the World Heritage Competition

Portugal - we add Guimarães..! :)

2011-10-11T06:37:00.000+02:00

PORTUGAL - 2011

The old capital of Portugal, GUIMARÃES, was our new WH-point during this trip to Portugal - as always a lovely country, where friends and 'friends you didn't know you had' did their very best to help us feel at home. Thank you so much Paula & Gabriel, Carmen, José and Yolanda, Andrés and the rest of you!

Previously, for instance in 2001, and 2004, we have thouroghly visited Porto, Lisboa, and the Douro valley.. (and lots of other interesting sites in Portugal) so now we profonded the knowledge of those sites (i.e. by living next door to Palacio da Bolsa, eating _under_ the famous bridges, listening to Fado downtown Lisboa and waking up with the astonishing view of Rio Duoro just a few steps away). We also introduced the competition to our travel companions by forcing them to pose close to the Unesco signs and letting them know of other unwritten competition laws...

The so called "long weekend" felt too short, and next time we need to stay a little longer, in time to better visit Lisboa and the Porto wine caves, enjoy the Fado again, and the southern parts of Portugal, and its wine!

Visited by Isabella, Dennis, Mats & Monica in September/October 2011 - during the late harvest. :)

The World's Heritage

2010-07-16T16:46:00.000+02:00

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by visiting one of our closest heritages - Skogskyrkogården (a cemetary) in Stockholm. At the visitor centre gift shop we found our anniversary present: a book listing the World's Heritages in cronological order from the first meeting in 1978 to 2008. The most recent heritages aren't included, but still. It's a beautifully illustrated book and it made our day!

Wieliczka Salt Mine

2010-01-17T19:46:00.005+01:00

The second day of our weekend in Cracow we took a guided tour to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Considering the weather it was actually a very good idea to spend the day underground, and the mines was a unique and fascinating experience. In addition to the insight into the historical value of the mines, all the amazing artwork carved out of salt (most of it by miners) was made the trip well worth while.

visited my Maria and Mattias, march 2009

Cracow's Historic Centre

2010-01-17T16:22:00.003+01:00

In march 2009 we took a very short trip to Cracow to celebrate that I'd finally gotten my PhD in Medical Informatics. The weather wasn't the best, and we'd booked a cheap room which was cold, but in a good location so we could spend all our time in the historic centre. It would be nice to go back in summer time though, I'm sure you could really enjoy a cold beer or two in the sun at the central market square... however, nothing like cold winds and rain as an excuse to sneak into one of the many cosy cafés surrounding the square for a coffee and cake!

Of course, you also have to climb the hill up to Wawel castle and enjoy the view of the river and perhaps a visit to the dragons cave (which was unfortunately closed when we were there).

visited by Maria and Mattias, 7th march 2009

Elbe removed!

2009-07-09T10:36:00.004+02:00

The World Heritage Committee has held its 33rd session and inscribed two new natural sites and 11 cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, none that I have visited though... A more disturbing news is that for the second time in the history of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted by UNESCO in 1972, a site was removed from the World Heritage List when the Committee decided that Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley could no longer retain its status as a World Heritage site of outstanding universal value! The decision was due to the construction underway of a four-lane bridge in the heart of the cultural landscape.
We had the good fortune to visit the Elbe Valley in the summer of 2006, and the site is included in my list of visited world heritages. Today's question is of course whether or not I can still count Elbe as a visited world heritage or not. For now, I will.

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis in June 2006

Historic Areas of Istanbul

2009-03-16T13:51:00.003+01:00

In September, we took a weekend trip to Istanbul. A trip that surely left us all wanting more! The old centre of Istanbul was amazing, with the Blue mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome. We visited during Ramadan, and at night the whole area turned into a festivale of music and light and happy people everywhere. Great!

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis september 2008

The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik

2009-03-09T15:05:00.005+01:00

An airconditioned bus (very comfortable) took us from Split to Sibenik where we had some time to visit the Cathedral of St James. The cathedral was not only unique in the technical construction of it's dome, it also boasted a fascinating frieze decorated with 71 sculptured faces of men, women, and children. Each face was unique and showed different expressions and was said to show common people rather than religious figures or nobles. Quite remarkable.

