The Complete Tourist

[Rik]

Following on from the "How Many Countries Have You Visited" thread, I'm wondering what you all got up to when you were in these places.

So, the question is: how many, and which, World Heritage Sites have you visited?

To help you along, here's the complete UNESCO World Heritage List - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

Also, which one particular location would you personally add to that list, and why?

[Rik]

To date, I've managed to visit 39 sites - which surprises me: I don't go out of my way to deliberately tick these places off a list.

Australia (Sydney)
- Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens
- Sydney Opera House

Barbados
- Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison

Croatia
- Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian

Cuba
- Old Havana and its Fortifications
- Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios
- Viñales Valley
- Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos

Cyprus
- Paphos

Egypt
- Historic Cairo
- Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur

France
- Paris, Banks of the Seine
- The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes
- Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin

Greece
- Medieval City of Rhodes
- Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
- Historic Centre (Chorá) with the Monastery of Saint John

Italy
- Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie
- Historic Centre of Florence
- Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
- Historic Centre of Naples
- Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata

Mexico
- Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal

Portugal
- Laurisilva of Madeira

Spain
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture
- Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco
- Teide National Park

Turkey
- Xanthos-Letoon
- Hierapolis-Pamukkale

United Kingdom
- City of Bath
- Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
- Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church
- Tower of London
- Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
- Maritime Greenwich
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape




And the one place that I think is missing? I can't believe the Greeks haven't listed any Minoan sites; I've been to a lot of those, and some of the lesser visited/less reconstructed ones are really, really important for the story of how Mediterranean civilisations arose.

[jmcd]

France:
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island

UK:
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

I think that's about it.

[Rik]

France:
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island

UK:
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

I think that's about it.

Was the volcano erupting?

(Volcanic hotspots fascinate me)

[finlay]

Historic Centre of Brugge

Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay
Paris, Banks of the Seine

Venice and its Lagoon
City of Verona

Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

Old City of Berne (been to Berne, not sure if I went to the old city, though)
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch

Durham Castle and Cathedral (At least, I've been to Durham and seen them many times)
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Tower of London
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
Maritime Greenwich

[vampireshark]

According to the website, I've seen the following UNESCO sites (or I can confirm that I've seen them):
United States of America

• Monticello and the University of Virginia

Spain

• Works of Gaudi

France

• Pont du Gard
• Lyon
• Château de Versailles
• Banks of the Seine

United Kingdom

• Palace of Westminster
• Tower of London
• Bath
• Stonehenge
• Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
• Dorset and East Devon Coast
• Cornwall and West Devon
• Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

Germany

• Speyer Cathedral
• Roman Monuments in Trier
• Cologne Cathedral
• Museum Island, Berlin

Czech Republic

• Historic Centre of Prague

Hungary

• Budapest

Italy

• Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
• Pompei
• Historic Centre of Rome
• Vicenza
• Venice

Bulgaria

• Rila Monastery

Denmark

• Kronborg Castle

So, apparently, I've visited a total of 27. But why the hell isn't Lake Bled in Slovenia listed?

[linguoboy]

I've been to about 27 of those locations. (If you cross-check the list to my list of countries visited, you can pretty well figure out which ones.) I say "about" because it's difficult to know how to count some of those with multiple locations. For instance, do I count "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd" because I walked the city walls of Conwy, even though I didn't pay to tour the Castle and didn't visit Beaumaris, Caernafon, or Harlech?

[Rik]

I've been to about 27 of those locations. (If you cross-check the list to my list of countries visited, you can pretty well figure out which ones.) I say "about" because it's difficult to know how to count some of those with multiple locations. For instance, do I count "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd" because I walked the city walls of Conwy, even though I didn't pay to tour the Castle and didn't visit Beaumaris, Caernafon, or Harlech?

I'm not offering prizes so, yeah, count it.

From all of your travels, which place should be on the list, but isn't?

[Jipí]

Germany

• the Wadden Sea (on Norderney … or rather, north of it)
• City of Lübeck
• City of Wismar
• City of Bremen
• Palaces of Berlin and Potsdam
  • Charlottenburg palace, Berlin
  • Sanssouci palace, Potsdam
• City of Dresden and Elbe valley
• Wartburg castle
• City of Weimar
• Cologne cathedral

Poland

• Teutonic Order castle of Malbork

Switzerland

• Mt. Jungfrau

Italy

• City of Verona
• City of Venice
• City of Siena (on my very first family vacation, in 1988!)

[EDIT] Cedh mentioned Weimar, which I have been to as well, but overlooked on the map.

[linguoboy]

From all of your travels, which place should be on the list, but isn't?

I was very surprised to see nothing listed from Xi'an. You could probably list the whole historic centre, but at the very least the Great Mosque, Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas, and city walls should be listed.

Edit: Oh, wait; I see that the city walls are included in the entry for City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Still, if I had to pick one historical feature of the city to list, I'm not sure that would be it.

