This is a village tucked away in the upper Austrian mountains, it's very pretty and renowned for being so, we paid a visit on our trip last week, it's nice but the behaviour of tourists was absolutely mind bending
Show this thread
-
-
-
Almost every house seems to have one of these signs on the wall and they make no difference whatsoeverpic.twitter.com/fCIPNxp4yX
Show this thread -
& the main reason people go there is to wander around for an hour or so taking pictures for instagram, and then leave again on the busses. They don't spend any money in the shops or really visit any attractions other than the well-known photo spots (that are free)
Show this thread -
Stories abound of tourists walking into people's gardens to take photos of their houses(!), knocking on their doors and asking to use the toilet(!!), entering the church during Sunday mass and taking photos (they actually had to hire bouncers to stop people doing this)
Show this thread -
I spent most of the few hours I spent there just getting madder and redder about how rude these people were being. Here's the now-famous Hallstatt viewpoint on Wikipedia, it's pretty, there's no doubt -pic.twitter.com/Fo9GiLwS4Y
Show this thread -
What it is is essentially a piece of pavement next to the lake, with houses all around. Signs *everywhere* saying "please keep quiet" but it may as well have been a bus terminal. Families yelling at each other to come and get in the photograph, talking at top volume
Show this thread -
Local cyclists going past on their way home trying to dodge the 30 odd people trying to take photos standing in the middle of the road, bells ringing frantically to no avail. Becoming instagram famous has been an absolute nightmare for the people of Hallstatt.
Show this thread -
It's a really interesting place, it's where the Celts arose from before migrating all over Northern Europe. There's a salt mine that's been active since the pre-Roman period, none of that matters though b/c it looks like a village from a Grimm fairy tale.
Show this thread -
I made a bit of an error earlier in the thread when I said that people knock on the doors to ask to use the toilets, there are stories of tourists just letting themselves into people's houses to look around(!!!!)
Show this thread -
and the part about people entering the church and taking photos and selfies during a mass, according to Heute it's also happened during funerals
Show this thread -
Anyway, that's my Hallstatt rant. I left the town feeling really angry and really sad for the residents who never asked for this. Here's some further reading:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nothing-to-see-here-popular-european-destinations-want-fewer-tourists/2019/08/07/5d2060f4-ac95-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html …
Show this thread End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
If I'd known people would actually read this thread I wouldn't have started it with something as wanky as saying "thesis"
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
I couldn't get near the Mona Lisa. It was 20 deep with selfie takers. They all has their backs to her.
-
and almost everyone who visits the Louvre only goes to that one room and then leaves again!
-
Yes! The rest of it was deserted.
-
I suppose that's a saving grace, you get to see everything else in peace
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
What would you recommend tourists do, then?
-
Having the tiniest shred of consideration for the people who live in the places you visit would be a good start
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I live in Vienna, which has its own tourist issues, but every time I have been to Halstatt (and I take many visiting friends) this has been the case. It sucks.
-
I live in Vienna too and I find that tourists here are much much better behaved!
-
Certainly better, though still not always great — at least when they travel in large packs.
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.