text:
Ontario (California)

Ontario is in San Bernardino County and the Southern California region, more than 35 miles (50 km) east of Los Angeles. From a traveler's perspective, Ontario is noteworthy mainly as the home of a large mall and the Ontario International Airport, a less crowded alternative to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the main airport serving the Inland Empire.

By plane

There are two terminals for commercial flights, numbered 2 & 4:

 * Terminal 1: The is in the (old) Terminal 1 building for military personnel and their families transiting into or out of the area. Terminal 1 is also the location of the airport administration offices.The  is in a separate building next to Terminal 1 for arrivals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Taiwan. There is a free shuttle bus from the old terminal 1 and international arrivals to Terminals 2 & 4. International departures with Avianca, China Airlines and Volaris are at Terminal 2.
 * Avianca El Salvador, Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air (Gates 205 & 206), Delta/Delta Connection (Gates 207-209); Frontier (Gate 210 & 211); JetBlue (Gate 203), United/United Express (Gates 201-203); Volaris; China Airlines (Gate 212).
 * American/American Eagle (Gates 408 & 410); Hawaiian (Gate 401), Southwest (Gates 403-407), and New Pacific (Chartered only) (Gate 413).
 * ... at 3450 E Airport Dr in the NE Corner of the airport grounds at E Airport Dr & N Haven. From Terminals 2 & 4 there is a frequent and free shuttle bus going over to the consolidated car rental terminal to pick up a rental car. If renting from Fox they will send their shuttle to pick up customers at the consolidated car rental terminal instead of the airline terminals. For a better rate on car rentals it is best to shop around and reserve a car online or over the phone prior to arrival. A private car is a convenient way to get around locally and for going out to remote locales such as Joshua Tree.

By public transit, OmniTrans 61 goes east and west between Fontana and Pomona (via Civic Center, Airport, Ontario Mills) while the ONT Connect (380) operates a direct non-stop route to the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink Station. The bus stops for the #61 and 380 (ONT Connect) buses are located at the far right (east) next to Terminals 2 & 4 where the access road merges into the main E Terminal Way, past the taxi stands. The #81 bus goes north and south connecting Chaffey College to the East Ontario Metrolink Station along Haven Ave (via Ontario Mills Mall). It passes by the Airport at S Haven & Airport Dr and does NOT go to the airport terminals. Bus stops are along Haven Dr, SW & NE of its intersection with Airport Dr.

By car
Ontario is located along Interstate 10 (I-10), west of the Interstate 10 & 15 junction, approximately 37 mi east of Los Angeles (39 min), 24 mi (25 min) west of San Bernardino, 71 mi (1 hr) west of Palm Springs, and 114 mi (2hr 14min) northeast of San Diego (off of Interstate 15):
 * I-10.svg San Bernardino Freeway Interstate 10 connects Los Angeles to Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio), through Ontario and San Bernardino. Ontario is accessed from exits 49 ("Central Ave") through 59 ("Etiwanda Ave") along I-10. Ontario does not have a clearly defined downtown except the neighborhood northeast of the intersection of Euclid Ave & Holt Blvd, as that is where city hall and other city government functions are located at. To get there, exit off at the Euclid Ave (California State Route 83)/Upland off-ramp at exit 51 and go south along Euclid Ave to Holt Blvd. There are 9 exits into Ontario from I-10.
 * I-15.svg From San Diego, go northbound on I-15, through Riverside. Ontario is accessed from exits 103 ("Limonite Ave") through 110 ("4th St") along I-15. There are six exits into Ontario from I-15.
 * California 60.svg Pomona Freeway connects from Los Angeles to Beumont where it merges into I-10, though Ontario and Riverside. Ontario is accessed from exits 34 ("Mountain Ave") through 41 ("Milliken Ave/Hamner Ave").
 * California 66.svg & US_66_(historic).svg W Foothill Blvd goes east-west does through Claremont, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga, north of Ontario, which does not go through Ontario. From W Foothill Blvd, there are multiple north south roads between N Benson Ave and I-15 one can take (go south on) to get into Ontario.
 * California 83.svg Euclid Ave goes north-south through Ontario between Old US Route 66 in Upland to CA-71 south of town. From the junction of CA-81 and 71, one can continue south to get to
 * California 91.svg Riverside Freeway connects the Inland Empire (at its junction with I-15 and 215) to Torrance through Santa Ana and Anaheim in Orange County. Getting to Ontario one can exit off of the 91 via the 71 (at Exit 45) and 83 (Euclid Ave) or continue to the 15 (Exit 51) and go north on the 15 to the 10 or 60.

By train
Ontario has two train stations. is served daily only by the Metrolink Riverside Line, connecting Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Riverside. sees trains just three times a week, when the Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans (with through-cars towards Chicago on the Texas Eagle) make a stop here. Nearest cross platform transfer station between Amtrak and Metrolink trains is only in Pomona.

By bus
See By bus under Get in of the San Bernardino article for a list of additional bus and shuttle companies serving the area.

Get around
There are car rental agencies at the airport.

title: Ontario (California)


text:
Ontario (disambiguation)

There is more than one place called Ontario:

North America

 * Lake Ontario - One of the Great Lakes, shared by the U.S. and Canada.

Canada

 * Ontario - A province of Canada.

United States of America

 * Ontario (California) - A city outside of Los Angeles in the state of California.
 * Ontario County - A county in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
 * Ontario (New York) - a small town in Wayne County in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
 * Ontario (Oregon) - a town in Oregon.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ontario (disambiguation)


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Ontario (Ohio)

Ontario is a city in Northeast Ohio in Richland County, Ohio, USA. It is a major regional retail hub serving the entire North-Central Ohio area, with a shopping population of over 150,000.

By plane

 * Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, +1 216 265-6030. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is Cleveland's main airport, on the west side of the city. The airport is served by most of the major domestic airlines, and it is a hub for United Airlines.
 * John Glenn Columbus International Airport,, 4600 International Gateway, Columbus, +1 614 239-4083. Direct flights to most major American cities.
 * John Glenn Columbus International Airport,, 4600 International Gateway, Columbus, +1 614 239-4083. Direct flights to most major American cities.

By car

 * U.S. Route 30, Ontario can be accessed by U.S. Route 30 which provides access to Mansfield, Interstate 71, Wooster and Canton to the east and Galion, Bucyrus and Fort Wayne to the west.
 * Ohio State Route 309 goes through the city of Ontario. It provides access to the city of Galion to the west and the city of Mansfield to the east.
 * Ohio State Route 314 runs along the western city boundary of Ontario. It provides access to the village of Chesterville to the south and the city of Shelby to the north.
 * Ohio State Route 430 starts out at Ohio State Route 309 in the city of Ontario and runs east along Park Avenue West through eastern Ontario. It provides access to the city of Mansfield and the village of Mifflin to the east.

Other busy thoroughfares in Ontario:
 * Lexington-Springmill Road runs through the east side of the city of Ontario as a main busy route to the areas major regional retail center with access to the Richland Mall and U.S. Route 30. It also provides access to the Ohio State University Mansfield Campus/North Central State College and Ohio State Route 39 to the north and the village of Lexington to the south.
 * Park Avenue West (Ohio State Route 309 and Ohio State Route 430) runs through the city of Ontario.
 * West Fourth Street runs through the city of Ontario. It provides access to the Richland Mall and U.S. Route 30 to the west and the city of Mansfield to the east.
 * Walker Lake Road runs through the northeast side of the city of Ontario as another busy route to the areas major regional retail center. It provides access to Oak Tree Golf Club and Rock Road to the west and Home Road and the city of Mansfield to the east.
 * Home Road runs along the eastern city boundary of Ontario at Mansfield and is another busy thoroughfare.

Drink
There are plenty of choices for alcohol. Most grocery stores carry it, as do the gas stations, drive-throughs and convenience stores.

Go next

 * Lexington
 * Mansfield
 * Shelby

title: Ontario (Ohio)


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Ontario (Oregon)

Ontario is a city of 12,000 people (2020) in Eastern Oregon along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The city is the largest community in the region of far eastern Oregon, also known as the Western Treasure Valley.

Understand̝
Ontario, and the northern 3/4 of Malheur County, uses Mountain time, rather than Pacific — a reflection of its close ties with Idaho.

By car

 * I-84.svg & US 30.svg Interstate 84 passes around the north and eastern part of town to/from the Snake River. Ontario is accessed from Exits #374 (SR-201) and 376 (E Idaho Ave/US Hwy 30). Going west from Ontario US 30 runs concurrently on I-84. Ontario is located (6 hrs) southeast of Portland and  (1 hr) northwest of Boise.
 * OR 201.svg OR Hwy 201 goes around town on the west side from I-84 (Exit #374). Connects Ontario to US Hwy 95 in Weiser ID north and to US Hwy 20 & 26  south of town in the hamlet of Cairo, Oregon.
 * US 20.svg & US 26.svg US Hwy 20 and 26 go another west from Cairo to Vale where they split towards separate directions. US Hwy 20 goes southwest towards Burns and Bend while US Hwy 26 goes up towards John Day and Prineville. Going the other way SR-201 become US Hwy 26 which continues  south and east towards Caldwell ID from Cairo.

By plane
The nearest airport for commercial flights is Boise Airport which located south of Boise off of Exit 53 of I-84 and 59 miles SE of Ontario.

