One of my favourite websites for finding travel advice and inspiration is
Lonely Planet. Recently, they posted
an article on their Facebook page, written by a photographer who has visited over 70 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It got me wondering how many I'd been to, and so I spent an interesting evening on
the UNESCO website working it out. According to my calculations, I've visited 31, which isn't too shabby! And in fact, the vast majority are places I've visited since I first started travel blogging in 2017, many of them for the first time. It gave me the idea to write a post reflecting on the World Heritage Sites I've written about on both
my Year Abroad Blog and
this blog. So here it is!
My Year Abroad Blog 2017-2018
The canal, which was built in the 17th century, stretches 240 kilometres across the south of France. I visited it near Béziers, and you can see the town's cathedral on the hill in the background.
The entire city centre of Avignon in Provence has been designated a World Heritage Site thanks to attractions such as Palais des Papes (pictured above) and Pont Saint-Bénézet, the famous bridge from the song Sur le pont d'Avignon.
Across France, there are many important sites along the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in
Spain. One of them is Gellone Abbey in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (pictured above).
Salzburg is well-known for being the birthplace of Mozart, and is also famous for its beautiful architecture, including Mirabell Palace and Hohensalzburg Fortress, both of which can be seen in my picture.
Austria's capital is also recognised by UNESCO, thanks to its range of grand and beautiful buildings, including the Hofburg Palace (pictured above).
Another of Vienna's palaces, Schloss Schönbrunn, has a special recognition of its own, as it was the residence of the Habsburg emperors. Both its interior and exterior are incredibly grand and ornate.
The capital city of Tuscany has a strong artistic heritage as well as many beautiful historical buildings.
Another of Italy's famous cities, Venice, is also recognised by UNESCO. It's famous for its canals, gondolas and stunning architecture.
The colourful, Bohemian city of Valparaíso on the Chilean coast is famous for its street art and its interesting architecture, including Palacio Baburizza (pictured above).
You can find many of the capital of France's iconic landmarks along the banks of the River Seine, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame cathedral and the art galleries Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay.
Versailles was the residence of the French monarchs, and is famous worldwide for its formal, manicured gardens.
Le Havre in
Normandy was bombed heavily during the Second World War and rebuilt in the years that followed by an architectural team headed by Auguste Perret.
Charlotte's Travel Adventures
This ancient road system was built by the Incas and spans six South American countries. I visited a marker of the route with my boyfriend Claudio, when we were in
the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile.
The city of Kraków in the south of Poland is filled with amazing architecture at every turn, featuring buildings such as Wawel Castle, St. Mary's Basilica and the Cloth Hall (pictured above).
In the Belém neighbourhood of Portugal's capital, you can find two famous attractions that make up a joint world heritage site: the huge Jerónimos Monastery and the beautiful Torre de Belém on the banks of the River Tagus.
Parliament square is one of the touristic centres of London, thanks to its impressive architecture and its historical importance.
This pretty town on Río de la Plata is known for its mix of Spanish, Portuguese and post-colonial architectural styles.
The beauty of the Lake District's natural landscapes have inspired many famous writers over the centuries.
In the past, this spectacular castle was used as a prison, but now it's one of London's most famous landmarks.
The entire city of
Bath has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its Roman and Georgian heritage.
These two famous neolithic stone circles in my home county of
Wiltshire, make up a joint World Heritage Site.
Other sites I'd visited prior to starting blogging are the Dorset and East Devon Coast, and
Blenheim Palace in the UK; the Historic Centre of Prague in Czechia; Budapest in Hungary; the Old City of Dubrovnik in
Croatia; the Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Flemish Béguinage, the Belfry, and the Historic Centre in
Bruges, Belgium; and Museumsinsel in Berlin,
Germany.
It's really interesting to reflect on these places that are of such cultural and natural significance to our planet, and I hope they'll still be here for many centuries to come. I also hope to have the chance to visit many more during my lifetime. There's at least a few I'm looking forward to checking out once I'm living in
South America again!
28/07/2021 Update
I'd always planned to keep updating this post once I'd visited more World Heritage Sites, and I'm updating it now, because as of today I've visited 35 sites, which is 4 more than I'd visited as of this time last week. However, I haven't actually been anywhere over the last seven days!
Two parts of Spain's capital have now been given UNESCO status: Paseo del Prado (one of the city's main boulevards) and the beautiful Retiro Park (pictured above).
The Great Spa Towns of Europe; Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy and the UK
Bath is now a double World Heritage Site, as it is recognised both on its own for its Roman history, and as part of a group of towns across
Europe, for its heritage as a spa town.
I hope to update this post again in the near future with some more sites that I've visited!
25/11/2023 Update
It's been over two years since I last updated this post, and it's definitely long overdue! Since my last update, I've actually visited 10 more UNESCO World Heritage sites and another one that I visited in the past has been added to the list, which I believe brings my total up to 46 sites visited. Still not quite as many as the photographer who wrote the Lonely Planet article that inspired me to write this post, but I'm catching up!
Having spent close to 15 months in South America between 2022 and 2023, and then 3 months in the Mediterranean, I've had the opportunity to explore lots of interesting new places, including several UNESCO sites, and I also found time to visit a new one for me in England when I was back home for a few weeks last year.
Here are the new additions to my list...
These "ghost towns" in the Atacama Desert are preserved exactly as they were at the height of saltpeter mining in the late 18th century and early 19th century.
The Chinchorro people lived in and around the city of
Arica in the far north of Chile between 7000 and 1500 BC. They are best known for their mummies, which are even older than the Egyptian mummies and which can still be seen in museums today!
This is quite an unusual World Heritage Site in that it's located in two hemispheres! Greenwich Park is beautiful and full of wildlife, and the views across London are stunning.
Cusco was once the capital of the vast Inca Empire, and still retains much of the amazing architecture and culture from that period. Although at first I found it rather crowded and touristy, I came to really love this beautiful city by the end of my stay there.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site which is also one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu is an indescribable place. Making it up there last October was a real dream come true!
Two months after my Machu Picchu trip came another World Heritage Site (the city of Rio de Janeiro) and another Wonder of the World (Cristo Redentor). There is so much to discover in this incredible city, and I really hope I'll get to go back there at some point.
The Chiloé archipelago in the south of Chile is almost like a different country to the rest of Chile - it has its own unique culture and folklore, landscapes and architecture. 16 of its colourful wooden churches make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including the one pictured above, which is located in Castro, Chiloe's capital city.
Moving back over to Europe, Malta's capital city Valletta is designated as a World Heritage Site thanks to its beautiful 16th-century architecture.
Six prehistoric temples across Malta and Gozo make up this UNESCO site. I visited two of them during my time living in Malta - Tarxien Temples (pictured above) and
Ġgantija Temples.
The city of Syracuse in Sicily is famous for its extensive range of Ancient Greek and Roman archaeological sites.
When I visited Nîmes in 2017, I was surprised it wasn't a UNESCO site, because the Roman archaeological sites there are so impressive. So I was glad to find out that one of its most amazing Roman buildings, the Maison Carrée, has now become a UNESCO site!
In my opinion, these 11 recent additions to my list are among some of the best out of the 46 UNESCO sites I've visited so far. I hope it won't be too long before I'll have more sites to add to this post!
