Bored by tourist stuff?
Were going to debate this in the programme tonight: recording a discussion at 15.30.
PA says: Hot tourist attractions such as Stonehenge and the Eiffel Tower leave Britons cold, according to a survey out today. UK tourists are also far from enamoured with the Louvre in Paris and the Angel of the North in Gateshead, the poll from Virgin Travel Insurance found. Other UK attractions on the "most disappointing sights" list include Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London.
And the overseas table of attractions we find easy to avoid includes New York's Times Square and Statue of Liberty, The White House in Washington and the Great Pyramids. Topping the UK "must-see" sights is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, with Bath's Royal Crescent, Scotland's Isle of Skye and Cornwall's Eden Project also
in the top 10. Leading the "must-see" overseas table is The Treasury at Petra in Jordan. Other top 10 entries include the Grand Canal in Venice, the Masai Mara game park in Kenya and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Commenting on the choices made by the 1,267 adults questioned, travel expert Felice Hardy said: "It's easy to be swayed by brochures that opt for the mainstream and focus on cliched tourist sights around the world, but many of
them are overcrowded and disappointing. "Pick carefully and don't always go for the obvious. Natural phenomena are usually more exciting than the man-made, and can be wonderfully free of tourists."
Ms Hardy dubbed the Eiffel Tower "frustratingly overcrowded and overpriced" and said Stonehenge was "an isolated pile of rocks in a usually muddy field". She said the Diana fountain resembled "a colourless wet skateboard park" while as far as Big Ben was concerned: "Once you've seen it, you'll know what time it is - time to go somewhere else."
These are the 10 most disappointing sights:
OVERSEAS
1. The Eiffel Tower, Paris
2. The Louvre, Paris
3. Times Square, New York
4. Las Ramblas, Barcelona
5. Statue of Liberty, New York
6. Spanish Steps, Rome
7. The White House, Washington DC
8. The Pyramids, Egypt
9. The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
10.The Leaning Tower of Pisa
UK
1. Stonehenge
2. Angel of the North. Gateshead
3. Blackpool Tower
4. Land's End, Cornwall
5. Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, London
6. The London Eye
7. Brighton Pier
8. Buckingham Palace
9. White Cliffs of Dover
10. Big Ben
These are the must-see sights
OVERSEAS
1. The Treasury at Petra, Jordan
2. The Grand Canal, Venice
3. The Masai Mara, Kenya
4. Sydney Harbour Bridge
5. Taroko Gorge, Taiwan
6. Kings Canyon, Northern Territory, Australia
7. Cappadoccia caves, Turkey
8. Lake Titicaca, Peru and Bolivia
9. Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
10. Jungfraujoch railway, Switzerland
UK
1. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
2. Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, County Antrim
3. The Royal Crescent, Bath
4. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Southwark, south London
5. The Backs, Cambridge
6. Holkham Bay, Norfolk
7. Lyme Regis and the Jurassic Coast, Devon and Dorset
8. Tate St Ives gallery, Cornwall
9. Isle of Skye, Scotland
10. The Eden Project, Cornwall
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Alnwick Castle the number one "must See" Site in the UK. I am surpised. Its a castle.
Nothing to do with the garden next door with its flourishing cannabis plant? (remember your drugs article from a few weeks ago).
Yungfrauyoch railway is fantastic and Venice is Venice. So agree with these.
"travel expert" Felice Hardy.
In that case, i'm going to apply to be an "expert expert" and here's my press announcemnet:
PA says: Leading travel experts should get on their bike and hop it, according to expert expert nikki noodle. Mr Noodle (27), comments that in press annoucements they should "pick carefully and don't always go for the obvious" comment, as many people want to see significant nation landmarks. At one point, Mr Noodle dubbed travel expert Hardy Perennial "frustratingly overcrowded and overpriced", though probably he was thinking of something else at the time.
When plucking your expert, he opined, "don't always go for the trite and simplistic - experts come in all shapes and sizes, some even know what they're on about, but clearly, you'd have to pay for those..."
These are the 5 most disappointing experts:
travel experts
money experts
media (meeja) experts
music experts
political experts
Holkham Bay over Loch Lomond and/or the Trossachs? - I think Not! (obviously)
And maliciously (apparently)
All the 'must see' foreign sights are the sort of thing you can brag about around the dinner table in order to get one-up on your companions.
