All our reviews

Unplanned and mostly for logistical reasons, I revisited Genoa in the spring of 2022. The route I took was the same as on my previous visit: coming from Cinque Terre and leaving for Milan.

On a revisit, I don't feel obliged to do anything. We spent our Sunday roaming around the old town and visiting churches. The palaces were closed; their opening times in March (Wed to Sat afternoon) felt a bit off.

The core area mostly comprises the area around the three main roads: Via Balbi, Via Cairoli and Via Garibaldi. However, it's worthwhile to look at the Unesco borders. The core zone extends east to Via Roma and there is a Southern bulge along Via San Luca. And the surrounding area included in the buffer zone is quite nice, too. So nice indeed, that I don't fully understand why they didn't simply inscribe all of Genoa old town.

In medieval times Genoa and Venice were fierce competitors. Interestingly, Genoa feels less medieval than Venice does. Several of the Palazzos are post 1500 CE. Overall, Genoa has a more modern vibe than Venice.

Revisits always offer a chance to correct first impressions. My original score for the site was 1.5 based on a misunderstanding of the inscribed area. I didn't enjoy the Palazzos much. I upgraded it to 3.0* after my visit due to the splendid old town.

Getting There

Genoa has train connections to Milan, Torino, Piacenza and La Spezia. If you …

Odunpazari is picturesque and should be on your visit regardless of world heritage status. My fav is obviously the pink corner shop. The small alleys with colorful wooden houses and handicrafts are tourist gold. It's not unique enough on its own but I believe with the intangible culture and the mosque (I didn't visit) complex it will somehow get inscribed for enough niches.

Be aware that parking in high season must be quite hellish as it was already hard to find a good legal spot in January. At least it didn't snow in this part of Turkey then.

We visited Aiguille du Midi, admittedly not even in the top 20 peaks on the Mont Blanc Massif, in December 2013. For non-mountaineers such as ourselves (read also, non-lunatics, in relation to Mont Blanc at any rate), this is the closest one is going to get to Mont Blanc, in the winter anyway. It is accessed by a 20 minute cable car from Chamonix, at one point supposedly the world’s highest cable car. The list description mentions the glaciers and peaks of the Alps but suggests what sets it apart is its place in the origin of mountaineering.

It was a bright and clear winters day and there were excellent views both of Mont Blanc and across that part of the Alps, from an altitude of 3,800m. A couple of attractions add some value to the experience. The little museum about mountaineering was enlightening and frightening in equal measure as it was my first introduction to the lengths and risks that some mountaineers go to, in terms of free climbing and wingsuit flights! I also very briefly stepped onto the glass skywalk suspended from the visitor centre despite my fear of heights. Since our trip, there is also now “Le Tube” which is an outdoor suspended tunnel walkway.

Having self-driven in the early morning from Geneva across well-kept winter roads, there were not too many people about. Other memories include watching a lone climber slowly making his way up the snowy ridge, a helicopter hovering directly beside us …

Can't say I'm a fan. St. Nicholas, yes THE Nicholas of Xmas fame is supposedly buried here. Overall the church does not have enough to convince me of outstanding value. The one round ceiling fresco is pretty good but many of the others are hard to make out. I paid extra for the audio guide and the explanation is the usual religion theme and motif, I have seen those many times in many churches. The guide also focuses a lot on the buried (supposedly, remember) people and their backgrounds, nothing that is of interest for the physical church present now. Lastly, the church is in bad condition due to rains and floods, you'll be required to watch out for puddles if it rained recently. While I don't mind the stopover to see something else I can't recommend adding it to your itinerary simply because it's on the tentative list.

Western Turkey is dotted with stunning Greco Roman archaeological sites. It's a bit like Maya ruins in Yucatan. Take a look at the many tentative sites of Turkey, count how many mention an amphitheatre or a forum, and you will understand.

And similar to the Maya ruins in Yucatan, you start to wonder where to draw the line? Does each and every well preserved site deserve a spot on the list? Or should it just be the exceptional ones?

With this in mind, I made my way from Denzili to Aphrodisias by cab. It was late December, completely offseason. When we turned off the main road in Tavas, there was no more traffic and the area became very rural and very quiet quickly; probably a reason why the site is so well preserved.

