NY Times Discovers Peru’s Ollantaytambo

by Kraig Becker on

We told you about Ollantaytambo two months ago, and now the New York Times has picked up on the emerging adventure destination as well. This hidden gem in the Andes offers plenty of activities for travelers to Peru’s Sacred Valley, without the crowds found elsewhere.

The ancient mountain village has long been a stop over for those making the trip to Machu Picchu, the quintessential Peruvian monument. Most viisitors spend just a few hours there to take in the sights, but as the Times rightly points out, there is plenty to keep them occupied, including an Inca fortress that rivals Machu Picchu itself. There are plenty of other well preserved ruins throughout the area too, some of which can only be visited by taking a thrilling mountain bike ride through the Andes.

Ollantaytambo is still building amenities for travelers however, so don’t expect the same variety to the night life as you would in Cusco for instance. But, the article does recommend you drop by the Tapas Bar Cactus while you’re in town and grab a bite to eat at the Hearts Cafe, which donates its profits to children projects in the city. If you decide to stay for awhile, then the Hotel Pakaritampu gets the nod for its rustic charm and comfortable setting.

Traveling to Peru already offers plenty to see and do, but if you’re looking for something a bit different, add Ollantaytambo to your itinerary. You’ll get plenty of scenic beauty and adventure, with smaller crowds at most of the other sites.

Photo of the Day (4.26.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I’ve always dreamed of visiting the Mayan ruins of Central America, so Flickr user pirano’s image from Copan immediately caught my eye. Deep in the jungle of countries like Honduras and Guatemala lie the remains of huge temples, ballcourts and statues, scattered across a number of separate sites. This particular specimen has quite the fearsome visage, wouldn’t you say? Pirano mentions he is a “snake-charming monkey king” in his description. How about that snake coming out of his mouth? Creepy.

Do you have any photos from Copan you’d like to see featured on Gadling? Or maybe just from Columbus, Ohio? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Gadling + BootsnAll – Picks of the Week (4.10.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Welcome back to another weekly installment of our Gadling and BootsnAll Picks of the Week. Every Friday we’ve been taking a look at 4-5 of the most interesting stories from our friends at independent travel website BootsnAll. What strange destinations, thought-provoking lists and out-of-the-way festival ideas did we come up with? Check below for a few ideas:

  • Beer Bash – if you like drinking beer (or just enjoy a good party) you definitely already know about Germany’s popular Oktoberfest in Munich. If you’re looking to avoid the huge crowds of drunk tourists in Munich this year, Jennifer Price suggests you check one of Germany’s huge variety of other beer festivals, happening throughout the year in cities across the German state.
  • Cathedrals of the East – just in time for Good Friday Christina Dima has a religiously-themed rundown of 11 of the most interesting Orthodox-style Churches and Cathedrals. Though they share many customs with the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church also has many of its own unique traditions and architectural styles. Having recently seen the Church of the Spilled Blood in Saint Petersburg, I would have to agree these buildings are quite beautiful and unique.
  • Forgotten Ruins – mention the word “ruins” to many travelers, and destinations like The Pyramids, The Parthenon and Machu Picchu immediately come to mind. Yet there are plenty of equally impressive but far less-visited ruins out there waiting to be discovered. How does a visit to 40 acres of ancient Maya temples hidden in the jungle in Honduras sound to you? Cherrye More has the scoop on Six of the Least Visited Ruins you need to check out now.
  • Market Essentials – if you want to get a sense of the local culture the next time you travel abroad, visit the local market. Whether its fresh pasta spices in the Campo de Fiori in Rome or Seltzer Bottles in San Telmo in Buenos Aires, you’ll get a great peek into daily life and unique insight into what sorts of products get the locals buying. Dana McMahan takes this concept to the next level with a look at the Markets of Europe and their various specialities.
  • French Cathedrals – wrapping things up on a relgious note, BootsnAll’s France Blog has post on some of the many Cathedrals of France, from the ubiquitous Notre Dame in Paris, to lesser-known structures in Reims and Tours.

Top seven forgotten Soviet-era attractions

by Jerry Guo on

I’ve recently written about urban ruins in Detroit (it’s almost the “perfect” city for visiting abandoned structures, if you think about it). But for something a little more exotic and even sinister, you’ll have to fly to Russia. Here are the top seven “abandoned wonders” of the Soviet Union, courtesy of the good folks at the all things urban blog WebUrbanist.

  • Promyshlennyi, an entire abandoned city–very gloomy feeling
  • A once-secret military submarine base–feels straight out of James Bond’s Goldeneye
  • A gulag–looks less scary without the guards who will shoot you on sight
  • New (but abandoned) buildings–this can only happen in Russia
  • Former missile silo–may be the only decommissioned missile silo open to tourists.
  • Oceanside fortress–comes with miles of secret tunnels, free of charge
  • Your generic giant satellites, mining scoopers, and other heavy machinery–the satellite is the size of a soccer field just to give you some perspective

Eye-opening ruins (but in Detroit?)

by Jerry Guo on

There’s a trove of clubs that go out and explore urban ruins. And if you really think about it, there’s no better place to do that than in Detroit, a city that has been in constant decay for decades (yeah yeah they always seem to have some sort of revitalization project going on).

Two especially interesting, abandoned structures in Detroit happens to be the Michigan Central Station and the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository. These pictures, by the way, all come from a local photographer in Detroit. You can check out more of his shots here.

I just came back from Machu Picchu, the abandoned Incan citadel in the Andes that was rediscovered about a hundred years ago. It’s interesting to think about the parallels and differences between an Incan ruin and a Detroit ruin. In 500 years, will tourists flock to the Michigan Central Station and gawk at it like a work of art? Probably not. To be honest, I don’t think the Empire State Building or Grand Central will even get the star-treatment Machu Picchu gets. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the Incans.