3 ms·
The comment about “open air museum” really resonates. Increasing numbers of European cities with well preserved districts are so overrun and catered to tourists
by chris_armstrong 4y ago
The comment about “open air museum” really resonates. Increasing numbers of European cities with well preserved districts are so overrun and catered to tourists that any sense of a living city is gone
- chris_armstrong 4y agoOnly the big cities (eg Paris or London) preserve a sense of a city both maintaining a connection with their past but also still lived in
- pmyteh 4y agoNot sure that's true. I was born and brought up in York, which is heavy on tourism (important from Roman Britain to the late mediaeval, with buildings and archaeology to match). But it's also an ordinary, livable, small city. It's a railway centre, makes chocolate, and has two universities. Definitely still 'lived in'. Of course, if you spend time around York Minster (the cathedral), or Stonegate, or the Yorvik Viking Centre, you're going to be surrounded by tourists. And the place is more expensive than it would be without the history.
- chris_armstrong 4y agoTrue, the problem can be confined to many overtouristed districts, not the entire city, but small places seem to suffer much more