On site, I was the first visitor that day. The site itself is fairly large and as I understand not fully excavated. But what was is on display is impressive and well preserved. Most will state the stadium to be the preeminent site. The Turkish authorities claim it to be the largest remaining Roman stadium. It is nice, but Messini in Greece felt it's equal in size and preservation.

Overall, the site is very consistent and large. I think it's a fine addition. Let's see how many more Greco Roman ruins in Turkey will make the cut.

Getting There

Aphrodisias is a bit off the beaten path with no major town …

Now that Rwanda appears to have confirmed that it intends to nominate Nyungwe Forest NP (possibly at the 2024 WHC? A decision is to be made by the Rwandan government some time this year. See here. ) it seems worth having a review of the T List site. As I am (currently) the only recorded visitor among this Web site’s “Community”, I guess the “honour” falls to me.

Our visit was a long time ago - Sept 2006. Nyungwe had only been made a National Park in 2005. Like most other travellers we visited Rwanda primarily for gorilla trekking (My diary notes that we each paid £227 for each of 2 treks per person. They were then priced in Rwandan Francs. Current cost is $1500, i.e £1140 per trek). As do todays visitors, we then had to decide what else to see in the Country. We chose a round trip from Kigali out to Nyungwe in the far south West and then up the Albertine Rift alongside (and on) Lake Kivu to Goma in DRC and Volcanoes NP for Gorilla trekking. We also had a final add on to the East of the country in Akagera NP on the frontier with Tanzania – this provides a more “classic” East African safari experience as, unlike Nyungwe’s forested mountains, it consists of open savannah and swamps.

The basic Kigali return round trip, taking in Nyungwe before continuing to Volcanoes NP, will provide a good picture of Rwanda. On the …

With wide foresight, we visited Maisons La Roche et Jeanneret when we made a trip to Paris in 2008. We only visited it from outside though, and If I remember correctly it was under renovation as well. So not really a tick-off.

In February 2022 we went to Marseille by train. Due to storms in Germany we arrived 2 days late. So had only half a day to see Marseille. Right after breakfast we took the metro and bus to Cité Radieuse. At first glimpse it looks like our Corbusier Haus in Berlin built for IBA 1957. But it has a few more details. We visited the floors which are accessible. Looks like nothing changed here since the 50th, thus it didnt loose any of this eras charme. Finally we went onto the roof. Amazing view at the Calanques and above Marseille.I still plan to visit further components. But this one is definitely top-notch.

Having first visited Þingvellir National Park to see the parliamentary site in 2013, a repeat visit was made in August 2017 in order to snorkel at the Silfra Rift, part of Lake Þingvallavatn and created by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

The description of crystal clear water with exceptional visibility is spot on, with the water the deepest of blues. The description of fridge-temperature water is also accurate, but the drysuits and equipment provided, not to mention the post-experience hot chocolate meant being warm and dry within an hour of entering the water. I didn’t see any of the fish mentioned in the extension description, just much algae which provided a startling green contrast to the deep blue.

We self-drove to the dive site first thing in the morning during what is peak tourist season in Iceland, but there was only one group ahead of us snorkelling, and we didn’t see them at any point. The physical effort involved was minimal - swimming is actually discouraged by the professional guides as it is better to drift with the slow subterranean spring current.

It is expensive, at over €130 a head, but how often are you going to snorkel between two continents, as the brochures would say? There are several dive times starting in the morning and afternoon. We went in the morning as we were heading back to overnight in Reykjavik ahead of an epic drive to the Westfjords.

The …

Phu Phra Bat (PPB) is an exemplary multi-layered cultural landscape set on a plateau rising up to 150 meters above the floor plain, and would make a great addition to the World Heritage list. What looks like well-formed dolmens at first sight are in fact magnificent works of nature through weathering. While it is in Udon Thani ---and together with Ban Chiang they form a good argument for the claim that the province sheltered the earliest civilization in Thailand--- we figured that it was easier to visit PPB from Nong Khai. Our accommodation, the Rim Riverside Guesthouse, offered to take us there for 1,000Bt, which was a very good deal. The owner, an avid cyclist, even said it is possible to get to PPB on a bike and that he had already done it a couple of times. What surprised me was the extent of the site and the number of interesting rock formations in place. I recall wanting to go here in 2013 and when I searched the internet, one practically only sees images of the iconic rock tower Hor Nang U-Sa and very little of everything else. Even the latest editions of some guidebooks do not even "highlight" it, perhaps due to its remoteness. So, my friend and I felt we saw more than what we expected. 