[jmcd]

France:
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island

UK:
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

I think that's about it.

Was the volcano erupting?

(Volcanic hotspots fascinate me)

No, I went to the volcano in December 2011 and it last erupted in December 2010. In any case, it is one of the most active volcanoes in the world but is not particularly dangerous because it rarely erupts outside the caldera, where noone lives.

Also, the UNESCO status applies to almost half the island.

[Cedh]

Germany

• Aachen Cathedral
• Roman monuments in Trier
• City of Lübeck
• Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam
• Bauhaus sites
  • Bauhaus School of Arts and Haus am Horn in Weimar
  • Bauhaus School Building and Masters' Houses in Dessau
• Classical Weimar
• Museum Island, Berlin
• Wartburg castle
• Cologne cathedral
• Monastic Island of Reichenau
• Zollverein Coal Mine, Essen
• Historic Centre of Stralsund
• Upper Middle Rhine Valley
• City of Dresden and Elbe valley
• City of Bremen
• The Wadden Sea (on Föhr)
• Prehistoric Pile Buildings (Unteruhldingen, Lake Constance)

Austria

• Historic Centre of Vienna

Belgium

• La Grand-Place, Brussels
• Historic Centre of Brugge

Croatia

• Plitvice Lakes National Park

Czech Republic

• Historic Centre of Prague

Estonia

• Historic Centre of Tallinn

France

• Mont-Saint-Michel
• Palace and Park of Versailles
• Vézélay Church and Hill
• Roman Theatre, Orange
• Pont du Gard
• Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims
• Historic Centre of Avignon
• Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne
• Historic Site of Lyons

Ireland

• Skellig Michael

Italy

• The Dolomites

Latvia

• Historic Centre of Riga

Lithuania

• Historic Centre of Vilnius

Netherlands

• Rietveld Schröder House, Utrecht
• 17th Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam

Norway

• Bryggen (Hanseatic Quarter of Bergen)

Poland

• Historic Centre of Cracow
• Wieliczka Salt Mine
• Auschwitz Birkenau
• Teutonic Order Castle of Malbork

Portugal

• Historic Centre of Porto

Spain

• Works of Antoni Gaudí, Barcelona
• Santiago de Compostela
• Route of Santiago de Compostela (I haven't walked it, but visited several places along the route)
• Historic City of Toledo
• La Lonja de la Seda, Valencia
• Pyrénées - Mont Perdu

UK

• Harlech Castle, Wales
• Ironbridge Gorge
• City of Liverpool

54 sites in total. That's a lot more than I expected... There are at least twenty places on this list of which I had no idea that they were Unesco World Heritage sites when I visited them. Also, many of the places in Germany are really close to where friends or relatives of mine have lived, or where I have lived myself, so they have been natural targets for day trips.

[Radius Solis]

Apparently I've been to five of them. Yellowstone NP, Grand Canyon NP, Olympic NP, Hawaii Volcanoes NP, and Carlsbad Caverns NP.

All "natural" rather than "cultural" sites. Apparently the western half of this continent doesn't have anything of cultural significance. Beyond a semi-preserved Haida village, a few Pueblos, and a place called, I kid you not, "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump".

Contrast this with Europe.

If I were to add one, perhaps it would be the Salt Lake Tabernacle, for its interesting no-nails construction that roofs over a large space without internal supports, for its being among the world's most acoustically perfect buildings, and for being the home of an incredible 11,000-pipe organ and a renowned choir that both take full advantage of it. The building is almost 150 years old now, is that old enough to be "cultural"?

[clawgrip]

Here is my list:

Canada

• Rideau Canal (kind of boring)

United States

• Statue of Liberty (saw it from Manhattan but didn't take the boat over to it)

Dominican Republic

• Colonial City of Santo Domingo (been to Santo Domingo, but not sure if I went to the part they're talking about)

France

• Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay (very enjoyable)
• Palace and Park of Versailles (interesting)
• Paris, Banks of the Seine (interesting, especially Notre Dame)

Greece

• Archaeological Site of Delphi (interesting)
• Acropolis, Athens (very nice, unfortunately the construction seems never-ending)

South Korea

• Changdeokgung Palace Complex (pretty nice place)

Japan

• Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu (only one gusuku ruin, plus the post-WWII reconstruction of Shuri-jo. Interesting enough)
• Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (very nice place)
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) ('nice' is not the word for it, but I'm glad I went)
• Himeji-jo (after having visited a few reconstructed castles, the authenticity of this great castle was clear and striking. Recommended.)
• Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area (if you like pagodas and old wooden buildings, this is good)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara (lots of things to see and pretty interesting)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (some unique and interesting things to see in Kyoto)
• Shrines and Temples of Nikko (pretty nice)

It's hard for me to recommend some over others, but I suppose I would choose Itsukushima, Himeji Castle, le Mont-Saint-Michel, and the Acropolis.

