The Travel Wire: best travel reads #61

The Travel Wire is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads from around the web.

Travel reads

• Every tree can be a Buddha [Kottke]

"The Chōishi-michi pilgrimage route is an amazing 12-mile trail that winds its way up through the forest from the Jison-in temple in the town of Kudoyama in the valley to the Danjo Garan temple in the town of Kōyasan in the mountains."

• Orphans of history: the forgotten republic of Transnistria – photo essay [The Guardian]

• From Putin souvenirs to Soviet lunches: Why has travel to Transnistria gone viral? [Euronews]

"The mini Soviet nation remains internationally unrecognised, but it seems tourists can’t get enough."

• The fair at the edge of the desert [A Mind on the Move]

"Among horse traders, desert magicians, and jewelled camels, India reveals its irresistible, bewildering self."

• William Dalrymple: rediscovering the ancient wonders of eastern Turkey (archive) [FT]

"Forty years after he first visited as a student, the historian takes a road trip across Eastern Anatolia, finding restored monuments, new museums and archaeological digs that shed fresh light on the region’s complex past."

• The pull of India: a country I never wanted to visit, but can’t stop returning to [The Making of a Journey with Ilona Vinogradova]

"Radically kind Kashmir, the Syrian Christians of Kerala and the magnetism of Auroville."

• What if your lodging was a travel partner, not a prop? [Go Unpacked]

"A tiny house in the forest showed our family how where you stay can define a trip."

• How this Italian town came to be known as the ‘City of Witches’ [Smithsonian Magazine]

"Centuries ago, it was said that Benevento was a gathering place for the occult. Today, superstitions still run deep."

• Beyond Dubai’s glitter, glimpses of life before oil (archive) [NT Times Travel]

"The smaller, less visited parts of the United Arab Emirates offer a window into the past of a country whose riches once came largely from pearls."

• How fear almost stopped me from one of my greatest travel experiences 😨 [Itchy Feet]

"My life would have never been the same."

Travel resources

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…

James Clark (@nomadicnotes) - Editor.