Das Ilhas as Mais Belas e Livres! Or “Of all islands, the most beautiful and free.”
By the time you read this I will be almost 3,500 km away from Dubrovnik, closer to Africa than Europe, in the middle of the Atlantic, Olá from Madeira. So whilst my wife sits on our suitcase I am writing this text and wondering if we forgot (probably) something.
First thought - does anyone (apart from Americans) travel with large suitcases anymore? We haven’t done for years and years.
So we have been planning for a few months to go to this Portuguese island. This has involved diving deep into YouTube videos, which are normally our best source of inspiration, bloggers, news articles and word of mouth from friends who have been.
We have kind of made a short list as to what we want to see and do, like a top ten highlight list, and I’m pretty sure that we will bump into things along the way. Now creating this list got me thinking. Our list is made up of “authentic” Madeira attractions, including gastronomic treats, local traditions and customs.
Surely that is the main point of travelling, to see how other societies and cultures live. What’s the point of going to Madeira and drinking Starbucks coffee?
Eat like e local - fish wih passion fruit and banana!
And I am sure that my wife and I aren’t the only “When in Rome” pilgrims.
So what do tourists who come to Dubrovnik Google?
And are we serving them something they aren’t really interested in? Are we in fact trying too hard to be copy/paste what you see in other destinations? Have we globalised too much?
Two things that happened to me last week kind of connected into this train of thought.
Firstly, I had the pleasure to chat with a large group of slightly elderly Canadians. This is a nation known for being the politest in the world. Every second word is “please” or “thank you.” You bump into a Canadian and they will say sorry for getting in your way. So they had just spent a week in the city and were generally full of praise. “We just have one questions, what do the locals usually eat,” one lady asked.
I started to explain and saw a puzzled look. “Why do you ask?” I replied. “We have to be honest and say that we really wanted to try the local dishes, but we found the menus rather international.” And then she whispered “And a little boring…sorry.”
Cutting through all their kindness, they wanted a local experience and ended up being bored.
The next day, and I was having a coffee with a professional in the very front line of the tourism business in the city. “I think we have somehow forgotten our roots, or are maybe ashamed of them,” she started. She had my attention.
“We have so much to offer and yet it seems we think that tourists aren’t interested in them anymore,” she continued.
This was starting to remind me of what my wife and I had been researching for weeks. “I would look at this from another angle.
I would promote local things to local people. Things that could grow naturally. Then at some point foreign tourists would be curious and what to join in,” she concluded. It made sense. Dubrovnik is dead in the winter because there is nothing to do. And I don’t mean for guests but for the local population, half of which goes to Zagreb or Thailand.
The balance between tourism and the needs of the local population is a delicate one, and one that many cities have failed in. Preservation of what makes a city of society means fighting against all the massive global influences, from social media to the media. “I like your idea but neither of us are qualified to decide what is worth promoting and what is a waste of time,” I replied.
The Canadians wanted a real local evening of cuisine, however good or indeed bad that would be. That’s the experience, some are good and some are, well let’s just say memorable. As Abraham Lincoln once said “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
And to be honest you don’t have to. Just be real. Be true to yourself and if other people like it that’s a bonus, and if they don’t big deal.
I’m 100 percent sure that some things we will do and see will be more fulfilling than others. But I am sure that will try our hardest to feel the true heartbeat of the island.
Adeus from Madeira!