Echwel Profile
In 2010 I visited the Plitvice lakes and was stunned by its sheer beauty. It was like walking through a fairy tale landscape and it really felt like something special. Since this is a WHS and I agreed with my partner we should do this more often (instead of laying on the beach drinking beer) I started to study the list for more sites to visit. After all they claim to be of "outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity".
Over the years this "WHS-thing" grew upon me. It got so important it evolved into the quest most people here are suffering from. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about my partner. She prefers the beach again. I often have to use lame excuses to drag her of it and join me at yet another WHS-visit.
I recently started to blog about my adventures. If anyone is interested: https://unesco-queesties.nl/
Recent Reviews Echwel
Alto Douro
Echwel NL - 14-Oct-17
It’s not always easy to convice my wife we need to go to yet another world heritage site but I had no problems when I announced Alto Douro to her. We both love the Porto wines they produce overthere and even she thougt a day of tasting and drinking is not something you skip while being in the area.
The prettiest part of the site lies between the small towns of Pinhao and Peso da Regua, an area full of quinta’s ( the name the Potugese gave their winehouses) and known tot he locals as Cima Corgo
Read OnSan Gimignano
Echwel NL - 16-Mar-17
If you’re serious about WHS-hunting make sure you pay a visit to Tuscany, Italy. In a relative small area you can find 7 top notch sites of which San Gimignano is one. Although most of you probably have seen your fair share of medieval towns this one really stands out, literally that is.
The unique thing about San Gimignano is its centuries old skyline. Back in medieval times there was a bit of trouble between the pope and the emperor who both wanted absolute power. They each had their own gang of supporters called Guelfi (popefans) and Ghibellini (emperorsupporters). The two rival sections were at eachother's throat and this let to the building of, in total, 72 defensive towers. Fourteen still stand.
Read OnBeemster Polder
Echwel NL - 13-Jan-17
“When will we be there?”, asked my wife when we were driving in the middle of the WHS Beemster. A question, I quess, which kind of sums up the outstanding universal value of the site; if you don’t know about it you will have a hard time seeing and appreciating it.
Because the Beemster just looks like any other “polder”, a green flat meadow, I couldn’t really blame her. However, when it was created in the 17th century the Dutch made an effort to create the most ideal landscape ever made. It was the time of the Renaissance and old ideals about order, symmetry and harmony were pumped in the new land as to give it a feeling of harmony and proportion. Everything what you see nowadays is actually the result of quite some thinking.
Read OnAachen Cathedral
Echwel NL - 18-Nov-16
Everyone knows how popular cathedrals are in Unesco´s list. I know how some kind of a fatique can emerge ticking off yet another one. But do please forget about these kind of prejudice when visiting Aachen. This one is truly worthy of its worldheritage qualification.
Already when entering the church you’ll know this one is special. You will probably be impressed by its coulourful mosaics, not a sight very common with (gothic) cathedrals, and its overall appearance. But it gets way better than that. What I think makes it more interesting is the stroy behind the building, its hidden symbolism. This stuff fascinates me and Charlemagne didn’t disappoint me.
Read OnVizcaya Bridge
Echwel NL - 29-Oct-16
My wife does not share the same passion about Unesco´s list as I do. To me every site is worth a visit, to her only a few. I have visited some sites on my own but soon found out that sharing is a big part of the fun. So I had to think of something to get her accompanying me. She´s okay with visiting charming old cities but is less enthusiastic about industrial heritage and stuff like that.
