10 Sep |
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I've spent the last week or two wandering through some of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and while there were certainly lots of travellers with their jaws on their boots at the beauty of the place, there were equal numbers of people just shuffling along, snapping snaps to show the folks back home and ticking off their 'to-do' list. And they really didn't look like they were enjoying themselves. All too often I think we follow the crowd, tick off the "must-sees" and come away with a few trinkets, but not many real memories. After a tour or two I discovered that simply sitting in a coffee shop and feeling the ebb and flow of the city was a far better way to understand a place than learning about Emperor Whotzit the Second. Prague, for me, will forever be the image of a blind accordion player in a small café, rather than the Old Town Square or Charles Bridge. Vienna; the vineyards of Grinzing, not the Hapsburg Palace. And while tourism is often touted as the 'new gold', it can often harm as much as it helps. Take the over-run Maasai Mara, for instance, where herds of tourists look set to outnumber herds of wildebeest. Luckily a few innovative operators are trying to balance community and conservation. Ditto in Namibia, where despair turned into delight by targeting a tourism niche. There's not much left in 2008, but my resolution for the rest of it is to put down the camera, toss away the guidebook and leave the crowds behind to just sit, listen and enjoy. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites            |