Bonny pictures, Dirk, but I think one might equally describe some of them as incredible places that nature preserved. Pompeii, Herculanium and Akrotiri were destroyed in their pomp, as complete entities, and have given us a picture of their lives that would have been virtually impossible to recover had they continued to be developed and then either been obliterated by rebuilding or just faded and decayed. In particular the preservation of standing structures, wooden artefacts and wall paintings there is exceptional and in situ.
The pictures of Ani reminded me of visiting there some years ago. It's an immensely atmospheric site set in a wide open prairie with nothing else for many miles but sits right on the Turkish/Armenian border with all that implies and is constantly patrolled by the Turkish Army. Just a few hundred metres away, across the river, the Armenian army have a large base and sentries can be seen intently watching whatever is happening on the other side.
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