Gadlinks for Monday 10.5.09

by Brenda Yun on

It’s the first Monday of October — and you know what that means, right? FALL is here. It’s time to hike and check out the fall foliage! There are some other great travel reads for this Monday, so let’s get started!

‘Til tomorrow, have a great evening!

More Gadlinks here.

Last Ottoman dies, but the civilization endures

by Sean McLachlan on

It was only a blip on the world news last week, but historians will remember it as the end of an era. Ertugrul Osman, the last heir to the throne of the Ottoman Empire, has died at the age of 97.

He was the last grandson of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, and would have become Sultan himself if the caliphate hadn’t been abolished in 1922 as the remnants of the Ottoman Empire remade itself into the Republic of Turkey following defeat in World War One.

Osman reportedly never wanted to be Sultan, but if the empire survived he would have ruled over a civilization of great artistic achievements. The Ottomans may be a thing of the past but you can still enjoy Ottoman art, especially the architecture that graces all parts of the former empire, which once stretched west from Istanbul almost to Vienna, and south across the Middle East to Yemen and west into North Africa.

Ottoman architecture took its cues from Byzantium, an empire that ruled much of the area the Ottomans took over, as well as the refined styles of Iran. The gallery shows a sampling of what to expect as you journey through the former empire.

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Stay overnight at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

by Katie Hammel on

Architecture buffs and fans of Frank Lloyd Wright have long enjoyed a visit to the architect’s Fallingwater house, near Pittsburgh, and soon, true fanatics can pay a premium to spend two days and two nights on the famous property. The new overnight program will debut on weekends, welcoming up to 8 guests at a time, either this December or in early March of next year.

Guests won’t actually sleep in the house – they’ll retire at night to a newer four-bedroom home built on the grounds. They’ll take an in-depth tour one night and be treated to a dinner party with a special guest and the house curators the next. Days are free to spend at leisure, enjoying Fallingwater as the house’s director says it was meant to be. Guests can stroll the grounds, explore different rooms of the house, or simply relax as though the home was their own.

The going rate to sleep in an architectural masterpiece? $1,195 per person for double occupancy.

Dubai’s ‘The World’ cancelled

by Kraig Becker on

Remember Dubai’s The World? It was just one of a number of high profile construction projects for a country that seemed to have more dollars than sense. The plan was to create a series of man-made islands in the shape of the major landmasses on the planet. Eventually, plots of land on those islands would be sold off to the highest bidders for residential and commercial zoning. At least that was the plan, but then the world’s economy went into the tank, and like a number of big projects, The World fell victim to the credit crunch, and was canceled.

That may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems with the man made archipelago, which sits just 4 km off Dubai’s coast. The Times Online is calling it “the world’s most expensive shipping hazard”, and worse yet, the tons of rock and sand that have been dumped into the Arabian Sea have altered the water flow and changed the environment there, which may have a long lasting impact on the ecosystem of that region too.

Now, The World, which in no way resembles the actual planet, is marked as off limits, with security boats patrolling its shores and warning buoys encircling the piles of rock and sand. Only one of the islands is actually occupied, and that one is owned by Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai. The rest have fallen into disarray and are described as looking like piles of muck by a local property agent. What was once a high profile symbol of the country’s opulence, now seems like a failure of epic proportions.

[via Wend]

Photo of the Day (6.30.09)

by Grant Martin on

I find myself slightly unsettled about my upcoming travel to Dakar, Senegal this Tuesday, partially because the tourism office in New York wont pick up the phone and partially because Dakar is rock bottom on the Economist’s recent liveability survey.

Yet as our tweeters and my archaeologist friend Cameron assure me, Dakar is a magnificent place. This photo, shot by cfarivar on the island of Goree just off the coast of Dakar tends to reassure me. Despite having the knowledge that Goree was a former slave trading hub, the colors, architecture and history of the region seem most endearing, a trait that any traveler can grow warm to. I’ll let you know how the trip goes…

Think you’ve got what it takes to submit to the Photo of the Day series? Add your photo to the Gadling Pool on Flickr and we might use it down the road. Make sure you save them under Creative Commons though, otherwise we can’t use them!