Svein Elias Profile

I never travelled - until i was in my forties. Then I met Randi who had a wide experience with travelling. Since 2006 we have been travelling together, and since 2010 we have been "hunting" WHS'.

Through the last decade I've learnt to really appreciate the feeling of visiting new places, the curiosity and the excitement seeing different habits and cultures. Seeing nature's grand places with its unique animal life gives me great satisfaction. Historic places is another great experience, it makes you learn history along the way.

Seeing odd places which few people have visited before, preferably combined with the above, is the top of my list. Maybe it's kind of naive, but anyway...

Norway Last Update 27.06.22 547 WHS Visited 18 Reviews 548 WHS Rated 149 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Svein Elias

Toggle Missing/Visited

Legend

●● Cultural
●● Natural
●● Mixed

Recent Reviews Svein Elias

Les Mausolées Royaux de Numidie, de la Maurétanie et les monuments funéraires pré-islamiques (Tunisia) (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 22-May-22

On our April tour of Tunisia, we wanted to visit several TWHS’, but there wasn’t time in our schedule to visit them all. Thus, we had to choose between the 16 of them. Visiting Djerba we visited the mausoleum of Henchir Bourgou as a part of the TWHS Djerba, unconsciously we also started our Nubian mausoleum journey. The community likes for this site is a 100%! Although it’s only four votes, still a 100% is overwhelming. There are 5 elements in this nomination, and we suspect the community judgement is based on only one element, the one in Dougga. We managed to visit four elements, and did they live up too the requirements and expectations of our community?

Read On

Le site archéologique de Sbeïtla (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 22-May-22

Sbeïtla is located slightly south of the center of northern Tunisia, as the countries map visually divides in two by the vast salt pan of Chott el Jerid. It’s on the north-south line between Dougga and Chott el Jerid some 100 km southwest of Kairouan. It’s a large roman remain with some near complete structures and a lot of lower structures. In total it shows the size of this once great city.

Arriving just an hour before closing time and even at Ramadan we weren’t very popular neither at the ticket counter nor the gate. The counter had practically been closed already, but er got tickets, and at the gate they told us that we couldn’t do it within the hour. Thus, we hasted along not really knowing which direction to take. Soon we had an uninvited “guide” with us speaking only a few words of English. After telling him a couple of times we could do this by ourselves we gave that up. He hasted along with us saying “mill, olive press, bathtub, fountain, church” and so he continued. After a while we had to admit he was in fact informative in his short language way

Read On

Habitat troglodytique et le monde des ksour du Sud tunisien (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 21-May-22

This is fun! This is great!
A new this interesting TWHS is just fantastic! They appear unique and different! Although the site description can tell us that there are other troglodyte habitats sites and thus not unique, it also says the collective granaries are.

After visiting 8 of the 22 troglodyte habitats in the southern part of Tunisia, we found mainly granaries. Some easily accessible and other more remote, and by far the more remote ones are the most interesting.

Our first one was in the town of Médenine (lower right picture). Except some unwanted odd people hanging around and a private museum inside the ksour that didn’t really appeal, it was good example. The ksour itself is big and contains a two-three story building complex with twisted and rough stairs, certainly interesting

Read On

Île de Djerba (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 20-May-22

On our Tunisia journey this April, we visited the island of Djerba. Visiting all the country’s WHS’ we wanted to add on a visit the only site which will supposedly be forwarded (next year). Not knowing too much about the island upfront thus we decided to stay a day (and two nights) to explore it. Even though the island is far from small the mentioned elements in the site description are limited, so with all due respect to the island’s nature, history, culture and trade traditions, there is not much to see!

Read On

Karstic caves in prehistoric Apulia (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 19-Oct-21

Our long summer holiday 2021 included a drive down to "the bottom" Italy, and amongst other sites we wanted to visit the three Karstic caves in Apulia, but we didn’t have any luck.

