Jay T Profile

It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... Let's go exploring!
Recent Reviews Jay T
Cahokia Mounds
Jay T USA - 27-Dec-20

It's rather striking to compare and contrast the first two US World Heritage Sites dedicated to pre-Columbian North American civilizations. Mesa Verde, in the American Southwest, retains impressive adobe structures built into cliffsides, where Pueblo civilizations would live while farming on the fields above. Cahokia Mounds, on the other hand, retains only earthen mounds left behind from what was once the most advanced civilization north of Mexico. Mesa Verde was built in brick and stone, while structures at Cahokia Mounds were made of wood, which did not last through the centuries. Mesa Verde had the advantage of protection from the US federal government as early as the late 19th century
Read OnYellowstone
Jay T USA - 28-Oct-20

In 1806 when the Lewis and Clark expedition returned through what is now the state of Montana, one of its members broke off early to continue exploring, and encountered what he described as a hellscape, a place of "fire and brimstone" that is now known as Yellowstone National Park. His descriptions inspired more expeditions to survey this land of geothermal activity, where mud boiled, hot water erupted in geysers, and travertine terraces grew on hillsides. In turn, explorers and early environmentalists campaigned to the US government to purchase the land around Yellowstone, creating a national park for the "benefit and enjoyment of the people". In 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park in the United States, and arguably, the world
Read OnValparaiso
Jay T USA - 05-Aug-20

The Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaiso has seen better days, and now seems just an echo reminding visitors of its heady history as an important stop for seafarers en route to and from Cape Horn. The early 20th century was cruel to the city. First, in 1906, a massive earthquake destroyed large parts of the city (it was a cruel year for cities on the Ring of Fire in the Americas; San Francisco, California, had been destroyed four months earlier). Valparaiso rebounded and rebuilt, ready to welcome back visitors, only to be bypassed in trade by the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. After visiting Valparaiso, I can't help but picture it as a suitable setting for Charles Dicken's Miss Havisham.
Read OnStoclet House
Jay T USA - 22-Jul-20

I'm rather torn on Stoclet House in Brussels, Belgium. As far as visiting experience goes, I would give it a .5 for its lack of accessibility. But should World Heritage Sites be judged solely by accessibility? Another World Heritage Site in Brussels, the Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta only has the interior of one of its four sites regularly available to visitors, while natural sites, such as Surtsey or the Rio Abiseo National Park, also prohibit tourism. There are even World Heritage Sites that prohibit access based on gender, such as Mount Athos and Okinoshima Island. Some sites that limit tourism compensate with museums or replicas, such as the case of the Decorated Cave of Pont d'Arc
Read OnRhodes
Jay T USA - 15-Jul-20