Visited by Maria and Mattias, august 2008 (as well as by Ester and the Hägglund/Alfredsson-family).

Historic City of Trogir

2009-02-18T10:22:00.006+01:00

Having spent much too much of the past months finishing my PhD thesis, I will now get back to updating this blog and hopefully visit some more fascinating world heritages. Before embarking on new adventures, I still have some Croatian heritages to describe, starting with the historic city of Trogir.
We took a bus from Split to Trogir. It was hot. And crowded. And hot. It was cheap, and didn't take that long, but I wouldn't recommend it. Especially not if you have a 2 year old child with you! I was honestly worried that she might get sick from the heat. But we survived.

Trogir is a beautiful city! Set on a small island, you can quickly walk around it, or why not get lost in all maze of tiny cobbled streets. Our visit was made on a HOT day, probably better spent on a beach, but we still had a good time. In order to avoid taking the bus back, we chose to go by boat from Trogir to Split. It was tiny but completely filled with people. It was an open boat, and it would have been a nice trip if our daughter hadn't screamed the whole way, exhausted after a hot day of sightseeing and not particularly delighted with having to sit on a crowded boat.

visited by Maria and Mattias, august 2008

Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian

2008-09-17T15:00:00.004+02:00

When in Split, you would have to make a serious effort to avoid visiting the Palace of Diocletian. It is the centre of the city, and there are heaps of restaurants, shops and museums inside the palace walls. Underneath the palace, there's also a touristic market for those of us who loves bringing more or less tacky souvenirs with us home.

visited by Maria and Mattias (+ Ester and the Hägglund/Alfredsson family), aug 2008 (we spent a week in Split and visited/walked through the palace almost daily)

High Coast

2008-08-03T22:13:00.008+02:00

We have just spent 4 days in a world heritage area, the high coast of northern Sweden. We climbed the Skule mountain (rather, some of us climbed and some of us rode the linbana - skii lift), and visited the World heritage museums interesting exhibition.

The area is breath taking and well worth a visit. In summer, it's great spending time at the coast, swimming, taking boat trips to the islands, and climbing the steep mountains. In winter, there's of course skiing and lots of activities requiring snow (I prefer summer, but to each his own).

A special event is also to attend a proper "surströmmingsskiva". Traditionally held in august, it's a great party eating the fermented herring which is produced in the area. The smell of the fish can be quite overwhelming, but once you get used to it you might actually enjoy it. Do I have to add that enormous amounts of alcohol is normally consumed together with the small smelly fishes?

visited by Maria, Mattias, Ester, Isabella and Dennis (who actually live at the High coast), 2008-07-30

Royal Domain of Drottningholm

2008-07-28T20:54:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we visited Drottningholm in Stockholm. A bit embarrassing that neither of us had visited before, but it finally gave me a new point in the competition, after a looong year of revisiting world heritages...

In comparison with other similar world heritage palaces (Versailles, Schloss Schönbrunn, Sans-Souci) Drottningholm scores high on surrounding and environment. The palace is beautifully located, and you could easily spend more than a few summer days lazily relaxing in the parks... That's pretty much what we did, after attempting a guided tour of the palace with a hungry, tired and hot two-year-old. Not appreciated by all. We actually left the tour half-way through, quickly walked through what was left of the beautiful rooms and proceeded to have cookies on the stairs outside. But the park was full of children, no guards yelled at you for having a pick-nick on the lawn, and Ester loved running through the labyrints and looking at the swans and geese in the lake. So it's definitely a good world heritage to visit with children!

visited by Maria, Mattias, Ester, Sofie and Fredrik, 2008-07-27

Historic Centre (Chorá) with the Monastery of Saint John "the Theologian" and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Pátmos

2008-07-27T21:00:00.006+02:00

We took the flying Dolphin from Pythagorio on Samos to the island of Patmos. Arriving in the port town Skala, we immidiately started our walk up the mountainside to reach the Cave of the Apocalypse. The heat wasn't too bad yet, and we were lucky to arrive just between two tourist groups and had a few moments almost alone in the cave where John is said to have composed his gospel and the apocalypse after having visions of God.