Our first attempt was Grotta dei Cervi which is by the coast 10-12km south of Otranto.
While trying to locate the site by the coordinates we drove back and forth a couple of times and finally ended up at a closed gate by the main road. We had visual of a small building which might be the cave entrance, but we’re not sure. After searching a bit on the internet we found out that this site is only open to authorized personnel and researchers only.

Read On

Profile Data

Name: Svein Elias
Country: Norway
Most Impressive: Machu Picchu, Galapagos, Komodo & Grand Canyon

Recently Visited WHS

Update 27.06.22: Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara

Visited WHS

Rating Stats

Angkor 5

Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks 5

Dolomites 5

Galapagos Islands 5

Grand Canyon 5

Komodo National Park 5

Machu Picchu 5

Taj Mahal 5

West Norwegian Fjords 5

Ancient Thebes 4.5

Baalbek 4.5

Florence 4.5

Great Wall 4.5

Manu National Park 4.5

Plitvice Lakes 4.5

Qadisha Valley 4.5

Rila Monastery 4.5

Rome 4.5

Sigiriya 4.5

Venice and its Lagoon 4.5

Victoria Falls 4.5

Xochicalco 4.5

Acropolis 4

Aggtelek and Slovak Karst 4

Alto Douro 4

Aphrodisias 4

Archaeological Site of Delphi 4

Borobudur 4

Brugge 4

Budapest 4

Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc 4

Dinosaur Provincial Park 4

Dougga/Thugga 4

Dubrovnik 4

Durmitor National Park 4

Edinburgh 4

Ephesus 4

Fatehpur Sikri 4

Grand Place, Brussels 4

Gros Morne National Park 4

Guanajuato 4

Ha Long Bay 4

Hierapolis-Pamukkale 4

Huascaran National Park 4

Humayun's Tomb 4

Imperial Palace 4

Istanbul 4

Jantar Mantar 4

Mesa Verde 4

Mistaken Point 4

Mount Etna 4

Namib Sand Sea 4

Okavango Delta 4

Oporto 4

Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 4

Ping Yao 4

Pompei 4

Prague 4

Prambanan 4

Qhapaq Ñan 4

Qutb Minar 4

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station 4

Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo 4

Sceilg Mhichíl 4

Teotihuacan 4

Toledo 4

Tsodilo 4

Vatican City 4

Vatnajökull National Park 4

Villages with Fortified Churches 4

Viñales Valley 4

Wadi Al-Hitan 4

Wood Buffalo National Park 4

Works of Antoni Gaudí 4

Aachen Cathedral 3.5

Amphitheater of El Jem 3.5

Amsterdam Canal Ring 3.5

Anuradhapura 3.5

Arab-Norman Palermo 3.5

Assisi 3.5

Bamberg 3.5

Bauhaus Sites 3.5

Brú na Bóinne 3.5

Butrint 3.5

Camino Real 3.5

Carlsbad Caverns 3.5

Cienfuegos 3.5

City of Luxembourg 3.5

Cordoba 3.5

Costiera Amalfitana 3.5

Cracow 3.5

Cuenca 3.5

Cuzco 3.5

El Pinacate 3.5

El Tajin 3.5

Epidaurus 3.5

Etruscan Necropolises 3.5

Evora 3.5

Garajonay 3.5

Genoa 3.5

Granada 3.5

Graz 3.5

Heritage of Mercury 3.5

Hill Forts of Rajasthan 3.5

Hué 3.5

Isole Eolie 3.5

Jelling 3.5

Keoladeo National Park 3.5

Kinderdijk 3.5

Kotor 3.5

Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 3.5

L'Anse aux Meadows 3.5

Laponian Area 3.5

Loire Valley 3.5

Malbork Castle 3.5

Matera 3.5

Megalithic Temples of Malta 3.5

Monastery of Batalha 3.5

Mont-Saint-Michel 3.5

Mostar 3.5

Mudejar Architecture of Aragon 3.5

My Son 3.5

Mystras 3.5

Nasca Lines 3.5

Neolithic Orkney 3.5

Nubian Monuments 3.5

Ohrid Region 3.5

Old Havana 3.5

Olympia 3.5

Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 3.5

Paphos 3.5

Petäjävesi Old Church 3.5

Phong Nha - Ke Bang 3.5

Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 3.5

Pilgrimage Church of Wies 3.5

Plain of Jars 3.5

Pont du Gard 3.5

Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 3.5

