Travel Briefs

April 2018 issue | Appears on page 24

New Vatican entrance

Vatican City is constructing a second entrance to its museums to relieve wait times for visitors. Currently, the city-state’s single museum entrance serves all of the roughly 25,000 visitors it receives each day, causing wait times of many hours.

As of press time, there was no estimated date of completion of the second entrance.

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 37

NZ treetop walk

On the shore of Lake Mahinapua, outside of Hokitika on New Zealand’s South Island, visitors can walk on a suspended walkway between trees at the West Coast Treetop Walkway (1128 Woodstock-Rimu Road, Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand; phone +64 0508 8733 8677, www.treetopsnz.com).

For people with mobility issues, entry to the 60-foot-high, 1,476-foot-long walkway is via ramps, but a tower more than 130 feet high at one end is accessible only by stairs.

Summer hours (last...

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 46

‘Lisbon’s African Roots’

The walking tour “Lisbon’s African Roots” focuses on Portugal’s history of exploitation of Africa and on the influence Africans have had on the culture and heritage of Lisbon. It includes visits to former slave markets and places of spiritual significance and ends at an African restaurant (meal included).

The 3-hour tour is led, in English, by Naky, a native of Togo and an African history enthusiast. It can be booked at www.foodiebookings.com/tour/lisbon-tours-...

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 59

Kazakhstan’s alphabet

Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Naza­bayev, announced on Oct. 27, 2017, that the nation would be switching its official alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin by 2025. Kazakh, a Turkic language, began being spelled in Cyrillic during the Soviet era. When including ligatures (such as æ), the Latin-based Kazakh alphabet will have 32 letters.

Because of the difference in the number of letters (Kazakh Cyrillic contains 33 letters), some common Latin transliterations may change, such...

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 60

Glass-floor gondola, Australia

Carrying passengers 270 meters (885 feet) above a ravine in Australia’s Blue Mountains, the upgraded Scenic Skyway gondola began operation in November 2017 at Scenic World (phone +61 2 4780 0200, www.scenicworld.com.au), located at Violet Street and Cliff Drive in Katoomba, New South Wales.

For the 720-meter trip, dozens of riders stand atop a glass floor (one section has seating and solid flooring), with views of Katoomba Falls, the Three Sisters rock formation and Jamison...

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 64

Vienna artists exhibit

Until June 10, 2018, the exhibit “Vienna 1900: Klimt/Moser/Gerstl/Kokoschka,” at Vienna’s Leopold Museum (MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, Austria; phone +43 1 525 700, www.leopoldmuseum.org/en), will display the museum’s collection of works by those Viennese Modernist artists along with other works on loan.

Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Mon., Wed. & Fri.-Sat. and 10-9 Thurs. €13 (near $16) adult or €9.50 senior.

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 64

Köln urban art map

More than 60 murals have been painted in the city of Köln (Cologne) during the CityLeaks Art Festival, held every two years since 2011, and a new guidebook and map, “Recover Discover – Urban Art Koeln,” pinpoints each mural.

Get the map for free at the Köln Tourism Board’s Service Centre (Kardinal-Hoffner-Platz 1, 50667 Köln, Germany; phone +49 221 346 43 0, www.cologne-tourism.com).

Led by artmx (the group that organizes CityLeaks), a few guided tours...

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April 2018 issue | Appears on page 64

South Korea travel guide app

With the app “Korea Travel Books,” created by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), travelers to South Korea can access the KTO’s most up-to-date travel guides as well as guides published by regional tourism organizations, along with maps and information on day tours, accommodations and transportation. The app also determines the user’s location and automatically displays guidebooks for the area, also offering real-time weather and currency-exchange information.

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