Weekly Travel Reads: Australia’s ‘ghost’ reef

[The Travel Wire #97] Beyond the end of the Orient Express, Dubrovnik journey that ditches the crowds, gatekeepers are hiding their favorite places, and more travel reads.

Travel reads

• For three hours every day, open ocean transforms into Australia’s ‘ghost’ reef [Smithsonian Magazine]
“An isolated wonder some 1,200 miles from the nearest city, Montgomery Reef disappears as quickly as it appears, mirroring the supposed vanishing of its original owners, a tribe of Indigenous giants.”

• Beyond the end of the Orient Express [Unframed]
“Inside Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel, where Agatha Christie, Atatürk and a century of legends share the same corridors.”

• An epic Dubrovnik journey that ditches the crowds (archive) [BBC Travel]
“Dubrovnik has long been one of Europe’s most over-touristed destinations. Now, a new Camino footpath is revealing a different side of the city beyond its medieval walls.”

• In travel hot spots, gatekeepers are hiding their favorite places (archive) [NY Times Travel]
“As visitors flock to places like Mexico City, Milan and Copenhagen, residents are rethinking what they share, and who they share it with.”

• Are you also a novelty-seeker when you travel? [Thoughtful Travel]
“How one of my greatest travelling motivations is connected to my brain …”

• The new tourist attraction in Asia isn’t a temple or museum. It’s the convenience store [Travel + Leisure Asia]
“Asia’s convenience stores have become unlikely tourist hotspots where travellers discover local food and a slice of everyday life.”

• This utopian Indian township was founded in 1968. How much longer can it last? [Adventure]
“On a recent visit to southeastern India, journalist and photographer Nicola Zolin finds himself at Auroville—an experimental, international township established in the late ‘60s. But is it the utopia once dreamed of?”

• Sarlat-la-Canéda: The French village I didn’t know I was looking for [Fonzi et Moi]

• A journey to Annapurna Sanctuary [Backstories]

• Why Scotland’s cinematic Moray coast made it a perfect location to shoot The Odyssey [The Guardian]