National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest has just ended, and the judges have some tough decisions to make. But you can be a judge, too, and vote for your favorite image in the People, Places, and Nature categories. Here's last year's People winner, taken by Ilvy Njiokiktjien in Mozambique:

The verdict: "This is one of those wonderful moments when everything comes together visually," says freelance photojournalist Maggie Steber. "There is a musical rhythm to the image." National Geographic design editor Darren Smith agrees: "The composition is intriguing with the mirroring of the women's bodies. I find it to be very harmonious and soothing. There is something reassuring in the play between the colors, shadows, and light. It appears simple at first but gets more complicated the more you look at it."

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site and vote for your favorite images. Viewer's Choice winners will be announced in early December. Check out the gallery of last year's Viewer's Choice favorites. Voting closes November 8.

Last year, we wrote about a progressive green community with a fitting name--Greensburg, Kansa--that continues to set new standards in eco-development.

After a May 2007 tornado ravaged this town of 1,500 residents, the community voted to rebuild Greensburg as energy-efficient as possible. According to a New York Times article, community leaders' goals were to "build a sense of economic dynamism that would generate new businesses and jobs and persuade Greensburg's talented young people not to leave." 

One of the newest additions to the town, the Sun Chips Business Incubator (above), is designed to help local businesses recover after the tornado. The Business Incubator, completed in May 2009, received a LEED Platinum rating, the highest rating possible, due to its greater than 50% energy savings and innovative water reuse system.  Strategic window placement and skylights allow the Incubator to be mostly day lit, while photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof supply 10% of the building's energy needs. Water from the sinks and showers is collected and reused to flush the toilets.

Hello city lovers! Andy Hayes, author of the Edinburgh Walking Guides, takes us on a stroll through his favorite city.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you're still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We're going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!).

Edinburgh, Scotland is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is a walk down the Royal Mile.  It's the heart of the city and where most of the popular attractions are.

When I crave fish and chips I always go to Bene's on the Royal Mile - if it's fit for royalty then it works for me.

To escape the city I head for the Water of Leith Walkway. It's 12 miles long but you can do any number of sections, or the whole thing if you feel like.

If I want to have good coffee I go to Artisan Roast.

For complete quiet, I can hide away with a stroll down the Innocent Railway Tunnel bike path. It's so easy to reach from the city centre, yet miles away from the world.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with a bagpiper. I suppose it's just what is done.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from any pub it has to be haggis! Don't ask what it is, just try it.

Locals know to skip Princes Street and check out the boutiques on Cockburn Street as well as hidden alleyways across the city.

When I'm feeling cash-strapped I go for a nice pub meal. Greyfriars Bobbys Bar does a mean steak and ale pie.

Photo ops in my city include anywhere in Holyrood Park and the best vantage points are anywhere near the castle.

• The hills are alive, with the sound of... Google? Google recently opened its offices in Zurich, Switzerland, and certainly knew how to integrate Swiss culture into the office, as evident by these meeting rooms--in the form of ski gondolas--above. [FastCompany]
  
  
• In other European news, the Munich Airport was recently rated Number 5 in the world, according to a recent Skytrax survey. One of the main reasons it fared so well? Its abilities to reduce stress. The airport has a visitors' park where travelers can take walks, mini golf, and in summer, sit on a beach. The airport also has a brewery with local beer, a Fit & Fly Health & Spa Club with message chairs in multiple terminals and, at Christmastime, the airport has a traditional Bavarian market, making me almost wonder why anyone would ever want to leave the airport in the first place.

Photo: via FastCompany

National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest has just ended, and there are some great submissions, like this one taken in Shanghai.

We like how photographer Gail von Bergen Ryan was able to capture the bright colors in this tunnel. She says, "I was in the front car of the short subway between Pudong and the Bund, and was treated to the wonderful spectacle of an oncoming train in the tunnel's changing light show. I put my camera up to the window and shot as fast as possible to get this image."

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site and vote for your favorite images. Viewer's Choice winners will be announced in early December. Check out the gallery of last year's Viewer's Choice favorites. Voting closes November 8.

Travel writer and photographer Lola Akinmade rounds up some exciting lodging options for hobbyists.
 