It's a competition to see who has most recently returned from the most exotic location, who can complain the most amusingly about being messed up in the most distant tiniest airport, who can be the first to say how lovely a place is , "and it isn't spoiled yet, but you can see the signs."
I sat through an entire pub supper the other night and the only topics of conversation were travel and restaurant meals. What sort of life do these people live?
The Mobility are the new self-appointed nobility. Their (and it seems to be regarded as some new kind of birthright) is one of the most destructive forces on this planet, polluting and eventually irretrievably damaging every culture it touches.
I shall dance naked in the fields on the day the last airport closes forever.
[/rant] (for the moment)
"...the most striking and immediate effect of the spread of European settlement beyond the boundaries of Europe itself was its lethal impact on indigenous peoples and societies." -- Clive Ponting (A Green History of the World)
xx
ed
The good thing about places like the Angel of the North, and Stonehenge, is that they are right beside major roads. They are not worth spending hours going to visit, there's not much to do once you've got there and had a quick look, but as a landmark to see out of your car as you drive past they are superb, and make your journey more interesting.
There was a plan a few years ago to divert the main road away from Stonehenge, possibly even building a tunnel to do so. I was horrified! Apart from denying travellers the joy of seeing Stonehenge on their journey, it would be bound to reduce dramatically the number of people who do stop and take a better look.
I'd add a vote for the North Yorkshire Jurassic Coast. I think it's every bit as good as the Dorset Jurassic Coast.
For overseas - I came across a great place in Mexico. Unfortunately the beer was so cheap I cannot recall its name.
You can't tell it's Silly Season at all, can you?
Fascinating.
Fifi :o(
How on earth can they say they were disappointed by the Louvre? That to me suggests they weren't doing it properly - "there's the Mona Lisa - right, we can go now." There is so much more to it than that. I took a day and a half to go around, and still felt I hadn't seen it all.
The key is to plan your visit. Rooms and rooms full of objets d'art and dishwater-dull neo-classical 18/19C French paintings are very very bad for the brain - skip them (apart from the Raft of the Medusa), you won't be missing much. Focus on the archaeological - the Egyptian/Greek/Roman exhibitions were excellent - and the Renaissance. Don't bother with the Mona Lisa: you know what it looks like and it's far too crowded to get up close and personal.
Take your time - savour the paintings. Examine them. Read your guidebook on them. Wednesday is late opening so that's often a good day to go.
And if that still doesn't catch your fancy, head off to the Musée d'Orsay for the Impressionists.
***
Ed, I respectfully disagree. Mass aviation has been one of the great boons of the C20. It has enabled us to do and see things and meet people that once only the very wealthy could do. The Grand Tour was the prerogative of the idle rich - whereas now any of us can see the great cultural and natural treasures of the world. What would you have us do? Retreat to the trees and abolish all technology? ("Some people said even the trees had been a mistake and we never should have left the oceans." - DNA)
Aviation still only accounts for a small fraction of our carbon footprint. If zero-carbon planes were available (fuel cell filled with hydrogen derived from renewable sources? nuclear? Ok, maybe not nuclear...), would you change your mind?
The Tate St Ives....who on earth were they polling?
As with people, so with 'sights'. 'oooh I've met these Famous People' -- well yes dear, but you don't actually know them, do you? You won't get to know them by bouncing up, gushing a bit, and bouncing away to tell your friends about it.
The only way to see a Sight is by almost-accident, as part of something that you were actually doing anyway. *Then* you stop for a moment (or several days if it's a really good one) in wonder and delight, and store it not in a photograph album or file in your computer, but between your ears: the sound, the smell, the way the light looked only to you.
Stonehenge, yes, essentially very dull as a tourist spot, seen one big stone seen 'em all. Stonegenge at moonrise on a fine night with frost on the grass and the stones, not dull at all. Cold, but not dull. Not something you can share or even describe, though, so no good for boasting.
It isn't what the thing itself is; it's what you bring to it. And that is why, like Ed, I think that all this rushing about is a waste of time and energy. I really don't believe that the rushers of this world get from their rushing as much as they would find in a very small wood near their own home if they would just take the time to look for it there.
