Fountains, in which the fountain is remarkably not very prominent despite the name, I passed through into the main front courtyard, which I have seen variously called the Courtyard of Honour, Courtyard of the White Horse, and Courtyard of Goodbyes. Inside there is a bag search then free lockers to stash said bags before some automated scanners to check tickets. All of this infrastructure makes Fontainebleau seem …

July 2022 - after spending the night in the closeby Emmental, where we of course tried some cheese,WE arrived in Bern at late morning. The most convenient parking is next to the bears. We entered the core zone at the Untertorbrücke, where some brave young people were doing jumps in to the icecold water of the Aare. We continued our stroll through the old town switching between the three parallel street until we arrived at the zytglogge. On the way back we crossed the market and tried probably the best 🥐 we had so far. The cathedral and the nearby viewpoint are definitely the nicest places when visiting Bern. Before returning to the camper, we tried to spot some bears and I had a good (expensive) beer at the Tram Depot, which I definitely recommend. We continued our drive south to Gruyere.

July 2022 - when the vinyards were inscribed in 2007 I didn't even know that Switzerland is famous for wine as well. So far i thought only Chocolate and Cheese. None of them is honoured with a WHS. I was told though, that the wines around Lausanne are counting to the better ones.

We arrived in Vevey in the afternoon and were happy for the opportunity to swim in Lac Leman with probably one of the most beautiful panoramics. During summer it was crowded with people though and not Always comfortabel especially in the evening. The next day we walked to the impressive Nestle headquarter, which looks harmless regarding their worldwide business.

We drove some km back towards Lavaux to get some nice photo motives of the vinyards in the morning. By the way I also climbed the fence to get a good view at Corbusiers Villa le Lac as well.

A short visit, but with spending the night at the lake and getting a good swim it was totally worth it.

February 2022 - on our campertrip from south France back to Berlin we chose the road with the most WHS on the way. Between Vichy and the Bourgogne we picked a road through the agricultural area of Charolais brionnaise which reminded us a lot of the English landscapes in Cornwall.

Many stone walls behind which we could spot the characteristic white cows. Unfortunately we could not find any remarkable spot to have a break, maybe late lunch and get an impression of the rural life out here. In late February the only thing we could see along the roadside were kebabs and pizza. A pitty for such a nice landscape, and regarding the french cuisine. Hence we ended up in Charolle quite fast, where at least a few bakeries were still open and we had something similar to dinner

Our short glimpse at the landscape was anyway positive. With a more tourist infrastructure it might be worse returning here again and stay the night on a farm.

After many years, thanks to a visit from Ian, I finally did a revisit of the abbey and its marvellous library. As mentioned in previous reviews, it is really the library the pulls this site out of mediocracy. We headed straight for the library of course. The ticket also includes the library, a museum in the basement and an exhibition room in another building. Pictures are not allowed in any of these rooms, but you really only want them from the library.

Entering the library still requires to put on slippers and there is always a knowledgeable employee present who can give you some details about the construction. A secret attraction is the mummy “Schepenese” in the far right corner. There are currently efforts by a local artist to bring the mummy back to Egypt. So visit, while she is still around.

The museum is ok, but nothing extraordinary. There is some information about Gallus, an Irish monk after whom St Gall is named. The exhibition room houses the world’s oldest monastery archive. This is actually interesting. There are documents about common problems of the time, including the separation of land between St Gall and nearby Constance.

We finished the visit in the church, which looks clearly better from the inside than the outside, before continuing to nearby Reichenau Monastic Island.

St Gall is quite a nice town, especially the monastic quarter around the abbey. While there, you should eat the St. Galler Bratwurst (eaten only …

The Medina of Sousse is a beautiful example of a walled ancient city core (a medina) which characteristics are the narrow streets. There are beautiful, mainly blue with some yellow, coloured houses which reminded me a bit of the Spanish colonial houses I saw in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Completely different of course but somehow it reminded me.