These days, bedding down on sterile white cotton sheets in a typical hotel room doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Our insatiable need for peculiar lodging alternatives that cater to specific hobbies and personal interests means more fanatical and themed hotels keep popping up across the country. From "Choo choo" trains to pirate-themed digs and "Wild Wild West" villas, here are some of the most fanatical hotels from around the country.

Adobe Grand Villas, Sedona, Arizona
Travel back in time to the Wild Wild West with a stay at the Adobe Grand Villas. This boutique bed & breakfast resort offers a "Wagon Wheel Villa" with elaborate beds built out of wooden wagons and white canopy covers complete with wheels. Other themes include a "Cactus Flower Villa" and a "Silver Spur Villa."

Vision Quest Ranch, Salinas, California
Welcome to the jungle...literally, at this safari-style bed and breakfast. You'll share the grounds with real lions and tigers and giraffes along with a host of other wild animals. Apparently, daily continental breakfasts are delivered to your bungalow by elephants.

The Vick, Los Alamos, California
This Victorian Mansion Bed & Breakfast offers you six different themes--a 1950s Cadillac; an Egyptian room complete with a chariot; Pirate, French, Roman rooms; and a special Gypsy-themed room that sports a repurposed caravan for a bed.

Wigwam Village, Cave City, Kentucky
Have you ever wanted to sleep in an authentic wigwam? Now you can. This village has actually been around for awhile, since 1937, and has been designated a historic landmark. It is also located close to Mammoth Cave National Park. Though usually open year round, the village will shut down on November 15 and is scheduled to reopen on February 25, 2010.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the world's largest alliance of animal welfare organizations, just launched a new component to its animal rights advocacy work, a new website called Compassionate Travel.
   
Compassionate Travel lists travel dos and don'ts and functions as a clearinghouse for international volunteer opportunities with an animal-welfare focus.

To make sure your next trip is animal-friendly, please heed some or all of the following:

• Visit nature reserves and national parks instead of petting zoos and roadside attractions.
  
  
• Skip the marine park and take a dolphin- or whale-watching cruise instead.
  
  
• Boycott bullfights and other festivals that use animals in potentially exploitive ways.
  
  
• Support the local humane society or shelter where you're traveling. Even donations of used towels and dog or cat food are helpful.
  
  
• Avoid animal rides or taxis.

• A South Korea court has ruled that cab drivers can continue to have televisions on their dashboards, despite the obvious risk of getting into an accident. The BBC reports, "The ruling comes after a taxi driver challenged a $507 (£311) fine imposed by the local authorities in the capital, Seoul. The city's tortuous congestion led taxi drivers to install new mobile TV systems in an attempt to beat boredom." [BBC]
  
  
• Scotland's family-friendly Crieff Hydro Hotel has asked that its guests leave video games at home this holiday season in an attempt to "restore traditional family values." The hotel, said to be the oldest family-run hotel in Scotland, is hosting family quizzes, Highland games and archery, sporting activities and outdoor laser quest over the holidays. We're realistic, acknowledging that teenagers may want some time away from their parents, and vice-versa, and there are plenty activities to break free and be independent with family friends or others in their peer group," says the hotel's managing editor. "We're not just offering a fun family Christmas but opportunities for our younger guests to be active, learn new skills and make new friends." [Scotland Herald]

Photo: Paul in Uijeongbu via Flickr

National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest has just ended, and there are some great submissions, like this one taken in Bangkok.

This picture really does say a thousand words. Says photographer Ashutosh Karkhanis, "This picture was shot in Safari World in Bangkok last year. As we were waiting for the orangutan show to begin, this orangutan caught my eye. He looked so bored of doing the same act day in and day out. His body language seemed to say, 'When is this all going to end?'"

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site and vote for your favorite images. Viewer's Choice winners will be announced in early December. Check out the gallery of last year's Viewer's Choice favorites. Voting closes November 8.

Sabina Lohr visited Salalah, Oman, just after monsoon season. While there, she got a unique taste of the region.