I've seen a fair few bits of the world, but I don't need to go to any must-see Sights. There is enough of wonder and beauty within a hundred miles of my home to keep me busy for the rest of my life just enjoying it.
Dragon (7),
"Aviation still only accounts for a small fraction of our carbon footprint. If zero-carbon planes were available (fuel cell filled with hydrogen derived from renewable sources? nuclear? Ok, maybe not nuclear...), would you change your mind?"
No. The cultural pollution is an even greater danger than the climate-changing potential, which is multiplied by the altitude of the bulk of the emissions. Every place eventually has a McD (or some clone), a coke machine, an airconditioned hotel, etc., and we bring our money-culture into cultures which have developed far better ways of cooperation. Globalisation is potentially the most effective destroyer of diversity yet to be devised, and any scientist will tell you diversity is any system's best hope of being robust enough to deal with change.
I'm sorry, but I'm not at all sure the neolithic revolution was a good thing. Our diet became far less varied and nutritious, we became susceptible to infectious diseases, we began to overpopulate our biomes, built cities, exhausted soils and polluted waters. Eventually each city's life-support system became inadequate and the whole thing collapsed. Somewhere else, it began all over again.
With Globalisation, there's nowhere else to go when it collapses this time, as it most surely will.
Read Clive Ponting's "A Green History of the World" and tell me where it's wrong or misguided.
As to , follow the link, or the one at my name. Hypermobility will eventually overwhelm the Global Commons.
In sadness,
ed
UtT (3)
Holkham Bay over Loch Lomond and/or the Trossachs? - I think Not! (obviously)
Oi....pal...see you yah big jessie...you ever bin to Holkham Bay?
co i bin to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and yeez can keep 'em yah big girls bloose.....
personally one should always consider Ludlow, gorgeous place except for the monstrosity they call the public library.....
DIY de Flamour:)
The Louvre is fabulous. So is Las Ramblas, and the Spanish Steps in Rome. (Says travel expert Sid.)
Sid
Does anyone else think that they may have got a leaked copy of this report at the Palace of Westminster and this is the real reason why the bongs of Big Ben have been turned off? I am just worried that they be aiming to replace the bell sound with something more "modern" and "up beat". Something like the Spice Girls Greatest hits, for example.
Conspiracy Theorist? Moi?
H.
Eric,
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I'm told is very nice at this time of the year.
Humph (14)
..and just what exactly is wrong with the Spice Girls Greatest Tits?
DIY
DI Wyman - Of course I've trudged through the dunes from the car park to Holkham Bay - hev yer been yerself boar?
And yes, I will hang onto my blouse, thanks.
Seriously, the list is a bit odd. 1200 plus respondents should give a reasonably representative picture, but I agree with Ed - I think there's an element of one-upmanship going on here. A bit like when politicians are asked what they are reading during the holidays and they come up with all the worthy titles they thinke we think they should be reading.
Eddie lammy-pie,
Hows about some nice photographs of you on the blog - President Putin style...? :0)
Just recorded the discussion. The guests were GREAt in my view. DO listen out for it.
I recommend Key Largo.
UK Disappointing no. 7 Brighton Pier - That would be the West Pier, no doubt? Or, what's left of it ......
UtT (16)
just lurve the accent!!
and yes Ed, Chris Ghoti and others are spot on with the points raised. I have lived in Norfolk since being posted here by the RAF in the seventies and I am still finding 'amazing' sites all within a 30 mile radius of where I live!
DIY
DIW (21) You live on the Suffolk border then?
;0)
DIY - keep on a troshin'
I heartily recommend some of that found via the link above (for those who haven't encountered Keith Skipper before)
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, County Antrim
Biased as I am, not even I could justify this in the top 10. It is quite an exciting but I could think of half a dozen other places in Northern Ireland I would place above it.
Roberto (20),
The book or the film?
xx
ed
Yes.
It wasn't a good day on the european bourses, the crooks were firmly back in charge of the bank vaults.
They awarded themselves about 2 percent increase in their wealth which is already 15 percent overvalued.