By bus
The is located in front of the Malheur County Transportation District's office & bus garage at 842 SE 1st which is located SE of the E Idaho/I-84 Jct next to Kirley's Family Dining. SE 1st Ave becomes SE 10th St. It serves as a central bus stop for:

Sleep
Most of the listed hotels in the below are east of town at E Idaho Ave & I-84 (Exit #376):

Go next

 * Baker City, Oregon: The time zone changes to Pacific time about 25 miles from Ontario at the Baker county line.
 * La Grande, Oregon: The next city after Baker on I-84
 * Boise, Idaho: The capital city of Idaho, and also its largest city.

title: Ontario (Oregon)


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On the trail of Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a Venetian traveler who went far to the East, following some of the many branches of the Silk Road. He left in 1271 and returned about 1295. His book about his travels was a best-seller then and is still well-known 700 years later.

William Dalrymple retraced the route in the 1980s and wrote a book, In Xanadu, about it.

The book
Marco Polo owes his fame to a book which he wrote after his return. At the time, there was an intense rivalry between the great trading cities of Venice, Pisa and Genoa. The Venetian Polo and his co-author, Rusticiano of Pisa, were both prisoners of war in Genoa when they met and wrote the book.

The original title translates as A Description of the World, but it is usually referred to as The Travels of Marco Polo. This was the first account of a journey to the East to be widespread in Europe, and was the best reference on Asia from its publication around 1300 until the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the East by the Cape Route almost 200 years later. Polo's tales of the riches of the East were part of the reason for the Portuguese voyages, and also spurred on Columbus.

The book was the first in Europe to mention a number of things including oil from Iran, and coal, paper money and window glass from China. Some claim that Polo introduced noodles to Italy, but this is hotly disputed.

This itinerary is based on a version of the book downloaded from Project Gutenberg. They describe it as "the unabridged third edition (1903) of Henry Yule's annotated translation, as revised by Henri Cordier; together with Cordier's later volume of notes and addenda (1920)." All quotes are from that version.

There is considerable scholarly controversy about the book. It was written by two Italians, but the original was probably in medieval French, the trade language of the day. The oldest known copies are from a few decades later, several conflicting versions in French, Italian and Latin. A later Italian version contains additional material, apparently based on Polo family papers. Polo actually saw some of the things he speaks of, but for others he repeats tales from other travelers. Which are which? How much did Rusticiano, the writer of romances, embellish the story? Some critics say Marco never got east of Kashgar and only heard tales of central China — he never mentions chopsticks, tea, bound feet, or the Great Wall. Others cite Mongol records indicating someone named Polo was indeed there.

Fortunately, various scholars have figured out most of this. Here, we simply follow Yule and Cordier, and discuss the route as their translation gives it, ignoring the controversies.

The book generally uses Persian names for places. What about the Mongol names? Or Chinese? What was lost in various translations? In various wars? Is the city still there? Has it been renamed? We give Polo's term and the modern name. For example, Polo's Kinsay (which Yule and Cordier call Hang-Chau-Fu) is Hangzhou.

Background
The brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo were Venetian traders. One brother had a wife back home, but they worked mainly out of Acre (a crusader city that is now called Akko in what is now Northern Israel) and Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which Venice ruled at the time. From 1260 to 1269, the brothers made a trip to the Far East. On their second trip, starting in 1271, they brought Nicolo's teenage son Marco.

The family had strong ties to the Adriatic island of Korčula near Dubrovnik, then a Venetian possession. It seems likely Marco was born there, though he grew up mainly in Venice. Korčula is trying to develop tourism and there are some Polo-related museums and monuments there. Of course, there are also some in Venice.

Some quotes from Yule and Cordier's commentary, about the political and economic situation when the Polos set out are as follows:

 * Christendom had recovered from the alarm into which it had been thrown some 18 years before when the Tartar cataclysm had threatened to engulph it. The frail Latin throne in Constantinople was still standing, but tottering to its fall. The successors of the Crusaders still held the Coast of Syria from Antioch to Jaffa. The jealousies of the commercial republics of Italy were daily waxing greater. Alexandria was still... the great emporium of Indian wares, but the facilities afforded by the Mongol conquerors who now held the whole tract from the Persian Gulf to the shores of the Caspian and of the Black Sea, or nearly so, were beginning to give a great advantage to the caravan routes.

 * In Asia and Eastern Europe scarcely a dog might bark without Mongol leave, from the borders of Poland... to... the Yellow Sea. The vast empire which Chinghiz had conquered .. was splitting up into several great monarchies... and wars on a vast scale were already brewing.

"Chinghiz" is an alternate spelling for Genghis Khan. The "wars on a vast scale" involved his descendants vying for power as the empire split up.

The first trip east
The brothers set out from Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1260, and sailed across the Black Sea to Soldaia (now Sudak) in the Crimea. Soldaia was a largely Greek city at that time and routinely traded with various Mediterranean ports.
 * It had belonged to the Greek Empire, and had a considerable Greek population. After the Frank conquest of 1204 it apparently fell to Trebizond.

You can still take a boat from Istanbul to Trebizond (now called Trabzon) in eastern Turkey; one variant of the Istanbul to New Delhi over land itinerary uses this. There might also be boats to Sudak or nearby Sevastopol.

 * It was taken by the Mongols in 1223... about the middle of the century, the Venetians established a factory there... Ibn Batuta... counts Sudak as one of the four great ports of the World.

Ibn Batuta was a Tunisian who set out east in 1325 and also wrote of his travels.

 * The Genoese got Soldaia in 1365 and built strong defences, still to be seen.

In this period the great trading cities of Genoa, Venice and Pisa dominated the Mediterranean world. One of the tourist sights of modern Sudak is the ruins of a Genoese fortress.

Where the brothers were more daring than most other traders was continuing beyond Soldaia, deeper into Mongol territory. They went into the Caucasus to Sarai, capital of this part of the Mongol Empire, near modern Astrakhan, Russia. Then a war between Mongol factions broke out, preventing a return west. Unable to go west, the brothers headed east to the great city of Bokhara, which like everything else in Central Asia had been conquered by the Mongols a generation earlier.

 * After they had passed the desert, they arrived at a very great and noble city called BOCARA... The city is the best in all Persia.

 * ... up till the conquest by Chinghiz, Bokhara, Samarkand, Balkh, etc., were considered to belong to Persia.

"Chinghiz" is Genghis Khan.

Today, Bokhara and Samarkand are cities in Uzbekistan, and Balkh is a town with some interesting ruins in Northern Afghanistan. The Persian Empire was once much larger than modern Iran, including much of Central Asia. The brothers lived in Bokhara for three years and became fluent in Persian.

In Bokhara, they learned that the Great Khan, Kublai — grandson of Genghis and, at least in theory, overlord of all Mongols — had never met a European and had expressed curiosity about and goodwill toward them. So they went on, traveling via Samarkand, Kashgar, Turfan and Hami (the northern branch of the Silk Road) to his summer capital in Xanadu somewhat northwest of modern Beijing.

The Khan received them warmly and sent them back west with letters for the Pope, expressions of friendship and requests for missionaries and scholars.

 * The Brothers arrived at Acre in... 1269, and found that no Pope existed, for Clement IV was dead... and no new election had taken place. So they went home to Venice to see how things stood there after their absence of so many years.

 * The wife of Nicolo was no longer among the living, but he found his son Marco a fine lad of fifteen.

On the second trip, the brothers brought young Marco along.

The second trip
The brothers went back to Acre, this time with young Marco, and then up to Jerusalem to get some oil from the holy sepulchre which the Khan had requested. They then set off east again without a papal reply to the Khan's letters.

Word reached them that a Pope had finally been elected, and that it was their friend Theobald, papal legate in Acre. They returned to Acre, got replies to the letters, and headed off for Kublai's court again in late 1271. They had letters from the Pope and two friars instead of the 100 scholars the Khan had requested, but the friars soon turned back. It is interesting to speculate on how history might have been different if the Pope had sent the requested 100 scholars, or even if the friars had stuck it out. The Khan also invited scholars and missionaries from other places — Tibetan Buddhists and Persian Muslims — and those had a great effect on China. They went east overland, traveling by caravan and heading for Hormuz on the Persian Gulf. Today the city is gone but the phrase the Straits of Hormuz still turn up in newscasts; they are the narrows at the outlet of the Gulf. The nearest modern city is Bandar Abbas, capital of Iran's Hormuzgan province.

Their route was indirect, setting out from the Mediterranean toward Kayseri and Erzurum in what is now eastern Turkey, through parts of Armenia and Georgia to Mosul in what is now Iraq, then into Persia (now known as Iran) via Tabriz, Yazd and Kerman to Hormuz. The book talks of Damascus and Baghdad, but it is doubtful they actually visited those cities.

The original plan was to take a ship east from Hormuz, but after reaching Hormuz they decided to swing north instead. They would later come to Hormuz by sea, taking the Maritime Silk Road on the return journey.

The three men went back to Kerman and on to Persia's eastern province of Khorasan. This put them on the main Silk Road route. The branch they took involved going northeast to Balkh, capital of Bactria. From there, they took the difficult route along the Wakhan Corridor to reach what is now the Karakoram Highway up in the northern areas of what is now Pakistan.

From there, their route is not entirely clear; most likely they went via Srinagar and Leh, then took the pass north from there. In any case they reached Khotan in what is now Xinjiang. The brothers had taken the northern branch of the Silk Road around the Taklamakan Desert on the previous trip. Khotan is in the middle of the southern branch, so naturally they continued east on that branch.

Travels in China
They reached the Khan's capitals and were warmly welcomed. The winter capital was then called Khánbálik or Canbulac, meaning the Khan's camp; it later grew into Beijing. The summer capital was northwest of Beijing across the Great Wall, near a town Polo called Kaimenfu. The palace itself was Shangtu or Xanadu. Much later, Polo's book would inspire Coleridge:

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree; Where Alph, the sacred river ran, Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea."

