The celebrations for the 600 years of Leuven's university (KU Leuven) have just started (on February 14-15th), so I feel this is the best occasion for a new review to …
Astraftis
Italy \ Member since September 2020
#212 234 110 10

As an increasingly slow and detail-loving traveller, how could I not be attracted by the promised wonders of UNESCO World Heritage Sites? I appreciate that, despite their variety, from the more majestic to the most unassuming (and maybe disappointing) one, each is capable of highlighting a piece of world history in its own way. So, I greatly enjoy including them in my travels or planning routes centered around them. Nothing better than getting lost on the countryside pursuing that last remote component of a serial site! Until recently I heavily focused on Europe, but I am slowly reaching out into the world, without forgetting to visit those in my home country, which surely isn't at fault in that regard!
(Picture: overseeing the Curonian spit from the Raganų kalnas/Hexenberg/Witches' hill at Juodkrantė/Schwarzort, Lithuania)
My most impressive site: Bagan
My proposal for a new site: Takh wild horse conservation area in Khustai (Mongolia); caves in the region around Hpa-An (Myanmar); Yazılıkaya, the Midas tomb, and the Phrygian valley (TWHS, Turkey); the Navigli system of Lombardy (ATWHS, Italy); Ostia antica (FTWHS, Italy); raised bogs of the Baltic region (e.g. Čepkeliai, Lithuania)
Recent Visits
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42June 17, 2025The big triangle of Latin linguistics: Augsburg, Caves and Ice Age Art, Großglockner High Alpine …
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12June 3, 2025Ireland: Brú na Bóinne, Clonmacnoise , Early Medieval Monastic Sites ...
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31April 22, 2025Upper Silesia: Centennial Hall, Churches of Peace, European Paper Mills ...
Top 10 Missing
Completed Countries
About Astraftis
- Member since
- September 2020
- Country of Origin
- Italy
Visits
- Rank
- #212
- WHS
- 234
- Tentative Sites
- 110
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 17
-
Ratings
Ratings
World Heritage Sites
- Lower Valley of the Omo 5.0
- Venice and its Lagoon 5.0
- Mycenae and Tiryns 5.0
- Gebel Barkal 5.0
- Meroe 5.0
- Archaeological Site of Delphi 5.0
- Ravenna 5.0
- Pompei 5.0
- Meteora 5.0
- Deer Stone Monuments 5.0
- Rome 5.0
- West Norwegian Fjords 5.0
- Istanbul 5.0
- Wadi Rum 5.0
- Ancient Kyoto 5.0
- Churches of Peace 5.0
- Siena 5.0
- Petra 5.0
- Mystras 5.0
- Quseir Amra 5.0
- Megalithic Temples of Malta 5.0
- Bagan 5.0
- Plantin-Moretus Museum 5.0
- Florence 5.0
- Dolomites 5.0
- Kathmandu Valley 5.0
- Olympia 5.0
- Acropolis 5.0
- Budapest 5.0
- Granada 5.0
- Stonehenge 5.0
- Göreme NP and Cappadocia 5.0
- Prague 5.0
- Verona 4.5
- Mtskheta 4.5
- Rietveld Schröderhuis 4.5
- Ferrara 4.5
- Butrint 4.5
- Ancient Nara 4.5
- Matera 4.5
- Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.5
- Archaeological Site of Aigai 4.5
- Amiens Cathedral 4.5
- Amsterdam Canal Ring 4.5
- Çatalhöyük 4.5
- Konso 4.5
- Mantua and Sabbioneta 4.5
- Tugendhat Villa 4.5
- Cordoba 4.5
- Kinderdijk 4.5
- Völklingen Ironworks 4.5
- Etruscan Necropolises 4.5
- Works of Antoni Gaudí 4.0
- Bourges Cathedral 4.0
- Evaporitic Karst and Caves 4.0
- Bale Mountains National Park 4.0
- Albi 4.0
- Telc 4.0
- Visby 4.0
- Asturian Monuments 4.0
- Upper Svaneti 4.0
- Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt 4.0
- Assisi 4.0
- Horyu-ji Area 4.0
- Himeji-jo 4.0
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch 4.0
- Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 4.0
- Bryggen 4.0
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 4.0
- San Marino and Mount Titano 4.0
- Zollverein 4.0
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.0
- Speyer Cathedral 4.0
- Major Town Houses 4.0
- Plitvice Lakes 4.0
- Valletta 4.0
- Epidaurus 4.0
- City of Bath 4.0
- Curonian Spit 4.0
- Aquileia 4.0
- Selimiye Mosque 4.0
- Val d'Orcia 4.0
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 4.0