I visited the archaeological museum first because it has the famous mosaic with the Medusa head. When I entered Sousse through the gate I walked straight down towards the souks. To my surprise most shops where closed, it was a Friday! Good or bad? To photograph the streets, it was perfect as it wasn’t crowded with just a few cats roaming the alleys. Of course, it means I didn’t really get the feeling of what’s happening during the working days. I simply followed the designated walking route with some detours here and there to just look in the alleys. Don’t forget the Dar Essid Museum and continue to the Ribat and the Grand Mosque.

I think I loved my extensive visit on Friday; half a day is enough. What I have read is very touristic every other single day. I also visited Sfax, which is bustling in an authentic way without tourists.

As is often the case, the extent and possible boundaries of this T List site are not at all clear. Although the title refers to the “Upper Sepik”, the UNESCO description simply states that it covers “the middle and upper reaches of the Sepik River basin including slopes of the Central Range”. We are also told that the area is “the size of France”, whilst topographic names are limited to “the Hunstein Range Wildlife Management Area” (WMA) and the “Telefomin region”. We visited this general area in Sept 2007 - but I had always steered clear of doing a review for fear of discovering that we hadn't visited the actual TWHS! However, recent “research” I have carried out (more later) means that I now feel confident of making a valid review of it, as well as adding to the “knowledge base” about Papua New Guinea's (PNG) TWHS on this Web site.

At the time of writing, information here about PNG as a whole is very “thin” - few visits, fewer reviews, no Forum topic and no links to other informative Web sites or “News”. Yet Port Moresby (PM) is only a 1.5 hour (525 mile) flight from Cairns!! Of course you first have to get to N Queensland and then go on somewhere from "unlovely PM". Ex Europe, flights with Singapore Airlines, code sharing with Air Niugini through to PM are the most direct route – but still VERY …

Sudd Wetland is the largest wetland area in Africa and one of the largest in the world. The gigantic wetlands of the White Nile begin just outside Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and extend all the way to the Sudanese border, some 1,000 kilometers away. I crossed the Sudd twice, sailing from Bor to Minkamman, and returning the next day after an amazing visit to the Dinka tribe (mentioned in the nomination file, although in the village we were in, the connection to the wetlands was hard to see). The boat ride to Minkamman took us over an hour. Along the way, we passed hundreds of canals, lakes and islands, most of which are floating.

Part of the trip was a boat trip to the fishermen's camp. Here I learned about the process of dressing, salting and smoking fish, which are then usually sold to DR Congo. It was as exotic as Dinka's - a multi-generational family living in a tiny space, dealing only with fishing and fish processing. More than 50% of the population were young children.

The visit to Sudd Wetland and Dinka was definitely the most interesting part of the trip to South Sudan. The place is unique and super exotic, definitely worth inscribing on the list. Sudd is not only wild nature, but also people who largely live as they did centuries ago.

I visited Pendjari National Park during my 2-week Benin itinerary. I stayed for 1 night in the luxury lodge inside the park. This way I could do an afternoon safari and an early morning safari.

It’s the only park in West Africa now that is suitable for a great game safari. The park is located about 50-60 kilometers north of Natitingou and borders Burkina Faso. It’s inscribed as a transborder UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Arly National Park (Burkina Faso) and W National Park (Niger) as the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex. Its total area is 2755 square kilometers and is home to a lot of wildlife.

Don’t expect the big five but it is home to the West African lion, elephants, hippos, 12 species of antelopes, some smaller game, and an abundance of birds for which the park is most famous. If you’re lucky you can also spot cheetah and leopard but just a dozen are left in the whole park though

I was able to spot most of the animals but no elephants (and no cheetah or leopard). The herds were too close to the Burkina Faso border and at the time of visit the park rangers didn’t allow to go there due to the area not being safe.

Normally I try to visit transborder nomination at least 1 location in each country. I'm not sure if I want to visit the parts in Bukrina Faso and Niger. I'm not sure if this adds anything rather …

July 2022 - as a brewer Bamberg of course is a must visit. Many of the buildings are connected to its beer History or are housing a brewery right now. In 2010 WE had a stop over as well, but 12 years later its time for Rauchbier again.