Despite the instruction of the ticket man not to visit Wat Louk Koei (largest chambered rock temple in the park with well-preserved statues), we still took the 500m trek to …

As part of a 3-week-whirlwind through Central America in July 2016, we visited two of the components of this church-related tentative site in Guatemala - the Nuestra Señora de la Merced in Antigua and the Basilica of Esquipulas. Both are named in the very sparse T-List description which says the churches are symbols of Guatemala but doesn’t offer much else.

Antigua is of course already inscribed. In July, with the temperature in the mid-20s, it is seemingly a slower tourist season so the baroque La Merced church only had a couple of locals inside. The interior, which was free to enter, was unremarkable apart from the ubiquitous hanging fabrics / curtains which were a fairly common feature of our trip (top right). Plain white walls accompanied an ornate chancel. The exterior held more interest with its intricate plaster motifs (top left). Adjacent to the church is the Parque de la Merced - fond memories of sitting in the shade beside the church watching the world go by. A quarter of an hour would suffice many, although I believe like many churches in the region it closes for a period of time in the middle of the day.

The baroque Basilica of Esquipulas (with four bell towers) literally towers over the fairly remote surrounding town and landscape - as one of the largest cathedrals in Central America it’s white facade and size certainly make it stand out (bottom left). Although it was fairly quiet when we were there, …

The Turkish authorities really dropped the ball on this one. No protection for decades meant looting and damage from nature, which was obviously accelerated by building a damn that would flood the site! Once the site got flooded they still tried to rescue mosaics but many were damaged badly, some are surely still underwater.

Going to the site isn't too spectacular. It has a building with rooms and some basic mosaic floors, all not really worth the entrance ticket even though it's cheap, but gives you an idea how the original site was.

The must visit is the Zeugma mosaic museum which claims to be biggest in the world. It's grande alright, with huge mosaic floors lifted and placed on floors and walls with fake surroundings to stand in for the lack of scenery. It's a great visit - and I love mosaics, and surely the highlight is the Mona Lisa of mosaics: gypsy girl. I love gypsy girl and the presentation is so eery, that gives it a special feel. A guard will only let in one person/group at a time. You walk through a dark winding corridor and step into a completely dark room with the mosaic at the end. As you walk closer the zoom in effect in the dark leaves a lasting effect. A guard will ensure you are not being naughty and try to touch the exhibit. There wasn't a time limit for me as only a handful of people were in the …

Lake Tana suddenly popped up on Ethiopia’s Tentative List earlier this year as a mixed nomination. It’s a site well on the country’s tourist trail and I visited it in 2003. I stayed in the small lakeside town of Bahar Dar, which had a few boulevard-like roads and very little else. I’ll share some parts of my travel diary from my days there, and would be interested to read a more recent review as well.

Lake Tana is the largest lake in the country and is known for its islets with ancient Orthodox churches. Most of them are only accessible to men. That's why I went to the Zege Peninsula, where I entered the Debre Maryam Church. Zege turned out to be a hilly area where a lot of coffee is grown. A forest path leads to the church. But first, there was the 'museum': it holds a number of crowns that were donated to the church by Ethiopian kings. The funny thing about this museum was that you are not allowed in – the only thing of interest you get to see through a window.

A little further lies the church itself. Beforehand I had all kinds of images in my head: I had just been to Thessaloniki and expected the Ethiopian Orthodox churches to look something like the Greek ones. But that is certainly not true on the outside. This church is a large circular building with an iron roof, topped by a round symbol. It …

This proposal is not entirely clear to me, or better: it is actually very simple in its grandiosity, as it just encompasses all the route from the Great St. Bernard Pass to Rome and everything that is found along it, but then I do not fully understand why some specific co-ordinates of historical city centres are given, i.e. Aosta, Vercelli, Santhià, Susa, Pavia, Fidenza Sarzana, Siena, Sutri, Viterbo and Rome, while other important passages like Piacenza, Lucca or San Gimignano (already having WHS-status just like Siena) are left out. The first hypothesis coming to mind is that they are chosen to represent in some way all 12 stretches of the Via Francigena, but still there are some gaps and I am left wondering about the exact criteria behind this. 

