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

Subterranean temple since 3000 BCE - Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum 130; Il-Ftira, culinary art and culture of flattened sourdough bread in Malta 01580 Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum What and Why Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum ( Maltese : Ipoġew ) is a large complex of rooms hewn out of the limestone and thought to have been a sanctuary and necropolis , with the remains of more than 7,000 individuals documented by archaeologists. ‘Hypogeum’ means ‘underground’ in Greek, ‘ Ħal ’ means ‘small’ in Malte

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

Triangular shaped village houses in a beautiful snow mountain - Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama 734; Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year 00859; Washi, craftsmanship of traditional Japanese hand-made paper 01001; Traditional skills, techniques and knowledge for the conservation and transmission of wooden architecture in Japan 01618 Shirakawa-gō What and Why Shirakawa-gō ( Japanese : 白川郷) is located in a

Never say 'kekkō' until you've seen Nikkō - Shrines and Temples of Nikko 913; Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year 00869; Traditional skills, techniques and knowledge for the conservation and transmission of wooden architecture in Japan 01618 Nikko What and Why The first temple in Nikkō ( Japanese : 日光) was founded more than 1,200 years ago. In the early 17th century, the famous dying shōgun (将軍) Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川

Ancient capital with a recent dark history - Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties 1004; Craftsmanship of Nanjing Yunjin brocade 00200 Xiaoling mausoleum What and Why One of the surprises in travels is really you do not know what to expect. I was travelling to Nanjing ( Chinese : 南京) for work without realising that I step into a UNESCO WHS. For a fetish like me, this is blasphemous that I did not do enough homework. I have to say before I stepped into Nanjing, I o

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

Italy seaside city with a rich Greek culture - Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica 1200; Mediterranean diet 00884; Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity 02093 Piazza Duomo What and Why Syracuse ( Italian : Siracusa ) was founded in the 8th century by Greek settlers, led by the coloniser Archias (Greek: Ἀρχίας) . The settlement of Syracuse was an exercise of urban planning, as a strong central leader, Archias laid out how properties and

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

One of the most scenic and cliff-hanging coastal landscapes in Europe - Costiera Amalfitana 830; Mediterranean diet 00884; Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity 02093 Amalfi coastline What and Why The Amalfi Coast ( Italian : Costiera Amalfitana ) is the scenic 50-km stretch of coastline on the northern coast of the Gulf of Salerno ( Golfo di Salerno ) , which clearly possesses unrivalled sceneries and dramatic landscapes. The winding drive along

A city built on a huge cave - The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera 670 ; Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity 02093 Sassi of Matera during the evening What and Why The sassi (singular sasso ), meaning 'rock' in Italian, of Matera is often described as the most unique and picturesque landscapes in Europe, and this is no understatement. While one might imagine an inhabited cave since the Paleolithic age would look derelict

Trulli amazing little conical huts - The Trulli of Alberobello 787; Art of dry stone construction, knowledge and techniques 02106 Trulli in Alberobello This is my inaugural post, and just for the sake of it, it starts with an A, from the most recent trip I did. What and Why The peculiar dwarf buildings trulli were actually erected according to some kind of local imposition back in the 15th century that all buildings must show some 'tribute', although this form of stone const