We parked our camper in the Oberstadt as we we're hoping to get Lunch in one of the numerous beergardens. But they would not open before 3pm. But its only a short walk down to the old town, where we chose the famous Schlenkerla brew house for Schäufele and Rauchbier. A combination I recommend. We strolled a little further through the old town but then decided to continue to Nürnberg, where we would meet friends to stay for the night.

In May 2016 we stopped at the Vogelherdhöhle due to to potential WHS Status. There was not much to see, we just took a hike to the entrance.

Now in July 2022 we finally visited the highest church in the world in Ulm and stopped shortly after at the cave Hohle Fels. I took a short tour to the inside with my daughter. We could watch archaelogists at their excavation work and learned a bit about the former inhabitants of the cave. Worth visiting is also the surrounding. The Ach-Tal ist especially beautiful between Blaubeuren and Hohle Fels.

July 2022 - second day of our Roadtrip this was our evening goal. We were welcomed by the wonderful poplar avenue which marks the southern end of the Deutsche Alleenstraße. We aimed at the only campground on the Island but fortunately left it again. A terrible place. The Islands official swimming beach offered free entrance and free shower.

The night we spent on one of the numerous parking lots, in the morning we still wanted to visit the third of the old churches. Unfortunately none of them was open during our visit, thus we missed on the islands OUV. Everything else was rather boring. Later in our trip we visited Ile. St. honorat at Cannes. Probably a comparable site, which I would rather see on the WHS list.

However, near Konstanz and the whole area is definitely another place worth visiting. Maybe at some point there might be an extension to Cultural Landscape of Lake Constanze.

Fernando de Noronha is one of the few islands in the South Atlantic – other notable ones are Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha, and St. Helena. That apparently makes it special enough to be considered a TCC ‘country’ and have its own Nomadmania region (though it is part of the state of Pernambuco), and about 70% of it is a WHS as well. Whether it is as good as Northern Atlantic ones such as the Azores, Cabo Verde, or even the Canary Islands, is questionable. It needed to team up with the more outstanding, more scenic, but inaccessible Rocas Atoll, 150 km away, to reach WH status. They are jointly known as the ‘Brazilian Atlantic Islands’.

I stayed on Fernando de Noronha for 3 nights and allotted a day to its marine features and two to its land surface. On the first afternoon, I walked from the town of Remedios to the northern tip of the island. A first beach, the remains of two Portuguese fortresses and offshore volcanic islands can be seen. At one of those islands, I spotted my first noteworthy bird: the masked booby.

The next morning I took a 3-hour boat tour along the western coast. We first circled the Secondary Islands, the same ones I saw yesterday from the shore. Visually the most attractive one is Cuscuz Island, shaped like a bowling ball. Black lava flows are a common sight as this archipelago is of volcanic origin. The phallic volcanic plug …

Alvar Aalto was kind enough to build his most important works in Finland close to World Heritage Sites or along the route between two inscribed sites. Very prescient of him. So I could easily include all thirteen locations of this TWHS in my round trip through Southern and Central Finland. I visited Finland in early June 2022 and almost all Aalto sites that are open to the public already offered tours. Unfortunately, Villa Mairea was still closed (tours were only available from the third week of June).

Five locations in HelsinkiThe Aalto buildings in Helsinki are scattered north and northwest of the city centre and are all easily accessible by public transport, bus and tram.Aalto House and Studio Aalto are close to each other in the neighborhood of Munkkiniemi. Both are early works from the 1930s, the interiors can only be visited with guided tours, pre-booking is recommended, via the Aalto Museum website. However, I would only recommend a visit for fans of modern architecture or WH enthusiasts who aim for completeness. The admission fees are quite steep: 30 euros (house) and 20 euros (studio). The tour of the Aalto House was a good introduction to Aalto's life and work, original furniture and design objects are on display, but it doesn't have much else to offer. And there is not much to see in the Studio either. Most striking here is the courtyard, a small amphitheatre-like space. But you can also visit this without a guided …

