Someone just wondered whether this walk was an anti-tour. Um, not according to Daniel Kalder, aka the first international congress of Anti-Tourists at the Shymkent Hotel, Shymkent, Kazakhstan, October 1999:
The anti-tourist does not visit places that are in any way desirable.
The anti-tourist eschews comfort.
The anti-tourist embraces hunger and hallucinations and shit hotels.
The anti-tourist seeks locked doors and demolished buildings.
And so on. I keep telling people they should want to meet squatters, gypsies, finch fanciers etc on variants of walks like this, but this anti-tourism stuff has yet to go mainstream.
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Speaking from baldie experience, most council tourism departments here offer an abysmal service, and things gets worse once you go online.
Sounds like no fun whatsoever… so, er, brilliant, yeah?
Actually, exploring is always the most fun thing to do on holiday. As my friend recently found out after walking a cliff path above a Tarragona beach, only to find several gentlemen cottaging in broad daylight. Viva el verano…
I’ve a lot of sympathy with the anti-tourism movement whilst having that reactionary old fuddy-duddy’s fear of being arrested or getting beaten up.