Catch them catching planes, buying villas and yatchs with it whilst the OAPs lobby Gordon and that real Darling for a few extra pence.
Sorry, comes back the reply there's a recovery in the FTSE creating too much spending power to allow us to give you lot anything. You'd be inflationary.
A thoroughly bad day in fact. Central banks can't be buying in share markets. (Its illegal in most states) So the fund managers have been spending to give us something for the weekend - the feeling that the crisis is over, which it isn't folks not by a long way.
Just because the more hard nosed crooks held their nerve this week doesn't mean we won't get 'em on Monday.
Karen (23)
You'll be on the coast then??
;0)
Got to say, I spent a nice morning wandering around Oxford as I was waiting for my car to go through its' MOT. Took a few photos as well (se flickering place). As I've been around here for 21 years this September, I often forget what a nice place it is...
Karen
DIY 21.....way older than that dearheart as anyone who has seen me in Speedos will testify.....Humph you keep quiet.
DIY (positively ageless)
Ed (11) - You can't have it both ways, if the neolithic revolution was an unhealthy thing, then we as a species would not have flourished.
And diversity works as a good survival strategy within an environment that is deadly. In an environment that is safe, then diversity is redundant as a survival stratagem, but nice as a distraction.
Coincidentally, I've just got back from another fantastic day on the beach at Holkham. Took my mother, who'd never been before, despite being born and bred in Norwich. She was almost speechless with the beauty of it. It definitely deserves its place on the list. Not sure about some of the others, though. Wouldn't say either Cambridge backs or Eden Project is a "must see". And as someone else said - if you are disappointed by The Louvre, you've approached it wrong.
UTT
You're right! Obviously the people who contributed to the disappointed list had never visited Ipswich. I should show more loyalty to my hometown really!
Off to Diss (Norfolk) tomorrow where the mere can look very appealing on a good day.
;o)
Not another list!!! - best of - worst of. Meaningless!
Lists are a Jeremy Clarkson thing - need I say more?
Jimmy (30
"And diversity works as a good survival strategy within an environment that is deadly. In an environment that is safe, then diversity is redundant as a survival stratagem, but nice as a distraction."
And you think our environment is "safe"?
And if it isn't, who will you sue?
xx
ed
The sites that are boring are those that have been over-photographed, filmed and published. When confronting an extraordinary work of art or engineering, people are not amazed anymore: it looks just like the thousands of pictures they have seen. The areas that are appreciated are those that cannot be captured on calendar pictures.
Lyme Regis. Been there lately! Half the tourist population of Devon and Dorset desend on it. Might have qualified 25 years ago out of season.
about the item on camping thieves in France. This has been a long time problem in haulage industry and motor homes in France. I am aware of a very good range of detectors which can be used to detect the gases used in such incidents and use one in my own home. Please see the web site.
For world-class boring, I suggest the Trinidad Pitch Lake.
It is made of ashphalt and so flat that, but for the lack of white lines marking out the spaces, it looks just like a big car park with no cars in it.
If you did park there overnight, you could find that it had sunk out of sight by the morning.
TOM
From the internet:
xx
ed
PUSH!
And full of malice it is!
I have lived near Stonehenge all my life and whenever I visit the monument I always feel a sense of embarassment.
It is not so much that it sits in the middle of a "muddy field", this is after all the landscape within which it was constructed. The real problem is that it is a traffic island, closely enircled by three A roads, including the vicious A303.
Plans to hide the A303 in a tunnel or move it further from the monument have floundered for years, also sinking in the sands of government indecision are plans to replace the presently woeful visitor centre.
As one of the commentators mentioned tonight; to fully appreciate many 'sights' or 'wonders' in the world takes a bit of effort. He is right and Stonehenge is one of those places. Many love the place for deeply spiritual reasons which do not come instantly. However, with that said, we could do so much better when it comes to Stonehenge and its environment, maybe then I won't feel quite so embarrassed at the thought of what tourists must think when they first see the monument and its surroundings.
Best Regards
Otter
Karen (33) - ah, Diss. Don't get carried away in all those charity shops - and the mere can be treacherous if you try to swim in it.
PUSH!
No British Museum? Pathetic.
