How one of the most bombed places on the planet survived
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — We have a history theme to our CNN Travel newsletter this week, from Istanbul’s Ottoman legacy, to the discovery of ancient human footprints in New Mexico, to an underground Nazi fortress in Poland. First up, though, is an incredible story of survival during the Vietnam War.
Wartime tunnels and bunkers
Before 1965, Vịnh Mốc was a tranquil fishing village in central Vietnam, with a lush landscape of rice paddies, bamboo thickets and golden beaches.
Then, due to its strategic location on the border of North and South Vietnam, it became one of the most bombed places on the planet during the Vietnam War.
Over eight years, American forces would drop an estimated 9,000 tons of explosives over the village.
Relocation wasn’t an option under such heavy bombardment, so villagers took refuge in the only place they could: underground.
Within two years, an ingenious tunnel complex was constructed, with arched ceilings and thick walls, and zigzag subterranean pathways to better absorb bomb blasts.
Hundreds of residents would spend six years beneath the village while it was under fire, and at least 17 children were born in the underground complex’s maternity ward. Read the full story here.
For CNN subscribers, we also have the story of Poland’s Wolin Island, an idyllic vacation getaway, which once housed an underground Nazi fortress. It was an ambitious design, with a network of bunkers and almost a mile of tunnels.
The complex, known today as Wolin Underground City, was built secretly by the Nazis in 1936 in defiance of the Versailles Treaty, which prohibited German rearmament after World War I.
Today, it’s open for all to see.
Ancient footprints and Bronze Age art
Experts didn’t believe marks uncovered by a biologist in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park in 2009 were ancient human footprints.
Seven years later though, they were proved wrong — and it had earth-shattering consequences for long-debated theories about when prehistoric people first arrived in the Americas.
That was just the beginning: The discoveries snowballed from there.
Kyrgyzstan’s Saimaluu Tash valley is also home to ancient wonders that only came to light in modern times.
Ten thousand rocks, etched with nearly 90,000 carvings dating as far back as the Bronze Age, make Saimaluu Tash one of the largest and most remote high-altitude petroglyph sites in the world.
Getting there involves climbing a rocky path through the Tian-Shan mountains and crossing a seasonal snow bridge where the petroglyphs can be accessed for just a fleeting six-week window each summer.
For subscribers, the CNN Original Series “The Wonder List with Bill Weir” debuted in 2015 with a visit to the Pacific island of Vanuatu, where native tribes were facing a modern world that threatened their culture’s ancient traditions. Stream the episode here.
Istanbul, city of empires
The city now known as Istanbul has been at the heart of empires, from the Roman to the Byzantine to the Ottoman, and their legacies can be found throughout the Turkish metropolis.
Yedikule Fortress, a former prison and imperial treasury whose origins go back to the fourth-century Walls of Constantinople, is returning to its former magnificence as the result of a multi-stage restoration project.
Topkapi Palace, built in the 15th century on a strategic promontory at the edge of Europe, was the seat of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years.
It’s one of the world’s greatest surviving palaces, alongside other regal estates such as France’s Palace of Versailles and China’s Forbidden City, and many tales of intrigue between sultans, eunuchs, concubines and the royal household went on within its walls.
Wild West movie ranch
LA’s Melody Ranch has spent more than a century standing in for America’s Wild West. Its dusty main street, saloon and hand-painted signs are seen in “Gunsmoke,” “Deadwood,” “Django Unchained,” “Westworld” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”
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Fifty travel destinations to inspire you for 2027.
Chosen by Lonely Planet.
The-CNN-Wire
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