Hike towards Mars from Earth - Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island 1317; Maloya 00249 Piton de la Fournaise (from internet)...

China Imperial City in Vietnam - Complex of Hué Monuments 676; Nha Nhac, Vietnamese court music 00074 What and Why Huế is a city in...

Religious centre of Champa - My Son Sanctuary 949; The art of Bài Chòi in Central Viet Nam 01222; Art of pottery-making of Chăm people...

Former Chinese spice-trade port brimming with energy - Hoi An Ancient Town 948; Practices related to the Viet beliefs in the Mother...

A derelict learnt city - Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba 995; Tango 00258; Cuarteto: music, dance and lyrics in the city of Córdoba, Argentina 00243 Cordoba Cathedral What and Why While colonialism carries a negative imperial connotation nowadays, it did bring a major historical impact in establishing the cultural order of a place, and Córdoba is an actual good example of this. With the Spanish conquistadores , the Jesuit order established this city in the late 16th c

Spanish missionaries conversion programme - Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa Maria Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil) 275; Chamamé 01600 San Ignacio Mini What and Why During the Age of Discovery in the 17th century, the Spanish conquistadores arrived at the Paraná region of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil ) . Together with the conquistadores, there were Jesuit ( Latin : Societas Iesu ) mi

Quiet town with a history of colonisation - Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento 747; Tango 00258 Colonia del Sacramento What and Why Colonia del Sacramento , meaning 'Sacrament Colony' in Spanish, was founded in the late 17th century by the Portuguese, sandwiched in between the Portuguese Colonial Brazil ( Portuguese : Brasil Colonial ) and the Spanish Vice Royalty of the River Plate ( Spanish : Virreinato del Río de la Plata ) , which later includes Argen

Small pyramids and temples of the Kush Empire - Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe 1336; Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices 01509; Al-Jertiq: practices, rituals and expressions for preservation, protection, abundance and fertility in Sudan 02275 Small pyramids of Meroe What and Why I am extremely proud that as a Chinese I actually took a Sudanese to his own heritage treasure of Meroë ( Arabic : مروي) , during my recent diplomatic work. No joke, t

Portuguese fishing harbour and centre of argan oil - Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador) 753; Argan, practices and know-how concerning the argan tree 00955; Gnawa 01170 Goats on argan tree What and Why Essaouira ( Tamazight : ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort ) is a fishing port established by the Portuguese during the 16th century. In the early 16th century, the king of Portugal , Dom Manuel I (né Manuel Aviz) , ordered a fortress to be built there and named it Royal Castle of Mogador (

Gateway to Sahara - Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou 444; Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices 01509 Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou What and Why The ksar (Arabic: قصر, qṣar ) of Aït Ben Haddou ( Tamazight : ⴰⵢⵜ ⴱⴻⵏⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ) is fortified village along the former caravan trade route between the Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى‎) and Marrakesh (ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ, Amurakuš ) , as blogged in Marrakesh (ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ) . There are a handful of families still living in the ancient village. Inside

Imperial cultural city with the most fascinating bazaar - Medina of Marrakesh 331; Cultural space of Jemaa el-Fna Square 00014; Moussem of Tan-Tan 00168; Tbourida 01483; Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices 01509; Knowledge, know-how and practices pertaining to the production and consumption of couscous 01602; Arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals (gold, silver and copper) 01951 Jemaa el-Fnaa at dusk (from internet) What and Why The

Labyrinth of medina - Medina of Fez 170; Arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals (gold, silver and copper) 01951 Fez tannery What and Why Fez ( Tamazight : ⴼⴰⵙ, Fas ) is the mediaeval capital and imperial city of Morocco (ⵍⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱ, Lmeɣrib ) founded by Idris bin Abdullah (Arabic: إدريس الأول‎) in the late 8th century, as a great city of high Islamic civilisation. Due to this important origin of the city, the city has grown non-stop since its inceptio

Capital of art nouveau and pickpockets - Works of Antoni Gaudí 320; Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona 804; Human Towers 00364; Mediterranean diet 00884 Parc Guell What and Why Barcelona is now one of the most popular tourist cities, offering its visitors good art, football, food, culture, commerce and even science. It has developed itself as a significant global brand as a city and is considered one of the economic powerhouse in Spain ( Spanish

Time warp to the mediaevals and Game of Thrones - City of Valletta 131; L-Għana, a Maltese folksong tradition 01681 Valletta What and Why Valletta 's 16th-century buildings have now been recognised as the backdrop of the famed television series Game of Thrones . The city main architecture is Baroque , adding elements of neo-classicism really put one back into a mediaeval fantasy. The city was ruled successively by the Phoenicia (Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍, Kenāʿan ) , Ancient Gr

City under water, surrounded by canals - Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht 1349; Corso culture, flower and fruit parades in the Netherlands 01707 Amsterdam canal rings during evening What and Why Amsterdam has more than one hundred kilometres of canals ( Dutch : grachten ) connecting 90 islands through 1,500 bridges. The three main canals form concentric belts around the city, known as the canal belt ( grachtengordel ) , and Singelgra

City of Arab-Norman and Mafia influence - Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale 1487; Opera di Pupi, Sicilian puppet theatre 00011 Palermo Cathedral What and Why Welcome to the capital of the Sicilian mafia ! Palermo has since established itself as a fine heritage city, in spite of all the noises of the mafia. The exceptionally infused architecture that reflects the Norman , the Arab and the Roman rule shows a distinct flavour of culture

City of pizza, mobsters and history - Historic Centre of Naples 726; Art of Neapolitan ‘Pizzaiuolo’ 00722 New Castle What and Why Naples ( Italian : Napoli ) means the new city, but as a matter of fact, the city is one of the oldest in Europe and as part of Magna Graecia (Greek : Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς , Megálē Hellás ) , played a very important role in linking the Roman and Greek culture . The place has transformed from the colony of Parthenope (Greek: Παρθενόπη) , meaning pure eye