Yule and Cordier's summary of China's situation at the time is as follows:

 * For about three centuries the Northern provinces of China had been... subject to foreign dynasties; first to the _Khitan_... whose rule subsisted for 200 years, and originated the name... CATHAY, by which for nearly 1000 years China has been known. The Khitan... had been displaced in 1123 by the Chúrchés... of the same blood as the modern Manchus. Already in the lifetime of Chinghiz himself the northern Provinces of China Proper, including their capital. Peking, had been wrenched from them, and the conquest of the dynasty was completed by Chinghiz's successor Okkodai in 1234.

"Chingiz" is Genghis Khan. China is still "Kithai" in modern Russian. Another romanisation of "Chúrchés" is "Jurchen".

 * Southern China still remained in the hands of the native dynasty of the Sung, who had their capital at the great city now well known as Hang-chau fu. Their dominion was still substantially untouched, but its subjugation was a task to which Kúblái before many years turned his attention, and which became the most prominent event of his reign.

The "Sung" are also called the "Southern Song". "Hang-chau fu" is Hangzhou.

 * Kúblái received the Venetians with great cordiality, and took kindly to young Mark, ...[and] began to employ him in the public service.

By the time the Polos reached China the second time, the Khan had subjugated Southern China, which the book calls "Manzi." However, he needed officials to help rule it and did not yet fully trust the newly-conquered Chinese. Along with many others, Marco became an official of the empire, a job that soon had him traveling over large parts of China.

 * His first mission apparently was that which carried him through the provinces of Shan-si, Shen-si, and Sze-ch'wan, and the wild country on the East of Tibet, to the remote province of Yun-nan.

The provinces mentioned are modern Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan. Marco visited many cities along the way; here are his comments on some.

Taiyuan

 * Taianfu is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the army of the Emperor.

Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi. The area has iron and coal and makes steel.

Xi'an

 * A very great and fine city it is, and the capital of the kingdom of Kenjanfu, which in old times was a noble, rich, and powerful realm... It is a city of great trade and industry. They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave cloths of silk and gold of divers kinds, and they also manufacture all sorts of equipments for an army.

 * This is a fine palace and a great, as I will tell you. It stands in a great plain abounding in lakes and streams and springs of water. Round about it is a massive and lofty wall, five miles in compass, well built, and all garnished with battlements. And within this wall is the king's palace, so great and fine that no one could imagine a finer. There are in it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all painted and embellished with work in beaten gold.

Chengdu

 * This city was in former days a rich and noble one, and the Kings who reigned there were very great and wealthy. It is a good twenty miles in compass.

 * Through the midst of this great city runs a large river, in which they catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half mile wide, and very deep withal ... The multitude of vessels that navigate this river is so vast, that no one who should read or hear the tale would believe it. The quantities of merchandize also which merchants carry up and down this river are past all belief. In fact, it is so big, that it seems to be a Sea rather than a River!"

Tibet

 * This province, called Tebet, is of very great extent. The people, as I have told you, have a language of their own... Moreover, they are very great thieves.

 * Coral is in great demand in this country and fetches a high price, for they delight to hang it round the necks of their women and of their idols. They have also in this country plenty of fine woollens and other stuffs.

 * Among this people, too, you find the best enchanters and astrologers that exist in all that quarter of the world; they perform such extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolic art, that it astounds one to see or even hear of them. So I will relate none of them in this book of ours; people would be amazed if they heard them, but it would serve no good purpose.

 * They have mastiff dogs as big as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts ... and excellent lanner falcons [and sakers], swift in flight and well-trained, which are got in the mountains of the country.

Yunnan

 * The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians. They have wheat and rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that country it is unwholesome. Rice they eat, and make of it sundry messes, besides a kind of drink which is very clear and good, and makes a man drunk just as wine does.

The Nestorians were the first Christians to evangelize along the Silk Road. From Yunnan, Polo circled back to Chengdu, probably via Guizhou.

Later trips
Of Marco's others trips, Yule and Cordier say:

 * Mark rose rapidly in favour... but we gather few details as to his employments. At one time we know that he held for three years the government of the great city of Yang-chau... passing a year at Kan-chau in Tangut... visiting Kara Korum, the old capital of the Kaans in Mongolia... in Champa or Southern Cochin China and... on a mission to the Indian Seas, when he appears to have visited several of the southern states of India.

Yang-chau is Yangzhou in Jiangsu. The modern town of Karakorum, southeast of the current capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, has two ruined cities nearby, one the Mongol capital which Polo visited and the other the Uighur capital a few centuries earlier. Champa was a kingdom in what is now Vietnam.

The Tangut or Western Xia were a people of largely Tibetan ancestry, originally from Western Sichuan. For several hundred years before the Mongol conquest they had a Buddhist kingdom, independent but paying tribute to the Sung Emperor. It was centered in what is now Ningxia, but at its peak it was much larger than Ningxia and was quite rich. It was the first non-Chinese kingdom one entered going west on the Silk Road. There are Tangut royal tombs near Yinchuan, their capital. Much of the art in the Buddhist grottoes at Dunhuang is from the Western Xia.

Beijing
Polo called what we now know as Beijing Cambaluc, which translates as "the Khan's camp".

 * You must know that the city of Cambaluc hath such a multitude of houses, and such a vast population inside the walls and outside, that it seems quite past all possibility. There is a suburb outside each of the gates... In those suburbs lodge the foreign merchants and travellers, of whom there are always great numbers... thus there are as many good houses outside of the city as inside....

 * Moreover, no public woman resides inside the city, but all such abide outside in the suburbs. And 'tis wonderful what a vast number of these there are for the foreigners; it is a certain fact that there are more than 20,000 of them living by prostitution.

 * To this city also are brought articles of greater cost and rarity, and in greater abundance of all kinds, than to any other city in the world. For people of every description, and from every region, bring things (including all the costly wares of India, as well as the fine and precious goods of Cathay itself with its provinces)....

 * As a sample, I tell you, no day in the year passes that there do not enter the city 1000 cart-loads of silk alone....

 * Round about this great city of Cambaluc there are some 200 other cities... from which traders come to sell their goods and buy others... so that the traffic of the city is passing great.

Not much of the Yuan Dynasty city of Canbulac survives in modern Beijing, though part of its wall is now a tourist attraction. Most of the city's famous monuments were built by their successors, the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Kashgar

 * Cascar... constituted a kingdom in former days... they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine estates and grow a great deal of cotton. From this country many merchants go forth about the world on trading journeys. The natives are a wretched, niggardly set of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion. There are in the country many Nestorian Christians.

Nestorius was the archbishop of Constantinople in the fifth century. His teaching was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, but survived in the Assyrian Church which was supported by the Persian Empire as an alternative to the Byzantine Church. The Nestorians were quite active as missionaries in the East, reaching as far as Korea. There are relics throughout Central Asia and China, notably including a stele at Xi'an.

Jinan

 * Chinangli is a city of Cathay. There runs through the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in silk goods and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down.

 * This... is a very great city, and in old times was the seat of a great kingdom; but the Great Kaan conquered it by force of arms. Nevertheless it is still the noblest city in all those provinces. There are very great merchants here, who trade on a great scale, and the abundance of silk is something marvellous. They have, moreover, most charming gardens abounding with fruit of large size.

Suzhou

 * Suju is a very great and noble city. They possess silk in great quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they live by their manufactures and trade.

 * The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. Indeed, if the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are no soldiers at all, only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. There are also in this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature.

 * And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of stone, and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could pass underneath one of them.

Hangzhou
Polo devotes two chapters to this city. The title of the first one:
 * DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI.

"Kinsay" is Hangzhou and "Manzi" is Polo's term for the South of China, conquered by the Mongols a few years before. Hangzhou was the capital of the Sung dynasty, and remained important after that dynasty was deposed by the conquest.

 * ... the city is beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world, so great that it hath an hundred miles of compass. And there are in it twelve thousand bridges of stone, for the most part so lofty that a great fleet could pass beneath them.

Polo may not be exaggerating much here. Yule and Cordier quote several later visitors — Persian, Arab, and Jesuit — with quite similar opinions.

Polo gives quite a detailed description:

 * ... the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof....

 * Inside the city there is a Lake which has a compass of some 30 miles and all round it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions. In the middle of the Lake are two Islands, on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and spacious edifice... when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces.

West Lake, in the center of the city, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 * Both men and women are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply of that material...

 * The Kaan watches this city with especial diligence because it forms the head of all Manzi; and because he has an immense revenue from the duties levied on the transactions of trade therein. ...

 * I repeat that everything appertaining to this city is on so vast a scale, and the Great Kaan's yearly revenues therefrom are so immense, that it is not easy even to put it in writing, and it seems past belief....

 * Furthermore there exists in this city the palace of the king who fled ... and that is the greatest palace in the world ... inside the walls are the finest and most delectable gardens upon earth, and filled too with the finest fruits. There are numerous fountains in it also, and lakes full of fish.

Fuzhou

 * Now this city of Fuju... is a seat of great trade and great manufactures.

 * There flows through the middle of this city a great river... and many ships are built at the city which are launched upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of the Indies.

Mawei, just outside Fuzhou, still builds ships. Many of the ships and crew for Zheng He's great voyages of the 1400s came from this area. The French destroyed the place and a large part of the Chinese navy that was moored there, in the late 19th century.

