Is tourism a form of culture ?

[petemster]

Hi.

Belated Happy New Year to all.

I'm not sure where this post should go but I'll put it in "Culture Club".

This being the time of year for planning holidays, here's a thought or two.
On Thursday my wife and I will join a four-day coach trip to Whitby - meals included,
entertainment, day excursions. We like Whitby. We've been before.
This time the weather might not be all that great, but the whole package will cost
only £89 each. So we'll take the chance,
Anyway, I wonder if this form of tourism can rightly be called cultural.
In the case of Whitby, at least the Dracula connection has links to literature and film making. :-)

We do like to do the touristy things, Penny and I, like visiting museums, cathedrals and castles etc.
and sampling the local ales.
And although we've been to many tourist attractions like Stonehenge, Blenheim Palace,
Eden Project, New Forest, Highgate Cemetery . . . , we love to visit actual places.
In this post I'm only talking about England. Not the U.K. or abroad.
Last September on a different thread I mentioned that I love England and had found the
people to be very friendly wherever we went. ( I did mention one exception but I don't
want to rake that up again).

So here's a list of the cities, towns and villages that my wife and I have visited over a number
of years. We have stayed a few days in many or most of them, or at least visited for long
enough to do some exploring and have a meal, or otherwise contribute to the local economy.

London - Apart from visiting the very many attractions of central London we have stayed in
or spent the day in Camden, Primrose Hill, Hampstead, Wapping, Canary Wharf,
Greenwich, Hammersmith . . . .
Windsor, Oxford, Aylesbury, Swindon, Cambridge.
Canterbury, Folkstone, Dover, Hastings, Deal, Rye, Tenterden, Cranbrook.
Bournemouth, Christchurch, Boscombe, Wimborne.
Torquay, Cockington, Plymouth, Poole.
Newquay, Porth, St. Ives, Penzance, Land's End, Polperro, Looe, Mevagissey, Lyndhurst.
Bristol, Bath, Weston-Super-Mare.
Exeter, Wells, Glastonbury, Cheddar, Salisbury.
Lincoln, Beverley, Hull, Norwich, Horning, Wroxham.
Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, Scarborough, Bridlington, Great Yarmouth.
York, Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Goathland, Grosmont, Pickering.
Newcastle, Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, North Shields, Seahouses.
Alnwick, Bamburgh, Berwick.
Carlisle, Kendal, Ambleside, Bowness, Windermere.
Chester, Liverpool, Blackpool, Southport, St. Anne's.
Manchester, Salford Quays, Bakewell..

Well I've probably missed out some smaller places but I do have fond memories of
visiting or staying at the above. In one way or another they all have their attractions.

Anyway, making holiday plans might cheer up the mood.
Would anybody like to recommend other places for a tourist to visit, especially if
there is a cultural connection ? Loosely speaking :-)

Pete M.

[Dave B]

Blimey, you do get around don't you!?

Happy New Whatsit, petemster.

I am going to take the coward's start with the definition of "culture":
1. the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.
2. the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.

OK, can we consider "tourists" to be members of a "particular people or society"? They all seem to share the intention of sampling a culture, society or subject that is a change from their everyday experience. A culture normally shares some values in common but the individuals with that culture can vary a lot.

The cultures being "sampled" have a range of responses to these "samplers", it would be interesting to analyse the spectrum of these.

Yes, I think "tourists" are temporary members of a culture. But I would not include those who simply want to sit in the sun in another country every day, especially is they expect British beer and fish & chips wherever they go! That is not tourism to me.

[Maria Mac]

A bar owner in Majorca whose livelihood depends on tourism might disagree with you, Dave.

My sort of tourism is all about culture and education. I want to come home feeling enriched in some way by what I've seen and learned and done; the only reason I'd want to sit on a beach is to give my aching legs a rest.

I don't see Wembley on your list, petemstr. We do have the national stadium, you know, and football is, of course, a huge part of our culture.

We're trying Copenhagen this year.

[Dave B]

A bar owner in Majorca whose livelihood depends on tourism might disagree with you, Dave.

Perhaps we need the words "boozism" and "boozists"!

