Every year, New York Times publish 52 Places to Go , your choice of destinations to travel to. In 2018 he opted for Seville and the Ribera del Duero , while the province of Cadiz She was chosen in 2019.
In 2020, the list included three Spanish destinations, Asturias, Menorca and the Aran Valley; and in 2021, he opted for The Camino de Santiago and Cordoba.
This year, the American newspaper has fallen under the spell of the spanish islands , including El Hierro and the Cíes Islands on your list places to visit in 2022 , which this year has been baptized with the title 52 Places for a Changed World (52 places for a changed world).
Cies Islands
IRON: A SMALL LEADER IN RENEWABLE ENERGY
“Using wind and water to generate power in a small outpost that is leading the way” . This is how the journalist Danielle Pergament describes the Canarian paradise of El Hierro.
We already advance it to you: El Hierro is on its way to becoming the first Spanish island (and in the world) to be 100% sustainable thanks to the work and effort that the institutions, companies and locals have been doing for more than a decade.
Pergament presents the island as “a small leader in renewable energy” alluding to the inauguration in 2014 of the power plant Goron of the Wind , which uses a system of reservoirs and wind to supply electricity to the island.
“Recently, Gorona del Viento was able to supply the 11,000 inhabitants of the island with 100% renewable energy for 25 consecutive days” , adds Pergament.
Just as the infrastructure of El Hierro plants one foot in the future, “ cultural identity of the island keeps the other rooted in the past”. This is also highlighted by the journalist from The New York Times when referring to the historical language of El Hierro, the herreño whistle, one of the last whistled languages in the world.
El Hierro, the most sustainable island in Spain (and in the world).
LAS CIES: KEEPING TOURISM AT BAY
“In this lush archipelago, keeping overtourism at bay is part of the charm” , says journalist AnneLise Sorensen.
Oh, the Cies. There was a time when they were an unknown place and only travelers interested in the bird watching , locals who wanted to enjoy its almost deserted beaches and some foreigners who came here after touring Europe in a van.
Today, that unknown paradise is no longer a secret. Its inclusion as part of the Atlantic Islands National Park in 2002 and the declaration of Rhodes beach as the best beach in the world, according to The Guardian newspaper in 2007, in addition to many other recognitions, took the name of the Cíes all over the world, and the boom in tourism meant that a maximum number of visitors per day was established (1,800, in high season).
“This green archipelago is a vision of protected biodiversity: thriving nature reserves, abundant marine life and robust seabird colonies,” says AnneLise Sorensen, who also talks about ongoing conservation efforts.
“Strict conservation efforts include restrictions against cars, hotels and noise, and they ensure that only in designated areas can visitors explore long, curving beaches, snorkel in crystal-clear waters, and walk trails that wind toward picturesque lighthouses.”
The delight continues at night, says the journalist, with “the starry skies black as ink”, who have earned a designation star light due to limited light pollution.
And it is that the Rias Baixas They will always be a "yes", a "let's escape", a "we have to go back" and, for some privileged people, a "let's go home".
Rodas Beach, Cíes Islands (Pontevedra)
52 PLACES IN AN UPWARDS WORLD
“The world has changed. Also the 52 places” , they explain from The New York Times, as their list of destinations to visit in 2022 analyzes "places where visitors can be part of the solution to problems such as excessive tourism and climate change."
This is the second consecutive year that the newspaper faces the challenge of creating one of its most emblematic journalistic pieces, 52 seatsin a world turned upside down.
A year ago, with global travel almost at a standstill, The New York Times asked its readers which were the places that had helped them cope with the hardest days of confinement. That list included destinations ranging from colorful rock formations in India to a humble brick church in South London.
“They were far-away destinations well-loved or nearby places that had offered solace, and they served as a reminder that the world was still out there, waiting”, they affirm from the newspaper.
Now, with the pandemic reaching its third year on the calendar, “global travel is more possible, but remains difficult and full of uncertainty” they keep saying.
There are many countries in which the majority of its population is not vaccinated and in addition, China and other Asian countries remain closed for most visitors. Likewise, the Omicron variant has dealt a heavy blow to travel and brought with it new restrictions.
In 2000, El Hierro was declared a Biosphere Reserve and in 2014 a Geopark
CLIMATE CHANGE AND MASS TOURISM
Beyond the pandemic, The New York Times continues, “There is a profound shift taking place in the global understanding of climate change and the speed and degree to which we are already seeing its effects. Wildfires, floods, dangerous storms, rising water levels and temperatures – it all reminds us how fragile our world really is.”
Thus, he explains that the travel industry is responsible for between 8 and 11% of total greenhouse gas emissions , according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. At the Glasgow climate summit last autumn, the tourism industry committed for the first time to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach "net zero" by 2050.
It also alludes to the problem of mass tourism, that has been kept in check by the pandemic, but “threatens to reassert itself when the world starts moving again” and wonders: “Have we learned something from the forced closures or will the same patterns emerge again?”
However, The New York Times is optimistic and states that travel can also be part of the solution, as evidenced by the tourism industry's commitment to Glasgow.
A solution that would not only help in the fight against climate change, because travel would also "They support depleted economies in places that rely on tourist dollars and open travelers' eyes to cultures and customs different from their own." That thought is the animating spirit behind this year's list, 52 places for a changed world.
El Hierro, the most sustainable island in Spain (and in the world).
TRAVELERS, PART OF THE SOLUTION
The 2022 list includes 52 destinations where travelers can be part of the solution and not part of the problem. That is, “places where change is really happening, where endangered wildernesses are preserved, endangered species are protected, historical wrongs are acknowledged, fragile communities are strengthened, and where travelers can be part of the change.”
For example, among the 52 places to go we find Thaidene Nëné National Park, Canada, administered by an Indian tribe or the Inner Hebrides, an archipelago of Scotland where you can sample whiskey at the Bruichladdich Distillery, which has switched to a zero-emissions boiler.
Other destinations included in the list are: Chioggia (Italy), known as “la piccola Venezia”; the wine region of Alentejo (Portugal), Hoonah (Alaska), the Red River Delta , one of the most unknown regions of Vietnam and the Ibera National Park (Argentina).
São Lourenço do Barrocal (Alentejo, Portugal).
They also propose destinations and plans for the more adventurous, such as touring the part of the England Coast Path passing through the county of Northumberland (England), enter the El Yunque National Forest (Puerto Rico), discover the Chimanimani National Park (Mozambique), know the Dana Biosphere Reserve (Jordan) or dare with the hiking trail The Red Sea Mountain Trail, in Egypt.
Nor do they forget urban destinations and on the list we also find places like Queens, (New York), Cleveland (Ohio), Naples (Italy), Zihuatanejo (Mexico), Hoonah (Alaska), Kyoto (Japan), Gouda (Netherlands), Humboldt (Kansas), Marrakech (Morocco).
And of course, there is also room for the islands, because in addition to the two island destinations in our country (El Hierro and the Cíes Islands), the list includes island destinations such as the Greek island of Euboea, Fogo Island, (Newfoundland, Canada) or Vanuatu (island country of the South Pacific).
autumn woods