I, for one, like the steel monsters such as Vizcaya bridge. My wife however couldn´t care less. What she does like is laying on the beach getting a tan. So when I told her that we `had` to see this hanging transporter bridge I made sure to tell her that sea and sand were around the corner
Read OnRecently Visited WHS
- Update 13.12.24
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Visited WHS
Rating StatsReviewed WHS
Visited TWHS
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- La Camargue (T)
- La Rioja and Rioja Alavesa Vine and Wine Cultural Landscape (T)
- Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece (T)
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
- Les passages de Bruxelles / Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (T)
- Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise et leur territoire: Nimes, Arles, Glanum, aqueducs, via Domitia (T)
- Massif du Mont Blanc (T)
- Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna (T)
- Noyau historique d'Antwerpen -Anvers- de l'Escaut aux anciens remparts de vers 1250 (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- Romanesque Cultural Enclave in the North of Castile-Leon and the South of Cantabria (T)
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in Portugal (T)
- Sites of Globalization (T)
- The Marble Basin of Carrara (T)
- The Ribeira Sacra, Lugo and Orense (T)
- The Royal Sites of Ireland: Cashel, Dún Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex, and Tara Complex (T)
- Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Volterra: Historical City and Cultural Landscape (T)
Reviewed TWHS
Top 50 Missing Sites
- Alexandria, ancient remains and the new library
- Bagan
- Cenotes of the Yucatan
- City of Herat
- Cultural Landscape of Santorini
- Death Valley National Park
- El Nido Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area
- Ephesus
- Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Frank Gehry
- Jericho
- Kuhikugu
- Lake Titicaca
- Mecca, Kaaba
- Silk Roads
- Sites Mégalithiques de Carnac
- Transiberian Railway
- Ur
- Vatnajökull National Park
- Westhoek: places of memory and monuments of the Great War
Top 200 WHS
- Silk Roads: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor
- Angkor
- Cueva de las Manos
- Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc
- Altamira Cave
- Everglades
- Iguacu
- Plitvice Lakes
- The Sundarbans
- Okavango Delta
- Lake Baikal
- Victoria Falls
- Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius
- Neolithic Orkney
- Brú na Bóinne
- Megalithic Temples of Malta
- Nasca Lines
- Çatalhöyük
- Stonehenge
- Stone Spheres of the Diquís
- Chichen-Itza
- Teotihuacan
- San Agustín
- Riga
- Val di Noto
- Paris, Banks of the Seine
- St. Petersburg
- Florence
- Amsterdam Canal Ring
- Carthage
- Classical Gardens of Suzhou
- Dinosaur Provincial Park
- Lower Valley of the Awash
- Versailles
- Imperial Palace
- Rapa Nui
- Nemrut Dag
- Petra
- Persepolis
- Great Himalayan National Park
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Machu Picchu
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines
- Malbork Castle
- Fort and Shalamar Gardens
- Great Wall
- Himeji-jo
- Crac des Chevaliers
- Gwynedd Castles
- Auschwitz Birkenau
- Longobards in Italy
- Seville
- Bamberg
- Rammelsberg and Goslar
- Budapest
- Brugge
- Vienna
- Kraków
- Dubrovnik
- Granada
- Siena
- Lübeck
- Maritime Greenwich
- Shark Bay
- Great Barrier Reef
- West Norwegian Fjords
- Mexico City and Xochimilco
- Cuzco
- Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago
- Meidan Emam, Esfahan
- Sun Temple, Konarak
- Prambanan
- Khajuraho Group of Monuments
- Los Glaciares
- Te Wahipounamu
- Tasmanian Wilderness
- Tropical Rainforest Sumatra
- Redwood
- Białowieża Forest
- Kaziranga National Park
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
- Serengeti
- Yellowstone
- Galapagos Islands
- Komodo National Park
- Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries
- Gulf of California
- Ancient Kyoto
- Grand Canyon
- Nubian Monuments
- Ancient Thebes
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
- Rio de Janeiro
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands
- Loire Valley
- Bam Cultural Landscape
- Wadi Rum
- Hallstatt-Dachstein
- Thingvellir
- Potosi
- Ouro Preto
- Meroe
- Kinderdijk
- Shushtar
- Kremlin and Red Square
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
- Novodevichy Convent
- Burgos Cathedral
- Urnes Stave Church
- Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra
- Rila Monastery
- Assisi
- Chartres Cathedral
- Westminster
- Route of Santiago de Compostela
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa)
- Vatican City
- Meteora
- Ravenna
- Bethlehem
- Kizhi Pogost
- Lalibela
- Göreme NP and Cappadocia
- Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Dolmen
- Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
- Taj Mahal
- Pyramids (Memphis)
- Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha
- Mogao Caves
- Borobudur
- Potala Palace
- Fujian Tulou
- Kathmandu Valley
- Bukhara
- Ping Yao
- Samarkand
- Medina of Fez
- Damascus
- Historic Cairo
- Arles
- Segovia
- Leptis Magna
- Baalbek
- Pompei
- Hierapolis-Pamukkale
- Acropolis
- Olympia
- Laponian Area
- Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
- Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou
- Aksum
- Qhapaq Ñan
- Venice and its Lagoon
- Istanbul
- Rome
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Sana'a
- Prague
- Edinburgh
- Naples
- The trulli of Alberobello
- Cordoba
- Brasilia
- Isole Eolie
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka