Don Irwin Profile

I started traveling by living in West Africa for 5 years.  When I returned we moved to New Mexico and hiked in all the western national parks.

We started traveling again overseas in 2009.  We were convinced to go to Guatemala and realized how much we missed being overseas.  We prefer Mexico, and Central and South America.  Europe is too crowded.

Most memorable moment at a WHS was listening to an opera singer in the Roman theater at Ephesus.  It was very cold and all the hotels hadn't opened in Sulcuk but the singing was beautiful and no one was there.

USA Last Update 20.02.24 198 WHS Visited 2 Reviews 199 WHS Rated 48 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Don Irwin

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Legend

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

Recent Reviews Don Irwin

Historical city of Izamal (T)

Don Irwin USA - 28-Feb-19

Izamal means place of the Itza.  According to Mayan mythology Votan sent his son Itzamna to bring civilization.  On his death a pyramid and temple were built over his grave and he was worshiped as Itzamatul.  It was after Chichen Itza, the greatest ceremonial center in Yucatan.  Fray Diego de Landa arrived in the 16C and ordered the destruction of the pyramid and the construction of the Franciscan convent of San Antonio de Padua over the leveled remains the pyramid, as was typically done throughout Central and South America by the Spanish.   The convent was built between 1549 and 1562.  The enclosed atrium is the second largest after Saint Peters in the Vatican.  The pyramid that was torn down must have rivaled the one in Uxma.

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Historic Town of Alamos (T)

Don Irwin USA - 13-Feb-19

I love traveling in Mexico so I admit that I am not impartial.  We went to Alamos as part of a tour to Copper Canyon.  Along the way we spent the night there.  It's a small town but very picturesque.  Many celebrities have moved to Alamos because of its solitude and pleasant surroundings.  It does take a while to get there.  We had 2 tour guides, one in the evening and one the following morning.  There are many many ghost stories in Alamos.  So many that a book has been written about them but I've never been able to find a copy.  An American in the 40s began to restore the buildings.  Since then many wealthy people have moved in.  Still, it has not lost its charm.  There are no tourists.  There are no crowds

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Profile Data

Name
Don Irwin
Country
USA
Ranking
327

Recently Visited WHS

Update 20.02.24

8 Countries Complete

Antigua and Barbuda . Barbados . Belize . Ghana . Holy See . Saint Kitts and Nevis . Saint Lucia . Singapore .

