Ongoing UNESCO World Heritage Project

I've decided to visit as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as I can in my lifetime!

UNESCO, as you may or may not know, is a specialized branch of the United Nations that has been working since 1945 to preserve places of cultural or natural value worldwide.

I first became interested in these UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the summer of 2008 when my sister and I took a "sisters weekend" to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina, specifically visiting Grandfather Mountain, Blowing Rock, and the surrounding miles of beautiful landscape. Since that trip, I have been keeping track of the Sites I've found on my travels.

Below I have listed the World Heritage Sites I've seen so far - nine countries, twenty-two sites! I'm really excited about seeing how they add up over time and about searching for new places to see! In fact, in just the next few months, I will have the opportunity to add quite a few more to my list, so stay tuned!

AUSTRIA:

1. Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
2. Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape

CZECH REPUBLIC:

3. Historic Centre of Prague

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

4. Colonial City of Santo Domingo

FRANCE:

5. Palace and Park of Versailles
6. Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims
7. Paris, Banks of the Seine
8. Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge
9. Historic Site of Lyons

ISRAEL:

10. Masada
11. White City of Tel-Aviv
12. Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba
13. Bahá’i Holy Places in Haifa and the Western Galilee
14. Old City of Jerusalem and Its Walls

ITALY:

15. Venice and Its Lagoon
16. City of Verona

SWITZERLAND:

17. Old City of Berne
18. Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch

UNITED KINGDOM:

19. Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
20. Tower of London

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

21. Great Smokey Mountains National Park
22. Statue of Liberty

Please note that the previous is not a summary of the countries or places within those countries that I have visited, only a listing of those very specific sites officially recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as places of enduring cultural or natural value.

I am really excited about my new goal! There are 890 sites on the World Heritage List, but as many are in Asia, Africa and South America, I haven't had a chance to visit those...yet.

For more information on the World Heritage Centre, visit http://whc.unesco.org.

And thanks for reading!
That girl in Switzerland