Preah Vihear Temple 3.5

Quedlinburg 3.5

Quito 3.5

Québec 3.5

Rammelsberg and Goslar 3.5

Rani-ki-Vav 3.5

Reims 3.5

Riga 3.5

Rock Art of Alta 3.5

San Gimignano 3.5

Sangay National Park 3.5

Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca 3.5

Santa Maria delle Grazie 3.5

Segovia 3.5

Selimiye Mosque 3.5

Seville 3.5

Siena 3.5

Sighisoara 3.5

Skocjan Caves 3.5

Spissky Hrad and Levoca 3.5

Split 3.5

Summer Palace 3.5

Surtsey 3.5

Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona 3.5

Tallinn 3.5

Teide National Park 3.5

Telc 3.5

Temple of Heaven 3.5

Tequila 3.5

Tiwanaku 3.5

Trier 3.5

Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios 3.5

Tugendhat Villa 3.5

Urnes Stave Church 3.5

Vat Phou 3.5

Versailles 3.5

Vienna 3.5

Villa d'Este 3.5

Wachau Cultural Landscape 3.5

Wartburg Castle 3.5

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park 3.5

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5

Zacatecas 3.5

Zamosc 3.5

Abbey of St Gall 3

Agra Fort 3

Amiens Cathedral 3

Anjar 3

Arequipa 3

Arles 3

Auschwitz Birkenau 3

Avignon 3

Avila 3

Bardejov Town 3

Belem 3

Berat and Gjirokastra 3

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe 3

Bom Jesus do Monte 3

Boyana Church 3

Bryggen 3

Bursa and Cumalikizik 3

Byblos 3

Caceres 3

Caral-Supe 3

Castel del Monte 3

Causses and Cévennes 3

Central Highlands 3

Cesky Krumlov 3

Chaco Culture 3

Champagne 3

Chan Chan 3

Chavin 3

Churches of Peace 3

Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay 3

City of Bath 3

Cologne Cathedral 3

Convent of Christ in Tomar 3

Curonian Spit 3

Danube Delta 3

Dutch Water Defence Lines 3

Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs 3

Elvas 3

Ferrara 3

Fontainebleau 3

Fortified City of Carcassonne 3

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda 3

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3

Frontiers of the Roman Empire 3

Giant's Causeway 3

Guimarães 3

Gulf of California 3

Gwynedd Castles 3

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump 3

High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago 3

Hoi An 3

Hospicio Cabañas 3

Imperial Tombs 3

Jaipur City, Rajasthan 3

Jodrell Bank Observatory 3

Joggins Fossil Cliffs 3

Kronborg Castle 3

Kutna Hora 3

La Lonja de la Seda 3

Lake District 3

Land of Frankincense 3

Le Havre 3

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape 3

Litomysl Castle 3

Longobards in Italy 3

Lübeck 3

Major Town Houses 3

Mantua and Sabbioneta 3

Margravial Opera House 3

Maritime Greenwich 3

Maulbronn Monastery 3

Mazagan 3

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo 3

Medina of Marrakesh 3

Messel Pit 3

Modena 3

Monastery of Alcobaça 3

Morelia 3

Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3

Mycenae and Tiryns 3

Mérida 3

Nancy 3

Nessebar 3

Nesvizh 3

Old Rauma 3

Old Town Lunenburg 3

Old Town of Galle 3

Orange 3

Painted Churches in the Troödos Region 3

Pannonhalma 3

Paquimé 3

Paris, Banks of the Seine 3

Peking Man Site 3

Pergamon 3

Pienza 3

Pirin National Park 3

Polonnaruva 3

Potsdam 3

Poverty Point 3

Puebla 3

Pyramids (Memphis) 3

Qal'at al-Bahrain 3

Querétaro 3

Ravenna 3

Red Fort 3

Regensburg 3

Rideau Canal 3

Risco Caido 3

Rjukan / Notodden 3

Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 3

Royal Palace at Caserta 3

Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara 3

Røros 3

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy 3

Salamanca 3

Salzburg 3

Sambor Prei Kuk 3