The return trip
After a few years, the Polos were ready to go home. As Yule and Cordier put it:

 * Anyhow they were gathering wealth, and after years of exile they began to dread what might follow old Kúblái's death and longed to carry their gear and their own grey heads safe home to the Lagoons. The aged Emperor growled refusal to all their hints, and but for a happy chance we should have lost our mediaeval Herodotus.

At this time, the Mongols ruled most of Asia and the Great Khan had vassals in various places. One of these ruled Persia, today known as Iran.

 * Arghún Khan of Persia, Kúblái's great-nephew, had in 1286 lost his favourite wife... and... took steps to fulfil her dying injunction that her place should be filled only by a lady of her own kin. Ambassadors were despatched... to seek such a bride ... the choice fell on the lady Kokáchin, a maiden of 17. The overland road from Peking to Tabriz was not only of portentous length for such a tender charge, but was imperilled by war, so the envoys desired to return by sea. Tartars in general were strangers to all navigation; and the envoys... begged the Kaan as a favour to send the three _Firinghis_ in their company. He consented with reluctance, but, having done so, fitted the party out nobly for the voyage, charging the Polos with friendly messages for the potentates of Europe, including the King of England.

On the trip, they visited several of the main ports of the Maritime Silk Road.

The great port, Zaiton
They sailed in a fleet of 14 ships with 600 passengers from Zaiton in Fujian province. Zaiton is generally thought to be modern Quanzhou, though some scholars argue in favour of Xiamen. The English word "satin" is thought to be derived from "Zaiton," the original source for its export. It was from this port that Kublai Khan's ill-fated expedition against Japan sailed.

Polo's description is long and detailed. Some highlights:

 * ... frequented by all the ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds of costly wares. ... hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods and of precious stones and pearls... I assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there come a hundred such, aye and more too, to this haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce.

 * Many come hither from Upper India to have their bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described, there being many adepts at this craft in the city.

The journey would take two years and cost many lives. The book says only 18 passengers survived, but all three Polos and the bride were among them.

Chinese ships
Marco describes the Chinese ships in some detail:

 * They have but one deck, though each of them contains some 50 or 60 cabins... The ship hath but one rudder, but it hath four masts; and sometimes they have two additional masts... Each of their great ships requires at least 200 mariners [some of them 300].

 * ... some thirteen compartments or severances in the interior, made with planking strongly framed, in case mayhap the ship should spring a leak... the planking is so well fitted that the water cannot pass from one compartment to another.

These are much larger than European vessels of the day and the system of watertight compartments was far ahead of contemporary European methods. The Chinese routinely sailed to India, Arabia and even East Africa several hundred years before the great European voyages of discovery, and Arabs and Persians sailed to China; see Maritime Silk Road.

The journey west
Polo did not himself visit Japan but he digresses to give a fairly detailed account of "Chipangu" and of Kublai Khan's unsuccessful invasion attempt.

They stopped in Champa, a kingdom in Indochina paying tribute to the Khan. It is not entirely clear where this was, probably somewhere in modern Vietnam. Polo describes Java, but it is not clear if he actually visited it. They did stop in a city Polo calls Malaiur. This was in the area of modern Singapore and Malacca, but it does not seem to have been either of those.

After that, they spent several months in Sumatra, probably waiting out the monsoon season. Polo calls this "Lesser Java" and gives much detail of various kingdoms, commerce, religion and culture. They also visited the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Sri Lanka en route to India.

In India, he visited several places on the East Coast including the tomb of Saint Thomas near Madras. On the West Coast, the first stop was naturally Calicut on the Malabar coast, now Kerala, then along the coast to Thane near Bombay and to Khambhat in Gujarat. He describes Sindh but does not seem to have stopped there. He also describes several inland provinces of South India.

He describes the Indian Ocean island of Socotra reasonably well, then goes on to talk of Madagascar and Zanzibar which he gets quite wrong. Presumably he was repeating travelers' tales for these. He also describes Abyssinia, now Somalia and Eritrea, but it is not clear if he went there. He also discusses Aden, a city in Yemen which was then the capital of an empire that included Somalia and Eritrea, but it is not clear if he visited there.

 * This Aden is the port to which many of the ships of India come with their cargoes; and from this haven the merchants carry the goods a distance of seven days further in small vessels. At the end of those seven days they land the goods and load them on camels, and so carry them a land journey of 30 days. This brings them to the river of ALEXANDRIA, and by it they descend to the latter city. It is by this way through Aden that the Saracens of Alexandria receive all their stores of pepper and other spicery; and there is no other route equally good and convenient by which these goods could reach that place.

Eventually they reached Hormuz and continued overland to Tabriz to deliver the bride. The planned bridegroom having died in the meanwhile, she married his son.

The Polos then returned home, sailing from Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea to Constantinople (Istanbul) and on to Venice which they reached in 1295.

title: On the trail of Marco Polo


text:
Onuma Quasi-National Park

Ōnuma Quasi-National Park (大沼国定公園 Onuma-kokuteikōen) is a national park centered on Lake Ōnuma (大沼湖) in southern Hokkaido, Japan. The lake is also one of Ramsar sites.

Understand
Ōnuma means "great marsh", a fairly apt description of this placid lake. Divided in two by a thin strip of land, the smaller western portion of the lake is known as Konuma (小沼, "small marsh"). At the southern edge of the strip lies the small eponymous village and tourist center of Onuma.

Get in
The nearest major center is Hakodate.

By train
Leaving Hakodate, if you take the Ltd Express Super Hokuto train, it takes 19 minutes to reach Onuma Koen station. The regular JR Hakodate train takes about 50 minutes. The trains leave about once an hour for the park. Be sure to check the return schedule because trains are more infrequent in the evening and they don't run very late so you may find yourself missing the last one.

By bus
There are also buses to Hakodate that take a comparatively slow 60 min for the journey.

Get around
A less frequently traveled branch line from Ōnuma station runs along the southern shore of the lake.

There are a few easy-to-spot places that rent bicycles to tourists. You can get normal bicycles, bicycles built for two, and tricycles that can interlock with each other (for families and groups).

See
The lake is known for its 126 islands.

Do
Hiking in the area is popular.

 * The most popular courses through the little islands that dot the southern shore start from near Onuma Koen station, and the time-pressed can even opt for a 15-minute circuit. Ask at the tourist office for a map.
 * Paddle boats and row boats are available to rent.

There are many hot springs scattered around the shores of the lake.

Eat
Although you can buy food from little shops and stalls, you might consider bringing your own food in case you find the local tastes disagreeable.

Drink
Onuma Beer is a popular local brew sold at most stores in the town.

Connect

 * Drop by the tourist office in the grandly named Onuma International Exchange Plaza (大沼交際交流プラザ Onuma kokusai kōryū puraza), near JR Onuma Koen, for maps and information (some in English too).

Go next

 * Mori
 * Hokuto
 * Hakodate
 * Yakumo
 * Shikabe
 * Kikonai
 * Assabu
 * Oshamambe
 * Shiriuchi

title: Onuma Quasi-National Park


text:
Oodnadatta

Oodnadatta is a small town in the South Australian Outback.

Get in
Oodnadatta is situated around 200 km from the Stuart Highway along the Oodnadatta Track both via Coober Pedy and Marla. The track is unpaved, but the road to Oodnadatta is usually traversable by 2WD vehicle if you're coming from the western end although that isn't the case if you're coming via Marree.

Get around
The town is small enough to walk around. Parking is no problem either.

See

The Oodnadatta Track is an unsealed track between Marree and Marla via Oodnadatta in South Australia. It passes the southern lake of the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park. Take note that most of the lakes around are mere dry saltbeds. The maintained roads rarely go close enough for a good view, and the roads that do approach the lakes have a risk of getting bogged.

Eat
The town provides a selection of both pub food and roadhouse food. You choose.

Drink
The nightlife in Oodnadatta won't keep you dancing all night, but you will have no problems getting a beer.

Sleep
A selection of camping, caravan parks and basic motel accommodation exists.

Go next
Down the track a couple of hundred kilometres to William Creek and Lake Eyre, or up the track to the Stuart Highway at Marla and on to Alice Springs.

title: Oodnadatta


text:
Oodnadatta Track

The Oodnadatta Track (D95) is one of the easiest Outback tracks in Australia. This maintained gravel road follows the old Ghan railway line and the Overland Telegraph. The track is situated in central South Australia and runs from Marree to Marla, passing William Creek and Oodnadatta along the way. Many of the sights are connected with the old Ghan but there are also natural highlights, such as the so-called mound springs and Lake Eyre, the largest salt lake in Australia.

Understand
With a total length of 617 kilometres, the Oodnadatta Track is not very long as Australian standards go -- and you don't really need a 4WD to get from Marree to Marla. But what it lacks in length and difficulty is largely made up for with historical and natural sights. You can have a look at the many sidings of the old Ghan railway, the ruins of a former rocket tracking installation site, the remains of a telegraph repeater station and the longest bridge in South Australia. The track also skirts Lake Eyre South, or if you're more adventurous you could drive to Lake Eyre proper from William Creek, one of the smallest settlements in Australia. And then there are the strange mound springs like The Bubbler or Blanches Cup -- yes, there is water in the driest part of Australia.

The track is essentially a diversion from the Stuart Highway from Port Augusta to Alice Springs. It largely follows the route of the old Ghan railway. The Ghan itself now largely follows the route of the Stuart Highway.

