Here are my personal Top 10 visits !!

This is my personal evaluation of my visits to different World Heritage Sites.

It is never easy to really evalute all the different sites you have visited,  so I have based the list on that specific emotion the visit created.

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Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: The vast natural forest of Yellowstone National Park covers nearly 9,000 km2 ; 96% of the park lies in Wyoming, 3% in Montana and 1% in Idaho. Yellowstone contains half of all the world's known geothermal features, with more than 10,000 examples. It also has the world's largest concentration of geysers (more than 300 geyers, or two thirds of all those on the planet). Established in 1872, Yellowstone is equally known for its wildlife, such as grizzly bears, wolves, bison and wapitis.

One of my absolutely most memorable visits.

I first saw it when it was sunset and the day after we walked around the shorelines. The sunset was truly magical.

The Icefjord moves 1 meter per hour and you can sit and hear it cracking.

During this 1 hour the Icefjord realeses ice equvivalent to the amont of water New York city uses during 1 year ! 

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: Located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world. It annually calves over 35 km3 of ice, i.e. 10% of the production of all Greenland calf ice and more than any other glacier outside Antarctica. Studied for over 250 years, it has helped to develop our understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology. The combination of a huge ice-sheet and the dramatic sounds of a fast-moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord covered by icebergs makes for a dramatic and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon.

Sunset over the icebergs !

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Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: Carved out by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon (nearly 1,500 m deep) is the most spectacular gorge in the world. Located in the state of Arizona, it cuts across the Grand Canyon National Park. Its horizontal strata retrace the geological history of the past 2 billion years. There are also prehistoric traces of human adaptation to a particularly harsh environment.

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Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: Sceilg Mhichíl is an outstanding, and in many respects unique, example of an early religious settlement deliberately sited on a pyramidal rock in the ocean, preserved because of a remarkable environment. It illustrates, as no other property can, the extremes of a Christian monasticism characterizing much of North Africa, the Near East, and Europe.

The island at the end of the world !

It took us 2 days to get to the Outer Hebrides and then additional 4 hrs by a small boat to get here. The weather was not so nice to us but still you really felt that you were privileged to be here. 

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: This volcanic archipelago, with its spectacular landscapes, is situated off the coast of the Hebrides and comprises the islands of Hirta, Dun, Soay and Boreray. It has some of the highest cliffs in Europe, which have large colonies of rare and endangered species of birds, especially puffins and gannets. The archipelago, uninhabited since 1930, bears the evidence of more than 2,000 years of human occupation in the extreme conditions prevalent in the Hebrides. Human vestiges include built structures and field systems, the cleits and the traditional Highland stone houses. They feature the vulnerable remains of a subsistence economy based on the products of birds, agriculture and sheep farming.

The settlement at Village Bay

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Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: A great concentration of ancestral Pueblo Indian dwellings, built from the 6th to the 12th century, can be found on the Mesa Verde plateau in south-west Colorado at an altitude of more than 2,600 m. Some 4,400 sites have been recorded, including villages built on the Mesa top. There are also imposing cliff dwellings, built of stone and comprising more than 100 rooms.

One of my really old trips. Done in 1994 when I was in Nepal for almost 3 weeks hiking, rafting and sightseeing.

I was in Chitwan National Park or just outside for 3 days and 2 nights. 1 night in cottage and 1 night in tent. During the visit we did canoeing, elephantback and some hiking. 

The most memorable excursions where made on the back of an elephant. You really came close to what you wanted to see. We didn´t see any tigers but we saw bengal monitors and jungle cats, and if you see to statistics these are more rare than the tiger (in 1994 anyhow).

The rank nr 7 is really justified !!

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: At the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the 'Terai' region, which formerly extended over the foothills of India and Nepal. It has a particularly rich flora and fauna. One of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros lives in the park, which is also one of the last refuges of the Bengal tiger.

Sightseeing on the back of an elephant !

This site really makes your emotions turned upside down.

I will not comment this more than, everyone should pay a visit here to understand what happened and hopefully learn from it.

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)

The fortified walls, barbed wire, platforms, barracks, gallows, gas chambers and cremation ovens show the conditions within which the Nazi genocide took place in the former concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest in the Third Reich. According to historical investigations, 1.5 million people, among them a great number of Jews, were systematically starved, tortured and murdered in this camp, the symbol of humanity's cruelty to its fellow human beings in the 20th century.

"Arbeit macht frei"

A really quick trip to Beijing for 3 days included a trip to the Geat Wall at Mutianyu ! This October trip turned out to be a perfect visit to the Wall with limited number of turists, autumn colours in the landscape and clear skies.

Truly a day to remember !

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: In c. 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications were joined together to form a united defence system against invasions from the north. Construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. Its historic and strategic importance is matched only by its architectural significance.

A short stop on my way !

During a business trip to Scania in Brasil I spent a weekend in the fascinating city of Brasilia. 

Some short facts from UNESCO homepage: Brasilia, a capital created ex nihilo in the centre of the country in 1956, was a landmark in the history of town planning. Urban planner Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer intended that every element – from the layout of the residential and administrative districts (often compared to the shape of a bird in flight) to the symmetry of the buildings themselves – should be in harmony with the city’s overall design. The official buildings, in particular, are innovative and imaginative.

Supreme Court