Why?

If you enjoy spending your holidays in a club hotel in the Caribbean drinking Mai Tais, that's fine. It's your holiday and do as you please. And I personally enjoy the occasional Mai Tai on the beach, too. For me, though, spending more than a few days in the aforementioned Caribbean club hotel would be akin to purgatory. Because I like moving around, seeing new things and going to distant places.

As such I have read my fair share of guide books to figure out where to go and what to see. Eventually I noticed a few annoying biases. The authors would try to cover all regions of a country equally, judge on a relative scale and provide more details on touristy and easy to reach places. For instance, I see little reason to spend any time in Santiago de Chile apart from the international airport. Santiago is a nice city for Chile, but it's not in the same league as Mexico City. Still, any guide book you pick up on Chile will spend a full chapter on the city.

World Heritage Sites are different. They are as objective as it gets. They make you travel off the beaten path. I will always fondly remember my cab ride in a winter landscape to Holasovice. More often than not these are great sites.

Initially, I focused on quantity. And while this may seem stressful, it did give me a good picture and overview. Of late (ever since reaching the magical 300) I collect differently. Now I plan my trips on the truly great sites and pick up any site to the left and right I can visit on top.

So, should you become a whs traveler, too? My honest recommendation is to do as you please. But if you are going to country anyhow (and be it in a club hotel), then use the map provided on this site and check out if any world heritage site is nearby. It may force to travel a bit off the beaten path, but trust me, it will be worth it.

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After a few days in Turkey the ennui that I generally reserve to Baroque churches had settled in for Ottoman mosques. "You seen one, you have seen them all." I figured. So, you may understand why I really questioned the 6.5h one way trip from Istanbul upon arrival in Edirne.

But the site really won me over as soon as it entered my view and even more so when I stepped into it. The murals and the proportions are stunning. To me it felt as if all of Ottomon architecture was coming together in this great mosque by Sinan.

While You Are There

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As a daytrip from Istanbul I made my way to Bursa. Bursa embedded in a lush green valley is a nice distraction from the tourist filled streets of Istanbul. It is also a more concise and homogeneous site as it focuses exclusively on the Osmanic heritage. Most notable to me where the Green Mosque and associated Mausoleum and the Khans (trading posts) found in the city center.

I would concur with Paul that Bursa is a worthwhile addition to the list and that the ICOMOS deferral due to paperwork issues seems unwarranted. All the while admitting that the site most certainly does not meet five criteria for inscription.

While You Are There

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Having arrived in Nizza Monferrato by bus from Alessandria I made my way into the old town to the central square. I had expected yet another of the pretty old towns that you find all over Italy, this one with a bit of wine focus. Instead I found a fairly mundane modern town with some old buildings in between and I was left wondering: Why is this on the list?

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On my last day in Italy I visited Ivrea from Turin. After loads of medieval/Renaissance/Baroque cities and churches taking in some modern architecture was a welcome change.

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San Gimignano is one of the sites I knew I had been to as a kid, but never counted as visited. The simple reason was that all I remembered from the visit was the wild boar dish we had for dinner; it was delicious I believe.

I had tried some years ago to right this wrong and combine San Gimignano and Siena in a day trip. But Siena's charm had gripped me and I decided to forego the trip to San Gimignano and spent the full day in Siena instead.

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