Prepare
As said before, this track is not as difficult as other outback tracks and can be driven in a conventional vehicle. Note that you do need a 4WD if you are going to tackle the road from William Creek to Lake Eyre. Fuel can be bought in Marree, William Creek, Oodnadatta and Marla, which are each about 200 kilometers apart, but try to avoid fueling up in William Creek as prices are steep. The main track is relatively well-traveled, so there's not much chance to be stranded for days, but some of the attractions are located a distance from the main track which may be less traveled. Reading the outback section of Driving in Australia is recommended, and will give you some advice on the do's and don'ts. You don't need special permits to travel this track.

This is remote country. People have died from exposure not far from the main track. Take extra food and water. Consider hiring a satellite phone and taking an additional spare tyre.

Check the road conditions with the Government of South Australia, or contact the Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta. Check the conditions before you start on the track, and again before you set out each day. The road conditions can change rapidly and the track can be closed to 2WD or 4WD traffic at any time of year. If it rains, and you are in a 2WD car, you should wait for the track to dry rather than have the unpleasant experience of battling the track in the wet.

Marree to William Creek

The southeastern end of the track starts in Marree, an uninspiring outback town. Still, it is -- or rather, was -- more important than you might think. This was the staging post for the Afghan camel trains that supplied the South Australian and Northern Territory outback, before they were replaced by the Ghan railway. (As you may have suspected, the name of the railway actually is a corruption of those Afghan camel trains.) Marree also lies at the junction of the Oodnadatta and the Birdsville tracks.

Driving the Oodnadatta is quite straightforward: you start at the junction with the Birdsville track, and with very few exceptions it's straight on to Marla. In the first 70 or so kilometers you pass a few railway sidings (Callanna after 15km, Wangianna after 36km, Alberrie after 53km and Bopeechee after 69km). Between Wangianna and Alberrie, 43km from Marree, you pass the dog-proof fence, one of the longest human-made barriers in the world. Running for 5,400 km. from the South Australian to the Queensland coast, it is meant to protect the sheep in southeastern Australia from dingo attacks.

85 km. from Marree you can take a short side trip (3km return) to have a look at Lake Eyre South, 12 m. below sea level. This is not the main body of the lake, but a natural extension connected to Lake Eyre proper by the Goyder Channel. Chances are that you won't see much else than a large expanse of salt, as the lake rarely contains water. Do not attempt to drive on the lake -- you won't be the first one to have your vehicle immobilised when the salt crust breaks and you're stuck in the slimy goo underneath. Getting you out might prove very difficult, as other vehicles won't risk driving to where you got stuck.

One of the more interesting sidings along the track is Curdimurka, 102 km from Marree. It gives a good impression of how the settlers who looked after the railway line lived. While other sidings have fallen into disrepair, this one is preserved by the Ghan Railway Preservation Society. To finance their effort, an outback ball is held here every two years.

126 km from Marree you can make a worthwhile diversion to the left of the main track to see the two best known mound springs in this area: The Bubbler and Blanches Cup. Mound springs are places where the underground water of the Great Artesian Basin (the world's largest aquifer) reaches the earth's surface. The mound is formed by the dissolved salts left by the evaporated water. It is quite an odd thing to realize that you are in the driest part of the driest state of the driest continent in the world, and yet you are walking on an enormous "underground sea"! If you continue on this side track you will rejoin the Oodnadatta track about six km from where you left it.

Just a little further on you arrive at Coward Springs, a camp site where you can relax at the spa, explore the historical rail siding, take a self guided walk or even go on a camel safari.

Between here and William Creek there are a few other minor sights, such as the Beresford Bore siding (156km from Marree), a historic rocket tracking emplacement (at the end of a one km. road, 200 m. further on), Strangeways Bore and Irrapatana sidings (respectively 169 km and 186 km from Marree). Seven km. before you arrive at William Creek (and 199 km from Marree) a track to the right leads to Lake Eyre, but don't take this before having advised the people at William Creek of your plans.

Lake Eyre side-trip

If you have a 4WD it is possible to make a 160 km. return trip to the shores of Lake Eyre. Drive seven km. back in the direction of Marree and take the Anna Creek Station track on your left. This track is quite rough and the nearer you come to Lake Eyre, the sandier it gets. In the last stretch you drive through a dark moonlike landscape where nothing grows anymore.

Arriving at Lake Eyre is like arriving at a place where some ghastly disaster happened. The whole area seems void of life and the sun beats merciless on the completely barren landscape. Because of the flat terrain the wind blows undisturbed. You will probably need protective clothing like long trousers, a sweater and a hat to shield yourself from flying sand and salt. Sunglasses will do the same for your eyes and you will avoid getting snowblind (the salt has the same effect as snow). Nevertheless, in spite of -- or maybe because of -- these almost unearthly conditions, it is really an experience.

Some more words of warning: do not drive on the salt crust. As said before, you risk losing your vehicle. And out here, exposed to extreme natural conditions, a you will not survive for very long without shelter and water. Before tackling this trip you also should inform someone (tell them your expected date of return so they can begin a search if you are not back by then), however the people at William Creek will not accept details of travel anymore, due to legal reasons. Remember that this is a dead-end track and weeks can pass before another vehicle comes by. People have died out here because they ran into car trouble and nobody was informed of their whereabouts.

Oodnadatta to Marla
At the crossroads at the entrance to Oodnadatta, the road to Macumba Homestead turns right. This then continues as Rocks Road into the Simpson Desert. The Rocks Road may only be used in serious emergencies or with the permission of the police station in Oodnadatta.

after leaving Oodnadatta you reach the Angle Pole Memorial. From here the Ghan route and the OTL led directly north. The memorial is intended to commemorate all of the people who were involved in the construction of the OTL from Darwin to Adelaide. After another ten km you will come to a fork in the road. The path that branches off to the right is called the Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail and leads via Finke or Andado to Alice Springs or via Dalhousie Springs into the Simpson Desert.

The Oodnadatta Track now turns to the west and leads through little varied stone and gravel plains. The streams are lined with trees and often offer good overnight accommodation. The track itself is well entertained. After 41 km the track crosses Wooldridge Creek. Here is the Murdarinna waterhole. During a short stop, one can see remnants of earlier agricultural techniques such as a wood-lined borehole, a small dam and wooden paddocks. The flora is also typical of this landscape. After a further 18 km, the eastern driveway to Todmorden station turns right, the western one is another seven km.

After another 13 km, the track reaches the Alberga River, the main river course in this area, and runs parallel to it for a few kilometers. 22 km further on, the Oodnadatta Track turns left. The Old Oodnadatta Track leads straight ahead over Granite Downs to the Stuart Highway (117 km) 44 km north of Marla. The Oodnadatta Track now turns southwest and after 46 km reaches the junction to the left to Welbourn Hill Station. Now it is 47 km to the Stuart Highway, where the Oodnadatta Track ends at Marla.

title: Oodnadatta Track


text:
Ooty

Ooty, short for Ootacamund and officially Udhagamandalam, is a popular hill resort in the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India. The name Udhagamandalam is derived from the Toda word "othakal-mund" which means "house in mountains". Ooty stands at 2,240 m (7,347 feet) above sea level in the Nilgiri mountain range. It was founded in the 19th century by the British, and served as the summer headquarters of the Madras Presidency. Ooty is in the Niligiris District which was one of the first places in India to get rid of plastic carry bags, so if you are heading there, remember to carry your own reusable bags, not plastic.

Understand
In the Nilgiris ("Blue Mountains"), it draws swarms of tourists every year. The weather is quite pleasant at a mean of 15-20°C around the year, dropping to lows of 0°C during winter. The landscape is marked by rolling hills covered with dense vegetation, smaller hills and plateaus covered with tea gardens, and eucalyptus trees. Many portions of the hills are preserved as natural reserve forests, and special permits will be needed to camp in noncamp sites. Ooty is not the destination in itself, as much as it is the focal point of attraction. Auto touring the surrounding country side is certainly a must do. Unfortunately, the hill town suffers from overcrowding and erosion of natural resources. Tourism has placed an enormous strain on the natural resources resulting in pollution, water shortage and roads.

The hilly region also houses smaller towns like Coonoor and Kotagiri. These smaller towns are a better choice to visit and spend time in, since they are off the beaten path, yet less than an hour away from Ooty. They enjoy the same natural climes and prices are a lot cheaper.

By plane
The Coimbatore airport is the closest to the hills at 3½ hours by road. There are flights into Coimbatore from Singapore, Sharjah, Colombo, Mumbai (Air India and Indigo), Chennai (Spicejet, Air India and Indigo) and Bangalore. The Mysore airport is about four hours away from Ooty by road. The drive from either airport is scenic.

By train
The hills are connected to by a nightly train, the Nilgiri Express (Train No. 2671), which departs from Chennai at night and reaches Mettupalayam (which Indian Rail spells Metupalaiyam), a small town at the foothills of the Nilgiris early the next morning.

The 51 km from Mettupalayam to Ooty is covered by taxi or bus; the mountain railway is uncomfortable and slow and two thirds of the journey doesn't go through scenic hills. The beautiful hills start only after Ketty or Lovedale. The 51 km can be covered in two hours by road whereas the toy train takes about six hours.

The Mountain Railway
The train leaves Mettupalayam at 7:10AM, pushed by a small, steam-powered historic locomotive, one of the Swiss-engineered trains imported in the late 1800s. The steam train is much smaller, and can only accommodate a portion of the passengers that disembark at Mettupalayam. This journey requires a separate ticket, available at IRCTC.

