Whilst the trip was primarily for work purposes, LanguageCert, our lovely hosts, also included a visit to the Acropolis on Sunday afternoon. Having travelled internationally for work before, this is something I really appreciated. When I went to Amman in 2015 for work, I didn’t get to see any of the nice bits of the city, and it was a shame to go all that way without seeing them. So, I made sure I packed some sturdy footwear and sun protection and off we went to tick another UNESCO World Heritage Site off my list.
The Acropolis
The city of Athens mostly sits within a basin, but with the Acropolis sitting on a raised rocky outcrop in the middle. The Acropolis itself contains several ruined buildings, including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. We had a tour guide who showed us all of these, including the ongoing restoration work. This isn’t to recreate them as they were when they were built over 2000 years ago, but to ensure that they don’t degrade further. The buildings were damaged in the 17th century by the Venetians, and this is the state that they remain today. In their heyday, these buildings must have been even more impressive – we were shown some of the few remaining marble roof tiles. Some sculptures have survived and are still on show.
Further down the outcrop are two theatres – the Theatre of Dionysus which was built by the ancient Greeks and is now a ruin, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which was built by the Romans and is still in use for events today – there was a show there on the Sunday that we visited. You can look down onto these from the Acropolis, and you get great views across the whole city of Athens.
Nearby is the Acropolis Museum – this is close but separate, and we didn’t go in. The current museum opened in 2008, and famously has an empty room to host the Parthenon Sculptures. Also known as the Elgin Marbles, these are controversially on display in the British Museum in London, but may be permanently loaned back to Greece soon. That part of the British Museum is due to close for refurbishment soon so returning them to Athens would make even more sense.
Accessibility
I always try to include an accessibility section in my Days Out posts, but I nearly didn’t bother with the Acropolis. It’s a World Heritage Site on top of a hill, so if you want to visit, you need to be able to handle steep slopes, uneven surfaces and lots of steps. If this isn’t for you, maybe stick to the Acropolis Museum rather than the Acropolis itself.
The good news is that the Acropolis has long opening hours, from 8am until 8pm – my advice would be to visit early or late as there’s very little shade available. We got there at about 5:30pm, by which time there were some shady spots to wait in. Even then, it was still very busy. All the signage is in both Greek and English.
I think, in my mind, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are relatively unusual, and that most people would have only visited one or two in their lifetimes. As it happens, there are well over a thousand UNESCO World Heritage Sites across the world, in over 160 countries. 35 of these are in the UK alone. So, with this in mind, here are all of those that I have visited, split by country.
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. These are specifically the castles at Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Harlech in North Wales, of which I’ve been to Caernarfon and Conwy (and will be re-visiting Conwy this summer).
Frontiers of the Roman Empire. This encompasses multiple sites, some of which are in Germany, but the bit I’ve been to is Hadrian’s Wall. This was when I was still at school and before my blogging days, so I don’t have any photos or blog posts to share.
Canterbury Cathedral. This was way back in 2000, when you could enter the Cathedral Close without having to pay anything. My last visit to Canterbury was in 2019 for work, and by then the entire Cathedral Close was pay-to-enter – as I only had a short amount of time before my train home, I didn’t.
The English Lake District. Apparently the entire national park was also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. My most recent visit was in 2012, albeit just for a day which was spent in Keswick and up Latrigg, so that one of my friends could bag her final Wainwright. So although it wasn’t a world heritage site when I visited, I’m counting it.
Ironbridge Gorge. Another one that I have memories of, but my last visit was when I was very young and so I don’t have any photos. Now that I live towards the western edge of West Yorkshire, rather than York, we’re quite a bit closer to Ironbridge and so we may need to plan a trip there.
Maritime Greenwich. Been through Greenwich a few times, most recently in November 2022 when we went to the National Maritime Museum. I had only recently re-started blogging at the time, so no blog post about it.
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh. Our last visit to Edinburgh was in 2011, although we passed through in 2015 on the way to St Andrews as mentioned above. Our nine-year-old hasn’t been to Scotland yet so we may need to consider a trip sometime.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. We visited around the same time as our trip to the Lake District in 2012. Again, somewhere we need to take our nine-year-old in due course.
Saltaire. Our nearest UNESCO World Heritage Site, it being in the same county and neighbouring borough. Blogged about in 2013, but we’ve visited more recently than that.
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. North Wales again! We passed through in 2019, on the way back from Sci-Fi Weekender in its final year in Pwllheli, however, it was only designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Again, we’ll be back there again this summer.
Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey (National Trust). Last visited in 2020, as it was a mostly outdoor place where we could see my parents in person for the first time since the beginning of lockdown earlier that year.
Tower of London. Last visited in 2016, when our nine-year-old was still a baby.
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City. I’m including this for the sake of completeness as a previous visit in 2010 was during its time as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, it was removed in 2021 due to new buildings being constructed that were ‘out of character’. Most recent visit was last year.
Barbados
Barbados has just the one UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is its capital, Bridgetown. I went on holiday with my parents in 2000, as I’d turned 16 and it was their 25th wedding anniversary. To date, it’s the only time I’ve been to the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Belgium
La Grand-Place, Brussels. I had a weekend in Brussels with my parents in the early 2000s. At the time, my mum worked for a charity that was applying for a six-figure sum of funding from the European Commission, and so it was decided that she would submit the funding bids in person so that there was no risk of it getting lost in the post. We therefore went as a family and made a weekend of it, travelling down on the Eurostar.
Historic Centre of Bruges. The whole of central Bruges is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it’s easy to see why as it’s lovely. Previously I’d been briefly with my parents in 1992, on our way back from a holiday in eastern France.
France
France is the country that I’ve visited the most after the UK, so it’s not surprising that I’ve visited several UNESCO World Heritage Sites over the years.
Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments. I’ve been to Arles more than once, with the most recent visit in 2003. It’s an amazing place – Arles retains its Roman amphitheatre.
Canal du Midi. I’ve been past bits of it. It’s a 150 mile long canal from Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea at Agde, which I last visited in 2003.
Historical centre of Avignon. I’ve been to Avignon a few times, as we used to use Auto-Train (aka Motorail) quite a lot. My parents would take several days driving down, stopping off at places of interest on the way, but we’d put the car on the train and travel back overnight to save time on the return journey. Sadly, these services were discontinued in 2019.
Saint-Émilion. I’m pretty sure I have been here, but don’t ask me when.
Mont Saint-Michel. Last visited in 2018, in a holiday that I haven’t written about yet but probably will do later this year.
Nice. Last visited in 2001 when I went on a fly-drive holiday with my parents.
Greece
I have been to Crete, which is home to several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but as I was only three years old at the time, I don’t really remember it.
Ireland
I have been to Ireland – well, Dublin. There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Republic of Ireland, but neither of them are in Dublin, so I haven’t been to them.
Italy
I have been to Italy twice – once to Venice, in 1999, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and once on a day trip in 2001 to Ventimiglia, a town known for its markets on the French border, which isn’t.
Jordan and Oman
I have been to Amman in Jordan, and Muscat and Salalah in Oman, but this was a work trip so I didn’t get to see any of the heritage sites whilst there.
I’ve been to the northern coast of Spain once, staying near Santander, but it was thirty years ago and so I can’t remember whether we visited any of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites there.
Switzerland
I’ve been to Geneva once, all the way back in 1992, but not to any of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites elsewhere in the country.
Where next
I’ve hinted at a few places that we may go back to in the UK. Next month, there’s a possibility I may check off another international UNESCO World Heritage Site, but I can’t be sure that it’ll happen yet.
