Joel on the Road Profile

Joel on the Road
Joel on the Road.

Bringing the thunder from Down Under. Reformed researcher, craft beer chugger, history nerd. Not aiming for the destination of every site, but enjoying the journey.

Visited Sites Joel on the Road

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Legend

  • Cultural
  • Natural
  • Mixed

Recent Reviews Joel on the Road


Ping Yao

Joel on the Road Australia - 07-Sep-24

Ping Yao

Ping Yao is a beautiful and well-preserved old city, located in China’s Shanxi province. It was an important centre of trade, commerce, and political power for centuries, mainly during the Qing and Ming dynasties, and much of the old historic core of the city is still intact and in good condition.

There are lots of well-preserved wooden buildings, brightly coloured and with exquisite Chinese characters decorating the facades, hidden laneways and [...]

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Longmen Grottoes

Joel on the Road Australia - 03-Sep-24

Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes is a large collection of Buddhist carvings into caves and grottoes, in a kilometre-long series of cliffs above the Yi River. There are several thousand caves and grottoes here, with tens of thousands of carvings; everything from a 19-meter high Buddha statue, to minuscule figurines scarcely 10cm high. Most of the carvings date back to a period between 500-700 AD. Like many cave art sites, it’s been subjected to centuries of weathering, looting, and vandalism, so the overwhelming majority of the statues are damaged in some way - eroded, faded paint, faces smashed off, looted, and so on.

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Murujuga Cultural Landscape (T)

Joel on the Road Australia - 22-Aug-22

Murujuga Cultural Landscape (T)

I'm going to put it out there right at the start of this review: the Murujuga Cultural Landscape is one of the most impressive collections of petroglyphs (rock carvings) I've ever seen. It would be justifiably world-renowned if it were located on other continents, and certainly ranks well above many of the other rock art collections already inscribed on the World Heritage List. So what is it?

The cultural [...]

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Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble (T)

Joel on the Road Australia - 21-Aug-22

Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble (T)

For our visit to this Tentative site, we decided to visit São João Fortress at the entrance to Guanabara Bay in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Not that we had much choice in the matter, since most of the locations are further north, and we weren't heading that direction on this trip! The site is still an active military installation, so tours are available via pre-booked appointment only.

First off, it's one of the most beautiful fortresses I've ever visited. Not particularly for the quality of the stonework, the decorations, or anything like that, but simply for the location. It's essentially underneath Mt Sugarloaf (Pao de Azucar), in the rich and trendy Urca neighbourhood, and jutting out into the mouth of Guanabara Bay

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Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

Joel on the Road Australia - 21-Aug-22

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

As you travel through Brazil's World Heritage sites, the name Roberto Burle Marx keeps on popping up. Almost as much as Oscar Niemeyer! A world-renowned garden designer, landscape architect, botanist, conservationist, painter, and tapestry weaver, Burle Marx's work features in several other Brazilian WH sites including Brasilia, Pampulha, and Rio. So in a way, it was quite fortunate for us that visiting his estate home, studio, acreage, and artistic legacy on the outskirts of Rio came near the end of our Brazil trip, rather than at the start.

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Profile Data

Name
Joel on the Road
Country
Australia
Most Impressive
Historic Centre of Istanbul
Proposal
Isle of Skye, Scotland
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 06.10.24
Rating Stats
Levuka 3
Røros 2.5
Yin Xu 2.5
Ahmadabad 1.5
  1. Alexandria, ancient remains and the new library (T)
  2. Ancient cities of Upper Myanmar : Innwa, Amarapura, Sagaing, Mingun, Mandalay (T)
  3. Archaeological Site and Historic Centre of Panamá City (T)
  4. Architecture Moderne du XX siècle de la Ville de Montevideo (T)
  5. Auckland Volcanic Fields (T)
  6. Australian Cornish Mining Sites: Burra and Moonta (T)
  7. Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble (T)
  8. Brooklyn Bridge (T)
  9. California Current Conservation Complex (T)
  10. Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Battles Zones in the First World War (T)
  11. Capital Fortifications of Hanyang : Hangyangdoseong Capital City Wall, Bukhansanseong Mountain Fortress and Tangchundaeseong Defense Wall (T)
  12. Central Park (T)
  13. Chapultepec Woods, Hill and Castle (T)
  14. Chocolate Hills Natural Monument (T)
  15. Coron Island Natural Biotic Area (T)
  16. Cultural Landscape of Innsbruck-Nordkette/Karwendel (T)
  17. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's Home-Study Museum (T)
  18. Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
  19. Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (T)
  20. Eglise et Monastère de Sao Bento, Rio de Janeiro (T)
  21. El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area (T)
  22. Ellis Island (T)
  23. Flinders Ranges (T)
  24. Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom (T)
  25. Great Desert Landscapes (T)
  26. Great Sandy World Heritage Area (T)
  27. Großglockner High Alpine Road / Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (T)
  28. Guano Islands, Islets, and Capes National Reserve System (T)
  29. Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
  30. Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston (T)
  31. Inle Lake (T)
  32. Insular area and bay of Colonia del Sacramento (T)
  33. Karst Valleys of Slovakia (T)
  34. Khor Dubai (T)
  35. Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
  36. Lake Titicaca (T)
  37. Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
  38. Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Monaco) (T)
  39. Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise et leur territoire: Nimes, Arles, Glanum, aqueducs, via Domitia (T)
  40. Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna (T)
  41. Murujuga Cultural Landscape (T)
  42. Nasca Aqueducts (T)
  43. National Park (Taman Negara) of Peninsular Malaysia (T)
  44. National Park Hohe Tauern (T)
  45. Palais de la Culture, ancien siège du Ministere de l'Education et de la Santé, Rio de Janeiro (T)
  46. Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct (T)
  47. Peruvian Central Railway (T)
  48. Pobiti Kamani Natural Monument (T)
  49. Pulacayo, Industrial Heritage Site (T)
  50. Rural Temples of Cusco (T)
  51. Sacred Titicaca Lake (T)
  52. Salt Mines of Maras (T)
  53. The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá (Ruta Colonial Transístmica de Panamá) (T)
  54. The concept of the lenticular historical town core of Kosice City (T)
  55. The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area (extension to existing property) (T)
  56. The historic town of Korcula (T)
  57. The Industrial Complexes at Ostrava (T)
  58. The Lofoten islands (T)
  59. The Old Town of Jakarta (T)
  60. The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia (T)
  61. The royal necropolis of the Thracian city of Seuthopolis – a serial site, extension of the Kazanlak Thracian tomb (T)
  62. The Royal Sites of Ireland: Cashel, Dún Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex, and Tara Complex (T)
  63. Tokaj Wine Region (T)
  64. Wooden Monasteries of Konbaung Period : Ohn Don, Sala, Pakhangyi, Pakhannge, Legaing, Sagu, Shwe-Kyaung (Mandalay) (T)