Weekly travel reads: Mauritania

[The Travel Wire #96] Homer the travel writer, Lisbon, how a quiet Chinese fishing village became a global surfing hotspot, and more travel reads.

Travel reads

• Mauritania: A rare glimpse at one of the world’s least-visited nations (archive) [BBC Travel]
“Located almost entirely in the Sahara, Mauritania is home to centuries-old cities, desert oases and a coastal spectacle so vast you can see it from space.”

• Homer the travel writer [Trying!]
“The Odyssey isn’t just the bedrock of Western literature — it’s a master class in transforming experience into narrative.”

• When Germany built a flying train 125 years ago, a city coalesced beneath it. It has moved royalty, commuters and tourists—and one elephant—ever since [Smithsonian Magazine]
“When there was no room on the ground, towns in the Wupper Valley looked to the skies and built a suspension railway that became a source of pride and connection.”

• Drive like an Egyptian [Scott Monaco]
“On the road through southern Egypt (Way-oh, way-oh).”

• My City: Lisbon [Roadbook]
“A Lisbon local reflects on a city in flux, and shares an insider view on exploring the Portuguese capital – from its picturesque panoramas and fuss-free affordable dining to a thriving art and nightlife scene.”

• How a quiet Chinese fishing village became a global surfing hotspot (archive) [SCMP]
“Wanning, on tropical Hainan Island, is now home to 160 surf clubs and welcomes 500,000 visitors a year.”

• After a career in tourism, I’m staying home [Kaleidoscopic Living]
“Other mid-life women clamor for plane tickets; I’m choosing to nest.”

• A smorgasbord for the eyes [Trailing Ivy]
“Angola is an overlanding dream.”

• Denmark’s ‘Cold Hawaii’: the artfully cool surf zone on the Jutland coast [The Guardian]

• Wisdom for modern travel, from medieval pilgrims [Via Mediaevalis]
“that from which you are running, is within you…”

• A fortified castle on a tiny Italian island suspended between sea and sky [House & Garden]
“The Mattera family have been the caretakers of Aragonese Castle on an islet off the Italian island of Ischia since 1912, restoring its walls, buildings and gardens to create a cultural destination.”

• The mystical, secret island paradise in the middle of Africa’s largest lake [CNN Travel]
“On a tropical island more than 600 miles from the sea, a mystical waterfall springs out of a rock and cascades down a cliff, eventually flowing into Lake Victoria and then the Nile. It’s a natural and, for many Ugandans, a spiritual wonder.”