The Travel Wire: best travel reads #22

La Rambla in Montevideo, retro snow train to the Dolomites, Egypt’s ‘other’ pyramids, the illusion of conquering countries through travel

Welcome to The Travel Wire, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

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Travel reads

• Signs of life in a desert of death [Noema]

“In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.”

• 50,000 steps in a city where the sidewalk never ends (archive) [NY Times Travel]

“In Montevideo, Uruguay, the nearly 14-mile waterside promenade La Rambla serves as an outdoor living room for locals. It’s also a perfect antidote to visitors’ winter blues.”

I’ve often found myself wishing that some cities had a walkway like La Rambla in Montevideo.

• How can I persuade you not to go to the Eiffel Tower? [Thoughtful Travel]

“And do I even have a right to try?”

• I spent the night on Italy’s “new” retro snow train to the Dolomites—here’s what it’s like onboard [Afar]

• One can never step foot in the same country twice: The illusion of conquering countries through travel [Those Who Wander]

“There's something odd about checking off a country on our to-do list when we recognize everything is constantly changing. What are we to make of this uncanny way of looking at the world?”

• Egypt’s ‘other’ pyramids: Why the Saqqara Necropolis is a more adventurous alternative to Giza [Adventure.com]

• All the trains I rode In China [Defector]

• Slow down and hear the whispers [Of Tides & Thyme]

“A place only reveals itself in the spaces in between, in quiet alleys and dawn markets, in the sound of footsteps fading into mist.”

• A frozen, protected wonderland: slow adventure in the less visited French Alps [The Guardian]

• Crowds, chaos and counteractions: How TikTok became the enemy of small destinations [euronews]

• Round-the-world hiker arrives in Cambodia [The Phnom Penh Post]

“After eight months on the road, Bangladeshi athlete Saiful Islam – known as Shanto – has trekked some 3,000 kilometres from his homeland. He arrived in Cambodia this January.

He plans to complete a 12-year mission, walking across 193 countries, with the goal of inspiring people to “Save Trees to Minimise Global Warming” and promote environmental preservation.”

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James Clark (Nomadic Notes)