I suppose the word comes from the upper class youngsters doing the "Grand Tour" as part of their education - sampling the arts and customs of various parts of Europe. Then came the "It's-Tuesday-So-This-Must-Be-Naples" type tour.

By comparison, staying in one location to sample it in depth is not really tourism in the same way - you ain't touring! I would rather stay in a small town, have the first drink in the same bar every evening, eat in no more than three different places and stay there at least two weeks . . .

[animist]

Would anybody like to recommend other places for a tourist to visit, especially if
there is a cultural connection ? Loosely speaking :-)

Pete M.

Hi PM, the crossword genius. Well, East Grinstead, where I live, has the longest row of 14C buildings in the country, plus William Morris's Standen, and both Mormon and Scientology HQ buildings, as interesting as the nutty cults themselves, plus more which I can't recall at present - not bad for a smallish town!

[petemster]

.

Hi there, Dave.

Thanks for your clarification of "tourism".
Penny and I are now back from Whitby where we had a really good break.
We climbed the 199 steps to the Abbey, sampled some lovely local beers
and made a trip to Robin Hood's Bay. Excellent !
I think we can consider ourselves to be "proper" tourists now. :-)


Hi, Maria.

Never been to Wembley, but it's not inconceivable.
Regarding the football, in my youth, as a fan of Scotland, I managed to get to
Ninian Park in Cardiff and Windsor Park in Belfast but, alas, could never obtain
a ticket for the games at the old Wembley stadium. Like gold dust, they were.
And now, given that a tourist trip should involve some form of personal "enrichment",
I'm not sure that a visit to Wembley Stadium would deliver that for me.
Let me think about it. :-)


Hi there, Animist.

You flatter me too much. You'll make me blush !
East Grinstead sounds interesting. As a railway enthusiast I would like to visit
the Bluebell Railway, so maybe I could fit that in with a trip to London later in
the year. Definitely possible. Thanks for your suggestion.

Pete.

[Nick]

Hi Pete!

Rochester has a great castle, cathedral and some smaller interesting places to visit. The naval dockyards at Chatham are nearby, if that sort of thing interests you. Historic houses in Kent & Sussex: Knole, Penshurst Place, Batemans, West Dean (gardens only, but what gardens!) plus many others

Let me know if you are planning to come nearby!

[petemster]

Hi Nick.

Thanks for the information.

Rochester sounds really interesting and, actually, has been on my must-see list for quite a while.
I'll let you know when we make plans to visit !

Cheers.

Pete.

[Nick]

I'll look forward to it!

[Kmath71]

Hi, I do it a bit differently, but it still fits the definition. I'm a shoestring backpacker, and I believe that is a culture. A culture filled with like-minded people trying to experience different cultures and individuals, broaden their minds, and fill themselves with experience, and do so without the frills of a package holiday (nothing wrong with that, it's just not for me). There's a core philosophy among us that seeing as much of the world as possible is a valuable tool to fulfilling this end.

I haven't stayed in one place long enough to have really absorbed as much as I would have liked, but this is due to change once I quit my full time job at the end of the year to enable me to travel abroad for 6 months at a time. HUGE move for me, but one I'm very much looking forward to.

Karen

[Dave B]

Hi, I do it a bit differently, but it still fits the definition. I'm a shoestring backpacker, and I believe that is a culture. A culture filled with like-minded people trying to experience different cultures and individuals, broaden their minds, and fill themselves with experience, and do so without the frills of a package holiday (nothing wrong with that, it's just not for me). There's a core philosophy among us that seeing as much of the world as possible is a valuable tool to fulfilling this end.

I haven't stayed in one place long enough to have really absorbed as much as I would have liked, but this is due to change once I quit my full time job at the end of the year to enable me to travel abroad for 6 months at a time. HUGE move for me, but one I'm very much looking forward to.

Karen

Used to have a fried, a plasterer, would work every possibly day he could during the summer and disappear to S. America, Africa, India or wherever for the whole of the winter.

Another did anything to earn money half the year and went mountaineering the other half.

[Kmath71]

Used to have a fried, a plasterer, would work every possibly day he could during the summer and disappear to S. America, Africa, India or wherever for the whole of the winter.