Briefly put: in my opinion the Via Francigena is not eligible as WHS. But I am of the rather radical opinion that no route in general can be considered a "site" (as discussed in the forum some time ago): it is a historical, logical, naturalistic, landscape thread that collects many interesting sites, it surely has its original motivations and fascinating history, it also is an experience in a sense, but it is not a real entity by itself. The physical path itself is no more worth than any other. So, if the Via Francigena, or any pilgrim or other route for that matter, identifies with a collection of places of very different nature and with dramatically diverse landscapes, I think …

As the previous two reviews focused on Kaeng Krachan NP, I'm sharing here my experience in visiting Kui Buri NP last March 10, 2022. 

My friend and I stayed in Prachuap Khiri Khan (PKK) for a few days and thought of ticking off Kui Buri from there. Not only is PKK closer to the NP than from Hua Hin, I also felt that PKK offered more both in natural and cultural sceneries. We gathered that the only way to conveniently get to either the park's HQ or the Wildlife Viewing Area was by renting a taxi for 2000 Baht (half day). Unfortunately, the local tourism office-recommended travel agency that used to offer tours no longer exists because of the pandemic. As Kui Buri is only 55 kms away, we thought that we could do it on a rented motorbike, which we eventually did. Not only was it doable, it also made it possible to first visit in the morning the karst landscape of Khao Sam Roi Yot NP --- probably the more impressive one of the two nearby national parks! 

Here is a summary: 

1. Wildlife Watching Area is only open from 2pm to 6pm, with the last visitor admission at 4pm. Entrance is 200Bt, and safari truck is 850Bt -- you cannot enter using your own vehicle. The entrance certainly does not fail in informing visitors that it is a "UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 26, 2021." From the park's HQ, it will still take …

Before I really start my "review" of this site I have to anticipate that I am a great fan of rock art sites. I think they are sometimes among the most important cultural sites since they open to us a window into a time of the human brain of which we wouldn't know anything at all otherwise: It offers glimpses into human hunt practice but mainly into cult and artistry. I think the fantastic paintings at Chauvet are possibly the most important artworks of mankind considering their age, skill and originality. And while I think the Ice Cave Art offers almost nothing to the visitor who visits the caves the artwork linked to it is not only hugely important but equally exciting. 

On the other hand this site must be one of the worst on the list for several reasons: The included artwork is not only very simple, yes primitive compared to the mentioned sites and many others but it is also much, much younger. Finally it includes 758 locations spread over half the country. If you need 758 locations to assert OUV you can imagine how weak each one of them must be. So how should it be visited? When should it be counted as visited? While I normally try to visit each element of a site that contributes to its OUV here it is hard to find out what you can visit at all. 

I made my first attempt to approach this site when I drove …

The reopening of El Tajin in mid-February prompted me to rearrange the final days of my 2022 Mexico / Central America trip. Instead of flying home from Cancun, I returned to Mexico City and took a 3.5h bus for an overnight stay in Poza Rica. From Poza Rica, a taxi took me to El Tajin: it is only 18 kilometers and it takes half an hour. I paid 200 pesos on the way up there, and 180 on the way back. Beforehand I did some desk research on buses/collectivos as well: they apparently leave from terminal El Parador, just south of the city center.

Only 500 visitors per day are now allowed (they’ve extended the numbers and opening hours a bit since Shandos visited), but that doesn't stop the souvenir sellers from unpacking all their stalls. They might as well be with 100 people as well.

I got there a little after the opening hour of 10 a.m., and there were already about 50 other visitors. Of the three parts the site consists of, Tajin Chico and the Group of Columns are not accessible at the moment. The small museum is also closed. The Tajin Complex, which can be visited, is the most monumental though.

With the exception of a few "normal" pyramids at the beginning of the site, the buildings with the niches that are so typical of El Tajin stand out. The niches are made of stacked flagstones. Why they were added to …

Tarragona is an easy and interesting day trip from Barcelona and one day is just about the time to see it all. Beside the three churches of the episcopal see it offers a quite remarkable heritage of Modernism. 