[Pthagnar]

If I were to add one, perhaps it would be the Salt Lake Tabernacle, for its interesting no-nails construction that roofs over a large space without internal supports, for its being among the world's most acoustically perfect buildings, and for being the home of an incredible 11,000-pipe organ and a renowned choir that both take full advantage of it. The building is almost 150 years old now, is that old enough to be "cultural"?

If "Blaenavon Industrial Landscape" counts, then yes. 4 sure.

[Rik]

If I were to add one, perhaps it would be the Salt Lake Tabernacle, for its interesting no-nails construction that roofs over a large space without internal supports, for its being among the world's most acoustically perfect buildings, and for being the home of an incredible 11,000-pipe organ and a renowned choir that both take full advantage of it. The building is almost 150 years old now, is that old enough to be "cultural"?

If "Blaenavon Industrial Landscape" counts, then yes. 4 sure.

Yep. There's plenty of religious sites on the list, as well as plenty of places listed for their architectural merit.

I'm really surprised that the US has so few sites. Skyscrapers are ubiquitous nowadays, so I would have thought that the first city centre to seriously invest in skyscraper architecture (New York?) would deserve a listing. Maybe also the place where the first Congress was held?

[Bob Johnson]

I'm really surprised that the US has so few sites. Skyscrapers are ubiquitous nowadays, so I would have thought that the first city centre to seriously invest in skyscraper architecture (New York?) would deserve a listing. Maybe also the place where the first Congress was held?

to some extent, the adjective "world" means non-american; world news, world music, etc

also we have our own historic site system so they may not want to overlap too much

[Pthagnar]

also we have our own historic site system so they may not want to overlap too much

lots of countries have historic site systems; the uk certainly does. why this should be a uniquely american problem, i do not know.

[sirred]

France
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and Palace of Tau, Reims
Palace and Park of Versailles
Paris, Banks of the Seine

Germany
Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg
Wartburg Castle

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

Italy
Historic Centre of Florence
Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura*
Piazza del Duomo, Pisa

Switzerland
Old City of Berne
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch

UK
Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast

USA
Carlsbad Cavern National Park
Independence Hall
Statue of Liberty
Yosemite National Park

[Want to go]
Too many.

Maybe also the place where the first Congress was held?

Independence Hall is already on there. More from the revolutionary period would be overkill. After all, this is about stuff of world importance.

[finlay]

I went to Kamakura today. I'm fairly sure it's not on it, although I did see a sign that said "Kamakura for the World Heritage" so I reckon they're trying to get on it.

[clawgrip]

I'm really surprised that the US has so few sites. Skyscrapers are ubiquitous nowadays, so I would have thought that the first city centre to seriously invest in skyscraper architecture (New York?) would deserve a listing. Maybe also the place where the first Congress was held?

Actually, Chicago is considered the birthplace of the skyscraper because of the 10-storey Home Insurance Building, built in 1885. It is considered the first skyscraper because, instead of being built with load-bearing walls, it used a load-bearing structural frame that supported the walls, a technique that had not been done before, but that is absolutely essential for modern high-rise buildings. It was demolished in 1931, so no world heritage site there.

[jmcd]

I'm really surprised that the US has so few sites. Skyscrapers are ubiquitous nowadays, so I would have thought that the first city centre to seriously invest in skyscraper architecture (New York?) would deserve a listing. Maybe also the place where the first Congress was held?

to some extent, the adjective "world" means non-american; world news, world music, etc

Sometimes, yeah, but mostly only in America. "International", on the other hand, is often a euphemism for American like when you see "International rap" in the music shops.

[Gulliver]

I've had sex in one! It's the City of Bath, though, so that's not that strange.

A colleague of mine remembers when Stonehenge wasn't protected at all, and they used to go there as teenagers and pretend to sacrifice each other. I actually drove past it a few weeks ago because I got lost on the way to visit someone. I'm going to say that counts.

I've drunk on the steps of Amiens cathedral and been thrown out of Cologne cathedral (there was a storm and the evacuated it in case bits of it fell on people).

I've been to the Dorset Coast and the Palace of Westminster and seen the Statue of Liberty at a distance.

[Salmoneus]

Been to:
Canterbury
Westminster
Greenwich
Kew
Blenheim
Liverpool
Chartre
Paris
Brussels
Bruges
Aachen
I think Kinderdijk when I was young? Maybe?
St Gallen
Bern
The Alps
The Cevennes
Orange
Pont du Gard



Seen (driven past, walked past):
Belfries of Belgium and France
Tower of London
Rheims
Reichenau
Lavaux
Lyons


The sites seem a pretty random selection!

[Curlyjimsam]

Italy:

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

Malta:

City of Valletta
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
Megalithic Temples of Malta

Netherlands:

Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

UK:

Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
Durham Castle and Cathedral
Ironbridge Gorge
Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City