Seeing that it's just outside of Rio it's hard NOT to recommended going to see but frankly I am disappointed in the site not purely because it's rather mediocre but as a WHS there is no way it qualifies as one. It is instead an excuse to be inscribed as a homage to Burle Marx, who in my opinion broke several (not back in the days when he did it?) importing biological materials laws/guidelines and planted it all in his estate. Speaking of estate, he's a rich fellow and the huge divide between classes in Brazil makes this another questionable point: why we want to honor a person who imported luxurious art and plants to his estate while the rest of the country is struggling. I don't find him honorable and the estate itself is a poor example of his work.

Let's start from the top. First they have recently (start of 2022) begun a new online appointment system. Slots are limited with only a few guided tours per day and most of them are in Portuguese. The staff was super friendly when I got in touch with them while it was still closed for Covid-19 quarantine and announced when it was ready with their new appointment system. The English of the one particular staff (forgot his name, sorry) was particular good in both written and later in spoken during the tour.

You can stay in several lodges around the area but I would say the prices are …

Huanglong is a real fairy tale landscape with autumn leaves, frozen waterfalls and ponds colored blue through yellow make Huanglong a surreal place. I visited in 2018 after a business trip in Beijing. I always flew in to Chengdu (great KLM fares). Huanglong is just 150 kilometers from Chengdu but through the mountains by road I would not recommend. Take a short flight to Jiuzhaigou airport and stay in a hotel there. From Jiuzhaigou it's a 1.5h drive to Huanglong. A day trip suffices. The entrance fee is huge. Avoid visiting during Chinese holidays as you will regret that. Keep in mind that during November at some point the cable car stops for the winter and opens again in spring.

Huanglong is located at an altitude between 1700 meters in the lowest valley up to 5588 meters at the highest peak. Huanglong is made up of various cascades of natural pools behind travertine dams. Travertine is a kind of limestone and forms at hot springs when calcite from the water precipitates. That means that solved calcite dissolves rapidly due to a change in pressure. This calcite forms the limestone dams but can also form stalactites, stalagmites and tufa

I arrived to the upper part of the Huanglong valley by cable car. There are a total of 14 main scenic spots within the valley. Multicolored lake, the upper and lower temple, flamboyant pont and other points with lovely names. Not to forget the golden sand, washing cave waterfall (frozen …

February 2022 - after visiting Arles, Nimes, Pont du Gard and Avignon all on the day before, we really didn't feel the urge to visit more Roman sites that morning. The local Market in Orange was active that day so we prefered strolling between the stands and trying some delicacies. We visited the tremendous backside of the Amphitheatre, the Arc we could also see from further away. We did not pay the high entrance fee though, just to take another shot of the Amphitheatre. Maybe that was a mistake, but we still had many plans that day. I like the idea of the tentative site which encompasses all the Roman sites in southern France. Orange definitely deserves the status, but with Nimes soon being added, it might be just too many single sites of the same character within one Region.

Coming from Nazca to Arequipa by car it is worth turning left and visiting some of the most interesting rock drawings I have ever seen. The site is called Toro Muerto (Dead Bull), but this name could be changed to almost any other animal - nothing can survive in this desert except perhaps a camel - but there are no camels in the New World. The petroglyphs are close to the village of Corire and the fertile valley of the Camana River, but in this part of Peru only a few rivers are suitable for life. It is enough to drive a kilometer or two to the side and you can meet there at most sand and rocks.

There is a kind of information center in Corire where you have to buy tickets and get a guide to the petroglyphs. However, we passed this place and got to Toro Muerto without paying anything. The road is quite well marked, there is even a parking lot and a shelter with a suggested path. It is good to more or less stick to this path, because it was led next to the most spectacular petroglyphs. The greatest joy, however, is to bounce off it and look for drawings on your own. And there are hundreds of them, some very large, others noticeable only after climbing the rock. The place is delightful, although I was surprised by the dating of these drawings - they were created between 500 and 1000 AD, at …