Once a year, the UNESCO Committee meets to decide which new sites will be inscribed on the World Heritage List. This year 24 new sites were added which leads to a grant to total of 1031 sites on my BID list!
I’m a UNESCO fan in case you haven’t noticed yet! I want to visit all the sites listed in the World Heritage List before I die, or at least as many as I can… Check out why in my BID list if you want to know more. By adding 10 to 20 sites to the list every year, or even 24 like this year, the UNESCO is making my life very complicated! lol
(map from the UNESCO site)
Fortunately, this year they have added 2 sites that are very close to where I’m currently based: the terroir of Burgundy and the Houses and cellars of the Champagne region, both located in France. I got a new road trip idea in my head and some wine tasting might be in order very soon!
I think Autumn is the best season to visit these wine regions. The colors that the grape vines take, the changing skies, the beautiful sunsets emphasize the beauty of these hilly regions….Now you know where to find me end of September or beginning of October 😉
Without further ado, here is the list of the 2015 new inscriptions:
- Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System (Mexico)
- Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale (Italy)
- Baekje Historic Areas (Republic of Korea)
- Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” (Al-Maghtas) (Jordan)
- Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars (France)
- Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement (Denmark)
- Climats, terroirs of Burgundy (France)
- Cultural Landscape of Maymand (Iran (Islamic Republic of))
- Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape (Turkey)
- Ephesus (Turkey)
- Fray Bentos Industrial Landscape (Uruguay)
- Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape (Mongolia)
- Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of Jewish Renewal (Israel)
- Rjukan–Notodden Industrial Heritage Site (Norway)
- Rock Art in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia)
- San Antonio Missions (United States of America)
- Singapore Botanical Gardens (Singapore)
- Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (Japan)
- Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus (Germany)
- Susa (Iran (Islamic Republic of))
- The Forth Bridge (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
- The par force hunting landscape in North Zealand (Denmark)
- Tusi Sites (China)
- Blue and John Crow Mountains (Jamaica)
You can check the UNESCO site here for more info.
I’m really excited because there are 4 sites in this list that I should be able to see very very soon, like really soon! Come back often to see what’s going on…
So what about you: How many World Heritage sites have you visited? What’s your favorite?
Let me know in the comments below