San Antonio Missions 3

San Marino and Mount Titano 3

San Miguel de Allende 3

Sinharaja Forest 3

Sintra 3

Statue of Liberty 3

Stonehenge 3

Strasbourg 3

Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch 3

Syracuse 3

Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae 3

The Prosecco Hills 3

Thingvellir 3

Torun 3

Trogir 3

Twyfelfontein 3

Tyre 3

Upper Middle Rhine Valley 3

Urbino 3

Val di Noto 3

Valletta 3

Vegaøyan 3

Venetian Works of Defence 3

Verona 3

Vicenza 3

Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 3

Villa Romana del Casale 3

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont 3

Visby 3

Wadden Sea 3

Warsaw 3

Westminster 3

Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi 3

Würzburg Residence 3

Aflaj irrigation system 2.5

Agrigento 2.5

Ahmadabad 2.5

Al Ain 2.5

Albi 2.5

Alcala de Henares 2.5

Antequera Dolmens Site 2.5

Ayutthaya 2.5

Bali Subak system 2.5

Ban Chiang 2.5

Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn 2.5

Belfries 2.5

Bellinzone 2.5

Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Bialowieza Forest 2.5

Benedictine Convent of St. John 2.5

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape 2.5

Bordeaux 2.5

Botanical Garden, Padua 2.5

Bourges Cathedral 2.5

Burgundy 2.5

Cahokia Mounds 2.5

Canal du Midi 2.5

Carthage 2.5

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2.5

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5

Centennial Hall 2.5

Central University City Campus of the UNAM 2.5

Chartres Cathedral 2.5

Choirokoitia 2.5

Cilento and Vallo di Diano 2.5

Coa Valley and Siega Verde 2.5

Dacian Fortresses 2.5

Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 2.5

Derwent Valley Mills 2.5

Donana National Park 2.5

Dong Phayayen 2.5

Durham Castle and Cathedral 2.5

El Escurial 2.5

Euphrasian Basilica in Porec 2.5

Fagus Factory 2.5

Fortifications of Vauban 2.5

Fortress of Suomenlinna 2.5

Gammelstad 2.5

Gamzigrad-Romuliana 2.5

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz 2.5

Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz 2.5

Grand Canal 2.5

Grimeton Radio Station 2.5

Hedeby and Danevirke 2.5

Hildesheim Cathedral and Church 2.5

Holasovice 2.5

Independence Hall 2.5

Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 2.5

Ironbridge Gorge 2.5

Kairouan 2.5

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 2.5

Kerkuane 2.5

Kew Gardens 2.5

Kyiv 2.5

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces 2.5

Lima 2.5

Luang Prabang 2.5

Luther Memorials 2.5

Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt 2.5

Medina of Sousse 2.5

Medina of Tunis 2.5

Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge 2.5

Monastery of Horezu 2.5

Monticello 2.5

Naples 2.5

Palmeral of Elche 2.5

Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk 2.5

Plantin-Moretus Museum 2.5

Poblet Monastery 2.5

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal 2.5

Popocatepetl monasteries 2.5

Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple 2.5

Reichenau 2.5

Rietveld Schröderhuis 2.5

Rock Carvings in Tanum 2.5

Rock Drawings in Valcamonica 2.5

Roskilde Cathedral 2.5

Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5

Saint-Emilion 2.5

Saint-Savin sur Gartempe 2.5

Schönbrunn 2.5

Semmering Railway 2.5

ShUM Sites 2.5

Southern Öland 2.5

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 2.5

Stevns Klint 2.5

Stralsund and Wismar 2.5

Struve Geodetic Arc 2.5

Studenica Monastery 2.5

Studley Royal Park 2.5

Tarraco 2.5

