I ended my favorite sights vignette of Vienna several years ago with a promise to take hundreds of pictures on my next trip to the city. Such trip came about recently – and I fulfilled that promise to a certain degree. I now have a reasonable amount of good shots from the Austrian capital. And
Graz’s recognition on the World Heritage list is primarily due to the treasure trove of its architecture in the historic center. It is literally one of those towns whose streets you want to explore over and over again. I started my acquaintance with the town at Schloss Eggenberg, located some distance from the center but
Recognized as a masterpiece of civil engineering, Semmering Railway is a 41-km-long stretch of tracks across Alpine landscape. I ended up traversing it twice in both directions on my recent trip to Austria. The way from Vienna to Graz lies over the same tracks, with the speedy train only slowing down on the most challenging
Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens, on the World Heritage list as an outstanding example of Baroque architecture and design, should have been #40 on my chronological tracker of visited sites. On the first visit to Vienna, in 2005, it was initially part of the itinerary. But after spending a day exploring all that Alte Burg could
It took three visits to Toledo for me to finally gather a reasonable portfolio of shots of this wonderful town (my limited World Heritage feature is found here). And the town is more than deserving dedicated photographic efforts. It is full of narrow sloping street such as these… …small shaded squares such as these… …and
University town of Alcalá de Henares is recognized on the World Heritage registry for being the first such planned town and a model for subsequent others. As is often the case with so recognized locales, it is cute and lively without having any knockout features: just a really nice place to be. Here is one of
Once a trip – hardly ever more than that – I decide to get up early enough to photograph famous vistas in the serenity of dawn. A single night in Barcelona at the conclusion of our recent Costa Brava vacation gave me an opportunity to improve my portfolio of Gaudí masterpieces (my past limited selection
Think “Barcelona architecture”, and the first name that comes to mind for majority of people is likely that of Antoni Gaudí. It is well-deserved, since a number of Gaudí’s creations are veritable symbols of Barcelona. But there are other tremendous architects who also contributed to this fantastic urban landscape. Among them is Lluís Domènech i
French town of Carcassonne, a little bit over an hour from the Spanish Catalan border, is fairly laconically recognized on the World Heritage list as an excellent example of a medieval fortified town. It truly is very impressive in this aspect and we took a day on our recent stay in Costa Brava to explore
There are properties on the World Heritage list that have words “cultural landscape” in their name. These sites are relatively large areas whose history and development was directly influenced by the features of the landscape. The Andorran valley of Madriu-Perafita-Claror is one such site, offering an insight into how people survived and even prospered in
My well-known affinity for sacred architecture did not translate into significant appreciation of Poblet Monastery. The World Heritage inscription mentions majestic architecture on more than one occasion and uses the word “important” with a variety of emphatic modifiers to describe its place in the history of Catalonia. I saw an impressive enough complex with little
An attractive city to the south-west of Barcelona, Tarragona’s claim to UNESCO recognition revolves around its Roman past, as evidenced by a significant number of architectural remains. The long history of the city means that the medieval, Renaissance, and modern architecture in the center coexist with remnants of Roman glory. Here is a not exactly successful attempt
On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon I was able to close one of the gaps in my World Heritage portfolio – re-visit and properly photograph the Independence Hall, the site that is the second geographically closest to me. The principles of freedom and democracy enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, both
The town of Canterbury in English Southeast has several monuments collectively recognized by UNESCO for being the historic seat of the head of the Anglican Church. If you have been following my blog for any period of time, you have heard me express my admiration for religious architecture. Canterbury Cathedral is undoubtedly up there with
You will most likely spend less time admiring Stonehenge than it would take you to drive there from London. You will have to keep to the designated tourist path, never getting closer to the humongous rocks than a few dozen yards. There will be plenty of other visitors sharing the same path with you to
This, technically, is the next installment of my re-counting World Heritage sites series. But it just struck me as something of utmost importance that the pictures accompanying this entry were taken in February of 1991, practically exactly twenty-five years ago. Red Square is one of those places that even a casual traveler would
Swiss capital is recognized by UNESCO for coherency of its planning concepts through the centuries. If that sentence above does not make obvious sense, it is meant to augment the slightly underwhelming impression the city left on me. Do not get me wrong – Bern is a lovely city, very pleasant to walk through and
The Rotal Botanic Gardens in London are recognized on UNESCO World Heritage List for their place in development of both garden art and botanical science. In our years of living in London, we only visited the place once and – as my Travelog entry attests – came away sufficiently impressed. The grounds are vast, the
Vatican is recognized by UNESCO both for its spiritual value and for the artistic and architectural treasures that it possesses. You don’t have to be a Catholic to appreciate the grandeur of the incomparable Piazza San Pietro, the exquisite features of Saint Peter’s Basilica, or the magnificent collections of Vatican Museums, culminating in the peerless
The 65km-long stretch of River Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz is recognized on UNESCO World Heritage list for its importance as a major historic transport route as well as for the majestic cultural landscape formed on the both banks of the river. Those who have seen it will no doubt agree with my use of