In Salalah, Oman, the annual khareef, or monsoon season, brings cool relief from the oppressive summertime temperatures felt throughout the rest of the country. Each year, many Middle Easterners travel to this town of 180,000 in the Dhofar region of Oman, on the Arabian Sea northeast of Yemen, from late June through September, when its desert skies fill with a drizzle that turns its brown landscape a temporary green. But after the khareef, during the autumn and winter, when the skies dry out and temperatures hover in the low- to mid-eighties, this little part of the earth becomes an ideal escape for Westerners craving a wintertime respite.

For my first visit to Salalah I wait until just after the end of the monsoon season, arriving in late September to find rolling hills blooming with grass, flowers, and foliage. The desert, starkly beautiful itself, is still visible through the greenery. My guide, Ali Amer Al-Mashani, leads me to a roadside stand where strips of camel meat hang to dry before being wrapped in foil and cooked over coals (above). I eat some, tangy and delicious.  We make our way to another stand where we buy coconuts, drink the fresh milk inside and peel and eat the soft, wet and sweet coconut meat.

There's so much going on here at National Geographic headquarters that it's hard for us to keep track. Here's a roundup of events happening in November.

Terra Cotta Warriors, National Geographic Museum
Our eagerly anticipated special exhibition opens November 19 at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC, and will run through March 31, 2010. The crated warriors arrived the other night and the museum staff is getting the statues in place right now. Timed tickets are required and they're going fast. You can buy them here. Save your ticket stub to get 20% off in our newly redesigned and expanded National Geographic Store.  For directions on how to get to the museum, click here.

Glimpse Correspondents Program
If you plan on working, studying, or volunteering abroad, apply for the Glimpse Correspondents Program. Each semester, the Glimpse Foundation picks a team of talented young writers and photographers between the ages of 18 and 34 and rewards them with a $600 stipend, career training in writing or photography, and publishes their work on Glimpse.org. All entries are due by November 8.

National Geographic Expeditions
Want to go on a warm-weather trip? National Geographic Expeditions is hosting a free online webinar on Monday, November 9 at 8 p.m. about its upcoming expeditions to Costa Rica and the Panama Canal. To register for the webinar click here, or learn more about the expedition here. Best of all, those who book a trip between January 1 and March 31, 2010 will get a $500 airfare credit.

National Geographic Image Collection
Stop by our DC headquarters and take a stroll around our courtyard to see LED lightboxes showcasing some of the best (and some never-before seen) National Geographic photography. The exhibit is free to the public, and is based on our new book, National Geographic Image Collection (hint: makes a great present!). A video preview of the book is here.  The New York Times recently profiled Bill Bonner here, the keeper of our photo archives, which contains more than 11.5 million images. 

National Geographic Channel
Admit it: you love IKEA and all of its fashionable, cheap goodness. On November 5 at 8 p.m., National Geographic Channel's Ultimate Factories series takes viewers inside IKEA's largest plant in Zbaszynek, Poland, and shows just how IKEA makes its wood furniture.   Here's a video preview of the show.

All Roads Film Project
On November 4, the Society will hold a special screening of Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of one Apache Family, a documentary about Native American art and traditions. There will be a discussion with the director, producer, and Allan Houser following the screening. Tickets are $8.

National Geographic Traveler Seminars
Our fall-winter schedule is available now, and lists one-day seminars in travel photography taught by National Geographic photographers. The next seminar is December 6 in Seattle, with our lively team of Jim Richardson and Catherine Karnow, who share with you their secrets on how to make photos "that tell a story."  Video preview here. For more info and online registration, click here.

• For the past month, 10 slabs of the Berlin Wall have been installed outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). According to thelocal.de, "The 2.6-tonne slabs have been made available to artists, who have been given free rein to make their own statements on each block of concrete." The wall will be on display until November 8, "being symbolically toppled." [thelocal.de]
  
  
• Through November 5, Omni Hotels is offering 40 percent off select stays in Austin, Chicago, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Diego, New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, and Tucson. Reservations must be made for travel between Dec. 2, 2009 and Feb. 10, 2010 (and excluding December 31). Fore more information, click here. [Omni Hotels]

Photo: currentevents via Flickr

National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest has just ended, and there are some great submissions, like this one taken in India's Ganges River.

Says photographer Jenay Martin, "The Ganges is the holiest river in India. Every morning and every evening Hindus bathe in the holy river. However, it is very polluted, and in this very location there is no living oxygen and is pure sewage. Even in the filth of Varanasi, life goes on. People still bathe, and animals still manage to find things to eat. This goat is eating a holy garland that was offered to the river during a funeral procession."

