Joel Baldwin Profile
Traveller, blogger and videographer from Australia, retired at 35 and travelling the world, aiming to visit every UNESCO World Heritage site.
Documenting our journey on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WorldHeritageJourney
Recent Reviews Joel Baldwin
Archaeological site of Philippi
Joel Baldwin Australia - 26-Jun-19
First things first: there is far less to see here than at most other ancient sites in Greece. The ruins are just that: ruins, and aside from the theatre, not particularly well-preserved. But it's the history here that really makes Philippi impressive. Given its name by King Phillip II of Macedon, father to Alexander the Great, it was also the site of a pivotal battle from Roman history. Just outside the city walls in 43 BC, an army lead by Julius Caesar's heirs Octavian and Mark Antony, faced off against an army lead by Caesar's assassins Cassius and Brutus. Caesar's heirs won the day, and the Roman Republic was no more
Read OnKakadu National Park
Joel Baldwin Australia - 25-Jun-19
In my opinion, Kakadu National Park is one of Australia's most impressive sites. Home to ancient culture, gorgeous natural scenery, and a colossal variety of plants and animals, there's a lot to love about Kakadu. We visited the park over three days in June 2016, which gives you ample time to explore the various areas.
To reach Kakadu, your best option is to drive in from Darwin - a roughly 2 hour, 150km drive. It's best to go during dry season (May-October) as this is also the coolest time of year. Wet season from November-April is hotter, stickier and of course wetter: many roads in Kakadu will be flooded and impassable.
Read OnHill Forts of Rajasthan
Joel Baldwin Australia - 13-Jun-19
Although this site covers six different forts, we were a bit short on time and opted for the easiest one to visit the Amber Fort just outside of Jaipur. It's pretty easy to access, though I'd recommend using a ride-hailing service like Uber or Ola instead of organising a car through your hotel.
The Amber Fort is really more of a palace than a fort, though it certainly serves that purpose as well. There are multiple terraces and courtyards inside, each leading to an earlier and more exclusive part of the fort. There's fantastic details here at every turn, with impressive sizes matched against exquisite Mughal detailing.
Read OnRani-ki-Vav
Joel Baldwin Australia - 13-Jun-19
This is a fantastic, hidden gem of India. Stepwells are large, flat wells that were once quite common in this part of India, and the Queen's Stepwell here is one of the largest and most ornate. It's surprisingly large in area: about 60x20 metres in area, and 27 metres deep. On the inside, every inch of the walls is covered in carving, mostly of Hindu gods but there are some secular figures in there as well. The carvings are extremely beautiful and in fantastic condition as well, as the site was completely silted over until its discovery in the 1980s. The surrounding area is well manicured as well, though there isn't anything to see at the site other than the stepwell, which unless you're super into photography, probably won't take longer than an hour to thoroughly inspect.
Read OnAhmadabad
Joel Baldwin Australia - 13-Jun-19
As other reviewers have noted, Ahmedabad is very much not a tourist city. It's hot, dusty and chaotic - even by Indian standards. We spent three days here in February 2019 as a base for visiting the three Gujarat WH sites (here, Rani-ki-Vav and Champaner-Pavagadh), and honestly it's difficult to really appreciate the World Heritage aspects of the city.
To try and fully understand the place, we opted for the Heritage Walk Ahmedabad, a semi-official endeavour supported by the local government and a bargain at only 125rs. The tour went for a couple of hours from the Swaminarayan Mandir, through various pol districts and ended at the Jama Masjid. It was a nice way to see the various aspects of what makes the city: Hindu culture, Muslim culture, along with the unique pol houses, and our young local guide was quite enthusiastic. That said, most of the pol houses are crumbling and poorly maintained - maybe that makes them more authentic? But at quite a few points it was hard to distinguish which were the historic houses and which were far more modern
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- Joel Baldwin
- Country
- Australia
- Most Impressive
- Historic Centre of Istanbul
- Proposal
- Isle of Skye, Scotland
- Website
- website
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 21.07.19
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Reviewed WHS
- Archaeological site of Philippi
- Kakadu National Park
- Hill Forts of Rajasthan
- Rani-ki-Vav
- Ahmadabad
- Central Highlands
- Monastery of Horezu
- Verla Groundwood and Board Mill
- Petäjävesi Old Church
- Sammallahdenmäki
- Røros
- Tower of Hercules
- San Cristobal de La Laguna
- Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc
- Mount Etna
- Vegaøyan
- Royal Palace at Caserta
- Burgundy
- Arab-Norman Palermo
- Isole Eolie
- Ivrea
- Verona
- Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
- Bellinzone
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Strasbourg
- Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes
- Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai
- The Four Lifts
- Brugge
- Flemish Béguinages
- Van Nellefabriek
- Belfries
- Durham Castle and Cathedral
- Saltaire
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Blenheim Palace
- Ironbridge Gorge
- Stonehenge
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- Tower of London
Visited TWHS
- Alexandria, ancient remains and the new library (T)
- Ancient cities of Upper Myanmar : Innwa, Amarapura, Sagaing, Mingun, Mandalay (T)
- California Current Conservation Complex (T)
- Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Battles Zones in the First World War (T)
- Chocolate Hills Natural Monument (T)
- Coron Island Natural Biotic Area (T)
- Cultural Landscape of Innsbruck-Nordkette/Karwendel (T)
- Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
- Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (T)
- El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area (T)
- Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom (T)
- Great Desert Landscapes (T)
- Großglockner High Alpine Road / Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (T)
- Historic Centre of Guimarães and Couros Zone (extension) (T)
- Historical City Centre of Yogyakarta (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston with Mali Ston, connecting walls, the Mali Ston Bay nature reserve, Stonsko Po (T)
- Inle Lake (T)
- Karst Valleys of Slovakia (T)
- Khor Dubai (T)
- Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
- Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Monaco) (T)
- Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise et leur territoire: Nimes, Arles, Glanum, aqueducs, via Domitia (T)
- Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna (T)
- National Park "Hohe Tauern" (T)
- National Park (Taman Negara) of Peninsular Malaysia (T)
- Nice, la ville neuve née du tourisme, ou l’invention de la Riviera (T)
- Nîmes, l'Antiquité au présent (T)
- Phuphrabat Historical Park (T)
- Pobiti Kamani Natural Monument (T)
- Sites funéraires et mémoriels de la Première Guerre mondiale (Front Ouest) (Belgium) (T)
- The Burren (T)
- The city of Bergamo (T)
- The concept of the lenticular historical town core of Kosice City (T)
- The Historic City of Dublin (T)
- The historic town of Korcula (T)
- The Industrial Complexes at Ostrava (T)
- The Lofoten islands (T)
- The Old Town of Jakarta (Formerly old Batavia) and 4 Outlying Islands (Onrust, Kelor, Cipir dan Bidadari) (T)
- The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia (T)
- The Porticoes of Bologna (T)
- The royal necropolis of the Thracian city of Seuthopolis – a serial site, extension of the Kazanlak Thracian tomb (T)
- The Royal Sites of Ireland: Cashel, Dún Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex, and Tara Complex (T)
- Tokaj Wine Region (T)
- Wooden Monasteries of Konbaung Period : Ohn Don, Sala, Pakhangyi, Pakhannge, Legaing, Sagu, Shwe-Kyaung (Mandalay) (T)