Jan-Willem Profile
Every now and then, I like to learn about the world just by seeing it :) But no big fan of long flights, so it's mostly done by road tripping.
Recent Reviews Jan-Willem
Kuressaare Fortress (T)
Jan-Willem Netherlands - 23-Aug-24
Kuressaara Fortress (or Episcopal Castle) is a well-restored fortress outside the lovely town of Kuressaara. If I understand well, even though many restorations have taken place, the basic structure still goes back to medieval times and that’s part of what gives it its historic value (but do correct me when I’m mistaken).
When we visited in 2011, work on the outer walls was very much in progress (photo), but looking at recent pictures on internet and Roman’s picture in the header of this THWS, that seems to have been completed by now. It’s an impressive fortress on the one hand, but to my personal taste also a bit ‘clean’ and not very adventurous to see. I didn’t really feel and smell its history, like I got e.g. from the walls of Tallinn. And other sites on the Saaremaa island left deeper memories, such as the WWII memorial sites, the spot of the lighthouse on the most southern tip, and the Kaali impact crater
Read OnEocene Marine Biodiversity of the Alpone Valley (T)
Jan-Willem Netherlands - 22-Jul-24
Originally planned for 2020, you can guess why we had to postpone our road trip through Northern Italy to 2021. But that gave us the opportunity to add the new TWHS Eocene Marine Biodiversity of the Alpone Valley to our itinerary.
I can’t tell you how many of the 39 fossil deposit sites can be visited or are even worth seeing. But it’s certainly true that there is a very lovely, well-preserved fossil fish and plant collection to see and you find this not down in the valley, but all the way up the hill in the small Museo Dei Fossili in the village of Bolca. In Summer, especially in August, you can also visit the nearby Pesciara mine, “the fish bowl”. Getting to the mine does include a hike of little over 1 km.
Read OnSite of the Schöningen Spears (T)
Jan-Willem Netherlands - 17-Apr-24
A road trip from Holland to Berlin was already planned last weekend and that was a good opportunity to make a stop to view the Schöningen spears, as they just became a TWHS. We didn't go down into the open pit mine, but the spears are on excellent display in a very informative and enjoyable museum right on the edge of the quarry. The mine itself is not producing anymore and is only used for archaeology and other research, if I understood correctly. Because I'm not supposed to share photos of the exhibitions in public, the picture shows the pit mine as seen from inside the museum.
Read OnColonies of Benevolence
Jan-Willem Netherlands - 26-Jul-21
I was in Frederiksoord just two weeks ago. It's certainly not very spectacular to see, but I found the story behind it very interesting. I may be a bit biased because it's part of my own country's history. I do hope that being a WHC will create a broader awareness for this part of our history.
A new visitor centre opened here in 2019. It had to close just a few months later and just reopened now. It tells the story in a modern, audiovisual way. After that, while taking a walk, or better the tramride, through Frederiksoord/ Wilhelminaoord you really get a good feeling for the story. A volunteer on the tram, born here in the final days of the colony, talked about growing up here and told stories about her grant parents etc.
Read OnDacian Fortresses
Jan-Willem Netherlands - 22-Aug-19
Visited Sarmizegetusa Regia and Piatra Rosie in 2016 during a 4-night stay in the Pensiunea Ulpia Traiana in Sarmizegetusa, which - as the name may already indicate, has the Roman ruins bordering its garden (update 2024: now also WHS). The owner of the pensiunea is linked to the Archeology Museum in Sarmizegetusa. He and one of his neighbours drove our 7p. group as private guides in two 4WDs around the area, including up the Orastie mountains with a hike inbetween our vist to the two fortresses.