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site and vote for your favorite images. Viewer's Choice winners will be announced in early December. Check out the gallery of last year's Viewer's Choice favorites. Voting closes November 8.

Managing Editor Scott Stuckey has just returned from Turkey and got an insider's look at Istanbul's famous Whirling Dervishes.


I first heard the term "Whirling Dervishes" as a young child and, reasonably enough, surmised that they were dervishes who loved to whirl. What a dervish was, exactly, remained a mystery to me until last Friday, when I stepped into a 500-year-old Turkish bathhouse (repurposed as the Hodjapasha Culture Center) in the Sirkeci area of old Istanbul. Here, monks of a mystical Sufi order of Muslims--known traditionally for their spirituality, self denial, and tolerance--perform a centuries-old dance ritual for the admission price of 40 Turkish lira, beverage included.

My tour group streamed into the circular brick room, and we took our seats just a few feet from the Plexiglas stage, lit from beneath with colored lights, where the dervishes would spin. A worry crossed my mind: What if a dervish got dizzy and landed in my lap? We were that close.

Soon, musicians took their place in an alcove and began playing and chanting classical Turkish music, using traditional drums and stringed instruments. In time, five dervishes appeared, walking around the perimeter of the stage. Their every movement--crossing their arms, laying a sheepskin on the floor opposite the door, bowing, saluting one another--followed established traditions lost on most of us in the audience, though we sensed there was meaning to it all.

Last week, National Geographic Traveler assistant editor Janelle Nanos got to chat with legendary actor and World War II enthusiast Tom Hanks, who has "perhaps done more than anyone in Hollywood today to help tell the stories of the war with the film Saving Private Ryan and HBO series Band of Brothers" and who just helped produce the interactive film Beyond All Boundaries for the World War II Museum in New Orleans. Hanks's goal of the film--which premiers on November 8--was to make an impression: to give the viewer a chance to look beyond the familiar black-and-white portrayal of WWII and see that these were real people, living their lives in a period that would change them forever.

A trailer of the movie can be seen here. For the complete interview and insiders look at the film, click here.

• For the first time, tickets to the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be awarded by online lottery system. Fill out the application between November 4 at 12:01 a.m. EST and November 6 at 11:59 p.m. EST for a chance to win one of 10,000 tickets (7,000 are standing-room-only) to the annual tree lighting on December 3. [Jaunted]
  
  
• Ever wonder what the colors on top of the Empire State Building actually mean? Check out website WhatColorIsTheEmpireStateBuilding.com for a guide to what the colors stand for each day. Brilliant! [Gadling]

Photo: BenjaminB99 via Flickr

Friend of IT (and author of delightful Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia) Roff Smith is just back from biking the Welsh national cycling route, and shares with us some tips on traveling in the area.

So how do you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch? You got me. It's not easy.  Since I've returned from cycling the Lôn Las Cymru--the Welsh national cycle route--I've thought of little else but going back and doing it all again. Stretching more than 250 picturesque miles from the ancient castle town of Chepstow in the south, to windswept Holyhead in the north, (home to the Holyhead Harpies Quiddich Team, if you happen to be a Harry Potter fan), this is said to be the most beautiful of  Britain's long-distance cycling trails and having cycled a good many of them myself, I'd be hard put to disagree.

Those five days I spent travelling its length were like a step out of time, a harkening back to a slower, gentler oil-painted world of leafy country lanes, old market towns, World Heritage castles and the romantic 11th-century ruins of Llanthony Priory--and yes, there's plenty of utterly unpronounceable Welsh names along the way, not least of which is the aforementioned town on the isle of Anglesey, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the U.K.'s longest place name. Locals shorthand it to Llanfair P.G.

The route itself is cobbled together of quiet lanes, cycle paths, even a stretch of ancient coaching road. It is superbly signposted and so easy to follow that you don't really need any maps, although the excellent ones published by Sustrans are well worth having since they can help you plan your day, and offer up interesting alternatives--you can, for example, start off from Cardiff if you wish. There are plenty of B&Bs and pretty little inns along the route, so you needn't rough it or carry a lot of gear--a point worth considering since the Lôn Las Cymru meanders through the Brecon Beacons, the Cambrian Mountains and Snowdonia National Park, making it one of Britain's more challenging rides as well.
 
