World Heritage: surprising stories behind tourist icons

They’re found all over the world, from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to the Leaning Tower of Pisa; from the Sydney Opera House, to the Statue of Liberty in New York,  the Pyramids of Cairo and the Taj Mahal of India.

These wonders are icons of international tourism, and many are recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. You can picture them in your mind’s eye, and most people can even draw a recognisable approximation of them on a blank sheet of paper. They don’t need a caption.

We currently have 28 World Heritage sites in Britain, find out more. They include Stonehenge and Avebury, the entire city of Bath; and churches, abbeys and cathedrals in wonderful places like Durham, Canterbury and Fountains Abbey. Hadrian’s Wall snakes across the border country between England and Scotland, while in the London area you can find Westminster Abbey, Kew Gardens, The Tower of London and Greenwich, and in Dorset, the geological wonders of the Jurassic Coast.

We may think we know all these places – at a glance – and yet, we don’t.  They may be on the list of ‘1000 places to see before we die‘; but the truth of the matter is that we often take them for granted.

Everywhere I go in the world, if I’m prepared to take the time, there are layers of history that can be unpeeled, and without fail, I find fascinating stories await whenever I take the trouble to look mindfully and learn, from even the most familiar of ‘sights’.

It’s easy to adopt the ‘been there, done that’ attitude when ‘sightseeing’, irrespective of whether you’re close to home, or far from it. One general  observation that I’d make, is that you can often make it easier for yourself if you book a professionally guided tour, since a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide can make the whole learning process much easier and more pleasurable, than if you have to swot up from a guidebook.

It’s easy to take for granted the places which are closest, because we think we’re already familiar with them. By way of illustration,  I’d like to share  some information about La Giralda, the celebrated cathedral bell tower in Seville, pictured above, because, as part of a World Heritage site, an architectural masterpiece in its own right, and as a tourist icon of Andalucia and Spain, it’s already a familiar image. However lovely it is to look at, it’s my theory that not so many people actually know much in the way of stories or information about it, unless they’ve actually visited the Andalucian city.

When we travel to an exotic foreign location we’re somehow more likely to be motivated to learn about  the history and significance of major sights, since there’s always a possibility we might never have another opportunity to return. That’s not the case with places closer to home; although the results of research can be just as fascinating, and our efforts just as much appreciated by the visitors we share them with.  So, given that we have such a truly awesome wealth of history on our doorstep here in Britain if we trouble to discover it, let’s make more of an effort to change things.

Meanwhile, by way of illustration, let’s return to my discoveries about the most famous and beautiful belltower in  Seville…

Revealing facts

The name ‘La Giralda’ means ‘the one who turns’ in Spanish, and it actually refers to the figure that spins round atop the cathedral tower.  If you look closely at the close up of the belltower at the introduction to this post, you can make out the elegantly gilded female figure representing Faith, clutching a spear and a shield, that acts as the cathedral weathervane (giraldilla in Spanish). In Spanish the verb girar means to turn or revolve.

So why is La Giralda so interesting? One reason is because the tower once formed the minaret of a mosque dating from 1184, in the days when Al Andaluz, today’s Spanish province of Andalucia, was ruled by Moors from North Africa, until it fell to the Christians in 1248. Another is that the architect, Ahmad Ibn Baso, was ordered by the ruling Emir of the day to make the minaret more beautiful than any other in existence, using patterned brick and stone construction.

Ascent to the summit

More interest awaits you if you decide, as I did, to acscend to the top of the tower. Access to the summit is by a series of 35 ramps, constructed inside the four walls, rather than by the steps that you might expect. This is a feature designed to allow it to be possible for two mounted horses to pass each other on the way up and down, in the days when prayers were called out to the faithful from the top. Having successfully wended my way up myself, I felt grateful that was only necessary to negotiate a series of slopes lit by natural light, rather than a potentially claustrophobic spiral staircase.

The view of the city from the top of the tower is well worth the climb. A 4 storey belltower was added to the top of the minaret when it was converted and incorporated into the huge gothic cathedral we see in the city today, after new building commenced in1401, and that’s where you end up. You also get a superb view of the patio of the orange trees with its ablutions fountain, the only other part of the ancient original mosque to have survived until the present day.

Why stories are significant

As you might have gathered by now, I was lucky when I visited Seville, to be  there as part of a small and well organised tour group, which experienced professionally guided tours of the major sights.

In order for visitors to make the most of a visit, to any place, I’d like to think that locals, qualified gudes or no,  will happily be prepared to share with them history, stories, myths and legends associated with that place, if they show an interest. It enriches everyone’s experiences  and enjoyment, which is, I think, what tourism is all about!

