Astraftis Profile

Astraftis
Astraftis.

As an increasingly slow and detail-loving traveller, how could I not be attracted by the promised wonders of UNESCO World Heritage Sites? I appreciate that, despite their variety, from the more majestic to the most unassuming (and maybe disappointing) one, each is capable of highlighting a piece of world history in its own way. So, I greatly enjoy including them in my travels or planning routes centered around them. Nothing better than getting lost on the countryside pursuing that last remote component of a serial site! Until recently I heavily focused on Europe, but I am slowly reaching out into the world, without forgetting to visit those in my home country, which surely isn't at fault in that regard!

 

(Picture: overseeing the Curonian spit from the Raganų kalnas/Hexenberg/Witches' hill at Juodkrantė/Schwarzort, Lithuania)

Italy Last Update 11.11.24 221 WHS Visited 16 Reviews 224 WHS Rated 117 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Astraftis

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Legend

  • ●● Cultural
  • ●● Natural
  • ●● Mixed

Recent Reviews Astraftis

Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Battles Zones (T)

Astraftis Italy - 22-Dec-22

Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Battles Zones (T)

I visited the area on a moody day of December 2022.

The official description is rather vague, as it seems to encompass everything about the war in the whole area, and all the motivations and values of the site appear to lie on the intangible side. Anyway, the whole southern part of Gallipoli's peninsula in front of Çanakkale, this extreme corner of Turkey, is a national park and protected area, and, more in particular, most of the interest gravitates around the ANZAC cove, west of Eceabat on the Aegean. Here, the cove itself and its hinterland are dotted with countless very simple, elegant war cemeteries and explanatory signs and boards. On the hills, many trenches, now mostly in the woods (there were far fewer trees at the time of WW1) can be seen and explored

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Yıldız Palace Complex (T)

Astraftis Italy - 16-Dec-22

Yıldız Palace Complex (T)

This is a kind of Stoclet house that welcomes you with guns.

It may have been the fascination for the prohibited or the downright incomprehensible that led me to spend a whole morning exploring this part of Beşiktaş during my Turkish week in the first half of December 2022. This was a neighbourhood that in my previous (2012) trip to İstanbul/Turkey I had completely neglected, but on this dark, cloudy but rather mild late-autumn day I enjoyed the greenery and the more ample and aristocratic atmosphere with respect to Unkapanı/Cibali/Fener (on the southern shore of the Golden Horn), where I had come from by ferry.

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Via Francigena in Italy (T)

Astraftis Italy - 20-Mar-22

Via Francigena in Italy (T)

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. 

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Amalienborg and its district (T)

Astraftis Italy - 10-Jan-22

Amalienborg and its district (T)

Frederiksstad and the walk to the Kastel and the Little Mermaid are probably my favourite parts of Copenhagen, so, since my first visit to the city, I always try to take a walk in this neighbourhood when I am here (the last one in August 2021). Apparently, little has changed over time, maybe only the Amaliehave, the small park on the harbour, has been refurbished a little, but it could have been only my impression

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Kronborg Castle

Astraftis Italy - 09-Jan-22

Kronborg Castle

My visit to Kronborg in August 2021 was not the first one: I already went there in 2009. That time, though, we had not calibrated our trip too well: it was the end of March and, basing in Copenhagen, we came from a visit to the Louisiana museum in Humlebæk, so that an arrival at 17/18 proved to be too late (of course) for the castle. But somehow we found the entrance to the inner yard open and shared it only with the local crows. We even rang a small hanging bell! This does not appear to be possible anymore, as I suspect they are closing the gates from the moat now (I don't know if Ian meant this with "being locked out" already in '11/'12). I promised myself I would come back someday for a better, more complete experience, and so did I more than 12 years (yikes!) after!

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Profile Data

Name
Astraftis
Country
Italy
Most Impressive
Bagan
Proposal
Takh wild horse conservation area in Khustai (Mongolia); caves in the region around Hpa-An (Myanmar); Yazılıkaya, the Midas tomb, and the Phrygian valley (TWHS, Turkey); the Navigli system of Lombardy (ATWHS, Italy); Ostia antica (FTWHS, Italy); raised bogs of the Baltic region (e.g. Čepkeliai, Lithuania)

Recently Visited WHS

Update 11.11.24
  • Route of Santiago de Compostela
  • Asturian Monuments

    • 10 Countries Complete

    Albania . Estonia . Holy See . Latvia . Lithuania . Luxembourg . Moldova . Myanmar . North Macedonia . San Marino .