The steam train's route is boring and there are constant stops and repair sessions en route. At some stations, the engine has to take on water. The train uses a rack and pinion system to ascend steep slopes, and also to prevent the train from sliding down when stopping. The train is pushed from behind. There are brakesmen at the rear of every carriage who apply and release each carriage's hand-powered brakes. The train often travels at 5-10 km/h, allowing adventurous passengers to disembark and walk alongside the train. This practice can be dangerous and the train may speed up, preventing reboarding.

Without a confirmed ticket, it is difficult to board the train, as only about 30 tickets are issued at Mettupalayam starting at 5AM, and at 1PM at Ooty for the entire journey from Mettupalayam to Ooty. Be near the ticket window before it opens, because there can be an unexpected crowd at opening. It is difficult to obtain a ticket at Mettuppalayam because of the morning crowd. Purchasing tickets is easier at the uphill Ketty and Lovedale stations, which are accessible by bus.

By bus
Buses and shared taxi vans can be boarded from elsewhere in India to Ooty. Alternative to the early train from Coimbatore, many buses also go to Ooty. The Coimbatore "new bus station" has frequent buses to Ooty via Mettupalayam, and it takes around 3½ hours to get there. However buses are uncomfortable and often crowded. The lack of air conditioning in the buses is problematic till they ascend the hills. Taxis leave from the same "new bus stand".

On the return journey in the morning, some buses make a 10-15-minute stop at Mettupalayam for breakfast. From the "new bus station" it takes about 25 minutes by (another) bus to reach the Coimbatore railway station. From Kozhikode, there are two government buses daily, leaving 5AM and 7AM, the journey lasts six hours. Mysore is served few times a day, too. From Kannur there is a daily KSRTC bus departs at 7:30AM and a daily Tamil Nadu bus departs at 10PM, reaching Ooty at 4PM and 7AM the next day, respectively.

By car
The Nilgiris are in Tamil Nadu, but near the borders Karnataka and Kerala. The hills consequently can be reached from within Tamil Nadu by travelling up a heavily forested winding road, with many hair-pin bends. The road trip from any state is scenic, although the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty road (i.e. the Tamil Nadu route) is the most travelled and best-maintained. All roads to the Nilgiri hills have nominal tolls.

Taxis at the Coimbatore "new bus stand" charge ₹2500 (negotiable) when reserved and ₹600 each when shared, four people share an Omni (Maruti van). In case a hotel has been per-booked, they often provide taxis to and from Coimbatore for ₹2000.

Ooty is 284 km from Bangalore by road. The journey takes about eight hours, depending on the road's condition. There is a shorter route with a diversion at Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary, which passes the towns of Masinagudi and Kalhatti. This route curtails the distance to Ooty by about 50 km. This road is closed at night as it passes through the jungle, requiring a few hours spent at the check post which is closed at night. This road as it is narrow and steep. There are eateries and a fuel station in the town of Masinagudi. Resorts near Masinagudi town let cottages. These offer relaxing weekend getaways. There are restaurants between Bangalore and Mysore, and within Mysore, but from Mysore to Ooty there are few restaurants, so it is advisable to stock up on groceries in advance. Start early for a more leisurely drive through Bandipur and Mudumalai forest, taking in occasional animal sightings.

Distance from Ooty to various cities:

 * * Bangalore || (297 km)
 * * Kozhikode || (187 km)
 * * Coimbatore || (89 km)
 * * Coonoor || (17 km)
 * * Madikeri || (225 km)
 * * Kodaikanal || (236 km)
 * * Kotagiri || (28 km)
 * * Munnar || (282 km)
 * * Mysore || (126 km)
 * }
 * * Kodaikanal || (236 km)
 * * Kotagiri || (28 km)
 * * Munnar || (282 km)
 * * Mysore || (126 km)
 * }
 * * Mysore || (126 km)
 * }
 * }
 * }

Get around
Taxis, tourist cabs, auto rickshaws are available in plenty. There are no standard rates except for tourist cabs. Rickshaws charge a minimum of ₹30. Town buses are available to all important places. Conducted sight seeing tours are arranged by private operators and the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC). There are around 3-4 different day trip routes/packages available. Bus day-trip cost ₹125-150 and taxi day-trip cost ₹900-1100. Even if you arranged the taxi through the hotel (even TTDC), verify with the hotel and operator before the trip that there are no hidden costs. Taxi drivers will often demand high parking fees and lunch, which is already paid for. It is not uncommon for bus/taxi drivers to get commission from remote restaurants and shops. These places are overpriced, try avoiding such restaurants.

Bus and taxi will take tourists to remote, high-priced restaurants for lunch. Try not to eat in such places because the food is cold, the place is not clean beyond the façade, and it is always overpriced (you will end up paying for taxi driver's lunch, too).

Also avoid driver's recommendation for sleeping arrangements. They (few of them) will take you to the hotels for accommodation where they get 20% commission, which will be added in your room tariff without your knowledge.

See

Do
Most travel agents and hotels conduct guided tour packages that will bundle you into a bus, and tick off the most important and hence crowded "tourist" spots in the area. Some hotels also arrange for private cars like Indica, TATA Sumo.

 * Travel on the railway. The charming Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), blue and cream with wooden coaches and large windows, is widely regarded as a marvel of engineering.
 * Go for long walks and hikes.
 * Visit a tea plantation and if possible a tea factory.
 * Travel the countryside in a 4x4.
 * Catch a round of golf at the Gymkhana Golf course (membership or introduction required)
 * Visit the local Army cantonment - the Madras Regimental Center and the DSSC (Defense Services Staff College).
 * Visit terrace farmed cabbage fields around Ooty.
 * Visit the Mudumalai forest sanctuary (1-2 days minimum).
 * Visit the Needle industries which is around 6km from maintown Ooty in Ketti.
 * Visit 9th mile and also the 6th mile where lot of movies are shot.
 * Visit the Municipal Market and shop for fresh local fruits.
 * Explore the nearby Avalanche and Emerald Lakes, for day picnics, treks, and walkthroughs of the surrounding villages. You can also hike through the nearby tribal hamlet of Mullimunth of the Toda people. The 3 km trek takes 5 hours and passes through wooded areas and streams along the settlements.
 * Explore the nearby Avalanche and Emerald Lakes, for day picnics, treks, and walkthroughs of the surrounding villages. You can also hike through the nearby tribal hamlet of Mullimunth of the Toda people. The 3 km trek takes 5 hours and passes through wooded areas and streams along the settlements.

Buy
Ooty and Nilgiris are well known for a variety of local products like tea, eucalyptus oil, chocolates, spices and gourmet cheese. There are a lot of shops that deal these products, though you have to be careful that you get an authentic product.

Eat
There are various restaurants in Ooty, mostly offering South Indian food, but some offer North Indian food.

Drink
The Nilgiris are famous for tea.

Sleep
There is no dearth of accommodations, with many hotels and inns that cater to every budget. Accommodations are no more expensive than most cities in India, and the popular Indian hotel chains have a presence here.

Go next

 * Bandipur National Park
 * Nagarhole National Park
 * Kodanad Viewpoint in Kotagiri
 * Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary

title: Ooty


text:
Opal Creek

Opal Creek is a wilderness area in the Cascade Mountains region of Oregon.

History
Opal Creek is one of the very few old growth forests that never allowed logging. Some of the trees are large enough to fit 15-20 children around. Walking through the ancient forest you can feel the difference between it and groomed and logged forest.

It is reported that the first people to call Opal Creek home were local Native Americans; ancient artifacts have proven their existence. In fact, there is a location near the lodges that is considered sacred ground.

The neatest part of walking the trails is seeing the old mine shafts and rusting mining equipment. Gold and other precious metals were found in the area in the mid 1900s. When the mining eventually stopped, their company turned over their land including Jawbone Flats and a piece of old growth forest to those who continue today to preserve the area.

Fees and permits
A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at the gate area and most areas along the forest service roads in the Opal Creek area. The passes are available at many vendors, but not at the site, so be sure to get your pass before you get there. Passes can be daily or seasonal.

Hiking
As with many recreational areas that are an abundant amount of hiking trails. The diversity of Opal Creek makes each one unique and can appeal to a variety of ecological tastes.

The trail from the Gate to Jawbone Flats is the most popular trail is of a moderate intensity, but can be adapted to meet anyone's comfort. The loop winds through the deep old growth forest and massive trees that have withstood years of drought and fire. On the trail you also venture through the old mining areas and can view the abandoned shafts, outhouses, lodges, and equipment. The trail also hosts some gorgeous waterfalls. The highlight of the hike and where it is a great time to settle in for some lunch is when you reach the crystal clear waterhole in the river. The water is bone chilling cold, but so beautiful. The trail eventually leads to the lodge and the cabins at the old mining town of Jawbone Flats.

Lodging
Opal Creek has many different options when it comes to lodging, because it is settled in an old mining town there is authentic rustic lodging that will fit the needs of many different sized groups. There is also an option to have meals available for you at only $6.00 per day. All of the meals are vegetarian and very delicious.

The main lodge is rented only to large groups and on a per night basis. But the ground floor is open to anyone and as a pool table, library, and comfortable seating.

The two newest lodges were completed less than 10 years ago and are equipped with all the amenities that one would need. All of the logs were logged by horses within Opal Creek and each house has a wonderful back patio and spacious rooms.

The site also houses three other alternative cabins that include the old mining office, a former mining cabin, and original meal hall. The mining office is perhaps best because it has a perfect view of a very romantic waterfall.

title: Opal Creek


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Opatija

Opatija is a city in the Istrian Peninsula in western Croatia and is main tourist city on Liburnia riviera. It is around 13 km southwest of Rijeka, one of Croatia's largest cities. Opatija has a population of 7,850 but during summer number of residents and visitors largely increase up to dozen of thousands of people.

