Sintra in Portugal

31 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Part of the historic centre © Peter K Burian/cc-by-4.0

Part of the historic centre © Peter K Burian/cc-by-4.0

Sintra is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of 319.23 square kilometres (123.26 sq mi). Sintra is a major tourist destination in Portugal, famed for its picturesqueness and for its numerous historic palaces and castles. Sintra is also a major luxury dining and tourism destination within the Portuguese Riviera, as well as one of the wealthiest municipalities in the country, and is known for the numerous notable events hosted in Sintra, such as Bilderberg Meetings and the Open de Portugal.   read more…

Grands Causses Regional Natural Park in Occitanie

21 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Avène © Toutaitanous/cc-by-sa-3.0

Avène © Toutaitanous/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Regional Nature Park Grands Causses (French: Parc naturel régional des Grands Causses) is located in the French department of Aveyron in the Occitania region. The nature park was founded on May 6, 1995 and today covers an area of around 327,000 hectares. The park administration is based in Millau, where the “Maison du Parc” is located. The park is made up of 93 municipalities with a catchment area of around 68,000 inhabitants. A part of the Grands Causses Regional Nature Park is the Causses and Cévennes Property, which in turn is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Larger towns in the park are Millau, Saint-Affrique, Sévérac d’Aveyron (Commune nouvelle; formerly: Sévérac-le-Château), Creissels, Vabres-l’Abbaye and Saint-Georges-de-Luzençon.   read more…

Island of Gorée

5 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  15 minutes

© Inextre/cc-by-sa-3.0-es

© Inextre/cc-by-sa-3.0-es

Île de Gorée is one of the 19 communes d’arrondissement (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an 18.2-hectare (45-acre) island located 2 kilometres (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) at sea from the main harbour of Dakar, famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade although its actual role in the history of the slave trade is the subject of dispute. Its population as of the 2013 census was 1,680 inhabitants, giving a density of 5,802 inhabitants per square kilometre (15,030/sq mi), which is only half the average density of the city of Dakar. Gorée is both the smallest and the least populated of the 19 communes d’arrondissement of Dakar. Other important centres for the slave trade from Senegal were further north, at Saint-Louis, Senegal, or to the south in the Gambia, at the mouths of major rivers for trade. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name is a corruption of its original Dutch name Goedereede, meaning “good roadstead“.   read more…

Kontorhaus District in Hamburg

1 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hamburg, House of the Month, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Sprinkenhof © Dietmar Rabich/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sprinkenhof © Dietmar Rabich/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Kontorhaus District is the southeastern part of Altstadt, Hamburg, between Steinstraße, Meßberg, Klosterwall and Brandstwiete. The streetscape is characterised by large office buildings in the style of Brick Expressionism of the early 20th century. The Kontorhaus District consists of 12 Kontor buildings. Since 5 July 2015, parts of the Kontorhaus district and the adjacent Speicherstadt district have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The buildings were mainly made of a reinforced concrete skeleton construction. The new buildings were to be individually designed. Characteristic features are clinker brick facades and copper roofs. In order to make the street canyons more open at the top, the upper floors are often set back from the main front of the house. Decorative elements on the facade are also made of clinker brick; in addition, elements (often sculptures) of ceramics were used for the design, most of which have a connection to Hamburg trade and crafts.   read more…

Theme Week Pakistan – Lahore

26 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Farah Baksh Terrace (Upper Terrace) main building © Muhammad Ashar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Farah Baksh Terrace (Upper Terrace) main building © Muhammad Ashar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, and is the country’s 2nd largest city after Karachi, as well as the 18th largest city proper in the world and one of Pakistan’s wealthiest cities as of 2015. Lahore is the largest city and historic cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan’s most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.   read more…

Theme Week Pakistan

22 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  25 minutes

Prime Minister's Secretariat Building in Islamabad © Maqsoodgujjer/cc-by-sa-4.0

Prime Minister’s Secretariat Building in Islamabad © Maqsoodgujjer/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s fifth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212.2 million. By area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning 881,913 square kilometres (340,509 square miles). Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China to the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. Pakistan has made a name for itself in recent years, particularly through attacks by fundamentalist Islamists against the religious minorities and the conversion from secular rule of law to Sharia (Blasphemy Law). This also includes court judgments for contrived or alleged blasphemy (Prophet Muhammad) against members of the Christian minority. Lynching by Islamist mobs against religious minorities is now the order of the day. Antisemitism is “good manners”. Pakistan is a beautiful country with a lot to see. Unfortunately, it allows itself to be deformed.   read more…

Christiansfeld in Denmark

22 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  13 minutes

Moravian Church © Villy Fink Isaksen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Moravian Church © Villy Fink Isaksen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Christiansfeld, with a population of 3,000, is a town in Kolding Municipality in Southern Jutland in Region of Southern Denmark. The town was founded in 1773 by the Moravian Church and named after the Danish king Christian VII. Since July 2015 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of Christiansfeld was constructed in the years 1773–1800, following a strict city plan. To encourage construction, king Christian VII promised a ten-year tax holiday for the city and paid 10% of the construction costs of new houses. It was one of many towns in Schleswig officially designated a small market town (flække).   read more…

Market place Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakesh

10 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit, Shopping, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Boris Macek/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Boris Macek/cc-by-sa-3.0

Jemaa el-Fnaa is a square and market place in Marrakesh‘s medina quarter (old city). It remains the main square of Marrakesh, used by locals and tourists. Marrakesh was founded by the Almoravid Dynasty in 1070 by Abu Bakr ibn Umar and subsequently developed by his successors. Initially, the city’s two main monuments and focal points were the fortress known as Ksar el-Hajjar (“fortress of stone”) and the city’s first Friday mosque (the site of the future Ben Youssef Mosque). The Ksar el-Hajjar was located directly north of today’s Koutoubia Mosque. The major souk (market) streets of the city thus developed along the roads linking these two important sites and still correspond to the main axis of souks today. At one end of this axis, next to the Ksar el-Hajjar, a large open space existed for temporary and weekly markets. This space was initially known as Rahbat al-Ksar (“the place of the fortress”). Other historical records refer to it as as-Saha al-Kubra (“the grand square”), or simply as as-Saha or ar-Rahba.   read more…

Cozumel in Mexico

5 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

San Miguel de Cozumel © Harpqueen

San Miguel de Cozumel © Harpqueen

Cozumel is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico‘s Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán Channel. The municipality is part of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The economy of Cozumel is based on tourism, with visitors able to benefit from the island’s balnearios, scuba diving, and snorkeling. The main town on the island is San Miguel de Cozumel.   read more…

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