I suppose the London Eye might be quite boring if one just went to look at it, but the view's not bad at all. And Buckingham Palace is quite fun if you're actually interested in the history of the place, doubtless rather less so if you just want to be Entertained.
Any list of dire tourist spots that doesn't include Blackpool... well, maybe it was no worse than people expected it to be.
Who in the UK takes out travel insurance for a trip that's going to stay within the UK, anyway? Can this really be considered a representative or random sample?
You can't avoid seeing Sydney Harbour Bridge if you're in Sydney. Well, I suppose you could stay drunk.
Karen (6): did it include the word "cantina" by any chance? The memories are hazy, but...
Ed (11): the Chinese food I ate on Thursday night came with a free bottle of C*ca-C*la. It had been bottled in Tripoli. Yes, the one in Libya.
Still Ed (11): the rise of agriculture also made it possible for there to be master and slave castes.
Also Ed (40): what about the costs of manufacturing the bicycle (probably in Vietnam) and shipping it to the customer?
How can the Angel of the North be disappointing? Surely any sighted person going there has seen a photo first and so knows exactly what to expect. Unless perhaps some visitors go there hoping to see it do something. That might render it disappointing I suppose...
The Angel, and it has to be said in a Geordie Accent with a very long A is iconic. It is a great landmark when driving up north. I have never stopped and had a proper look at it. Perhaps I should.
But it does not do anything it just IS.
I suppose like a lot of art it is there to make one reflect.
The thing that I found disappointing about the Angel of the North, when I went to see it Appy (46), was the fact that it faces south! Apart from that, I would say that pictures do not do it justice; it is something that you need to see in the metal to really appreciate. I would like to echo the comments of others - this was a good interview/discussion on the programme.
H.
Humph (46),
Angel of the North no doubt takes his lead from Johnston:
'The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high
road that leads him to England' ;-)
It's not that malicous, is it?
Deepthought John W (49) Lovely to see you here. Welcome back.
South East I believe Humph (46). Didn't you find that welcoming as you approached?
DeepJohn (49), Welcome back! Where've you been???
Hi Deepthought - great to see you back with us. Hope everything is ok?
Re tourist stuff: last week in London we went to see
1)Pollock's toy museum
2)Handel House Museum
3)V&A , mainly the Tudor & Georgian galleries
4)Nat Portrait Gallery
5)Hatchlands House with Cobbe collection of keyboard instruments
6) Hampton Court
7)Windsor Castle
8)The other 2 went to see "Mary Poppins" but I was too mean to pay for that. They loved it.
9)Princess Diana Fountain
All of these places were wonderful, fascinating, & we loved them all. Apart from the fountain. That seems like a terribly expensive piece of concrete culvert laid on some instant lawn. I know it's really granite, but honestly, is that the best they could come up with? When you compare it to the Albert memorial - at least you can see where that money went!
Can you tell we were trying to cram in lots of places before we emigrate? It was a reminder of how much history is everywhere in this country, but particularly in London, within walking distance. We also spotted the Antony Gormley figures. I don't see how anyone can be disappointed by his work. Surely it is what it is - you can see that from the photos. The interest is in where it is, & how it fits in with the surroundings. I love seeing the Angel of the North. It's impressive.
With apologies to anyone this may offend ... I laughed when I first saw the Angel from the A1(M).
I was the one driving, and admittedly it was at a distance, and out of the corner of my eye (you'll know how you have to concentrate on the A1)
... but it looked to me like the tailplane of a gigantic aircraft that had dive-bombed straight into the ground!
Since then I have learned to love it though .. it's a cracking landmark beside an otherwise relatively featureless bit of road.
If only someone would do similar in Peterborough so I can tell the roundabouts apart!
Fifi
My biggest disappointment was Niagara Falls. I know, I should have been impressed, but I had already had to endure a two-hour slide show of it from my uncle in Michigan beforehand. After that, the real thing was, well, underwhelming. I suppose (as said earlier) if you just come across something by accident there is the potential for the 'wow' factor.
And they served the WORST coffee in the world at their cafe bar!
Sacrebleu (54), Worse than the coffee I had in a cafe in Alnwick, Northumberland about 15 years ago? It tasted like it had been made with water that had previously been used to boil cabbage.