Cultural Exploration of France/Italy Riviera
 

I am interested in taking my daughter who is graduating High School this summer to Europe for 1-2 weeks. The purpose is to mingle with local people, learn about their lifestyles, and take photographs that depict a unique culture.

I am interested in cinque terra and rapallo in Italy as well as Cannes and Nice in France.

I want to keep the trip on a budget especially due to the bad exchange rate of the USD. I am not interested in any tours but am interested in places to stay where we will meet people who represent the local culture and can show us things tourists normally miss.

What can I expect?

You can expect to find primarily tourists in Cannes and Nice during the summer. To find local people you would need to get away from the coast, possibly into the Lubéron area. However, from Nice/Cannes you could go inland and visit the small town of Valbonne, mostly overlooked by tourists. For places to stay, look at the French equivalent of a B&B, called chambres d'hôte.

You'll also find only tourists in Cinque Terre. In Rapallo, they will be less numerous but older.

Honestly, if I was worried about a budget I wouldn't go to the French Riveria.

Not sure what period you mean by summer but keep in mind late May involves the film festival and the grand prix where rates are double.

Getting around in the summer is hard due to the high amount of vacationers.

<places to stay where we will meet people who represent the local culture and can show us things tourists normally miss>

Do you speak French? I'm just curious how you expect to meet local people since you are a complete stranger with no contacts to the community. While a lofty ambition, you need some kind of a plan for this to happen imo.

Him MrSamD -

Of the Cinque Terre, the town least visited by tourists is Corniglia. I don't know that you would find "people who represent the local culture and can show us things tourists normally miss" - but it is a charming village.

Enjoy!

I am thinking about late July-early August. No I don't speak French or Italian which is going to present a challenge. I expect this to be especially true since America has fallen form grace in world opinion and since I am looking for historic communities and "old towns" where the local culture probably does not include speaking English.

I have heard terrible stories about how American tourists have been treated in France and I have also heard wonderful stories how Americans have been befriended by the French. I want to find the latter group by avoiding the tourist traps.

I understand many european students travel across europe in the summer by backpack and stay in low cost hostels. This is not what I am looking for but I would like to expose my daughter to the cultural aspects of Europe that might otherwise be gained by a european student on their travels.

I would hope to contact some individuals on this site that might be interested in helping us discover the "real people" of France and Italy.

Well it will be tricky to find English-speakers particularly since you wish to avoid touristed areas, (where more people might speak English and be more open to visitors since it is their livelihood).

To find "real people" you can look for events revolving around a church or school group, pagents, fundraisers, BBQ's checking the local calendars for any kind of town celebrations or street fairs.

Again while I believe your goal is worthy and worthwhile, getting to know perfect strangers on a 1-2 week vacation in a country where you don't speak the language, is not a realistic expectation imho.

I'm a bit lost with this post. The things that tourists see are wonderful and often cultural, why would you not want to see them? Are you suggesting that you will not go to Florence or Rome? Why would you choose primarily beach destinations ie Riveriera and Cinque Terra and then expect a cultural holiday? Why not take her to Florence where I think she will be surrounded by local culture (Italians do live there) and the beauty of this divine city? Hmmmmm very puzzling.

I find this post to be extremely odd. First, there are "real" French and Italian people in every village, town, and city in those countries. The ones in the little backwater dots on the map aren't any more or less "real" than a typical Parisian or Roman.

Second, you've targeted only heavily touristed areas, but then you say you want places that tourists would normally miss. Does not make sense.

And you're on a budget but proposing to head to high-rent districts in both countries, and at a time of year when those places are going to be teeming with tourists.

And you want people to "show you around" in these "old communities," but you don't speak French or Italian. How's that going to work, and how exactly are you planning to get these "real people" to show you around?

I think you have a somewhat misguided notion that you can have a worthier...for lack of a better word...trip than most by taking this unrealistic approach. I think a plain old ordinary trip to somewhere in the countryside in France or Italy will probably do just fine. Stay at chambres d'hôte in France and agriturismos in Italy. Heck, stay at convents and get to know the local nuns.

Flip the situation around and maybe what we're all saying will make sense to you...

If a European person was visiting your hometown, and did not speak English, how would they get to just happen to meet and befriend you?

I think you'd need to make contact with someone before you get there.

One possibility might be to secure the services of a local guide and explain the kind of experience you want to have. Locals know locals who are willing to meet strangers.

St Cirq is, if anything, understating your problem.