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- Jan-Willem
- Country
- Netherlands
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 14.09.24
-
9 Countries Complete
Austria . Cyprus . Estonia . Holy See . Luxembourg . Netherlands . Moldova . San Marino . Singapore .Reviewed WHS
Visited TWHS
- Abbey of Kremsmünster (T)
- Alpine and pre-alpine meadow and marsh landscapes (T)
- Amalienborg and its district (T)
- Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilization (T)
- Ancient City of Kaunos (T)
- Archaeological Site of Priene (T)
- Bird Migration Routes (T)
- Brooklyn Bridge (T)
- California Current Conservation Complex (T)
- Cathedral of Gurk (T)
- Central Park (T)
- Centre ancien de Sarlat (T)
- Citadel of Alessandria (T)
- Cité de Carcassonne et ses châteaux sentinelles de montagne (T)
- Cittadella (Victoria - Gozo) (T)
- Coastal Cliffs (T)
- Cultural Landscape of Innsbruck-Nordkette/Karwendel (T)
- Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
- Domaine de Fontainebleau : château, jardins, parc et forêt (T)
- Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (T)
- Eglises byzantines et post-byzantines de Curtea de Arges (T)
- Eocene Marine Biodiversity of the Alpone Valley (T)
- Fishpond Network in the Trebon Basin (T)
- Former Communist Prisons in Romania (T)
- Großglockner High Alpine Road / Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (T)
- Group of Monuments at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh (T)
- Hala Sultan Tekke and the Larnaka Salt Lake Complex (T)
- Hall in Tyrol - The Mint (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Hochosterwitz Castle (T)
- Hoge Kempen Rural - Industrial Transition Landscape (T)
- Iconic Riverfront of the Historic City of Varanasi (T)
- Iron Trail with Erzberg and the old town of Steyr (T)
- Kekova (T)
- Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
- Kuressaare Fortress (T)
- L'église de Densus (T)
- La Camargue (T)
- Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta lakelands (T)
- Le noyau historique de la ville d'Alba Julia (T)
- Le noyau historique ou la 'Cuve' de Gand, et les deux abbayes qui sont à son origine (T)
- Le plateau des Hautes-Fagnes (T)
- Les citadelles mosanes (T)
- Les Plages du Débarquement, Normandie, 1944 (T)
- Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise et leur territoire: Nimes, Arles, Glanum, aqueducs, via Domitia (T)
- Les villes bastionnées des Pays-Bas du nord-ouest de l'Europe (T)
- Levadas of Madeira Island (T)
- Massif du Mont Blanc (T)
- Massif du Mont-Blanc (T)
- Massif du Retezat (T)
- Mdina (Citta Vecchia) (T)
- Mývatn and Laxá (T)
- National Park Hohe Tauern (T)
- Natural Reserves of Tatras Mountain (T)
- Pharaonic temples in Upper Egypt from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (T)
- Plantations in West Curacao (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- Primošten Vineyards (T)
- Princely religious foundations in Wallachia and Moldavia (T)
- Qawra/Dwejra (T)
- Route of Magellan (T)
- Rundāle Palace Ensemble with a Garden and Forest Park (T)
- Seljuk Caravanserais on the route from Denizli to Dogubeyazit (T)
- Sinpetru (site paleontologique) (T)
- Site of the Schöningen Spears – Humans and hunting 300,000 years ago (T)
- Sites of Globalization (T)
- The cultural landscape of the Benedictine settlements in medieval Italy (T)
- The Dunejec River Gorge in the Pieniny Mountains (T)
- The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares (T)
- The historic ensemble of Orchha (T)
- The Karlstejn Castle (T)
- The Marble Basin of Carrara (T)
- The Mediterranean Facet of the Pyrenees (France-Spain) (T)
- The Old Town of Jakarta (T)
- The Theatre and Aqueducts of the Ancient City of Aspendos (T)
- The Turf House Tradition (T)
- Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Trakai Historical National Park (T)
- Troodos, Mt.Olympus (T)
- Via Francigena in Italy (T)
- Volterra: Historical City and Cultural Landscape (T)
- Wooded meadows (Laelatu, Kalli-Nedrema, Mäepea, Allika, Tagamoisa, Loode, Koiva, Halliste) (T)