Visit 50 of the world heritage sites

Beautiful City in the middle of Europe, I went here recently with the GB railways team to play chess in a Railsport tournament which was well organised and good fun. We had a days excursion in Prague which I wanted to see and I think it is worth its heritage status. Only picture I have on my usb is this one of me in a pub in Prague.

Just one more World Heritage site from a 3 days trip to Rome, essentially the whole of Rome especially including the Vatican city counts as one World Heritage site, if by contrast I had a 2 week trip with a car and visited lots of towns and cities I could amass around sites. Still one more means the total is 41-43, getting close.

Historic areas of Istanbul
Hierapolis – Pamukkale

The Hagia Sophia was pretty amazing inside although it didn’t look like much outside and the limestone slopes and pools of Pamukkale were special as well, both worth seeing.

that make my total 40-42, only ten more to go.

on a one week tour, sadly didn’t get to go everywhere but 4 of the world heritage sites below:

1. Archaeological Site of Volubilis (1997)
2. Historic City of Meknes (1996)
3. Medina of Fez (1981)
4. Medina of Marrakesh (1985)

which means my total is now 39-41.

Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves (Australia)

Went to Nightcap reserve which was beautiful and saw a waterfall, the naturalbridge nearby was more spectacular although not part of th heritage site and unfortuately I didn’t get up Mount Warney

Historical city of Ayutthaya in Thailand.

Fabulous temples sadly destroyed by the Burmese during a war which was ongoing for a fair length of time but there are still decent ruins to look at and some of them look better than intact temples which look a bit Gaudy and over coloured.

Fraser island off the coast of Queenslan is the worlds largest san island and houses several groups of tourists who rent out 4 wheel drives and go for a piss up on the island, was good fun, good drinking, shame about the rain which was with us for 2 of the 3 days, lovely lakes there and the sand makes it a different world.

Finally saw KAkadu which is pretty close to Darwin, unfortunately it was at the end of the dry season, so you don’t get the water filled land with trees flooded and grass growing on trees like most people have seen in Crocodile Dundee. The waterfalls were also pretty empty, but still its a nice place and if it wasn’t so expensive I would recommend it. You can always get there on your own steam 4WD defintely recommended.

Is the Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition hall, so I went there today, can’t believe I was just 3 days away from missing it, although for a World heritage site its not fantastic.

Took a tour for 5 AUD which is about 2 pounds sterling and they had repainted the inside which was good, but I think its rare for a 120 year old building to get that recognised.

Still it’s another one off the list.

Australia – 4

Great Barrier Reef (1981)
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (1987, 1994) 2
Wet Tropics of Queensland (1988)
Greater Blue Mountains Area (2000)

Belgium – 2 (?)

La Grand-Place, Brussels (1998)
Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) (2000) ?

Egypt – 4

Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis (1979)
Islamic Cairo (1979)
Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (1979)
Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley) (2005)

France – 4 (?)

Palace and Park of Versailles (1979)
Paris, Banks of the Seine (1991)
Historic Site of Lyons (1998) ?
The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes (2000)

Germany – 2

Monastic Island of Reichenau (2000)
Upper Middle Rhine Valley (2002)

Luxembourg – 1

City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications (1994)

Peru – 4

City of Cuzco (1983)
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (1983)
Historic Centre of Lima (1988, 1991) 18
Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa (2000)

Spain – 2
Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada (1984, 1994) 24
Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture (1999)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – 9
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (1986)
City of Bath (1987)
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret’s Church (1987)
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, and St Martin’s Church (1988)
Tower of London (1988)
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (1995)
Maritime Greenwich (1997)
Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)

32 in total with 2 which I’m not sure of – 30 guaranteed