Stories can also be used to excite media interest, so there can be great rewards for tourism businesses, if hours of seemingly tedious background research reveals things that have the potential to fascinate the visitor of today. 

In my neck of the woods, in Kent, south east England, Visit Kent runs an innovative scheme that harnesses the enthusiasm of local residents to greet visitors to the local area, and give them a personal introduction and orientation tour, – free of charge. It’s called the Kent Greeters, and is modeled on the Big Apple Greeters of New York, part of the Global Greeters Network. Try it if you find yourself in the area. Visit Kent also arranges an annual ‘Big Day Out‘,  that encourages residents to get to know the local area better, and share their knowledge with visiting friends and relatives. This year it’s being held on Saturday 27th March.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Virtual Viv could undertake research or write for you. I  also help or teach people  how to market a tourism business online or offline. Comment about what I’ve written below, or contact me at Manifold Associates.

Until next time…

Food for thought : finding quality food and produce

The force of circumstance

I’ve never experienced a white Christmas. This rarity value meant that I was unlikely to be alone in my fond imagining that snow would make the seasonal holiday period somehow more cosy and special for everyone. Until this year! I can’t previously remember snow hanging around on the ground for more than a couple of days or so.

Whenever travel becomes disrupted, by force of circumstances, people tend to stick to trips within their immediate local area, and I’m no exception. After a few days,  boredom, or a feeling of cabin fever can set in, and eventually sheer necessity means that you have to venture out for supplies. So it might have been for the first time this year, with snow underfoot and icy conditions on the roads, that it became necessary for people to find out what was available, by way of produce, in the immediate neighbourhood or general vicinity.

Benefits of shopping locally

Potentially, shopping locally has the added benefit of accessing fresher, and therefore better quality food, since it’s likely not to have travelled far; and if you can get used to buying seasonal produce as well, you might well also benefit from keener prices and have less packaging to throw away,  than if you buy from a supermarket.  Watch the video Ninjin – vegetable assassin from Do the Green Thing if you want to see this point made with real impact.

Hotels and restaurants usually find they can benefit by highlighting local delicacies, especially if they’re cooked to order, something which allows guests to appreciate locally sourced  ingredients from local suppliers in peak condition.

In fact I believe that it’s something that helps differentiate a hotel or restaurant from the crowd, if producers of local specialities are highlighted on menus, and in some cases, the producers are actively promoted as places to visit. This is something I’ve recently seen done with great success at the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham in Norfolk, which actively promotes it’s  ’10 mile breakfast’ with all ingredients sourced inside that radius. The reviews on Trip Advisor speak for themselves.

Supporting local producers can be a winning move for everyone, as it increases awareness for producers, might also gain them incremental spend from people taking goods home as a special, or even unique edible  souvenir or gift, and it creates goodwill for the person or business who makes the recommendation in the first place.

How visitors can find the best local suppliers and retailers in the area

Common Ground provides information online, concerning their Producing the Goods project which showcases food producers and markets across the UK. However, I have to acknowledge that generally consumers are likely to have a problem in finding beacons of originality, quality and freshness when they’re on unfamiliar ground away from home, unless they’re literally stopped in their tracks by a sign (which might be the case when there’s snow on the ground). It’s happened to me.

If you fail to discover any intriguing signs on the street, there’s no real substitute for local knowledge; so in many places I’d urge visitors to seek recommendations from staff at their nearest local visitor information centre,  ask their hotel concierge, accommodation provider, or host.

In my particular area, Kent, as well as a local producers network called Produced in Kent, that offers downloadable food trails and online information about members; there’s a great scheme that helps meet the need for a more personalised service. It offers visitors the opportunity to meet a ‘volunteer friend’ called a Greeter. A Kent Greeter can answer questions and take you on an orientation walking tour as well as providing you with information and tips to help you make the most of your visit – completely free of charge. The Kent scheme is modelled on the Big Apple Greeters scheme of New York City, and is part of a network of similar schemes around  the world, known as the Global Greeters Network.

Here are links to a few more sources of online information about local food producers and retailers in areas of England outside London that are popular with visitors:

The Lake District Cumbria

The Peak District

Cornwall

The New Forest

Isle of Wight

Farm shops

I’ve also recently come across a food safari operation in Suffolk run by an old girl of my former school; although I haven’t tried it out yet. See my post dated 11 September 2009 for information about Daylesford in the Cotswolds.

If you have any tips about ‘foodie places’ in the UK, or other online resources that helps you find them, let me know. Until next time…