Red Corner: Cuban Time Warp

by Neil Woodburn on

One of the most remarkable joys about travel is not so much a shift in geography, but in time. I’ve been fortunate to travel to many places where very little of the modern world has infiltrated and by merely visiting, one is magically whisked back to another era. Such locations are extraordinarily rare these days, but do indeed exist.

Cuba is one such place. Castro’s fiefdom is virtually frozen in the mid-1950s when communism took root and America slapped back with an economic blockade. As a result, the entire Caribbean island is like a museum of the past. For the most part, not a smidgen of post-1950s can be seen anywhere. One can stand in the middle of a Havana street with only a couple of 1950 Fords and Edsels to keep you company; there are no billboard advertisements, neon signs, halogen street lamps, or Neiman Marcus-wearing pedestrians. Just the 1950s, pure and simple.

An excellent LA Times article in last Sunday’s paper covers these themes and also addresses something equally as important: the challenge of actually visiting a country which the US government forbids its citizens to step foot on.

Go now before McDonald’s arrives.

Cities for Art Lovers

by Erik Olsen on

One of the best museums I’ve
ever been to was not in New York, Paris or London. It was in Madrid. The museum is called the Thyssen, and it is small and wonderfully organized. In fact, they took great
pains to arrange the paintings according to genre and period, and they don’t overwhelm you with sheer volume, the way
they do at places like the Prado or the Met. The presentation of work is measured, elegant and, well, quick.

Well, over at MSNBC they have put together a nice little listing
of the top ten cities for art lovers. Now it is a testament to their short-comings or my own lack of experience and
knowledge about the art world that they left out Madrid. But they did include many other well-known art cities. New
York gets the nod, as does Florence, Paris and Chicago. They also give Berlin, one city that I am dying to see, a high
ranking.

Too Many World Heritage Sites?

by Adrienne Wilson on

New York Times runs an interesting story worth reading if you’ve ever visited such World Heritage sites as the Statue of Liberty, Angkor Wat, the Jiuzhaigou Valley or any of the other 800 plus cities and landmarks. At one time in 1978 there were only 12 sites listed and as the list continues to grow and grow folks are starting to wonder if the program’s meaning is beginning to get lost. Once making the World Heritage list several places are using the opportunity to increase tourism, which can often damage the cultural and natural sites of “outstanding universal value,” the list was designed to protect. A good handful of people are also starting to suspect the list is doing more harm than preservation. Enormous hotels soon get constructed, admission prices shoot up and a sea of camera toting and flash snapping tourists are certainly changing the look of the places, but what is one to do? Curiosity of the named sites would certainly drive me to visit places like the Takht-e Soleyman (Iran), Bahla Fort (Oman), or the Simien National Park (Ethiopia), but I’m sure concern comes for some of the more popular destinations like the ones mentioned in Mexico.

Historic Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Most of the people who read gadling enjoy
travel with a purpose. Whether that purpose is learning about a place, working on a documentary a book or an article,
or just improving your Spanish, the point is you are traveling to improve yourself. To learn. That is the gadling way.

Well, this may not be for everyone. Thenotion of traveling somewhere and having a guide show yo uaround
might appeal to the old folk. But over at a site called Historic Travel,
you can choose from a wide array of different educational trips that will improve your understanding of history. For
example, most everyone loves Abe Lincoln, and most everyone knows a little bit about him. Some more than others. But
what about spending four days in Washington, DC, exploring the life and times of Abraham
Lincoln in the company of a noted historian? That could be cool, eh? That’s just one of many trips ovffered at
Historic Travel that might be worth checking out.

Torch Tour Town: Trieste

by Kelly Amabile on

The Olympic torch was in Trieste yesterday, a town I hope to visit when I’m
in Italy this coming summer. Nestled between the mountains and the sea, it is one of the oldest cities in the country,
a historic seaport village located at the northeast tip of the Adriatic. Sites to see include the Roman ruins, Vittoria
Lighthouse, the Cathedral of St Giusto, Duino Castle, Miramare Castle and the Miramare Nature Reserve. Triste is an
ancient settlement that was under rule of Austria after years as a Roman colony. After WWI the town became part of
Italy once again, only to be claimed by Yugoslavia after WWII, mainly because the population outside Triste is
predominantly Slovenian. Triste became part of Italy again in 1954. The town has a university, founded in 1924. It is
often overlooked but has served as home to many writers and artists through the years, among them travel writer Jan
Morris, who wrote Trieste and the Meaning of
Nowhere in 2000. The 17th annual Trieste Film Festival kicks off
today, devoted to the cinema of Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. It runs through the 26th. The torch is on day 42
of it’s tour, stopping in Udine today and on to Tarvisio tomorrow. We’ll catch up with it again next week.