Thang Long 2.5

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5

The trulli of Alberobello 2.5

Thracian tomb of Kazanlak 2.5

Thracian tomb of Sveshtari 2.5

Tokaji Wine Region 2.5

Tower of London 2.5

Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 2.5

Trang An 2.5

Val d'Orcia 2.5

Vilnius 2.5

Vézère Valley 2.5

Wooden Churches of Southern Malopolska 2.5

Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians 2.5

Úbeda and Baeza 2.5

Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch 2

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque 2

Aranjuez 2

Bahla Fort 2

Banska Stiavnica 2

Canterbury 2

Caves and Ice Age Art 2

Christiansfeld 2

Citadel of the Ho Dynasty 2

Classical Weimar 2

Corvey 2

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland 2

Dilmun Burial Mounds 2

Drottningholm 2

Falun Great Copper Mountain 2

Fertö/Neusiedlersee 2

Flemish Béguinages 2

Gorham's Cave Complex 2

Grand Pré 2

Great Spa Towns of Europe 2

Historic Cairo 2

Hollókö 2

Holy Trinity Column 2

Hortobágy 2

Ibiza 2

Ichkeul National Park 2

Kandy 2

Karlskrona 2

Kladruby nad Labem 2

Madara Rider 2

Mafra Palace, Convent and Royal Hunting Park 2

Mammoth Cave 2

Medici Villas and Gardens 2

Medina Azahara 2

Medina of Essaouira 2

Medina of Tétouan 2

Mir Castle 2

Monte San Giorgio 2

Muskauer Park 2

Naumburg Cathedral 2

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 2

Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin 2

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai 2

Old City of Berne 2

Par force hunting landscape 2

Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2

Rhaetian Railway 2

Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans 2

San Cristobal de La Laguna 2

Sangiran Early Man Site 2

Serra de Tramuntana 2

Speyer Cathedral 2

Stari Grad Plain 2

Stari Ras and Sopocani 2

Taos Pueblo 2

The Four Lifts 2

The Porticoes of Bologna 2

The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2

Tlacotalpan 2

Trebic 2

Troy 2

University of Coimbra 2

Van Nellefabriek 2

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill 2

Vlkolinec 2

Vézelay 2

Water Management System of Augsburg 2

Xanthos-Letoon 2

Aquileia 1.5

Beemster Polder 1.5

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates 1.5

Birka and Hovgarden 1.5

Colonies of Benevolence 1.5

Crespi d'Adda 1.5

Engelsberg Ironworks 1.5

Forth Bridge 1.5

Ivrea 1.5

Kernavė 1.5

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle 1.5

Ljubljana 1.5

Miguasha National Park 1.5

Mining Cultural Landscape Erzgebirge 1.5

Mining Sites of Wallonia 1.5

New Lanark 1.5

Pearling 1.5

Prehistoric Pile Dwellings 1.5

Provins 1.5

Qalhat 1.5

Saltaire 1.5

Sammallahdenmäki 1.5

Santa Maria de Guadalupe 1.5

Schokland 1.5

Stoclet House 1.5

Krzemionki prehistoric striped flint mining region 1

Primeval Beech Forests 1

Skogskyrkogarden 1

Stećci 1

Zollverein 1

Blenheim Palace 0.5

Danube Limes 0.5

Lower German Limes 0.5

Srebarna Nature Reserve 0.5

Völklingen Ironworks 0.5

World Heritage Site

for World Heritage Travellers

Svein Elias Profile

Visited Sites Svein Elias

Legend

Recent Reviews Svein Elias

Les Mausolées Royaux de Numidie, de la Maurétanie et les monuments funéraires pré-islamiques (Tunisia) (T)

Le site archéologique de Sbeïtla (T)

Habitat troglodytique et le monde des ksour du Sud tunisien (T)

Île de Djerba (T)

Karstic caves in prehistoric Apulia (T)

Profile Data

Recently Visited WHS

Visited WHS

Reviewed WHS

Visited TWHS

Reviewed TWHS

Top 200 WHS