How will you celebrate the olympics?
This article is an adaptation of our weekly Travel newsletter that was originally sent out on July 23, 2021. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.
By George Stone, TRAVEL Executive Editor
As the Olympics kick off this week, all eyes are on Tokyo. But because of the pandemic, the 7.8 million spectators originally expected at the Games will have to watch from afar. This deprives the Games not just of sports fans, but of globally curious travelers. (Above, spectators’ seats Monday at the National Stadium in Tokyo)
The Olympics have long been a celebration of geography, as well as athleticism. The first known Olympics were held in 776 B.C. at a site called Olympia, in southern Greece. Back then they were a religious event, with male athletes competing to honor Zeus and female athletes honoring Hera, Zeus’ consort. The ancient Games ended in A.D. 395, when the Christian Emperor Theodosius I banned all pagan festivals. This Nat Geo video tells the story.
The modern Summer Games were revived in 1896 in Athens, and since then a spirit of friendly competition has brought athletes and fans to host cities around the world. Actually, the competition hasn’t always been so friendly, as James Stout reports in his story about the 1936 Popular Olympics, anti-fascist alternative games staged in Barcelona in protest of Adolf Hitler’s “Nazi Olympics” in Berlin.
With deadly consequences, the Barcelona Olympics were sidelined when the Spanish army marched into the city, aiming to overthrow the Catalan government. “While the 1936 Olympics is remembered as the games where Black American sprinter Jesse Owens undermined Nazi racist ideology by winning the most gold medals, the Popular Olympics athletes hoped their games would demonstrate the strength of the antifascist movement,” writes Stout. “They quickly discovered that the contest against fascism was going to be far more brutal than they’d expected.” (Pictured below, an Olympic torchbearer passes rows of Hitler Youth at the 1936 Berlin Games.)
On a tangential note, Erin Blakemore reports on how nationalism—from the Napoleonic Wars to the Cold War—fueled the rise of modern gymnastics. “Naked men exercising in open-air plazas. Stalwart bodyguards at Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. Diminutive teenagers rocketing off of the ground into a dizzying sequence of flips and jumps. These images aren’t random—they’re all part of the history of gymnastics,” she writes.
In Japan, more than 11,000 athletes from 204 countries are competing in 339 events in 33 sports. (One country, formerly known as Swaziland, was introduced by its new name, Eswatini, in today's opening ceremonies.)
Although Tokyo is contending with challenges, including rising COVID-19 case numbers among athletes and concern among the resident population, the Games will go on.
If you’re feeling Tokyo wanderlust, you can take a virtual walk across the city with photographer and Nat Geo Explorer David Guttenfelder. Greater Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolitan area, with a population of 37 million people. Walking across it is not an Olympic sport … but it should be!
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TODAY IN A MINUTE
Canada reopening its borders: International travelers can start plotting to visit Canada again. The country is allowing fully vaccinated non-citizens to enter for non-essential travel next month. (For its part, the U.S. has extended its ban.) There are rules for entry in place, however, including taking a COVID-19 molecular test and producing proof of vaccination, Nat Geo reports. (Above, visitors on Canada's side of Niagara Falls.)
No more Cleveland Indians: Baseball fans traveling to the see the major league team in Ohio will be rooting for the Cleveland Guardians next season, CNN reports. The name change, announced today, follows Native American criticism and comes as brands re-examine racist characterizations and stereotypical names. Nat Geo examined the issue in 2018.
For the bucket list: Time magazine has named 100 amazing destinations to “The World’s Greatest Places of 2021.” They include laid-back La Paz, Mexico; Savannah, Georgia, for its revitalized riverfronts; warm but mild KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa’s Western Cape; and New York’s Hudson Valley.
Traveling totem pole: There’s a 25-foot-long, 4,900-pound totem pole making its way from Washington State to Washington, D.C., this summer. Created by the Lummi people of the Pacific Northwest, the pole was designed to raise awareness of Indigenous issues and attract the attention of President Biden, Nat Geo reports.
Letting mysteries guide your next trip: From Miss Marple's England to the talented Mr. Ripley's Italy to the Mexican Gothic style of the Hotel de la Soledad in Morelia, writers such as Gillian Flynn, Attica Locke, or Silvia Moreno-Garcia could inspire. “Mysteries, in particular, can capture a whole world—from the moors of Yorkshire to the souks of Marrakech,” writes Raphael Kadushin in this roundup of destinations.
INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY
A taste of Malaysia: Traditional trishaw riders cross the streets of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. George Town, renowned for its historic buildings, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. It seems as if every piece of public property on the island city is occupied by street vendors, offering their fare, Nat Geo reports.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Skip Roswell: If you or your family is interested in researching the possibility of extraterrestrials, why not go where the pros do? “Scientists at plenty of sites in the U.S. are studying the possibility of life beyond Earth, and many are accessible to the public,” Jill K. Robinson writes in a guide to visiting powerful telescopes and research centers. (Pictured above, the SETI Allen Telescope array in northeastern California.)
Subscriber exclusive: Life probably exists beyond Earth. How do we find it?
IN A FEW WORDS
Tourists want to hear directly from us why we went into the hills to fight and what we're up to today. No one has said they don't want to be with us because we used to be guerrillas.
Félix Sanabria, Former Colombian rebel fighter, now leader of Catypsa Expeditions, From: Tourists in Colombia can now take jungle hikes with ex-FARC guerrilla guides
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Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on photography and on Sunday for Amy Alipio on family travel. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to also get Rachael Bale on animals, Victoria Jaggard on science, Debra Adams Simmons on history, and Robert Kunzig on the environment.
LAST GLIMPSE
Building the perfect sandcastle: Of course, he’s a former architect. Beginning two decades ago by seeking to amuse his daughter on the beach, Lou Gagnon has since developed special tools to create his elaborate, impressionistic sandcastles (see one above). “There’s an eternal quality to the form,” he says in the August issue of National Geographic, “but an ephemeral quality to the object.”
This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, and Jen Tse selected the photographs. Have an idea, a link, or a story about the perfect sandcastle? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend!
