Skip the usual sightseeing monuments, natural wonders and trendy beaches and consider trips to what are called "sleeper cities, " vibrant locations that aren't often thought of as vacation spots.

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Some inclusions on the 2012 World Monuments Watch list have been damaged by natural disasters or neglect, such as heritage sites in eastern Japan, Gothic Revival buildings in New Zealand and the oldest cemetery in Athens, Greece.

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Applications are reviewed by two advisory bodies: cultural sites by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and natural sites by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Applications are then reviewed by two advisory bodies: cultural sites by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and natural sites by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which inform the Committee of their recommendations.

UNESCO: CULTURE

Many have survived the ravages of time, from invasions to natural disasters, mostly recently the 1975 earthquake that destroyed many monuments and weakened overall foundations.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

They each can pursue an independent existence but they are both different expressions of a more basic idea that special places ought to be circular, which seems quite natural to us, but large parts of Europe don't have circular monuments in prehistory.

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To the Hittites the natural world, springs included, was a place of great religious importance, one worthy of monuments with giant lions.

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