We then continued our climb up to Chorà and the monastery. Chorà is a beautiful city, and if you (like us) only do a one-day trip to Patmos, I can recommend exploring the narrow white streets around the monastery rather than going back down to Skala which is not very exciting...

visited by Maria and Mattias 2008-07-15

Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos

2008-07-27T20:41:00.005+02:00

On the beautiful island Samos you can find the city Pythogoreion, birth town of Pythagorio. It is a touristic small town, whose harbour is lined with restaurants. A small castle still overlooks the town, and excavations are scattered almost everywhere between the narrow greek streets. Just outside the town, close to the village Ireon, is Heraion, an antique temple of Hera. Or rather... there's not much left of the temple, but walking through the area gives you an idea of how great the temple must have been. I would however, recommend a visit to the museum of Samos before going to Heraion, since most of the artefacts found in the excavations are kept there. It becomes easier to imagine the great temple after having seen the huge statues found there, now on display in the museum.

A visit to the impressive tunnel of Eupalinos is also recommended. Not only to get an idea of the amazing technical achievement it represents, but also to enjoy the cool air of the tunnel...

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis, 2008-07-10

Engelsberg Ironworks

2008-06-16T14:42:00.007+02:00

On the 13th of August 2006 we (me, Mattias and his mother) took a trip to the Engelsberg Ironworks. It happened to be the yearly celebration of the Ironworks, so there were heaps of activities... and it's a very nice place to go for a day visit! It's really beautiful, and captures a lot of typical Swedish environments. To our surprise (and joy) there was even a small world heritage exibition.

visited by Maria & Mattias, 2006-08-13

Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape

2008-06-10T13:24:00.004+02:00

I forgot! We actually visited 3 WH sites on our trip to Austria in november. How could I forget Fertö/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape? When visiting our good friends in Gols, we practically live in the Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape and we even made a very cold and very uncomfortable visit to the lake itself. In November, Neusiedlersee isn't a very nice place, but I really wish I could go back in summer...

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella & Dennis 2007-11-09

Historic Centre of Rome

2008-06-10T13:07:00.006+02:00

Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura

Perhaps the longest name of a world heritage I've visited... And since it's been embarrassingly long since I visited any sites (I haven't touched WH ground since november!), I will backtrack my way down my list... starting with a classic: the Historic Centre of Rome.

I've been to Rome a few times now, and my last visit was in march 2007, together with Mattias, our daughter Ester, Mattias' brother and my parents. In other words a family vacation. And Ester is getting a good start on her WH career, having been breast fed inside the Collosseum, and on Forum Romanum.

visited by Maria & Mattias 2007-03-11

Historic centre of Vienna

2007-11-22T14:00:00.000+01:00

Vienna is a beautiful city. For some reason (might be connected to the wine-tasting festival Martiniloben held in November every year just outside Vienna) I've mostly visited in late autumn, but to be honest, does anyone mind glüwein being sold on every street corner? This last visit we (Maria & Mattias) focused on Stephansdome, schloss Belvedere and the art exibitions at Albertina.

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella & Dennis 2007-11-12

Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn

2007-11-13T10:29:00.000+01:00

Schloss Schönbrunn, on the outskirts of Vienna (just take the U4 to Schönbrunn and the castle is right round the corner), is beautiful even when November winds are freezing and dark clouds cover the sky. The (audio-)guided tour through the castle gives an intimate insight in the lives of the Habsburg-family, who spent much of their time there, and I must admit I was almost moved to tears when parts of Maria Theresa's diary was read.

The gardens are also wonderful, not too large (as the one in Versailles), but with a surprisingly private feel to it. Exploring the "woods", discovering the "Roman ruins", and making friends with local wildlife makes it a great experience. We will have to go back in summer.