    Rating Stats
    Acropolis 5
    Ancient Kyoto 5
    Archaeological Site of Delphi 5
    Bagan 5
    Budapest 5
    Deer Stone Monuments 5
    Dolomites 5
    Florence 5
    Gebel Barkal 5
    Granada 5
    Göreme NP and Cappadocia 5
    Istanbul 5
    Kathmandu Valley 5
    Megalithic Temples of Malta 5
    Meroe 5
    Meteora 5
    Mycenae and Tiryns 5
    Mystras 5
    Olympia 5
    Petra 5
    Plantin-Moretus Museum 5
    Pompei 5
    Prague 5
    Quseir Amra 5
    Ravenna 5
    Rome 5
    Siena 5
    Stonehenge 5
    Venice and its Lagoon 5
    Wadi Rum 5
    West Norwegian Fjords 5
    Amiens Cathedral 4.5
    Amsterdam Canal Ring 4.5
    Ancient Nara 4.5
    Archaeological Site of Aigai 4.5
    Butrint 4.5
    Cordoba 4.5
    Etruscan Necropolises 4.5
    Ferrara 4.5
    Kinderdijk 4.5
    Konso 4.5
    Mantua and Sabbioneta 4.5
    Matera 4.5
    Mtskheta 4.5
    Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.5
    Rietveld Schröderhuis 4.5
    Tugendhat Villa 4.5
    Verona 4.5
    Völklingen Ironworks 4.5
    Çatalhöyük 4.5
    Albi 4
    Aquileia 4
    Assisi 4
    Asturian Monuments 4
    Bale Mountains National Park 4
    Bourges Cathedral 4
    Brugge 4
    Bryggen 4
    City of Bath 4
    Curonian Spit 4
    Epidaurus 4
    Evaporitic Karst and Caves 4
    Himeji-jo 4
    Horyu-ji Area 4
    Major Town Houses 4
    Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt 4
    Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 4
    Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4
    Plitvice Lakes 4
    Rock Drawings in Valcamonica 4
    San Marino and Mount Titano 4
    Selimiye Mosque 4
    Speyer Cathedral 4
    Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch 4
    Telc 4
    The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 4
    Upper Svaneti 4
    Val d'Orcia 4
    Valletta 4
    Versailles 4
    Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 4
    Visby 4
    Works of Antoni Gaudí 4
    Zollverein 4
    Aachen Cathedral 3.5
    Aggtelek and Slovak Karst 3.5
    Antequera Dolmens Site 3.5
    Avignon 3.5
    Castel del Monte 3.5
    City of Luxembourg 3.5
    Cologne Cathedral 3.5
    Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
    Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
    Genoa 3.5
    Great Spa Towns of Europe 3.5
    Hortobágy 3.5
    Kernavė 3.5
    Kew Gardens 3.5
    Kronborg Castle 3.5
    Kutna Hora 3.5
    Loire Valley 3.5
    Longobards in Italy 3.5
    Medina Azahara 3.5
    Messel Pit 3.5
    Modena 3.5
    Mostar 3.5
    Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 3.5
    Ohrid Region 3.5
    Orange 3.5
    Orkhon Valley 3.5
    Paris, Banks of the Seine 3.5
    Plečnik's Ljubljana 3.5
    Primeval Beech Forests 3.5
    Rhaetian Railway 3.5
    Rjukan / Notodden 3.5
    Rock Carvings in Tanum 3.5
    Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy 3.5
    Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 3.5
    Stevns Klint 3.5
    Stoclet House 3.5
    Stone Town of Zanzibar 3.5
    Struve Geodetic Arc 3.5
    Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
    Tallinn 3.5
    The trulli of Alberobello 3.5
    Thessalonika 3.5
    Troy 3.5
    Um er-Rasas 3.5
    Upper Middle Rhine Valley 3.5
    Urbino 3.5
    Urnes Stave Church 3.5
    Vatican City 3.5
    Via Appia 3.5
    Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 3.5
    Vienna 3.5
    Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont 3.5
    Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch 3
    Berat and Gjirokastra 3
    Botanical Garden, Padua 3
    Bursa and Cumalikizik 3
    Canal du Midi 3
    Corfu 3
    Crespi d'Adda 3
    Dutch Water Defence Lines 3
    Flemish Béguinages 3
    Fortifications of Vauban 3
    Fujisan 3
    Funerary and memory sites of the First World War 3
    Grand Place, Brussels 3
    Graz 3
    Hedeby and Danevirke 3
    Ivrea 3
    Jelling 3
    Kuldiga 3
    Lübeck 3
    Margravial Opera House 3
    Maritime Greenwich 3
    Medici Villas and Gardens 3
