	ZEGRAHM & ECO EXPEDITIONS — Giving You The World 1-800-628-8747 or 206-285-4000

>Home >Travel Destinations >Library Articles >Site-Seeing: World Heritage Sites We Treasure

Z-Mail

Site-Seeing: World Heritage Sites We Treasure

by Zegrahm Expeditions, April 2007

Related Links

Our expeditions explore dozens of World Heritage Sites around the globe. Highlighted here are three superb sites we visit on voyages to Algeria, Vietnam, and Russia's White Sea.

Algeria: The Casbah of Algiers (Inscribed in 1992)
Algiers, the Mediterranean-bordered capital of Algeria, is known for its intriguing architecture, especially the hill-hugging brilliant white Casbah which once lent the city its nickname, La Blanche, or the white one. Like the other casbahs, or medinas, of northern Africa, Algiers' venerable citadel is a time capsule of life lived long ago. The original construction, an Ottoman fortress and palace for the local ruler, the dey, was built in the early 16th century. The traditional houses and old mosques lean haphazardly over a jumble of narrow streets that still follow the original footpaths of the city's Roman roots. About 1,000 ancient buildings, constructed of mud bricks and stucco, sport cantilevered overhangs; another 450 or so are French-colonial in style. Section-by-section restoration of the Casbah by UNESCO is ongoing. Russia: The Cultural and Historic

Ensemble of the Solovetskiy Islands (Inscribed in 1992)
The Solovetskiy Archipelago, a cluster of six large islands and several small ones, sits just 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle and graces Russia's ethereal White Sea. Greater Solovetskiy is home to a vast monastery founded by monks in the mid-15th century. More than 1,500 monks, servants, and artisans lived and worshipped here in a walled kremlin of living quarters, cathedrals, and churches. Many lakes dot the island, and outlying hermitages along their shores were interconnected with an ingenious network of canals. Stalin took over the island in the early 20th century and established his infamous Gulag prison system in the old houses; today a museum elaborates on that dark period. Stone labyrinths stretch the island's history back two millennia and a superb botanical garden showcases a hundred-plus species of regional flora. The Solovetskiy Island site was among the very first in Russia inscribed onto the UNESCO list.

Vietnam: Halong Bay (Inscribed in 1994)
Famous for its bewitching beauty, Halong Bay, which literally translates into "where the dragon descends into the sea," is a landscape of rugged limestone pillars—1,600 islands that rise vertically from the blue-green waters like the scales of its enormous namesake dragon. Of this fragile 579-square-mile area in the Gulf of Tonkin, 154 square miles are protected as a World Heritage Site. Cruising the serene waters in small local boats is the best way to view the secret grottoes, rock arches, and sugar-white ribbons of sand that fringe the islets whose fanciful names include Frog Island, Fighting Cock Island, and Isle of Wonders. Thick mangroves, bright green fica plants, and prickly cacti give shelter to monkeys, antelopes, and iguanas. The waters are rich with 200 species of fish and more than 400 species of mollusks; pearl oysters are farmed in narrow channels.