Another did anything to earn money half the year and went mountaineering the other half.

That's my plan. I'm on the Nurses bank and only need work one shift every 6 months to stay on it. I may well join an agency in London too. I'm an Asia girl so far, although I spent 5 weeks bouncing around Spain and Portugal. I intend to hit the other continents, but am nervous about it. Won't let that stop me though!

[petemster]

Hi Karen.

Good luck on your travels wherever you go - and whenever you go.

BTW, there's another thread here called,"What's the most interesting place you have visited?"

It's in the forum, "Club Soda".

Please feel free if you would like to share any experiences.


Pete M.

[Dave B]

We always appreciate photographs as well.

[Kmath71]

We always appreciate photographs as well.

Done, I've stuck a couple up, but be careful what you wish for, as I am a keen photographer when I travel!

[Fia]

Karen.

I'm a shoestring backpacker, and I believe that is a culture.

Yup. In the early 70s my summer holiday job at 16 was working in a temporary Youth Hostel in London: Carter Lane YH which was the old St Paul's choir school accommodation. The camaraderie and stories from the good folk I met encouraged me to be brave and don my rucksack. Work was easy then, nae hassle to work hard for half the year, travel and get work on return. Nursing is one of the few jobs that's still fab for that now.
The only place I spent much time in was Israel over 10 years later: a year based on a kibbutz. It was only there that I felt I had good cultural understanding of any place I've been, easier to make the most of it with other like-minded folk that didn't mind stress-free work. Once I had children it astounded and saddened me that most of their school friends never went out of the county, let alone Scotland We used our passports every year to introduce them to the notion that the world is a bigger place than their comfort zone.

And Pete: if the Cairngorms float your boat we have mountains, forests, wildlife and spectacular skies....

[Dave B]

And Pete: if the Cairngorms float your boat we have mountains, forests, wildlife and spectacular skies....

And the Lairig Ghru if you fancy a long walk!

["Ghru" just about describes it on a windy, rainy day!]

[petemster]

.

Hi Fia and Dave.

Thanks for your suggestion but, as it happens, I used to do quite a bit of hill-walking
and some climbing.
One of my adventures happened in the winter of 1970. My climbing friend, Doug, and I
walked through the Lairig Ghru and spent the night in Sinclair Hut. Next day we continued
the trek round the glen and up the coire to Etchacan Bothy - more or less in white-out
blizzard conditions.
During the night, with temperatures well below zero, some mice chewed at our supplies!

Anyway, next day we continued up the hill intending to skirt Loch Etchacan but, still in
the blizzard, and with our eyes and faces freezing over with snow, we realised that we
were out in the middle of the frozen loch.
Retracing our route didn't seem to be an option so we signalled to each other to keep going
- and I'm still here to tell the tale.

[Dave B]

.

Hi Fia and Dave.

Thanks for your suggestion but, as it happens, I used to do quite a bit of hill-walking
and some climbing.
One of my adventures happened in the winter of 1970. My climbing friend, Doug, and I
walked through the Lairig Ghru and spent the night in Sinclair Hut. Next day we continued
the trek round the glen and up the coire to Etchacan Bothy - more or less in white-out
blizzard conditions.
During the night, with temperatures well below zero, some mice chewed at our supplies!

Anyway, next day we continued up the hill intending to skirt Loch Etchacan but, still in
the blizzard, and with our eyes and faces freezing over with snow, we realised that we
were out in the middle of the frozen loch.
Retracing our route didn't seem to be an option so we signalled to each other to keep going
- and I'm still here to tell the tale.

Good story, pete! The Lairig Ghru can be a lonely and daunting place . . .

Have some interesting experiences of the Cairngorms myself, like a trainee rescue dog peeing down the back of my neck - I was acting as part of a "human ladder" to get it up a corrie when it decided to have a leak! Ah, snow, ice, glorious dawns, gale force winds, golden eagles, heather twigs in the tea, five days on nothing but RAF compo "Mock Turtle Soup" tinned cheese and hard biscuits (we'd kept all the lousy stuff 'til last). . . Them was the days!