    Mining Sites of Wallonia 3
    Naples 3
    Old City of Berne 3
    Pienza 3
    Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 3
    Prehistoric Pile Dwellings 3
    Provins 3
    Pyu Ancient Cities 3
    Regensburg 3
    Reichenau 3
    Riga 3
    Roskilde Cathedral 3
    Royal Palace at Caserta 3
    Røros 3
    Salzburg 3
    Santa Maria delle Grazie 3
    Schokland 3
    ShUM Sites 3
    Shirakawa-go and Gokayama 3
    Split 3
    Stralsund and Wismar 3
    Tomioka Silk Mill 3
    Tower of London 3
    Trebic 3
    Trier 3
    Viking Age Ring Fortresses 3
    Villa d'Este 3
    Vilnius 3
    Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia 3
    Belem 2.5
    Belfries 2.5
    Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
    Cesky Krumlov 2.5
    Danube Limes 2.5
    Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 2.5
    Kladruby nad Labem 2.5
    Modernist Kaunas 2.5
    Nancy 2.5
    Pont du Gard 2.5
    Route of Santiago de Compostela 2.5
    Schönbrunn 2.5
    Seville 2.5
    Stari Grad Plain 2.5
    Strasbourg 2.5
    Tiya 2.5
    Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
    Úbeda and Baeza 2.5
    Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2
    Dubrovnik 2
    Holasovice 2
    Moravian Church Settlements 2
    Par force hunting landscape 2
    Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2
    Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2
    The Porticoes of Bologna 2
    Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 2
    Trogir 2
    Van Nellefabriek 2
    Westminster 2
    Colonies of Benevolence 1.5
    Drottningholm 1.5
    Nice 1.5
    Lower German Limes 1
    1. Aguas Livres Aqueduct (T)
    2. Al Hassania National Park (T)
    3. Alaverdi Cathedral (T)
    4. Amalienborg and its district (T)
    5. Amarbayasgalant monastery and sacred cultural landscape (T)
    6. Anatolian Seljuks Madrasahs (T)
    7. Ancient cities of Upper Myanmar : Innwa, Amarapura, Sagaing, Mingun, Mandalay (T)
    8. Ancient Greek Theatres (T)
    9. Art and Architecture in the Prehistory of Sardinia. The domus de janas. (T)
    10. Balaton Uplands Cultural Landscape (T)
    11. Banganarti (T)
    12. Bradyseism in the Flegrea Area (T)
    13. Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Battles Zones in the First World War (T)
    14. Cascata delle Marmore and Valnerina: Monastic sites and ancient hydrogeological reclamation works (T)
    15. Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System (T)
    16. Church of San Salvador de Valdediós (T)
    17. Citadel of Alessandria (T)
    18. Cité de Carcassonne et ses châteaux sentinelles de montagne (T)
    19. Cittadella (Victoria - Gozo) (T)
    20. Classical Karst (in Slovene language: Klasicni kras) (T)
    21. Coastal Cliffs (T)
    22. Dana Biosphere Reserve (T)
    23. David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage (T)
    24. Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
    25. Extension of the World Heritage Site "Historic Centre of Prague" with the important Monuments in its Vicinity (T)
    26. Fishpond Network in the Trebon Basin (T)
    27. Fortress of Spinalonga (T)
    28. Gorge of Samaria National Park (T)
    29. Grobiņa archaeological ensemble (T)
    30. Hanbury botanical gardens (T)
    31. Heiligenkreuz Abbey (T)
    32. Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
    33. Hôpital Notre-Dame à La Rose - Lessines (T)
    34. Inle Lake (T)
    35. Íznik (T)
    36. Jaén Cathedral (extension of the Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza) (T)
    37. Jozani - Chwaka Bay Conservation Area (T)
    38. Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
    39. Konya-A capital of Seljuk Civilization (T)
    40. Kornati and Telašćica (T)
    41. Kuressaare Fortress (T)
    42. L'amphitheatre de Durres (T)
    43. L'oeuvre architecturale d'Henry van de Velde (T)
    44. La Camargue (T)
    45. Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta lakelands (T)
