From the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage inscription: The Blaenavon landscape constitutes an exceptional illustration in material form of the social and economic structure of 19th-century industry. The area around the Blaenavon ironworks provides an extraordinarily comprehensive picture of the South Wales coal and iron industry in its heyday in the 19th and early 20th …
Prior to the communist takeover in Laos, Luang Prabang was the royal capital of the country. These days, it’s a sleepy town (well, all of Laos is pretty sleepy) on the Mekong River that has become a popular attraction on the tourist and backpacker circuit in Southeast Asia precisely because of that sleepy charm and …
Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui, is the most isolated island on Earth—it’s located 2,000 km from the nearest speck of land and 3,700 kilometers from the continental coast of Chile, and yet Easter Island has captivated the world. Famed for its stone heads—or moai, as they are known locally—the entirety of Easter Island is …
Tarragona, formerly the Roman city of Tárraco, is the former capital of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior. It was also the first Roman city in the entire Iberian Peninsula. It was visited by such notable named of antiquity as Julius Caesar, Augustus, Pompey the Great, and Hannibal. Unlike other notable Roman ruins, the city …
In the southwestern state of Karnataka in India, nestled deep within the semi-arid region of Bagalkot, lies the beautiful ensemble of Chalukya Temples, part of the Group of Monuments at Pattadakal—a lesser-known UNESCO World Heritage Site in India. Not many know about Pattadakal. And that’s why it still remains a pretty offbeat destination in India. …
About 350 km away from the tech-city of Bengaluru lies the hippie land of Hampi. The underdeveloped villages leading to the ruins at Hampi makes it difficult to believe that once upon a time this used to be one of the most prosperous cities in the world. A trip to Hampi is like stepping into …
Standing on the most north-easterly mainland point of the British Isles the wind blows continually. Offshore amongst raging waters is a collection of islands, the Orkney Islands. The North Atlantic and the North Sea rage whatever the weather. The Pentland Firth, which stands between the British mainland and the Orkney Islands, is well known for …
From the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage Inscription: Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites—Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, Koyasan—linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in …
More than 12 million tourists visited Morocco in 2018, and their numbers are certain to increase in 2019. And why not? This North African kingdom calls up to most foreigners an image of medieval mosques, archaic bazaars filled with handmade crafts, and medinas—those labyrinths of narrow alleys behind ancient walls. In Morocco, historic monuments seem …