Tag Archives: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Palace Splendor in Sintra, Portugal

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Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal is a wonderful day trip from Lisbon.  In less than an hour by train, you can step back in time and feast your eyes upon a splendid castle that dates back to the 8th century!  The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the view of the surrounding town from within the fortress walls is…so European!

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The Pena Palace was built in the 1840′s and even has a drawbridge.  I took this zoom photo of the Palace from the Castle and then we walked to it.

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Here is the view as you’re approaching…

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Whenever I’m exploring something or somewhere new, I get a rush from the anticipation and literally have to hold myself back from running to it!  It’s a photographer’s dream!

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The Pena Park surrounds the area (Palace and Castle).  We hiked through a small section of it and would have seen more, but it wasn’t clearly marked and we got lost a few times.

Upon arriving back in Lisbon, we boarded our overnight train to Madrid and upon arrival in the morning…immediately boarded a three hour train to Barcelona, Spain!

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Hiking Machu Picchu

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Hiking Machu Picchu is one of those “once in a lifetime” experiences and I enjoyed every moment of the three and 1/2 day, 27 mile hike!  I was traveling with 10 other fellow adventurers on a G Adventures trip in May of 2009.  We had visited the absolutely breathtaking Lake Titicaca  and were on an all day public bus ride to the beautiful and vibrant town of Cusco, which is located about thirty minutes by train to the start of the Inca Trail hike.  Typically, we traveled by private van, but this trip was an exception.

The road to Cusco from Lake Titicaca is very curvy and mountainous.  Unfortunately for the other passengers, I had intestinal problems.  The bus was swaying from side to side along the twisting roads and the restroom was small, dark, and void of toilet paper.   I couldn’t avoid the imagined glares from passengers as I had to utilize the facilities a few times that day!

For the previous two weeks, we had gradually risen in elevation within Peru, which is a good thing when you’re going to hike the Inca Trail.  Altitude sickness can strike young, old, fit or not…so if you can acclimatize…all the better!

Cusco reminded me of Europe.  Cobblestones, narrow streets and history everywhere!

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Positive Energy Adventure – Colorado/New Mexico 8/2011 – Day 3

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This morning I made us an omelet, 12-grain toast, strawberries, blueberries and banana for breakfast.  We drove 1 1/2 hrs. to the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I was driving and after we paid the $15 entrance fee, there was another somewhat “scary” mountain road to traverse before arriving at the top where the Park was located.

We waited in line for about 30 minutes for tickets to the Cliff Palace and then went to the Museum for a 20 minute video about the Park.  We then toured Spruce Tree House.  This is the walk down to it…

After eating our picnic lunch, we were ready for the 1:30pm tour of Cliff Palace.  It almost looks like a miniature reproduction…

The tour guide was very friendly and made the tour interesting…

We had to climb some ladders…

We got back to Durango at 4pm…explored the town some…ran into Oprah…(not really)…

This is a Hummingbird Moth…at first I thought it was a Hummingbird!

We had dinner at Francisco’s, which was very good.  Next stop was the Balcony Bar & Grill, where there was live music and very strong drinks!  We had a long island, which we nicknamed “After Mesa..Got Verde Wasta”.    This is the duo…it looks like she’s naked, but she’s not!

It was another great day!!

UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Europe

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Europe has the most sites by far…with 44 Italy has the most and Spain is the runner up with 41.  N. America has 20.  These are the UNESCO sites I’ve been to within Europe…

 

 

Sintra, Portugal

 

 

Barcelona, Spain…Works of Antoni Gaudi

 

 

Dubrovnik, Croatia

 

 

London, England…Tower of London

 

 

Paris, France…Banks of the Seine

 

 

Paris, France, Cathedral of Notre-Dame

 

 

Old Town of Corfu, Greece

 

 

Vatican City, Holy See

 

 

Rome, Italy

 

Venice, Italy

 

 

Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

Segovia, Spain

If you’d like to learn more about these areas…check out the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

 

UNESCO World Heritage Sites…SE Asia & the Middle East

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These are the UNESCO sites I’ve been to in Southeast Asia and the Middle East:

 

Luang Prabang, Laos

 

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 

 

 

Historic Cairo, Egypt

 

 

The Pyramids in Egypt 

 

 

Saint Catherine, Egypt

 

 

 

Petra, Jordan 

 If you’d like to learn more about any of these areas…click on the country

here on my blog…or visit Unesco World Heritage Sites.

 

 

UNESCO World Heritage Sites – America

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There are 890 UNESCO sites!  The more I travel…the more I learn!  I researched which sites I’ve been to…there are probably more that I’ve been to but am not aware of.  Although I lived in Germany for a couple of years in my early 20′s…looking back…that type of cultural enrichment wasn’t high on my list.  Anyway, here’s my list of American sites:

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

 

 

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA…my photo

 

 

Yosemite National Park, California, USA…my photo

 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA

 

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA 

 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Border of Tennessee & North Carolina, USA

 

 

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, Montana, USA

 

 

I love watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel!  He says it perfectly…”The more I travel, the more I realize how little I know!”