Visited by Maria (who had been there before) and Mattias 2007-11-09, and Isabella (who had also visited earlier) and Dennis 2007-11-12

Sydney Opera House

2007-10-16T09:33:00.001+02:00

Does it need any further introduction? These pictures were taken from the ferry, going to Taronga Zoo, and it's indeed a fascinating building!

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis, august/september 2007 (on different dates)

Blue Mountains

2007-10-10T15:01:00.000+02:00

When in Sydney it's almost mandatory to take a day tour to Blue Mountains, whether you're a World-Heritage-junkie or not. And it's beautiful! I visited Blue Mountains for the third time, it's Isabella's second visit, but the rest of the gang had never been, and we would probably have gone even if it wasn't on the list, just to see a bit more of Australian nature.

We climbed the giant staircase to the bottom of the valley (took almost 30 minutes, and did some serious damage to the muscles in our legs), then walked through the forest for another hour until we reached the skyride that took us back up to the top again, where we could enjoy the view of the three sisters (who according to the legend have been turned to stone).

visited by Maria, Isabella, Dennis and Mattias 2007-08-26

Fraser Island

2007-09-25T10:26:00.000+02:00

Fraser Island is an island made of sand. Lots of sand. So, there's sand everywhere. You can't get away from it... it's in your bed, in the food, and in your clothes. And yes, you can get stuck in it. Still, it's a great place to visit, and we can highly recommend it... it's an adventure!

visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis 17-19 aug 2007

Ayutthaya

2007-09-13T12:37:00.001+02:00

Em in Ayutthaya
Originally uploaded by mammamaria

When in Bangkok we couldn't resist the temptation of a 1-day tour of the world heritage listed site Ayutthaya, one of Thailand's old capitals (even though both me and Isabella had visited the site before). It's a great way to spend a day, getting out of chaotic Bangkok for a while... we took a bus to Ayutthaya and then a river cruise including lunch back. Much better than going by car both ways, as Isabella and I did the first time.

Visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis 2007-08-07

Shark Bay

2007-08-02T08:34:00.000+02:00

Slightly embarrassed (but mostly happy) I realized that I have one more point on my list! Shark Bay in Western Australia. For some reason I haven't added this site to my list of visited heritages, even though I travelled through the area in 2001, feeding wild dolphins in Monkey Mia and getting aquainted with Stromatolites (representatives of the oldest form of life on earth). Unfortunately I haven't got any digital pictures from this trip...

Visited by Maria - jan 2001

We are heading for new points on our lists

2007-08-01T19:13:00.001+02:00

We, Isabella, Maria, Dennis and Mattias, are now happily planning new WH-places to visit; flights, B&Bs and a 4wd car are all booked, all available info on the net regarding the (newly listed) Sydney Opera House, the Fraser island, Blue Mountains and the rain forests in NSW/QLD have been printed out... Yippikayeiiiiiiiooooooooooo, OZ here we come!!

the Garden at Versailles

2007-07-23T16:14:00.001+02:00

the Garden at Versailles, originally uploaded by mammamaria.

Visited by Maria & Mattias - 2007-07-11

We got in trouble at Versailles for drinking wine in the garden. Feel slightly ashamed for being so disrespectful to a world heritage, but the garden was sooo big, and there were trash cans and benches and we didn't disturb anyone (except the guard who yelled at us) and didn't make a mess... anyway. We both felt that Versailles was a bit too much for us, too many tourists and too BIG. The 45 min queue to get tickets didn't help. Not one of our favourtie sites...

Paris, Banks of the Seine

2007-07-23T16:07:00.001+02:00

The Banks of the Seine, originally uploaded by mammamaria.

Visited by Maria & Mattias 2007-07-09

The first night we spent in Paris we walked from our hotel in Montparnasse up to Seine (a longer walk than we had expected), and the view was breath taking.

Welcome to our competition's blog!

2007-07-23T12:43:00.000+02:00

This is a new (all english) forum for our world heritage competition, where we will discuss our recently visited sites, recommend our favourites and mock those who have visited less heritages than us. Enjoy! :)