Caves and tunnels with dark World War II pasts
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — In our roundup of travel stories this week: what it’s like inside Air New Zealand’s new bunk beds, why cruise ships are adding a phantom destination to their itinerary, plus the dark fascist secret that lies under one of Europe’s biggest train stations.
Tragic legacy
It’s a little over 80 years since the end of World War II, but the legacy of that dark period of history lingers on.
In Italy, Milan’s main train station is a tourist attraction in its own right. Its monumental facade is festooned with statues of winged horses and gargoyles, and inside, vast staircases sweep up to the 21-platform departure hall.
However, beneath Milano Centrale’s main passenger facilities lies a concealed platform which, during World War II, was used by Italy’s Nazi occupiers and fascist sympathizers to dispatch Jews and political opponents to death camps. It’s the only place of Nazi deportation to still exist intact.
On the remote Pacific island of Peleliu in Palau, one of the bloodiest and least remembered battles of World War II’s Pacific theater took place nearly 82 years ago.
In September 1944, American troops arrived on the island for what they believed to be a straightforward mission of destroying a Japanese air base. Unknown to the Americans, and unspotted by their air reconnaissance, Peleliu is full of deep underground cave networks, which the Japanese had fortified and stocked with food, water and ammunition.
The Battle of Peleliu dragged on for two long, grim months, claiming the lives of about 14,000 Japanese and 10,000 Americans. Today, tourists come from thousands of miles away to remember the tragic loss.
Set the coordinates
Back near the start of the 20th century, experts at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey attempted to find the center of what was then the United States’ 48 states. They did this by the unusual method of cutting out a cardboard map of the country and balancing it on the head of a pin to find its center of gravity.
The pivot point turned out to be in northern Kansas, just outside a town called Lebanon. Here’s what CNN found there today.
For CNN subscribers, here are two more stories of cartographic curios.
Utqiaġvik, Alaska, is the northernmost city in the United States. It’s accessible only by plane or summertime barge and it’s a place where Indigenous Iñupiat culture runs deep.
Our second destination is a little harder to find — because it doesn’t exist. Null Island is a phantom destination off the coast of West Africa and is the result of a frequent error on digital mapping tools. Now cruise ships are adding this nowhere-place to their itineraries.
Destination inspiration
Planning travels for 2026? Here are two off-the-radar urban destinations for your consideration.
Canberra, Australia’s capital city, doesn’t have a beachfront like Melbourne or an iconic Opera House like Sydney. It is, even its historians say, an artificially planned city “plonked in the middle of nowhere.”
However this experimental “bush city,” designed to settle an argument, is a place of world-class food and drink, offering access to green space and some of the country’s best arts and culture. Here’s why you should “lean into the dagginess.”
In Şanlıurfa, southeastern Turkey, sacred sites tied to the biblical figure of Abraham draw Jewish, Christian and Muslim pilgrims, while prehistoric ruins and vibrant food culture anchor a city where faith and history converge.
Göbeklitepe, 14 miles northeast of the old town, is a Neolithic site from the Pre-Pottery period of around 9,600 to 8,200 BCE. It’s one of the earliest examples of manmade monumental architecture.
Bunk beds take flight
Air New Zealand is hoping to revolutionize sleep comfort on long-haul flights by introducing bunk beds to economy. CNN’s Lilit Marcus reports.
In case you missed it
A London-bound flight was diverted to Rome because of a power bank in hold luggage.
A passenger told crew they had left a device charging from the battery pack.
A woman filed a lawsuit after a hotel refused to serve her tap water.
Italy’s top court sided with the hotel.
This US couple sold their home in Colorado to live on a sailboat.
“It’s not just sunsets and cocktails,” they say.
A rescue operation. A record heat wave. A basketball milestone.
What do you remember from the week that was?
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