The three churches were the seat of a bishop at visigothic time when the belief was supposedly Arian and not catholic. As Wikipedia tells us this constellation of three (and sometimes even more) churches was typical for early episcopal seats even within Catalunya and similar groups are documented in Valencia, Vic and La Seu d'Urgell (which bears the episcopal see still in its name). As far as I could find out all of them are lost in which case Tarrassa would be unique just for this constellation alone. 

The nomination focuses clearly on the preserved frescoes and artwork from the 5th to 8th centuries. But we find quite some confusion: While Wiki states that it is not even sure if this group of three churches as it is was even built before the 9th century the detailed map that you get when you enter the museum tells a different story: it is organized with five colors which mark the different time periods: The first marked period is called "Iberian and roman period" and contains primarily tombs all over the area. The second is called "First Christian structures (4th century) and contains just a few now invisible walls to the NE of the church of Santa Maria. The third period is …

When you’re not a diver and only a reluctant snorkeler, it is hard to turn this WHS visit into a “good” one. Bacalar Chico NP is the only “land” component and my first choice would have been that one. But when I enquired in San Pedro (Ambergris Caye) I heard that there are no scheduled tours that go there, only private boat charters. That obviously would cost too much, so I settled for plan B: a fly-over over the reef. The Great Blue Hole after all is Best seen from the sky.

Both Belizean air companies offer scenic flights over the reef, at a scheduled time a few days a week. I booked with Tropic Air via the chat on their website for the next day. For the steep 262 USD I could have flown much further away, but well, it’s the best I could think of to cover this WHS. Maya Air does it cheaper at the moment (215 USD), but they were slow to react. My flight was flawless, we were on the way for 75 minutes (including a stop at Caye Caulker to pick up a 7th passenger). They fly with a Cessna Caravan, window seats only. It’s a bit like ‘doing’ the Nazca Lines, though without the helpful inflight commentary. There was less twisting and turning here in Belize, so no chance of motion sickness.

The main goal of the flight is the Great Blue Hole, which is a giant marine sinkhole. It …

I visited Lleida as a detour traveling from Tarragona to Barcelona. I takes about one and a half hours from both cities. I arrived in the afternoon and when I walked from the train station to my hotel I was first a bit shocked how run down the streets looked in the very centre of the city. Thanks to covid a had found a rather cheap four star hotel near the station which I find always the best choice if you travel with public transport and luggage. But the hotel fitted quite oddly into the neighborhood with visible signs poverty everywhere. After dropping my luggage I walked up to the city hill which is the nominated area of this TWHS: It contains the old cathedral with a tower and cloisters, the remnants of a castle and large fortifications from several centuries. As soon as I came closer I got first views of this impressive hill with its fortifications and the beautiful church tower watching over the city. I walked first around the big cathedral building. On the back side I enjoyed two large portals with geometric patterns and figurativ capitals which showed Italian, French and even Norman influences, recognizable on the first glance. Later I read that the local stonemasonry was famous at the time and combined several influences. As often on this trip it took me a while to figure out where the entrance was and were I should buy my ticket. Since the weather was rather bad (as …

Since my previous visit, 25 years ago, I had forgotten what Tikal looked like. It has a real ‘lost city’ feel, especially at the main plaza. With its white stucco elements and honeycomb towers, it has a different architectural style than the other Maya sites. There’s much more to see than the pyramids: I encountered petroglyphs, steam baths, water reservoirs (Tikal had no access to water other than what was collected from rainwater), stelae, giant stucco masks, and historical graffiti too. Howler monkeys, Geoffroy’s spider monkeys, coatis (pizotes), and agoutis are mammals that are easily seen as well.

This time I explored the park in 2 sessions, from 14-17 on the first day and the next day from 6-10. I stayed overnight near the entrance at the Tikal Inn. I walked 10 and 12kms respectively during these visits, and believe to have covered all there is to see. Maps.me works and will show the approximate location of all structures (the connecting smaller paths aren’t displayed that accurately). The way to the Exit (Salida) is always signposted. There aren’t special Covid measures at the site, which is mostly unsupervised anyway. Especially the morning session was very quiet, with hardly any other visitors around.

My Highlights

• View above the canopy from the Mundo Perdido pyramid (it’s also the only place where your phone will pick up a 4g signal),
• Palace of the Grooves (building with grooved vertical panels, entered via a narrow …