Rating Stats
Ancient Thebes 5
Angkor 5
Antigua Guatemala 5
Belem 5
Belize Barrier Reef 5
Botanical Garden, Padua 5
Bourges Cathedral 5
Boyana Church 5
Bryggen 5
Caceres 5
Chaco Culture 5
Churches of Moldavia 5
Cliff of Bandiagara 5
Cuzco 5
Djenné 5
Drottningholm 5
Dubrovnik 5
El Escurial 5
Florence 5
Glacier parks 5
Granada 5
Grand Canyon 5
Hawaii Volcanoes 5
Istanbul 5
Kotor 5
Loire Valley 5
Los Glaciares 5
Luang Prabang 5
Mesa Verde 5
Mexico City and Xochimilco 5
Mont-Saint-Michel 5
Olympia 5
Olympic National Park 5
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 5
Paris, Banks of the Seine 5
Pompei 5
Rapa Nui 5
Rome 5
Seville 5
St. Petersburg 5
Te Wahipounamu 5
Tikal National Park 5
Toledo 5
Urbino 5
Uxmal 5
Vatican City 5
Venice and its Lagoon 5
Verona 5
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park 5
West Norwegian Fjords 5
Works of Antoni Gaudí 5
Yellowstone 5
Yosemite National Park 5
Aranjuez 4
Archaeological Site of Delphi 4
Avignon 4
Avila 4
Carlsbad Caverns 4
Chichen-Itza 4
City of Bath 4
Cuenca 4
Ephesus 4
Genoa 4
Great Smoky Mountains 4
Hierapolis-Pamukkale 4
Historic Cairo 4
Iguacu 4
Iguazu National Park 4
Kathmandu Valley 4
Kronborg Castle 4
Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 4
Kutna Hora 4
La Fortaleza and San Juan 4
La Lonja de la Seda 4
Malbork Castle 4
Medina of Essaouira 4
Meteora 4
Monticello 4
Naples 4
Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 4
Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 4
Prague 4
Québec 4
Redwood 4
Rila Monastery 4
Saint-Emilion 4
Santiago de Compostela 4
Segovia 4
Sintra 4
Spissky Hrad and Levoca 4
Tallinn 4
Teotihuacan 4
Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 4
Val di Noto 4
Valletta 4
Venetian Works of Defence 4
Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 4
Villages with Fortified Churches 4
Acropolis 3
Alcala de Henares 3
Amsterdam Canal Ring 3
Arequipa 3
Australian Convict Sites 3
Ayutthaya 3
Banska Stiavnica 3
Belfries 3
Bordeaux 3
Bridgetown 3
Brimstone Hill Fortress 3
Campeche 3
Cartagena 3
Chitwan National Park 3
Cordoba 3
Corfu 3
Curonian Spit 3
Dorset and East Devon Coast 3
Etruscan Necropolises 3
Forts and Castles Gold Coast 3
Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3
Great Spa Towns of Europe 3
Guanajuato 3
Hopewell 3
Hospicio Cabañas 3
Independence Hall 3
Lagoons of New Caledonia 3
Mafra 3
Mammoth Cave 3
Medina of Marrakesh 3
Morelia 3
Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3
Mérida 3
Paquimé 3
Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 3
Plantin-Moretus Museum 3
Pyramids (Memphis) 3
Qhapaq Ñan 3
Querétaro 3
Quirigua 3
Quito 3
Route of Santiago de Compostela 3
Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 3
Sambor Prei Kuk 3
San Antonio Missions 3
San Miguel de Allende 3
Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca 3
Schönbrunn 3
Semmering Railway 3
Sewell Mining Town 3
Sighisoara 3
Singapore Botanic Gardens 3
Statue of Liberty 3
Stonehenge 3
Sukhothai 3
Taos Pueblo 3
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 3
Thingvellir 3
Vatnajökull National Park 3
Versailles 3
Vienna 3
Volubilis 3
Wachau Cultural Landscape 3
Willemstad 3
Cahokia Mounds 2
Colonia del Sacramento 2
Fertö/Neusiedlersee 2
Giant's Causeway 2
Graz 2
Guanacaste 2
Island of Gorée 2
Jelling 2
Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis 2
Lübeck 2
Medina of Fez 2
Meknes 2
Mycenae and Tiryns 2
Old City of Acre 2
Pitons Management Area 2
Primeval Beech Forests 2
Rabat 2
Riga 2
Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo 2
Split 2
Stralsund and Wismar 2
Sydney Opera House 2
Thessalonika 2
Thracian tomb of Kazanlak 2
Tower of London 2
Westminster 2
Asante Traditional Buildings 1.5
Tequila 1.5
Antigua Naval Dockyard 1
Bahá’i Holy Places 1
Camino Real 1
Central University City Campus of the UNAM 1
Danube Limes 1
León Cathedral 1
Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 1
Stone Spheres of the Diquís 1
  1. Big Bend National Park (T)
  2. California Current Conservation Complex (T)
  3. Cathédrale de Bamako (T)
  4. Central Park (T)
  5. Dayton Aviation Sites (T)
  6. Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
  7. Dzongs: the centre of temporal and religious authorities (Punakha Dzong, Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, Paro Dzong, Trongsa Dzong and Dagana Dzong) (T)
  8. Historic Georgetown (T)
  9. Historic Town of Alamos (T)
  10. Historic Town of San Sebastian del Oeste (T)
  11. Historic zone of Basseterre (T)
  12. Historical city of Izamal (Izamal, Mayan continuity in an Historical City) (T)
  13. Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
  14. La chefferie de Bafut (T)
  15. La Grande Case dans la Chefferie traditionnelle des Grassfields (T)
  16. La Moneda Palace (T)
  17. Lake Titicaca (T)
  18. Le Lamidat de Rey-Bouba (T)
  19. Le Monastère de Neamt (T)
  20. Le Parc national de Waza (T)
  21. Le Paysage culturel des chutes de la Lobé (T)
  22. Minoan Palatial Centres (T)
  23. Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna (T)
  24. Old Fourah Bay College Building (T)
  25. Paleontological Sites of Pisco and Camana Basins (T)
  26. Petrified Forest National Park (T)
  27. Pombaline Lisbon (T)
  28. Protected area of Lake Atitlán: multiple use (T)
  29. Ring of cenotes of Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan (T)
  30. Rocks of Belogradchik (T)
  31. Rural Temples of Cusco (T)
  32. Salt Mines of Maras (T)
  33. San Pedro de Atacama (T)
  34. The Ancient Plovdiv (T)
  35. The Gateway to the Old King's Yards (T)
  36. The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares (T)
  37. Thomas Jefferson Buildings (T)
  38. Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins National Parks, Region of Magallanes (T)
  39. Town of Chichicastenango (T)
  40. Western Area Peninsula National Park (T)
  41. White Sands National Monument (T)

Reviewed TWHS