Understand
Considered one of the oldest Croatian tourist destinations, with roots in 19th century when Opatija was popular spot for Austro-Hungarian king and other noblemen. Most of the remarkable hotels and villas are built in period of Austro-Hungarian tourism expansion, from the middle of 19th century until the First World War. Even today Opatija has kept its high profile, often being referred as the "Croatian Cannes".

The foundations of this city lie with the St. Jacob's abbey, which soon evolved into Opatija (Opatija means 'abbey'). St Jacob, the patron saint of travellers, tanners and fruit-growers, is celebrated every year on July 25th, which is also celebrated in the town as the Day of the City of Opatija.

In recent history, however, the city of Opatija (Italian: Abbazia) remained in the clutch of the wealthy Austro-Hungarian families who built their exclusive resort-city with opulence in mind. Their stunning mansions line Opatija's coast and fine examples of architecture from the time fill the town with a certain atmosphere of grandeur. Beautiful parks, postcard-promenades and luxurious hotels are all a result of the 'high society' that occupied this town for over a hundred years.

Notably, this city is built upon a hill which stretches right back from the coast. While this does offer breathtaking views from houses, hotels and apartments, the walk back will prove tiring at the least!

Get in
Opatija is 13 km west of Rijeka and can be reached by car is easy drive next to the seaside with wonderful views on Kvarner bay.

Local bus 32 from Rijeka drives to Opatija and continues to Lovran and sometimes Mošćenička Draga, covering whole Opatija riviera. Return ticket cost (buy it from the Tisak shop instead of bus driver, since it is cheaper than buying tickets in bus). From Rijeka to Opatija is around 20 minutes ride. Check schedule.

From Opatija it is possible to get direct ride to Zagreb (from to, three hours, five daily), Pula (, two hours, eight to ten daily) and further. Direct bus from Opatija to Trieste cost around (, two hours).

Train station Opatija Matulji is situated in nearby village Matulji, from where you need to take a bus to center of Opatija. Two times a day Opatija-Matulji station is connected with Ljubljana. A direct overnight train from Munich calls here too. Further connections from Vienna and rest of Europe are possible with changes.

Get around
Opatija is small city so best way to get around is on foot. Main promenade, called "Footpath of Franz Joseph", or more casually "Lungo mare", stretches from Opatija towards Lovran and forms beautiful seaside promenade with views on Kvarner bay and mountain Učka in background.

Do

 * Land Art Trail on Mt. Učka. It is a gallery in nature, 900 m above sea, about 20 km or 25 minutes from Opatija by a car. As you easily walk along 6.5 km long trail through the mountain forests and pastures you will encounter 20 works of land art and rock art, made in 2016 by artist Boris Pecigoš. You will also enjoy beautiful views on Istria from four viewpoints on the cliffs.
 * Land Art Trail on Mt. Učka. It is a gallery in nature, 900 m above sea, about 20 km or 25 minutes from Opatija by a car. As you easily walk along 6.5 km long trail through the mountain forests and pastures you will encounter 20 works of land art and rock art, made in 2016 by artist Boris Pecigoš. You will also enjoy beautiful views on Istria from four viewpoints on the cliffs.
 * Land Art Trail on Mt. Učka. It is a gallery in nature, 900 m above sea, about 20 km or 25 minutes from Opatija by a car. As you easily walk along 6.5 km long trail through the mountain forests and pastures you will encounter 20 works of land art and rock art, made in 2016 by artist Boris Pecigoš. You will also enjoy beautiful views on Istria from four viewpoints on the cliffs.
 * Land Art Trail on Mt. Učka. It is a gallery in nature, 900 m above sea, about 20 km or 25 minutes from Opatija by a car. As you easily walk along 6.5 km long trail through the mountain forests and pastures you will encounter 20 works of land art and rock art, made in 2016 by artist Boris Pecigoš. You will also enjoy beautiful views on Istria from four viewpoints on the cliffs.

title: Opatija


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Opava

Opava is a city in Czech Silesia, Czech Republic. It used to be the capital of Czech Silesia.

By train
Commuter trains connect Opava with Ostrava, which is a major railway hub with direct trains to Prague and many cities in Poland, Slovakia, Austria, etc. The trains go hourly and the trip from Ostrava takes 40 minutes.

By car
Road E11 goes through Opava from Hradec Králové and Šumperk and continues to Ostrava, Český Těšín and Žilina (Slovakia).

From Prague (Praha)
Go through D1 highway to Brno and continue through Olomouc. Or D11 to Hradec Králové and continue through E11.

By plane
Go to Ostrava Mošnov, Brno Tuřany or Praha Ruzyně airports. Nearest airport (Ostrava) is about 80 km away. Smaller aircraft may land on Dolní Benešov or Krnov airport about 20 km away.

By public transport
Public buses and trolleybuses carry you around the city for 12Kč. There are only coin-operated machines inside buses and trolleybuses. Map of public transport lines.

By taxi
You can as well go by taxi, about 20Kč per km (approx. €0.7)

Solar system model
There is a to-scale model of solar system.
 * Sun is represented by the concrete ball on Horní náměstí (Upper square).
 * Mercury is next to Slezské divadlo (Silesian theater) on the opposite side of the square.
 * Venus, Earth and Moon are in "Dvořákovy sady" city park.
 * Mars is situated between Čapkova and Olbrichova streets in front of Silesian University.
 * Jupiter is in "Městské sady" on Jaselská street.
 * Saturn is situated in "Jaktař" part of the city (head towards Krnov or Bruntál)
 * Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are spread in villages around Opava.

Outside town

Both Hradec nad Moravicí and Raduň were voted among the most beautiful castles in Czech Republic. Both are surrounded with beautiful gardens and parks.

Other attractions:

Eat
There are many good restaurants around Opava, but some are closed on Sundays. Waiters not always speak other than Czech language. There are several great bakeries around the city too.

Meal delivery is at very good level in Opava. Try Kašpárkova Pizza, Presto Pizza, Tudle Nudle  (Asian, Italian and national noodles) or Pizzeria Uno, but ask someone speaking Czech to order one. Don't expect phone operators to be good at English.

Drink

 * There are two Evžen cafés and  in the city centre. Place where it is always possible to find good people. Many artists, musicians, students and so on. Jazz sessions, concerts. Great places to meet people interested in art, music, photography and so on. Open daily.

Connect
As of July 2024, Opava and its approach roads have 4G from O2 and T-Mobile, and 5G from Vodafone.

title: Opava


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Opole

Opole is the capital city of Opole Voivodeship, in south west Poland. The historical capital of Upper Silesia was badly damaged during the USSR invasion of Silesia at the end of World War II, but many fine houses in the old town have been rebuilt. The city is known for the one of the most popular song festivals in Poland, which takes place each year in June.

Understand
Opole is one of the oldest cities in Poland, continuously inhabited since the 8th century and quickly becoming an important centre of power, defense and trade. It is considered the historical capital of Upper Silesia, being much older than cities like Katowice, which grew rapidly only during the industrial revolution of the 19th century.

Opole has been a capital of its own Duchy carved out of Poland in the 13th century, when the Polish Piast dynasty started dividing the country into local hereditary fiefdoms. This lasted until the 16th century, when the dynasty died out and a complicated history of the city and region changing hands begun, with it ending in Prussia and later the German Empire, with Germans becoming the majority. After the Second World War, Opole was given to Poland and much of the local German population expelled.

With less than 120,000 inhabitants, Opole is now the smallest city to be a regional capital in Poland by population, and its voivodeship has the smallest population as well.

By plane
The nearest international airports are in the nearby cities of Katowice and Wrocław.

From Katowice Airport and Wroclaw Airport to Opole, there is aaeroBUS.pl bus with door2door service.

By train
The city's main train station is, situated on a railway mainline to Wrocław. It sees busy long-distance and local traffic, including Express Intercity Premium trains. Travel time varies depending on the class of train, with the shortest time needed to get to major direct destinations from Opole being:

 * Wrocław - 45 minutes
 * Częstochowa - 50 minutes
 * Katowice - 1h15mins
 * Wałbrzych - 1h40mins
 * Kraków - 2h25mins
 * Jelenia Góra - 2h40mins
 * Warsaw - 3 hours
 * Rzeszów- 5h40mins
 * Szczecin - 6 hours

See the PKP Intercity interactive timetable for details on trains and times.

By car
You can easily get there by car from Katowice and Wrocław by the A4 Motorway.

By bus
Opole has seen many of the inhabitants of the city and the region emigrate temporarily or permanently to Western Europe seeking better-paid jobs, especially concerning low-skilled, manual labour. Therefore, an extensive network of affordable coach services grew to cater to their travelling needs. Moreover, express bus travel has seen much growth in the 2010s in Poland and Opole is featured in many timetables of local operators.
 * One of the largest coach operators in Poland, Sindbad, is based in Opole and thus the city features in many of their timetables
 * PolskiBus runs a connection via Opole from Berlin and its Schoenefeld Airport through Wrocław further to Katowice, Kraków and Zakopane. The journey from the farthest ends of the route to Opole takes 5 hours.

By public transit
Opole's public transit is limited to buses, operated by MZK Opole. Their website is in Polish only, but features a handy diagram of all bus lines. A single ticket costs 2.60 zł (1.30 zł for students and 1.60 zł for children), and a 24h ticket comes cheaper than four singles. There is a plethora of other ticket types that are generally not that useful for a casual traveller, but it is important to remember that a different (higher) tariff applies when crossing the city limits on some lines that reach out beyond Opole to neighbouring suburbs.