    46. Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece (T)
    47. Le champ de bataille de Waterloo, la fin de l’épopée napoléonienne (T)
    48. Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom (T)
    49. Le chemin de fer de Cerdagne (T)
    50. Le noyau historique ou la 'Cuve' de Gand, et les deux abbayes qui sont à son origine (T)
    51. Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
    52. Le palais de Princes Eveques de Liège (T)
    53. Le Panorama de la Bataille de Waterloo, exemple particulièrement significatif de « Phénomène de Panoramas » (T)
    54. Le tronçon Bavay-Tongres de la chaussée romaine Boulogne-Cologne situe sur le territoire de la Région wallonne (T)
    55. Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Monaco) (T)
    56. Les citadelles mosanes (T)
    57. Les passages de Bruxelles / Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (T)
    58. Les sites à fossiles néandertaliens de Wallonie (T)
    59. Les témoignages matériels de la construction de l’État des Pyrénées : la Co-principauté d’Andorre (F) (T)
    60. Les tombes de la Basse Selca (T)
    61. Leuven/Louvain, batiments universitaires, l'héritage de six siècles au sein du centre historique (T)
    62. Maltese Catacomb Complexes (T)
    63. Mdina (Citta Vecchia) (T)
    64. Meanders of the Upper Daugava (T)
    65. Medieval Settlement of Kirtipur (T)
    66. Mining Historical Heritage (T)
    67. Minoan Palatial Centres (T)
    68. Mountainous Phrygia (T)
    69. Møns Klint (T)
    70. Mrauk-U (T)
    71. Mta-Tusheti (T)
    72. Noyau historique d'Antwerpen -Anvers- de l'Escaut aux anciens remparts de vers 1250 (T)
    73. Nuragic monuments of Sardinia (T)
    74. Nuruosmaniye Complex (T)
    75. Ödön Lechner's independent pre-modern architecture (T)
    76. Odunpazari Historical Urban Site (T)
    77. Old Dongola (T)
    78. Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Prague-Bubeneč (T)
    79. Olympic Park Munich (T)
    80. Pombaline Lisbon (T)
    81. Qawra/Dwejra (T)
    82. Rade de Marseille (T)
    83. Ripa Pannonica in Hungary (T)
    84. Rouen : ensemble urbain à pans de bois, cathédrale, église Saint-Ouen, église Saint Maclou (T)
    85. Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád (T)
    86. Rundāle Palace Ensemble with a Garden and Forest Park (T)
    87. Sacred Mountains of Mongolia (T)
    88. Seljuk Caravanserais on the route from Denizli to Dogubeyazit (T)
    89. Shatili (T)
    90. Shwedagon Pagoda on Singuttara Hill (T)
    91. Sulcis Iglesiente (T)
    92. Sultan Bayezid II Complex: A Center of Medical Treatment (T)
    93. Tbilisi Historic District (T)
    94. The Ancient City of Apollonia (T)
    95. The Aniene valley and Villa Gregoriana in Tivoli (T)
    96. The Bony Fish Fossils of the Western Limfjord: Evolution and Climate Adaptation in the Earliest Eocene (T)
    97. The Bridge of Uzunköprü (T)
    98. The Castle of Bashtova (T)
    99. The Cultural Landscape of Civita di Bagnoregio (T)
    100. The cultural landscape of the Benedictine settlements in medieval Italy (T)
    101. The historic urban site of Počitelj (T)
    102. The Karlstejn Castle (T)
    103. The Marble Basin of Carrara (T)
    104. The Maritime Heritage of Dragør Old Town and Harbour - A ‘skipper-town’ from the era of the great tall ships in the 18th and 19th centuries (T)
    105. The medieval palace complex of Gorkha (T)
    106. The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia (T)
    107. The Padang Civic Ensemble (T)
    108. The Rise of Systematic Biology (T)
    109. Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (T)
    110. Trakai Historical National Park (T)
    111. Uplistsikhe Cave Town (T)
    112. Vardzia-Khertvisi (T)
    113. Via Francigena in Italy (T)
    114. VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Vestfold Ship Burials and Hyllestad Quernstone Quarries (T)
    115. Volterra: Historical City and Cultural Landscape (T)
    116. Yıldız Palace Complex (T)
    117. Zadar - Episcopal complex (T)

    Reviewed TWHS