- Rock Drawings in Valcamonica 4.0
- El Escurial 4.0
- Brugge 4.0
- Versailles 4.0
- Maulbronn Monastery 3.5
- Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 3.5
- Tallinn 3.5
- Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 3.5
- Medina Azahara 3.5
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley 3.5
- Avignon 3.5
- Messel Pit 3.5
- Urbino 3.5
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
- Rock Carvings in Tanum 3.5
- Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont 3.5
- Stoclet House 3.5
- Um er-Rasas 3.5
- Troy 3.5
- Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
- Antequera Dolmens Site 3.5
- Castel del Monte 3.5
- Brú na Bóinne 3.5
- City of Luxembourg 3.5
- Aachen Cathedral 3.5
- Thessalonika 3.5
- Stevns Klint 3.5
- Kew Gardens 3.5
- Orkhon Valley 3.5
- Ohrid Region 3.5
- Vienna 3.5
- Modena 3.5
- Plečnik's Ljubljana 3.5
- Paris, Banks of the Seine 3.5
- Vatican City 3.5
- Great Spa Towns of Europe 3.5
- Rhaetian Railway 3.5
- Aggtelek and Slovak Karst 3.5
- Struve Geodetic Arc 3.5
- Longobards in Italy 3.5
- Stone Town of Zanzibar 3.5
- Kronborg Castle 3.5
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
- Kernavė 3.5
- Rjukan / Notodden 3.5
- Genoa 3.5
- Kutna Hora 3.5
- Mostar 3.5
- Orange 3.5
- Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy 3.5
- Via Appia 3.5
- Urnes Stave Church 3.5
- Primeval Beech Forests 3.5
- Cologne Cathedral 3.5
- Hortobágy 3.5
- Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 3.5
- Loire Valley 3.5
- The trulli of Alberobello 3.5
- ShUM Sites 3.0
- Bursa and Cumalikizik 3.0
- Pyu Ancient Cities 3.0
- Røros 3.0
- Crespi d'Adda 3.0
- Margravial Opera House 3.0
- Medina of Tétouan 3.0
- Trebic 3.0
- Villa d'Este 3.0
- Vilnius 3.0
- Medici Villas and Gardens 3.0
- Schokland 3.0
- Graz 3.0
- Prehistoric Pile Dwellings 3.0
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 3.0
- Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch 3.0
- Riga 3.0
- Old City of Berne 3.0
- Trier 3.0
- Split 3.0
- Maritime Greenwich 3.0
- Flemish Béguinages 3.0
- Hedeby and Danevirke 3.0
- Jelling 3.0
- Stralsund and Wismar 3.0
- Lübeck 3.0
- Salzburg 3.0
- Canal du Midi 3.0
- Fortifications of Vauban 3.0
- Grand Place, Brussels 3.0
- Regensburg 3.0
- Tower of London 3.0
- Roskilde Cathedral 3.0
- Pienza 3.0
- Botanical Garden, Padua 3.0
- Royal Palace at Caserta 3.0
- Ivrea 3.0
- Santa Maria delle Grazie 3.0
- Provins 3.0
- Berat and Gjirokastra 3.0
- Corfu 3.0
- Naples 3.0
- Viking Age Ring Fortresses 3.0
- Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia 3.0
- Funerary and memory sites of the First World War 3.0
- Mining Sites of Wallonia 3.0
- Kuldiga 3.0
- Dutch Water Defence Lines 3.0
- Reichenau 3.0
- Fujisan 3.0
- Shirakawa-go and Gokayama 3.0
- Tomioka Silk Mill 3.0
- Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai 3.0
- Corvey 3.0
- Hildesheim Cathedral and Church 3.0
- Centennial Hall 3.0
- Nancy 2.5
- Stari Grad Plain 2.5
- Cesky Krumlov 2.5
- Strasbourg 2.5
- Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs 2.5
- Tiya 2.5
- Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine 2.5
- Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
- Fagus Factory 2.5
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 2.5
- Kladruby nad Labem 2.5
- Modernist Kaunas 2.5
- Danube Limes 2.5
- Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
- Route of Santiago de Compostela 2.5
- Schönbrunn 2.5
- Belem 2.5
- Belfries 2.5
- Úbeda and Baeza 2.5
- Seville 2.5
- Pont du Gard 2.5
- Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 2.0
- Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 2.0
- Van Nellefabriek 2.0
- Dubrovnik 2.0
- The Porticoes of Bologna 2.0
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.0
- Holasovice 2.0
- Trogir 2.0
- Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.0
- Par force hunting landscape 2.0
- Moravian Church Settlements 2.0
- Westminster 2.0
- Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2.0
- Drottningholm 1.5
- Colonies of Benevolence 1.5
- Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin 1.5
- Nice 1.5
- Lower German Limes 1.0
Tentative Sites
- The Bridge of Uzunköprü
- The Karlstejn Castle
- Sacred Mountains of Mongolia
- Mdina (Citta Vecchia)
- Shatili
- The Rise of Systematic Biology
- Mta-Tusheti
- Ödön Lechner's independent pre-modern architecture
- The historic urban site of Počitelj
- Anatolian Seljuks Madrasahs
- Nuruosmaniye Complex
- The Marble Basin of Carrara
- The Bony Fish Fossils of the Western Limfjord
- Cascata delle Marmore
- Early Medieval Benedictine settlements
- Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta lakelands
- The Cultural Landscape of Civita di Bagnoregio
- Rade de Marseille
- Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Monaco)
- Aguas Livres Aqueduct
- Domus de Janas
- Nuragic monuments of Sardinia
- Old Dongola
- Al Hassania National Park
- Banganarti
- Møns Klint
- Classical Karst
- Les tombes de la Basse Selca
- The Ancient City of Apollonia
- The Castle of Bashtova
- Bradyseism in the Flegrea Area
- Old Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Sultan Bayezid II Complex
- Leuven
- The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia
- Jaén Cathedral
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles
- Meanders of the Upper Daugava
- Grobiņa archaeological ensemble
- Le champ de bataille de Waterloo
- Le Panorama de la Bataille de Waterloo
- Olympic Park Munich
- The network of fortresses of the seneschalty of Ca
- Church of San Salvador de Valdediós
- Mining Historical Heritage
- Les sites à fossiles néandertaliens de Wallonie
- Workers' Assembly Halls
- The Passage Tomb Landscape of County Sligo
- Amarbayasgalant monastery
- Extension of Prague WHS
- Fishpond Network in the Trebon Basin
- Ancient cities of Upper Myanmar
- La Camargue
- Dana Biosphere Reserve
- Tbilisi Historic District
- Shwedagon Pagoda
- Gorge of Samaria National Park
- David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage
- Cittadella (Victoria - Gozo)
- Mrauk-U
- Mountainous Phrygia
- Konya-A capital of Seljuk Civilization
- Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of
- Volterra
- Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade
- Inle Lake
- Uplistsikhe Cave Town
- Minoan Palatial Centres
- Ancient Greek Theatres
- Seljuk Caravanserais from Denizli to Dogubeyazit
- Alaverdi Cathedral
- The medieval palace complex of Gorkha
- The Aniene valley and Villa Gregoriana in Tivoli
- Medieval Settlement of Kirtipur
- Vardzia-Khertvisi
- Fortress of Spinalonga
- VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Thingvellir National
- Zadar - Episcopal complex
- Trakai Historical National Park
- Dardanelles and Gallipoli Battle Zones
- Yıldız Palace Complex
- Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System
- L'oeuvre architecturale d'Henry van de Velde
- Coastal Cliffs
- Odunpazari Historical Urban Site
- Noyau historique d'Antwerpen -Anvers
- The Padang Civic Ensemble
- Kuressaare Fortress
- Rouen
- Le noyau historique médiéval de Gand
- The Maritime Heritage of Dragør Old Town and Harbo
- Le tronçon Bavay-Tongres de la chaussée romaine
- L'amphitheatre de Durres
- Maltese Catacomb Complexes
- Les citadelles mosanes
- Citadel of Alessandria
- Creation of the Co-Principality of Andorra
- Le chemin de fer de Cerdagne
- Qawra/Dwejra
- Via Francigena
- Kornati National Park and Telašćica Nature Park
- The Royal Sites of Ireland
- Rundāle Palace Ensemble
- Pombaline Lisbon
- Amalienborg and its district
- Hanbury botanical gardens
- Knights Fortifications around Harbours of Malta
- Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád
- Jozani - Chwaka Bay
- Sulcis Iglesiente
- Hôpital Notre-Dame à La Rose - Lessines
- Balaton Uplands Cultural Landscape
- Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom
- Ripa Pannonica in Hungary
- Le palais de Princes Eveques de Liège
- Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece
- Les passages de Bruxelles
- Íznik
- 236 118
- Photos
- N/A
- Locations
- N/A
- Zones
- N/A
Reviews by Astraftis