By bike
Opole has a municipal bikesharing system called Opole Bike , operated by Nextbike, meaning that you can use it if you have a Nextbike account opened in another city. Otherwise, you need a mobile phone number and a credit card with a very straightforward registration process. The bikes are intended for short rides by getting from one bike rental station to another, which is why the first 20 minutes are free. The first hours is PLN 2, and the following ones are PLN 4 each.

Bikes can be rented and returned only to the automated rental stations, where solar-powered kiosks can be used to enter one's mobile number and code to retrieve a bike or return it. When returning, make sure to dock the bike properly. If unsure, check with the kiosk if your return was registered properly, otherwise you may be liable to a huge fine if the bike is deemed "occupied" by the renter over 24 hours. Same applies in case the bike you rented gets misplaced or damaged.

Museums

 * Central POW Museum (Muzeum Jeńców Wojennych) Minorytów 3, M-Fr 8.00-17.00, free entrance

Do

 * Football: Odra Opole play soccer in I Liga, the second tier. Their home ground Odra Stadium (capacity 3300) is 1 km northwest of town centre.
 * Football: Odra Opole play soccer in I Liga, the second tier. Their home ground Odra Stadium (capacity 3300) is 1 km northwest of town centre.
 * Football: Odra Opole play soccer in I Liga, the second tier. Their home ground Odra Stadium (capacity 3300) is 1 km northwest of town centre.

Eat

Consulates

 * 🇩🇪 Germany

Go next

 * The Castle of Moszna is a fairytale edifice in a beautiful park and a popular day trip destination (half an hour by car from Opole)
 * Brzeg, an oft-overlooked historic town in the region, is 20 minutes by train and 40 by car
 * Wrocław, a large city rich in history and heritage, is less than an hour by train and a little more by car, making it possible to do a day trip there

title: Opole


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Opole Voivodeship

Opole Voivodeship (Polish: województwo opolskie) is one of the 16 voivodeships (administrative provinces) of Poland. It is in the south of the country. Its name derived from its capital city, Opole. The region has been a part of Poland since the beginning of the Polish statehood, with many remains of the ancient Polish Piast dynasty to be found to this day, but has found itself at the crossroads of history becoming incorporated to erstwhile Czech Kingdom, Austria, Prussia and Germany. Reincorporated to Poland after Second World War, the region remains the only one in the country with significant (and legally recognized) German minority, with bilingual signage and German in everyday use in some municipalities.

Cities

 * — capital at the Odra River with a Gothic Cathedral and a Neo-Renaissance town hall
 * — has a castle and Prudnicka Tower from the 15th century
 * — medieval town at the Nysa River
 * — Renaissance town at the Odra River
 * — Renaissance town at the Odra River

Other destinations

 * (Pałac w Mosznej) in Moszna
 * in Krasiejów – Dinosaur-themed park built next to active excavations and palaeontological museums.

Understand
In the early Middle Ages the present voivodeship was part of Silesia, which was a part of Poland since the 10th century. When in 1138 the Seniorate of Poland was formed, Silesia was one of the Polish duchies and several Silesian dukes were Seniors of Poland until the late 13th century. In the 12th and 13th century, Silesia fell apart into several duchies, of which Opole and Nysa are in the present Polish voivodeship. In the 14th century, they came under Czech rule. At time the majority of the population was germanized. Bohemia was ruled at this time by the German Luxembourg, later the Polish Jagiellonians and finally by the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1741 Prussia annexed the region from Austria. After World War I and the Silesian Uprisings the inhabitants voted to remain largely a part of Germany but still had a significantly large Polish minority. After World War II the region became part of Poland and most of its German population was expelled. Nowadays it is in the south-west of the country and home to many ethnic minorities including most of Poland's Germans and the Silesians.

Talk
Polish is the first language, as in all of Poland. Therefore, everyone speaks it. German plays a historic role in the region and some towns and cities are bi-lingual because of the German-speaking minority. There are even German-language newspapers and schools. Silesian, a Slavic minority language is also spoken in most of the Opole/Upper Silesia region. English and German may be spoken by the young.

By plane
Opole Voivodeship has no international airport. The nearest international airports are Katowice's Katowice-Pyrzowice Airport, Poznań's Poznań-Ławica Airport , Wrocław's Copernicus Airport and Łódź's Łódź-Lublinek Airport.

See
The Moszna Castle was built during different time periods and provides an example of numerous architectural styles. It is now used as a hospice house, hotel, and restaurant. Tourists can walk its grounds free of charge.

Do
Visit Nysa, Opole and the surrounding lakes.

Go next
Opole Voivodeship borders four other Polish voivodeships: as well as the Czech Republic.
 * Dolnośląskie,
 * Wielkopolskie,
 * Łódzkie,
 * and Śląskie,

title: Opole Voivodeship


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Opongio

Opongio, on Lake Patzcuaro in the state of Michoacan, Mexico.

Buy
Mexcal from the Distillery

Eat
Four restaurants have good food at excellent prices.

 * Casa Grande, Good traditional meals at good prices.

title: Opongio


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Opononi

Opononi and Omapere are two small towns linked by a ribbon of development on the Hokianga Harbour, west of Rawene, in the North Island of New Zealand.

See

Do

 * Walk the beautiful bush track at Waiotemarama Falls, 5 km from Opononi.
 * Walk the beautiful bush track at Waiotemarama Falls, 5 km from Opononi.

Eat

 * Opononi Takeaways
 * Opononi Hotel

Go next

 * Dargaville – to the south, beyond the Waipoua Forest
 * Koutu – large round concretions (boulders) near Opononi
 * Rawene – a town to the north-east

title: Opononi


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Opotiki

Opotiki is a small coastal town in the eastern Bay of Plenty on New Zealand's North Island. It is the starting point for State Highway 35, which follows much of the coastline of the East Cape and terminates in Gisborne.

By car
Opotiki is 30 minutes drive east from Whakatane, which is the best bet for car hire.

By bus
Intercity Coachlines stops outside Hot Bread Shop illy Cafe, 43 St Johns St. Daily services are: Auckland via Whakatane, Rotorua and Hamilton 10:30am; Gisborne via Matawai 4:45pm.

BayBus. Probably the cheapest way to get around the Bay of Plenty.

Services may change so check websites for more details.

By plane
The nearest airport with scheduled passenger flights is at Whakatane. Rental cars are available at the airport.

Get around
All car parking is free.

Eat
Opotiki has several fast food outlets, mainly Chinese takeaways. For good Kiwi food visit one of the fish and chips stores in the town.

Go next

 * The drive to Gisborne around the East Cape on State Highway 35 features spectacular ocean views and remote settlements. Allow 8 hours on the road. Then return to Opotiki on State Highway 2 via Matawai and the Waioeka Gorge. Allow 11–12 hours on the road for the round trip.

title: Opotiki


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Oppenheim

Oppenheim is a city of 7,600 people (2020) at the Rhine in the state Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.

Understand
Oppenheim is on the Rhine, in the middle between Mainz and Worms. It was granted market rights in 1008, city rights in 1225, and flourished until overrun by Spanish, Swedish and French troops in 1620, 1631 and 1689 respectively. After that it never regained its previous importance and wealth; however, it remains a charming small city with mediaeval flair, proud of its history and its wine — particularly the Krötenbrunnen vineyards, whose fame has reached beyond Germany.

Oppenheim once was home to a small Jewish community, the remnants of which were scattered by the atrocities before and during World War II. Several families named Oppenheim or Oppenheimer can be found in the USA and other parts of the world.

By train
Fast trains (ICE, IC, most RE) won't stop in Oppenheim. Visitors have to take the slow train (S, Stadtbahn). 'S6' runs from Mainz via Oppenheim and Worms to Mannheim (or vice versa) mostly every half an hour, or hourly in the early morning and late evening. If you're coming in from nearby Frankfurt airport then take a train to Mainz first and change there.

From Oppenheim's train station it is only a 5-10 minutes walk to the Old Town. (There is a city map across the street in front of the former station building.)

By car
The B9 state road connects Oppenheim to Mainz and Worms. Just north of the town is the Nierstein car ferry across the Rhine in the direction of Darmstadt. The B420 provides connections from the A61 and A63.

Get around
There is no public transportation (the only buses are school buses), but the city, particularly the Old Town, is so small that you can walk everywhere within minutes.

City maps are downloadable from Oppenheim's homepage.

See

 * The Old Town with its marketplace and the Town Hall, just below the church.

Do
Stroll through the Old Town, enjoy the view from the castle, do a guided underground tour and climb the tower of St Catherine's if you get a chance. Use Oppenheim as a 'base camp' for several beautiful bicycle tours along the river Rhine. However, if you're looking for a wild night life instead, you might have come to the wrong place.

Buy
Various small shops are located in the town center around the marketplace and along 'Mainzer Straße'. For supermarkets look to the south of the town, between Oppenheim and Dienheim.

Sleep

 * There are also a number of holiday apartments to rent; see the town's website.
 * There are also a number of holiday apartments to rent; see the town's website.
 * There are also a number of holiday apartments to rent; see the town's website.

Go next

 * Along the Rhine by bicycle, e.g. to Nierstein, Nackenheim or the Kühkopf island near Guntersblum.
 * Nierstein (3 min by train)
 * Nackenheim (7 min by train)
 * Mainz (20 min by train)
 * Worms (20 min by train)
 * Frankfurt
 * Mannheim (1 hour by (slow) train)
 * Darmstadt
 * Heidelberg

title: Oppenheim