An Organ Played by the Sea

by Justin Glow on

Located on the sparkling shores of the Adriatic Sea in Zadar, Croatia — home of what Alfred Hitchcock once called “the most beautiful sunset in the world” — lies the one and only pipe organ designed to be played by the sea. Built in 2005, this unique structure utilizes the rolling sea and strong, unsystematic winds to create a majestic and completely random sound that is never the same twice.

According to an article on OddMusic.com, “Each organ pipe is blown by a column of air, pushed in turn by a column of wave-moved water, through a plastic tube immersed into the water.” The end result ends up sounding a bit like this. [.mp3]

Interested in visiting what Lonely Planet calls “one of the most beautiful parts of Europe?” Head to your local bookstore and pick up the 4th edition of Croatia, released in March of 2007.

Update: This isn’t the only sea organ in the world (sorry!) — there’s another one in San Francisco. (Thanks Oana!)

[Via A Welsh View]

LonelyPlanet.tv

by Willy Volk on

Lonely Planet recently launched lonelyplanet.tv, a new website packed with travel footage shot by Lonely Planet TV — like the excellent overviews of Mumbai and Berlin — as well as uploaded by independent travelers — see, for example, the clip of Lake Burma’s jumping monastery cats or the unusual tour of the unusual Squilax Hostel in Canada (hosted by an unusual tour guide).

The clips load fast (a plus!), though they aren’t embeddable (a minus). Nevertheless, the site, organized by channels, contains loads of footage that’s meant to inspire, educate, fascinate, or simply amuse.

Swing by and browse through the channels A Year of Parties; Oh F***! Oh Wow! (showcasing unusual happenings around the planet); and Tripcast, which features travel journals.

Get inspired. Then go do something.

Listen to the Wheelers

by Erik Olsen on

It’s one thing to read an article about a couple as interesting and accomplished as Tony and Maureen Wheeler, you know, of Lonely Planet fame. There was a terrific article way back when in the New Yorker that I highly suggest you read. But hearing the voices of the folks themselves and hearing them tell the story of the most famous travel book company in the world, well, that’s something else entirely. So why not go over now and listen to the Independent podcast with perhaps the most famous travel couple since..well, I can’t think of another travel couple at the moment.

No matter. The interview here is chock full of anecdotes about how the company got started, to a discussion of their multitudinous experiences from India to Oman. Also Tony’s go a book (which I just got) about traveling to the “Axis of Evil’ countries called “Bad Lands” that is due out in April.

A Year of Adventures

by Dave Luna on

Happy New Year! “So what? Broken resolutions and more taxes?” No, you cynic. That’s just disturbing.

A whole new calendar means 365 more days for adventure! If you arm yourself with Lonely Planet’s A Year of Adventures: A Guide to What, Where, and When to Do It, you’ll be prepared to hike, bungee jump, and cycle until the the first tick of 2008.

The book features over 100 adventure travel experiences in 130 countries. Also, A Year of Adventures assigns each activity to the month that is the usually the best time of year to try it out. For example, the book notes that the slopes of Mt. Yasur are at their best for volcano boarding during the first week of July.

Don’t worry, though. The activities aren’t all extreme sports adventures and challenging jungle hikes. There are less strenuous recommendations like cruising the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea and ballooning in Serengeti National Park.

I made my New Year’s Resolution after navigating through this book: “To figure out a way to get more vacation days at work.”

Lonely Planet’s Blue List

by Erik Olsen on

Here at gadling, we’re all about finding new travel ideas. And equally, we’re about pointing you to places where those ideas are most abundant. Well, where abundance is concerned, I have just closed the covers on a cornucopia of ideas that, frankly, has me feeling a little exhausted right now.

Lonely Planet’s new edition of its Blue List series is a compelling page turner that, if you’re like me, will cause an immediate shortage of yellow post-its. Those post-its now cling to the inside pages of my Blue List guide, making it look a bit like a paper peacock flattened by a semi.

The Blue List guide, subtitled “The Best in Travel 2007” provides page after page of sumptuous photos and informative text about interesting places and things to do in them all over the globe. The ideas start off with a calendar section that groups together events by month. For example, December has the Festival of the Oases in Tunisia and the Hornbill Festival in India. Chances are, you’ll have to Google these for more info, but they’re a fine start.

Other recommendations in the book are broken out by activity, so if you are, for example, a fan of scuba diving, you can get a good idea of the top trips for bubble blowers. The books lists the Cocos Islands in Costa Rica and Chuuk lagoon in Micronesia among their top spots. Or let’s say you have long believed in UFOs and want to design a trip for you and your ET-loving friends? Well, you can do that, too, with their paranormal trips section.

Then savor my favorite section, called the Go List, which breaks out LP’s top picks for places to visit in the coming year. We’re NOT talking Florida and Vegas here. We’re talking about exotic, less-explored locales like Maluku, Indonesia and Gabon. Then there’s a section on gadgets and the best places to wed and dark travel and, well, more and more.

If I have any complaints, it that while the book really whets your appetite, you don’t leave feeling completly satisfied. In fact, you leave a bit hungrier than before. But as I say, maybe that’s what Google, or LP’s country-specific guides are there for. Either way, keeping to their fine tradition of helping you REALLY get out there, the good folks at Lonely Planet have done a fine job with this new book.