James Bowyer Profile
From the North of England, became interested in World Heritage Sites just before all international travel was banned in early 2020 - what luck!
Recent Reviews James Bowyer
Gorham's Cave Complex
James Bowyer United Kingdom - 12-May-23
Before I was ensnared by World Heritage Sites, the geographic and cultural list that most intrigued me were the British Overseas Territories. Unfortunately, these last small vestiges of the empire tend to be the small outcroppings of rock nobody else wanted to claim in the middle of distant oceans and so are rather difficult to reach from the UK. There are a few notable exceptions, one of which is Gibraltar. Ceded “in perpetuity” by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 from Spain to Great Britain, although modern Spanish governments have pushed to reverse this, Gibraltar is the last British foothold on mainland Europe
Read OnEtruscan Necropolises
James Bowyer United Kingdom - 09-Apr-23
I have only visited one of the two components to this site, Tarquinia, and I picked it only because it was closer to a train station than Cerveteri. There was a train every two hours out from Rome to Tarquinia, on the line up to Pisa, and the railway gave a great view over the Mediterranean as it passed close to the shoreline. From Tarquinia, there was a little shuttle bus up the hill into the town or, if you have time, the walk was only about 3 km or so into the town centre although it was quite steep and the countryside was not that interesting to walk through
Read OnChampagne
James Bowyer United Kingdom - 07-Mar-23
I do not drink wine regularly and champagne even less so; I’m fairly sure I could count the occasions on my fingers. Therefore, I was not particularly looking forward to this site and tacked on a tour of the Taittinger wine cellars to a daytrip to Reims from Paris. The tour begins from the Champagne House 2.5 km southeast from the main station of Reims. If walking, the route has a very gentle incline up Saint-Nicaise Hill and goes right past the Cathédrale Notre-Dame and the Palais du Tau. It is easy to divert to Basilique Saint-Remi to complete the set for the Reims site on the way there or the way back. Unlike some of the other manufacturers, which resemble grand mock castles, the Taittinger buildings above ground were unremarkable
Read OnVal d'Orcia
James Bowyer United Kingdom - 23-Dec-22
Can I tick off this site? A philosophical question I’m sure every World Heritage traveller has asked themselves at some point. For myself and Val d’Orcia, I would say technically yes although with some heavy asterisks. On a coach tour from Rome, we first stopped in Montepulciano, which is outside the core zone but offers a view of the idyllic Tuscan countryside. Well, it should but it was foggy when I visited so no luck there. From there we went to lunch, again outside the inscribed area, and finally to Pienza. The drive there certainly passed through Val d’Orcia and there were some good views from the coach (see picture attached) but I would always prefer to set foot in the site where possible
Read OnPienza
James Bowyer United Kingdom - 23-Dec-22
Having sworn off guided coach tours after a poor experience in Poland, I somehow had lapse in judgement and ended up booking myself on one from Rome up to Tuscany for the day. “There’s no easy way to get to Pienza without public transport”, I thought, how bad could it be? In all honesty, not too bad at all although the day was clearly aimed at tourists looking to experience some Tuscan cuisine and culture rather than appreciate some Outstanding Universal Value and obsessively tick off another site on a somewhat arbitrary list. As such, we spent 1.5 hours in Montepulciano, which is a delightful village but tantalising just outside the core zone of Val d’Orcia, then 1
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- James Bowyer
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Most Impressive
- Rome/Vatican City
- Proposal
- Chernobyl Exclusion Zone/Polesie State Radioecological Reserve
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 04.06.23
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Visited WHS
Rating StatsRome 5Brugge 4.5Versailles 4.5Potsdam 4Sintra 4Warsaw 4Blenheim Palace 3.5Canterbury 3.5Champagne 3.5Forth Bridge 3.5Reims 3.5Sighisoara 3.5Torun 3.5Villa d'Este 3.5Westminster 3.5Belem 3Pienza 3Belfries 2.5Val d'Orcia 2.5Saltaire 1.5Reviewed WHS
- Gorham's Cave Complex
- Etruscan Necropolises
- Champagne
- Val d'Orcia
- Pienza
- Fontainebleau
- Lake District
- Maritime Greenwich
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- Saltaire
- New Lanark
- Warsaw
- Blenheim Palace
- Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
- Plantin-Moretus Museum
- Torun
- Sighisoara
- Villages with Fortified Churches
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Derwent Valley Mills
- Ironbridge Gorge
- Durham Castle and Cathedral
- Forth Bridge
Visited TWHS
- Flow Country (T)
- Head Office and Garden of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Le champ de bataille de Waterloo, la fin de l’épopée napoléonienne (T)
- Le noyau historique ou la 'Cuve' de Gand, et les deux abbayes qui sont à son origine (T)
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
- Le Panorama de la Bataille de Waterloo, exemple particulièrement significatif de « Phénomène de Panoramas » (T)
- Les citadelles mosanes (T)
- Noyau historique d'Antwerpen -Anvers- de l'Escaut aux anciens remparts de vers 1250 (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- Route of Magellan (T)
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in Portugal (T)
- The Twin Monastery of Wearmouth Jarrow (T)
Reviewed TWHS