It's the height of summer, and Coronavirus is severely limiting my travel options, so I figured I might as well skip to a review of a site I visited last fall that many in Europe will have the opportunity to see at the 2020 World Heritage Meetup in September: The Medieval City of Rhodes.
Before my visit, I was aware of a couple facets of Rhodian history. First, this was the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the World -- the Colossus of Rhodes
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- Jay T
- Country
- USA
- Most Impressive
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Proposal
- Badlands National Park: A North American Prairie
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 10.02.21
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Visited WHS
Rating StatsIguacu 5Istanbul 5Petra 5Rapa Nui 5Rome 5Uluru 5Acropolis 4.5Everglades 4.5Giant's Causeway 4.5Göreme NP 4.5Hawaii Volcanoes 4.5Lake Baikal 4.5Nikko 4.5Pompei 4.5Toledo 4.5Valletta 4.5Vatican City 4.5Versailles 4.5Wadi Rum 4.5Yellowstone 4.5Bamberg 4Brugge 4Budapest 4Ephesus 4Florence 4Quito 4Québec 4Rhodes 4Salzburg 4Segovia 4Siena 4Sintra 4Vienna 4Brú na Bóinne 3.5Gulf of Porto 3.5Historic Cairo 3.5Ibiza 3.5Kew Gardens 3.5Las Medulas 3.5Neolithic Orkney 3.5Olympia 3.5Speyer Cathedral 3.5Split 3.5Vicenza 3.5Al Ain 3Belem 3Naples 3Potsdam 3Biblical Tells 2.5Blenheim Palace 2.5Cahokia Mounds 2.5Forth Bridge 2.5Kotor 2.5Lima 2.5Poverty Point 2.5Quseir Amra 2.5Rideau Canal 2.5Turaif Quarter 2.5Um er-Rasas 2.5Vizcaya Bridge 2.5Aranjuez 2Belfries 2Evora 2Reviewed WHS
- Cahokia Mounds
- Yellowstone
- Valparaiso
- Stoclet House
- Rhodes
- Archaeological Site of Delphi
- Villa d'Este
- Tower of Hercules
- Segovia
- Rapa Nui
- Olympic National Park
- Machu Picchu
- Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
- Etruscan Necropolises
- Carlsbad Caverns
- Bamberg
- Würzburg Residence
- Valletta
- St. Petersburg
- Roman Walls of Lugo
- Popocatepetl monasteries
- Mount Etna
- Luis Barragán House and Studio
- Gulf of Porto
- El Escurial
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Aranjuez
- Villa Adriana (Tivoli)
- Toledo
- Santiago de Compostela
- Potsdam
- Neolithic Orkney
- Lima
- Gwynedd Castles
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- Burgos Cathedral
- Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque
- Vizcaya Bridge
- Statue of Liberty
- Route of Santiago de Compostela
- Pompei
- Las Medulas
- Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
- Flemish Béguinages
- Camino Real
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Speyer Cathedral
- Plantin-Moretus Museum
- Lake Baikal
- Gros Morne National Park
- Dinosaur Provincial Park
- Brugge
- White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal
- Thingvellir
- Huascaran National Park
- Poverty Point
- Pitons Management Area
- Mesa Verde
- Joggins Fossil Cliffs
- Grand Place, Brussels
- Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
- Belfries
- Waterton Glacier International Peace Park
- Split
- Quito
- Greater Blue Mountains
- Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
- Vicenza
- Skocjan Caves
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa)
- La Fortaleza
- Grand Pré
- Botanical Garden, Padua
- White City of Tel-Aviv
- Tombs of Buganda Kings
- San Antonio Missions
- Olympia
- Kotor
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Colonia del Sacramento
- Antigua Naval Dockyard
- Venetian Works of Defence
- Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca
- Petra
- Kinderdijk
- Galapagos Islands
- Budapest
- Wet Tropics of Queensland
- Sangay National Park
- Paris, Banks of the Seine
- Kremlin and Red Square
- Great Barrier Reef
- Brú na Bóinne
- Westminster
- Sintra
- Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau
- Kew Gardens
- Göreme NP
- Blenheim Palace
- Wadi Rum
- Singapore Botanic Gardens
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis
- Giant's Causeway
- Biblical Tells
- Vienna
- Schönbrunn
- Morne Trois Pitons
- Ironbridge Gorge
- Fortifications of Vauban
- Belem
- Versailles
- Siena
- Old Town Lunenburg
- L'Anse aux Meadows
- Forth Bridge
- Baptism Site "Bethany Beyond the Jordan"
- Venice and its Lagoon
- San Marino and Mount Titano
- Nubian Monuments
- Independence Hall
- Florence
- Ayutthaya
- Vatican City
- Salzburg
- Novodevichy Convent
- Iguazu National Park
- Evora
- Ancient Thebes
- Um er-Rasas
- Rome
- New Lanark
- Iguacu
- Everglades
- Australian Convict Sites
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley
- Royal Exhibition Building
- Nikko
- Istanbul
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Amsterdam Canal Ring
- Uluru
- Rietveld Schröderhuis
- Naples
- Ibiza
- Edinburgh
- Al Ain
- Turaif Quarter
- Rideau Canal
- Ephesus
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
- Historic Cairo
- Acropolis
- Tower of London
- Quseir Amra
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Costiera Amalfitana
- Yosemite National Park
- Tongariro National Park
- Québec
- Monticello
- Hierapolis-Pamukkale
- Defence Line of Amsterdam
Visited TWHS
- Ancient Greek Theatres (T)
- Arbel (arbel, nebe shueb, horns of hittim) (T)
- Auckland Volcanic Fields (T)
- The cultural landscape of the Benedictine settlements in medieval Italy (T)
- Bet She'an (T)
- Brooklyn Bridge (T)
- Buenos Aires – La Plata: Two capitals of the Culture of Modernity, Eclecticism and Immigration (T)
- Caesarea (T)
- California Current Conservation Complex (T)
- Central Park (T)
- Centre historique d'Irkoutsk (T)
- Dahshour archaeological area (T)
- Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (T)
- Early Chicago Skyscrapers (T)
- Early Medieval Monastic Sites (T)
- Early Synagogues in the Galilee (T)
- Egyptian Museum in Cairo (T)
- Ellis Island (T)
- Flow Country (T)
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Germany) (T)
