I've found the best free way to see any city
A walking tour is a great way to orient yourself, and it usually takes you past the key tourist sites. Think of a hop-on, hop-off bus but with interactive commentary and walking rather than sitting, which is also a great way to shake off jetlag.
Better than the orientation, though, are the stories told by the tour guides. Typically lifelong residents of the city and always local, these guides are invariably engaging and passionate about the cities they live in. You learn something about the city's history, something about the culture and something about the way people live in the city.
In Florence, my tour guide, Riccardo, told the group about the demise of the city's leather-making industry and the exodus of the young people. Like so many other 'tourist hot spots' in Europe, he explained, Florence is no longer affordable for young people.
We walked on with Riccardo and, when we were positioned at the rear of the famous Duomo (Cathedral), he pointed to the street sign – Bischero (pronounced Biskero). Riccardo told us the origin of the name. At the end of the 1200s, before building the Duomo, the government offered the local families money to buy their homes and relocate. All accepted except the Bischeri family, who hoped to increase the offer. Mysteriously, the Bischeri house burnt to the ground and, from that day on, 'Bischero' has been used by Florentines to refer to a stupid person.
The story was funny and interesting in itself, but it became hilarious moments later. Riccardo, looking directly at the two sullen teenagers in our group, reminisced about a history lesson when he was a teenager, where the teacher discussed a lot about the Medici family, but also mentioned the Bischero story. At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked Riccardo who the important family in the story was.
'Bischero,' he'd said confidently.
'No,' said the teacher, 'It was the Medicis. You are the Bischero!' A good joke made even more impressive by the fact it was delivered by a Forentine in perfect English.
Jack was our guide in Oxford. He introduced himself as a 'Townie' and a 'Gownie'. A 'Townie' means he lives in Oxford. A 'Gownie' means he had studied in Oxford too. Now a self-confessed, struggling writer hoping to have a career as an academic, Jack guides walking tours and infuses his facts with local knowledge.
Jack told our group how the town of Oxford came to be, but most interesting was his insight into Oxford as a university town. He told us that 31 of 58 English prime ministers have been educated in Oxford, and explained how every student is assigned to a pastoral hub, being a college. He spoke earnestly about how Oxford University looks to the future and is now leaning away from undergraduate study towards postgraduate studies and to be a world centre for research.
Another day, another fascinating walking tour. This time, in the summer in Dubrovnik. The tour guide, Luka, was a Dubrovnik native who had some interesting and concerning thoughts on tourism. Croatia, he told the group, has lost 500,000 residents since 2011. There is now one retiree for every worker.
Luka believes tourism has brought Dubrovnik back to life and saved Croatia's economy. On the other hand, Dubrovnik has a population of 42,000 but 45,000 tourist beds! Hardly any locals live in the Old Town any longer - a mere 900 yet there are 2800 tourist beds. Even with a cap of two cruise ships per day during cruising season, there can be 9000 day trippers in Dubrovnik. No wonder the city has crowd control measures such as ropes and direction arrows indicating pedestrian traffic flow.
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Luka told us one-fifth of the Croatian economy is tourism and that, slowly, all industries other than tourism are shutting down. Even wineries and olive oil production have become tourism businesses. He, himself, admitted that being a tour guide a few hours a day for part of the year is a much easier life than being a farmer.
Despite the challenges, Luka regarded his life as prosperous because previous generations lived through occupation and conflict.
Without walking tours guided by locals such as Ela, Riccardo, Jack and Luka, I would have wandered around Bologna, Florence, Oxford and Dubrovnik and gazed at the impressive buildings without any idea of the stories behind what I was seeing, nor how the locals live now.
I leave every walking tour with an enhanced sense of what the city was and what the city is. I leave with unique, local insights that cost me (next to) nothing.
How do I find a walking tour?
You can join a free walking tour by visiting the local Tourist Information Office or via a Google search. I like the GuruWalk app as it groups all tours together by city with descriptions of what will be covered, tour duration, languages, times, meeting places, maps and reviews.
Are walking tours really free?
Some walking tours attract a charge per head, but these are usually themed walks or tours that involve admission fees.
