With one really big exception: the gemstone capital of Idar-Oberstein.
Hundreds of businesses in the Western town of Idar-Oberstein, Germany, process and sell gemstones. And virtually none of the stones are from the region.
One old mill and one old mine are really the only remnants of what used to be a local industry.
However. this should not diminish your enjoyment at all because you won't see anything like Idar-Oberstein anywhere else in Europe. The local tourist managers apparently had the same policy you find in many other tourist places: omit facts that might tarnish what they want to present.
They were not used to sharing that local gemstone mining has been dead for 150 years.
We, on the other hand, find it even more fascinating that the town has become a center of gemstone excellence known around the world despite of the absence of local mining.
Don't you agree that seeing the changes over the centuries is more interesting than a "that's how we have done it for a thousand years, and absolutely nothing has changed"?
So, with its new found honesty about its history, even Idar-Oberstein is no longer a real tourist trap.
No comments:
Post a Comment