The "tourist" I am, or pretend not to be
I love to visit cities, and go about by my life pretending I would live there. On "vacation" I avoid tourist crowds, pre-organized tours or big busses. I want to walk the streets, and try to learn what a city looks like from a local perspective, with the addition of walking tours, museum visits, and days living in abundance. But sometimes that's exactly what I do at home too, go on walking tours, take pictures everywhere, and live like "Die Made im Speck", as my Ur-Berliner great-aunt taught me after I took her out to Annelies.
Now of course you might think that a lot of what you find on this blog – going to specialty coffee shops, sourdough bakeries and ice cream shops is quite the opposite of getting to know the locals' perspective. Yes, true. Now I'll start making excuses. I try to live the life that I would, were I to live there. So, no matter where I am, I’d end up living the same globalized, gentrified, hipster-expat life? Probably, yeah. But I claim to differentiate between the trendy places, and the high-quality places. The places – coffee roasteries, bakeries, restaurants – that care about their product and their customers, that use seasonal food because they care about it, that keep the highest standards of cooking and aim to improve themselves every season. I like to see when localities put a local spin on the classics.
While these places are my emphasis, I do like to visit traditional restaurants. Sometimes you can find the true local and traditional place. Other times, you'll find yourself catered to, amidst other tourists. But maybe it's better that way. For example in Barcelona, where tourists are comparable to visitors at Disneyland, keeping them among each other, with well-trained and polite service, lets the locals have some of their own life. It's like Disneyland, and I've learned to accept and enjoy it.
Besides the food, some favorite activities when visiting cities are free walking tours (almost always rewarding!), art museums, universities, cemeteries (the calmer, cleaner version of a park), strolling through book shops (even though I don't read, browsing calms me down and makes me feel like a local), going on runs, renting city bikes and riding to the next closest towns.
How I make maps and guides
Before visiting a new city my research of where to go comes from local blogs, friends (of friends), Instagram, and scrolling endlessly through Google Maps or Yelp. Once there, say I found my "perfect, local" specialty coffee shop I often ask baristas for their recommendations. Likely their pastries comes from my next favorite bakery. Likely, the restaurants and cafés that the coffee roastery delivers to, are amongst my new favorites. And then, I just walk in and out of many neighborhoods and streets, with my eyes focused on cute cafés, seasonal restaurants, long lines, and localities that look like they're brimmed with locals. I read menus, glance at plates, analyze customer classes, and make my opinion.