If there is no disclosed fee, there is no obligation to pay anything. Bear in mind, though, that this is a job for the guide. The guide is giving up their time and local knowledge, so a tip or donation at the end of the tour is recommended.
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NZ Herald
16 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Friction between visitors and locals has been around for centuries with pilgrims being the first tourists
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Many countries at first welcomed the profusion of profit until visitor numbers and bad behaviour swirled out of control. But the roots of visitors-versus-locals go back much farther in history. The nature of tourism - even before the English word was coined in the late 18th century - was always bedevilling. When Dante sketched out his eighth circle of hell, he had horned demons whipping queues of sinners to keep them in line, comparing them to the crowds of pilgrims in Rome who were policed into one-way lanes as they crossed back and forth on the bridge of Castel Sant'Angelo (which led to St Peter's Basilica). Even back in the 14th century, the tourist hordes were problematic, despite being encouraged by the popes themselves, in part to juice local businesses. Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. Pilgrims were the first tourists. Photo / Getty Images Pilgrims were the first tourists - and they travelled not only to gawk at the holy sites but to buy blessings and souvenirs and, often, to fraternise with the locals (yes, they did have sexual relations). The ex-mistress of Pope Alexander VI made a healthy living by running inns in Rome, one of which incorporated the pontiff's family crest into its own coat of arms and still stands near the Campo de' Fiori. British aristocrats set off on their own elitist Grand Tours in the 18th century, eating, drinking and fornicating their way through the great cities of Europe. It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that Thomas Cook scaled up and democratised travel with his familyfriendly, respectably middle-class excursions. Cook's tours pioneered what many today expect from tourism: cocooned experiences where people can remain comfortably and extraterritorially themselves in the middle of a foreign country, perhaps the root of some of today's privileged behaviour among travellers. The tours were also the genesis of an industry that now accounts for about 10% of global gross domestic product, including close to 8% of Japan's and more than 10% of Italy's. So, our so-called crisis has age-old roots. The alleged miscreants are an amalgam of clueless pilgrim, bougie sightseer and loutish scoundrel. And the situation is also exacerbated by the super-sizing of expectations by airlines, hotel chains, the luxury business, the restaurant trade and a host of industries whose aim is to separate this mass movement of people from their disposable income. You can blame go-for-growth commerce. It's not ideal, of course. But everyone has derived some benefit along the route. The point is to prevent local irritation over bad behaviour from going madly off track. Misdeeds - even if committed by a fraction of a fraction - can inspire holier-than-thou ethnocentrism and exclusionary rules. It's important to remember that domestic tourists can behave like yokels too. So calm down. Large countries like France, Italy, Japan and others will find it difficult to restrict tourism without making themselves less attractive - including to their own citizens. The obvious case in point is the United States, where anecdote after anecdote of travellers being accosted or detained at the border has led to a decline in tourism. New York City has revised its expectations for international visitors downward by 17%. Spending by foreign tourists may come down as much as US$12.5 billion in the US in 2025, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Before this round of strictures, travel and tourism made up close to 10% of the US$30.5 trillion GDP. New York City has revised its expectations for international visitors downward by 17%. Photo / 123rf Perhaps there is a kind of solution to be found in human guides, accredited to personalise tours and save the more hapless visitors from themselves. It's not new, of course. An essay by the English polymath Francis Bacon in 1625 advised travellers to take along 'one that hath the language and hath been in the country before; whereby he may be able to tell them what things are worthy to be seen'. As for disputes and quarrels, he said, 'they are with care and discretion to be avoided'. So behave. Building a system of capable guides may just end up with more bureaucracy. We tourists should therefore be more conscious of why we are travelling. It's important to get out of one's comfort zone, to experience a different existence. As Bacon wrote, let the traveller 'sequester himself from the company of his countrymen and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth'. My corollary: Skip the generic bucket list and come up with an original one. Do the research. Don't go flowing downstream with the perspiring masses of humanity that know only to stare at the Trevi Fountain. The bigger cities - as crowded as they are - almost always have quiet alternatives that allow you to absorb their ethos without suffocating in the equivalent of mosh pits. In Rome, opt for the elegance of the Via Giulia over the coarseness of the Corso. Being far from the maddening crowds could make all the difference.
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