Greece’s ‘Mountain of the Gods’ has blockbuster year
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — In our roundup of travel news this week: Dubai’s $800 incentive scheme to lure back tourists, a “firenado” in Utah, plus some of the wildest filming locations in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
Mount Olympus
If you think the 172-minute runtime of Christopher Nolan’s Mediterranean epic “The Odyssey” is long, just consider Greece’s 12-year wait for Mount Olympus to be made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hovering at 9,570 feet over the Aegean coast near the Macedonian border, Mount Olympus is Greece’s highest mountain and, before the long-awaited honor this week, was already a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and home to the country’s first national park.
It’s also the fabled home of the 12 Olympian deities of Greek mythology. The mount’s craggy subpeaks, deep gorges, forested flanks and cloud-bathed summit all combine to make it a worthy “Mountain of the Gods.”
It’s not the only destination associated with Nolan’s movies to have just been crowned a UNESCO World Heritage Site. France’s D-Day beaches (as portrayed in the visceral World War II epic “Dunkirk”) were added this week too.
“Dunkirk” was shot extensively on location in Normandy, France, while filming for “The Odyssey” took place in six countries, including Greece, though Mount Olympus itself did not feature.
CNN’s Sandy Thin headed to Scotland to track down some of the new film’s wildest and most remote locations, from vast beaches and towering dunes to a castle clinging to the cliffs. Matt Damon called “The Odyssey” the “hardest shoot” of his career – and it wasn’t long before Thin understood why.
Wildfires and extreme heat
It’s been another summer of record-breaking heat in many places around the world.
An unusually strong heat dome will scorch much of the western United States this weekend, bringing the hottest temperatures so far this year to tens of millions from California to Canada.
Earlier this week, firefighters battling the Wide Mouth 2 fire in Utah observed a “firenado,” a swirling tower of smoke that can form during intense fires.
Wildfires have been breaking out across mainland Europe, with France and Spain the worst affected. If you have travel plans coming up, you can track the current situation here, in maps and charts. England, meanwhile, is battling an “exceptionally serious” drought that has hit half the nation.
In Italy, Rome spent millions redesigning a piazza near the Vatican with shade trees, misting stations and fountains to help people beat the heat. Just over a year after opening, many of the trees have died, the water features have stopped working and some benches are too hot to sit on. Watch here.
Finally, in China, Emirates airline has apologized after passengers were stuck for 10 hours without air conditioning after their flight was diverted from Shanghai to Hangzhou due to bad weather.
College city with a small-town feel
Continuing our countdown of America’s Best Towns to Visit in 2026, we have Burlington, Vermont, at No. 6.
Vermont’s biggest city is a lakeside college community with a small-town feel that’s evident in its weekly farmer’s market and walkable downtown. Depending on the season, you can bike along Lake Champlain, enjoy wild ice skating or hike urban trails. Sipping on craft brews and sampling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream from its birthplace nearby are pleasures available here year-round.
Take a look, too, at the rest of our list so far: Roanoke, Virginia, at No. 10, Lawrence, Kansas, at No. 9, Iowa City, Iowa at No. 8 and Juneau, Alaska, at No. 7.
North Korean summer camp
Hundreds of Russian and Chinese students are attending North Korea’s Songdowon International Children’s Camp this year, state media reports. The UK sanctioned the controversial camp, located in the coastal city of Wonsan.
In case you missed it
Italian students apologize after an incident with a Thai local goes viral.
Watch here: The video and its aftermath.
Dubai launches $800 incentive scheme to lure back tourists.
The US and Israeli war on Iran has hit UAE visitor numbers hard.
Written in the stars?
A UK pilot scrawled a surprising message in the sky mid-flight.
A wildfire crisis. A tense hearing. A Grammy protest.
What do you remember from the week that was?
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