Dardanelles and Gallipoli Bat… (On tentative list)
Dardanelles and Gallipoli Battle Zones
I visited the area on a moody day of December 2022.
The official description is rather vague, as it seems to encompass everything about the war in the …

Yıldız Palace Complex (On tentative list)
Yıldız Palace Complex
This is a kind of Stoclet house that welcomes you with guns.
It may have been the fascination for the prohibited or the downright incomprehensible that led me to …

Via Francigena (Nominated)
Via Francigena
This proposal is not entirely clear to me, or better: it is actually very simple in its grandiosity, as it just encompasses all the route from the Great St. Bernard …

Amalienborg and its district (On tentative list)
Amalienborg and its district
Frederiksstad and the walk to the Kastel and the Little Mermaid are probably my favourite parts of Copenhagen, so, since my first visit to the city, I always try to …

Kronborg Castle (Inscribed)
Kronborg Castle
My visit to Kronborg in August 2021 was not the first one: I already went there in 2009. That time, though, we had not calibrated our trip too well: …

The Maritime Heritage of Drag… (On tentative list)
The Maritime Heritage of Dragør Old Town and Harbo
Getting out from the bus at Dragør on a beautiful summer day, the first thing I felt was the scent of marine breeze. It was already very different from Copenhagen, …

Roskilde Cathedral (Inscribed)
Roskilde Cathedral
Denmark has a good number of lovely old, partly Romanesque country churches (especially on Møn island), and then also its good share of more imposing spire-crowned urban cathedrals, but Roskilde's …

Viking Age Ring Fortresses (Inscribed)
Echoes of an era of changes
Viking ring fortresses (ringborge) might have been the eventual factor that prompted my all-Denmark trip by rental car in August 2021 (besides massive listening to "Viking neo-folk ambient …

Santa Maria delle Grazie (Inscribed)
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Curious: the name of this site implies that the main sight is the church, which just so happens to include Da Vinci's version of the Last Supper. This might be …

Evaporitic Karst and Caves (Inscribed)
Evaporitic Karst and Caves
This is to me a bit of a mysterious (tentative) site, and one that I don't know if it will ever manage to make it on the list, although it …

Archaeological Site of Delphi (Inscribed)
Archaeological Site of Delphi
I am quite disconcerted at reading other travellers' comments that Delphi might not be the best in Greece, or that its ruins might be disappointing... allow me to claim that …

Deer Stone Monuments (Inscribed)
Deer Stone Monuments
Disclaimer: at first I was convinced I had visited exactly one of the three sites of this TWHS, but then, after better checking, it seems that in mid-August 2018 I …

Tiya (Inscribed)
Tiya
Tiya was one of the first things I saw of Ethiopia, on a morning of August in 2015, after having been picked up by our drivers/guides from the airport together …

Çatalhöyük (Inscribed)
Çatalhöyük
Again, a place I went to as a last-minute decision and probably the most fascinating archaeological site I have visited up to date.
Some personal story of the visit: …

Sacred Mountains of Mongolia (On tentative list)
Sacred Mountains of Mongolia
I am honoured to be the first to describe this tentative WHS site. No wonder, though, because if it ever makes it to the list, it will surely be one …

Fishpond Network in the Trebo… (On tentative list)
Fishpond Network in the Trebon Basin
This was a case of serendipitous discovery for me during my car trip in Southern/Central Czech Republic (August 2020). I decided just the day before to spend a night in …