My favorite travel guru is Rick Steves. I love his TV travelogues and travel books. I use his recommendations to find the most unusual places in Europe. My all time best experience was a mountain hut in Switzerland that he recommended, but that story is for another time.
Rick is traveling in Europe this summer and he is documenting his trip on a daily blog. I forgive him for his liberalism because he gives such great travel advice, but he surprised me with this comment about UNESCO.
I spent all day yesterday climbing steps to Barcelona hotels and
sorting through tourist propaganda fliers. As I research my guidebooks,
it seems nearly everything I read is promotional — designed to get my
traveling readers’ money.Every town has 2,000 years of
history. They all want to pump up their off-season charm. And anyone
can claim a “vast gastronomy.” I pick up a pack of fliers at the
tourist office, sit in the park and sift through it — putting all that
advertising through my centrifuge and coming up with straight,
descriptive material explaining a traveler’s options. At least that’s
my hope.When it comes to evaluating sights, I disdain the
word “UNESCO.” I find that throughout Europe, places desperate to rise
above the din of tourist attractions brag that they are on the UNESCO
list of cultural treasures. It seems every time I reject a place,
proponents of it come at me with the “We’re on the UNESCO list” line. I
normally want to like the United Nations (something that really irks my
conservative detractors). But in the case of mediocre destinations for
travelers, I’m with them — butt out, UN!