I've spent most of my adult life in parts of Britain that aren't dependent on tourism, but get a lot of tourists. Since many of my compatriots believe it's immoral to be fluent in a foreign language, tourists really have to speak adequate English - and most do.

Yet, in prime tourist season, we more or less put the shutters up on them. To some tourists, being in a foreign country is exotic - but to people living in tourist-infested parts of affluent countries, tourists aren't exotic: they're simply people who clog up our facilities. We're joly happy to be polite and (most of the time) helpful: but we really aren't interested in making any new best friends from among them.

Nor in giving tutorials about our lifestyles, Still less being subjects for "photographs that depict a unique culture."

And if this is true in non-tourist Britain, it's a million times truer in Nice or Cannes in midsummer, where no-one's remotely interested in tourists for anything except extracting the maximum revenue from them.

You can get some insight into a culture on the Riviera: rent a villa in Port Grimaud, and you'll likely strike up a useful acquaintance with your Dusseldorf dentist or London hedge funder temporary neighbours. Though, since they'll have no interest in "things tourists normally miss" (they're tourists, after all, with no delusions of superiority over others of their kind), they'll limit their advice to things most people find interesting.

If you can't speak any languages other than your own, and investigating foreign cultures is what you want to do, you've got two choice:
- go to Canada
- search the journeys regular posters fnarf and PalenQue do off the beaten tracks in Britain. And do them in a car, listening to Radio 4 and buying all the tabloids every morning

I've no idea how old your daughter is: writing your question in terms understandable only by Americans is a pretty useless way of getting advice. But if you're interested in getting her introduced to foreign cultures, can't the teachers at her school organise family swaps with French or Italian students, and without a parent to dampen her style?

Four weeks in France with a French girl her own age will give her insights she'll never get with you breathing down her throat or ("photographs that depict a unique culture") playing amateur anthropologist

There are home stay programs. Most are centered around learning Italian, but there are some that also focus on Italian cooking and culture. Look at www.italianhomestay.com and www.newitineraries.it for two such programs. The assumption is that you can't speak Italian when you arrive, and you live with an Italian tutor and/or family during your stay. The costs look high at first glance, but remember that in most cases everything is included.

<I have heard terrible stories about how American tourists have been treated in France and I have also heard wonderful stories how Americans have been befriended by the French.>

MrSamD - My daughter and I were in France for two weeks and were treated nicely by the French. We could speak very very little French. They were helpful to us.

To fulfill all the requests would involve time travel. It sounds to me like MrSamD is seeking a Europe of the past.

As far as the European (U.S., Canadian, and Australian) students backpacking across Europe and staying in hostels... most aren't looking for "cultural aspects of Europe". They are doing the usual tourist activities, taking the train around, visiting great cities, seeing the landmarks and monuments by day, and going out partying at night.

I greatly appreciate the feedback from everyone here. It would be helpful to know where the people posting here are from.

It is unfortunate that in the US there is little need nevermind opportunity to learn and practice a foreign language. I can drive nonstop for 4 days and never need to speak anything other than English. That does not imply that I desire to be ignorant of other cultures, it is just a fact of life here.

I grew up on the beach in Florida and understand how some tourists can seem to get in the way especially when they are drunk, demanding, or lost.

I've also met some very nice people who came to visit for a week. The time spent getting to know someone was most rewarding and a few turned into pen pals who returned to visit again. Most were shocked to learn they had met a local.

My daughter will be eighteen this summer and asked me to go with her to visit Europe even though her school offered a student trip - which we encouraged her go on. She is a delightful young lady but not quite ready to strike out on her own.

The interest in photography is my own. I am working on a photo book with images from my first trip to the area in early spring 2007. The beach towns were desserted and the weather was rainy. I want to return to capture a different season. I want to take photos of people that tell a story about them and their lifestyle. I live with my camera, constantly taking photos of people and places. Initially, this can seem a bit irritating or intrusive but after a while people get to know me and let their guard down. That is when I get really great photos; photos that evoke emotion and tell a story.

I admit that I do not know the area and the idea of travelling to some small towns away from the beach sounds interesting. I obviously have no clue where to go or how to plan it so that it becomes a rewarding expedition for me and the people I meet.

MrSamD - I live in New York State and am originally from Kentucky. So when I "TRY" to speak what very little French I know, it comes out with a somewhat southern accent.

Hi M,

>What can I expect?
You can expect tourists.

You want to explore the culture of France and Italy on the Riviera in the Summer?

I would visit Rome and Paris, in theat order, for 1 week each.

((I))