I just returned from an amazing month long trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples) and to Istanbul in Turkey*. It was to be a vacation away from home, work, music and dance. And with a few exceptions in Istanbul when we saw performances and shopped in music stores, this vacation was all that it was planned to be…a vacation from my life here in San Francisco to become a bona fide tourist. I have always been an armchair tourist loving to read of foreign countries and people’s adventures now and in the past and it was a dream come true to be and live 24/7 as a tourist. I got to eat, shop, stand in endless lines with other tourists and get lost and traveling in circles trying to find my way to somewhere. Oh, and re communicating? Couldn’t practice my pidgin Italian or use the 10 words I learned in Turkish because everyone spoke English (in our tourist locations).
Yes, I wanted to be a tourist and thought that since this was off-season that the natives would welcome tourists. Wrong! Sort of. I think. I would love to see how many tourists there are in tourist zones anywhere in the world during tourist season, but during the off season it was uncomfortably crowded. The lines to see the sights were between 1 to 2+ hours long. Tour guides were offering deals to cut the lines at about $40-$50 each person if with a group, some sights/monuments regulated admission to 3000 people at a time so entrance was metered. Some sights/monuments just closed in the early afternoon due to the masses or stated on line reservations only with reservations backed up about two days prior.
The natives, especially the Romans, were not interested in tourists at all and their tourist police, out in numbers, were there only to monitor tourist misdeeds with outrageous fines and with no offers of help or advice. I witnessed a poor family of seven people fined more than $50 euros each for not knowing how to use the bus tickets that they bought. Their passports were taken and numbers noted and they were intimidated by 3 men in uniforms who told them that if they didn’t pay up (now) that the fines would increase more than double each person. Seven tourists - three of them children. That could have added up to close to a thousand dollars if they didn’t have their credit cards with them. I guess that besides the admission to many sights being up to $30 each, the tourist police contribute a good portion of Rome’s tourism industry. Nevertheless. Crowds or no crowds, it was fun being a tourist and I’d do it again. I can say,however, that I am still in shock at the number of tourists and people I waded through during Europe’s off season.
Trevi Fountain, Rome - Looking for Michaelangelo’s David in Florence - Venice - Venice - Venice - Herculaneum near Naples - The Aya Sofia in Istanbul and shopping on a Monday night around midnight near Taksim Square in Istanbul.
*This trip was my Christmas present from Susu last year upon the suggestion of her friend TerriAnne. They were also on the trip, but I am writing only about my observations, experiences and reactions.
Next will talk about shopping for a riq in Istanbul