Of course, you don't have to cycle the whole thing in one go.  Good rail connections and bicycle-hire shops mean that the Lôn Las Cymru is very do-able in weekend-sized bites, say, between Chepstow and Hay-on-Wye, sixty miles of the very same countryside for which William Gilpin, the 18th century traveler and essayist coined the word "picturesque".  There are still the hills of course, but then, isn't that what those hearty B&B breakfasts are for?

Photo: George Borrow Photography

Roff Smith's October article for National Geographic magazine, about the shipwreck of a 16th c. Portuguese ship carrying more than 100 million carats of diamonds, can be found here.

Going to the World Series this year? Whether you're a Phillies or Yankees fans (I'm just upset my hometown Nationals forgot how to play ball this year), here are some tips on traveling in both cities.

Getting There
Call it the Amtrak Series, but the cheapest way to get from city to city is by bus. Budget buses Megabus and BoltBus both offer inexpensive fares between Philadelphia and New York.

Philadelphia

I Heart My City: Philadelphia
Albert Lee serves as concierge at the Independence Visitor Centerhttp://www.independencevisitorcenter.com/, and tells us what to do, see, and where to eat in the City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia On Foot
One of the best ways to explore the city is by foot. Print out our map of Philly's Northern Liberties neighborhood, and check out more tips on visiting the historic neighborhood from IT.

Family Vacation Planner: Pennsylvania
Get cool tips on all the places to take your kids in and around Philadelphia.

Philadelphia's Italian Market
Philadelphia is home to America's longest-operating outdoor market, and writer Jeff DiNunzio shares some insider tips on the best spots to visit.

Click below for tips on traveling in New York City.

• Looking for a Thanksgiving getaway? Aspen, Colorado's Hotel Jerome is offering a "120th Anniversary Celebration" package between November 25-29. For $1,889 (half the usual price--and the year the hotel opened), guests get: four-night's accommodation for two in a junior suite, lift tickets for two days, and a full Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday evening. [Gadling]
  
  
• Want to celebrate the holidays with George and Martha Washington? Tickets to Mount Vernon's annual Candlelight tours went on sale yesterday. Every year, the estate opens its doors at night, and leads tours of Mount Vernon, complete with hot apple cider, cookies, caroling, dancing, and even a special appearance of Mrs. Washington. Tours are offered on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from November 27 through December 13. Click here for more information and to make reservations.
  

Forget the white sheets this Halloween and go on a hunt for some real ghosts.  And what better places than abandoned prisons and hospitals?  The following include some of the most haunted asylums and penitentiaries in the country.  Many of them offer tours... are you brave enough?

Waverly Hills Sanatorium - Louisville, Kentucky

Opened in 1910, this treated tuberculosis patients during the TB epidemic of the early 1900s.  Fresh air and bed rest were the main treatments during this time - patients were kept outside on porches for most of the day, even during the winter (this led to the invention of electric blankets).  Heliotherapy, or "sun treatment", was also used, as it was believed the sun helped kill the bacteria that cause TB.  Other treatments included ways to temporarily restrict a portion of the lung in order to "let it rest".  One of these treatments, the "shot bag" method, included placing a one pound bag of shot on both collarbones of the patient. The amount was increased by four or five ounces each week until the patient would carry 5 pounds on the upper part of each lung. More permanent treatments involved various methods of collapsing one of the patient's lungs.

Visitors to the Sanatorium can take a 2-hour guided historical tour or spend a half-night (4 hours) or a full night (8 hours) hunting ghosts.  One common spot to have paranormal encounters is in the Body Chute, or Death Tunnel, which was once used to transport the bodies of deceased TB patients down the hill to waiting hearses or trains. Many patients died each day during the epidemic and the staff preferred to use the Body Chute rather than carry them through the main hall in an effort to keep morale up.  Unusual experiences at the Sanatorium include seeing shadows, smelling food from the abandoned kitchen and hearing voices screaming and moaning.  During the month of October, visitors can brave the Terror on the Hill, a haunted house at Waverly Hills.