- Great Spas of Europe (Germany) (T)
- Great Spas of Europe (UK) (T)
- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Insular area and bay of Colonia del Sacramento (T)
- Jerash Archaeological City (Ancient Meeting Place of East and West) (T)
- Khor Dubai (T)
- Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
- Les passages de Bruxelles / Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (T)
- Les Plages du Débarquement, Normandie, 1944 (T)
- Minoan Palatial Centres (T)
- Mount Vernon (T)
- Napier Art Deco historic precinct (T)
- Human Rights, Liberation Struggle and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites (T)
- Padova Urbs Picta. Giotto, the Scrovegni Chapel and the 14th century painting cycles (T)
- Pharaonic temples in Upper Egypt from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- QUMRAN: Caves and Monastery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (T)
- Rade de Marseille (T)
- Route of Magellan (T)
- Salt Mines of Maras (T)
- Sea of Galilee & its Ancient Sites (T)
- Seoul City Wall (T)
- ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz (T)
- Site of the Retiro and the Prado in Madrid (T)
- Sites funéraires et mémoriels de la Première Guerre mondiale (Front Ouest) (Belgium) (T)
- Slate Industry of North Wales (T)
- Soufriere-Scott’s Head Marine Reserve (T)
- St. George Fortified System (T)
- St. George Historic District (T)
- The Burren (T)
- The Galilee Journeys of Jesus & the Apostles (T)
- The Historic City of Dublin (T)
- The Ribeira Sacra, Lugo and Orense (T)
- The Royal Sites of Ireland: Cashel, Dún Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex, and Tara Complex (T)
- Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Thomas Jefferson Buildings (T)
- Triple-arch Gate at Dan & Sources of the Jordan (T)
- VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Waitangi Treaty Grounds (T)
- White Sands National Monument (T)
Reviewed TWHS
Top 200 WHS
- Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou
- Koutammakou
- Timbuktu
- Alto Douro
- Olympia
- Acropolis
- Ephesus
- Pompei
- Baalbek
- Leptis Magna
- Syracuse
- Aleppo
- Medina of Marrakesh
- Medina of Fez
- Samarkand
- Hué
- Potala Palace
- Borobudur
- Bamiyan Valley
- Taj Mahal
- Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
- Aachen Cathedral
- Lalibela
- Meteora
- Vatican City
- Saint Catherine Area
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- Route of Santiago de Compostela
- Qadisha Valley
- Chartres Cathedral
- Luther Memorials
- Abbey of St Gall
- Westminster
- Sydney Opera House
- Kremlin and Red Square
- Kinderdijk
- Cliff of Bandiagara
- Great Zimbabwe Ruins
- Meroe
- Ouro Preto
- Québec
- Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios
- Santo Domingo
- Old Havana
- Coffee Cultural Landscape
- Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
- Tequila
- Costiera Amalfitana
- Loire Valley
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley
- Rio de Janeiro
- Grand Pré
- Air and Téneré
- El Pinacate
- Wadi Rum
- Namib Sand Sea
- Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
- Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba
- Pyramids (Memphis)
- Nubian Monuments
- Göreme NP
- Grand Canyon
- Uluru
- Ironbridge Gorge
- Ancient Kyoto
- Gyeongju
- Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries
- Virunga National Park
- Galapagos Islands
- Banc d'Arguin
- Ngorongoro
- Serengeti
- Keoladeo National Park
- Cape Floral Region
- Tropical Rainforest Sumatra
- Rainforests of the Atsinanana
- Dja Faunal Reserve
- Glacier parks
- Yosemite National Park
- Los Glaciares
- Laponian Area
- Gros Morne National Park
- Chola Temples
- Fujisan
- Sub-Antarctic Islands
- Meidan Emam, Esfahan
- Alejandro de Humboldt National Park
- South China Karst
- Gunung Mulu
- Ha Long Bay
- Skocjan Caves
- Carlsbad Caverns
- Cuzco
- West Norwegian Fjords
- Gulf of California
- Te Wahipounamu
- Great Barrier Reef
- Socotra Archipelago
- Brazilian Atlantic Islands
- Maritime Greenwich
- Valparaiso
- Granada
- Cracow
- Brugge
- Seville
- Strasbourg
- Auschwitz Birkenau
- Genbaku Dome
- Statue of Liberty
- Bikini Atoll
- Independence Hall
- Gwynedd Castles
- Himeji-jo
- Great Wall
- Masada
- Forts and Castles Gold Coast
- Red Fort
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines
- Potosi
- Guanajuato
- Sewell Mining Town
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Sagarmatha National Park
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Western Ghats
- Huascaran National Park
- Samarra
- Persepolis
- Petra
- Al Ain
- Rapa Nui
- Imperial Palace
- Versailles
- Changdeokgung Palace Complex
- Wartburg Castle
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- Classical Gardens of Suzhou
- Potsdam
- Site of Carthage
- Tyre
- Amsterdam Canal Ring
- Florence
- St. Petersburg
- Dubrovnik
- Paris, Banks of the Seine
- Budapest
- Vienna
- Valletta
- SGang Gwaay
- Mesa Verde
- Machu Picchu
- Chan Chan
- Teotihuacan
- Tikal National Park
- Chichen-Itza
- Cahokia Mounds
- Stonehenge
- Nasca Lines
- Tasmanian Wilderness
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Kenya Lake System
- Pantanal
- Victoria Falls
- Lake Baikal
- Okavango Delta
- Iguazu National Park
- Plitvice Lakes
- Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve
- Everglades
- Angkor
- Ayutthaya
- Silk Roads
- Qhapaq Ñan
- Island of Gorée
- Venice and its Lagoon
- Istanbul
- Rome
- Mexico City and Xochimilco
- Damascus
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Prague
- Stone Town of Zanzibar
- Edinburgh
- Salzburg
- Old City of Acre
- Walled City of Baku
- Cordoba
- Shibam
- Brasilia
- Thingvellir
- L'Anse aux Meadows
- Isole Eolie
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Yellowstone
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka
- Giant's Causeway
- Tongariro National Park
- Pitons Management Area