Mohit Satyanand is on a vacation from public affairs this week, and serves up a travel piece instead.
"Was Gaudi related to Mick Jagger?" my son asked, as we toured the eccentric architect's home on the outskirts of Barcelona last week. "I mean, they were both quite mad."
A couple of days later, we made the pilgrimage two hours north, to Cadaques, to be guided through the home of another eccentric Spanish genius, Salvador Dali. Painter, installation artist, writer, and above all, showman, Salvador lived life kingsize. He slept in a canopied bed, with a mirror angled to catch the sunrise. This, and the location of his home on an easterly cape in northern Spain, allowed him to boast, "I am the first person in Spain to see the sun rise."
He and his Russian wife, Gala, installed themselves in high-backed thrones when receiving visitors on their pool terrace, and entertained visitors in a room designed to amplify the human voice. My rendition of a Carmen aria from the sweet spot hugely entertained the museum staff and my son, if not his mother; but as we checked our backpacks out from the exit, he whispered, "Dali is quite disgusting - I mean, all those nude paintings."
An hour later, we were to see many more, in the provincial town of Figueres, where Dali bought over a theater and converted it into a museum, largely of his own art, but including other work he admired. Encompassing paintings of deep sensitivity and the highest draftsmanship, it is also full of whimsy, surprises, and architectural elan. Having entered the museum with strong reservations, after half an hour my son conceded, "If Gaudi and Jagger are brothers, Dali is their baap."
Without Dali, Figueres would be just another provincial Spanish town - pretty, with cobbled streets, grand medieval churches, sidewalk cafes, and boutiques. But Dali draws the visitors in by the bus- and train-load, and enables streets full of souvenir shops to cash in on his signature works.
Dali has only been gone 20 years, but if his art proves to survive the test of time, many generations of Figueristas (if that's what they call them), could be thanking Dali for his genius. Salzburg, in Austria, has much to commend itself, but 250 years after his death, Mozart is still the star attraction for tourists to the Alpine town. And who would have heard of Stratford on Avon if William Shakespeare had not lived there? British tourism statistics estimate that one million tourists pay homage to Shakespeare in his birthplace every year.
Which other artists have that kind of fan following? Leonardo da Vinci, I guess. The Louvre, which is pretty uniquely associated with his Mona Lisa, attracts 7.5 million visitors every year, and I would hazard that pretty much every single one of them files past the woman with the enigmatic smile.
But da Vinci is completely trumped by the artist who made his name by creating a mouse with an over-sized head. Walt Disney's legacy dominates the world's leading tourist attractions - Disneyworld, Florida, attracts 16.6 million visitors every year; Disneyland in California clocks 14.7 million; add the Tokyo and Paris theme parks, and Disney takes 4 of the top 10 slots in the stakes of the world's top tourist attractions, as rated by Forbes Traveler.
Times Square, with 35 million visitors, tops the list, showing that the vibrancy of modern popular culture, combined with the packaging of commerce, is the stuff of modern tourism. Crowded out by the Disneys, Times Square, and the Fisherman's Wharf/Golden Gate recreational area, only two historical monuments make it to the top 10: the Washington Monument and Notre Dame. Trafalgar Square, at No. 4, is something of a party - feed the pigeons, gawk at the other tourists - with history only a backdrop to the goings-on of modern times.
Nature, for mass tourism, is pushed into the corner - only Niagara Falls features in the Top Ten. Another two places of natural beauty make it to the top 50 - the Great Smoky Natural Park, and Yosemite -- and they are both in the US. The Himalayas? Forget it - it's not enough to have the beauty; you also have to package it right, make it easy to get to, and ensure that there are pizza and ice cream parlours at the parking lot. Like my wife said of Whistler, in Canada's BC province: 'The Himalayas without the hardship'.
Hardship is clearly daunting. Which is why attractions in third-world countries barely make it to the top 50 - the pyramids of Giza sneak in at No. 47, and the Taj Mahal is at the 50th spot. Ever tried driving to Agra?
My own family circus has moved on, and we're now in Sevilla, one of the most charming cities I've ever seen. We spent last evening meandering through its streets, drinking sangria, and being serenaded by gypsy guitarists. But this morning? We're off to Isla Magica, an amusement park, billed as having the most "white knuckle" rides in Spain.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/
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