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Comment by giuliomagnifico | Hacker News Reader

I live near Venice and I have to agree with the article. But I don’t like Venice, or better, I love the city, I hate the people/tourists in Venice.

I can only suggest to visit (in addition to Venice), two nearby cities: Chioggia and Trieste

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To me it seems like a simple case of supply and demand. Of course, you can't easily increase the supply of historic super-walkable towns, but you could design and create a modern super-walkable town if you wanted to, and had the resources. Could even make it cute, probably, with the right design regulations.

Yes, more pedestrian and bike friendly, routing the cars away from the center. Some cities in the Netherlands making efforts towards this.

The author (tourist) writes about over-tourism: a challenge is how to turn those new walkable town centers into new tourist destinations to offload current hot spots?

Europe is full of historic walkable towns, mostly the smaller / less central ones because capitals and important cities have been heavily changed aftere cars took over. But many still have at least a walkable central part. Last weekend I spent in Banska Stiavnica, a former important mining town in central Slovakia, and that is an example of such a town, as would be the centre of Cordoba in Spain, which was very important and then ceased to be, and so on. So the issue is, I think, more of marketing: the popular walkable destinations are overcrowded, but there are many like it, maybe without all those palaces but still beautiful and much much more quiet.

Can't speak for other countries, but the actual reason why smaller towns have more of their historic heritage intact in Germany is that the larger/more important ones were sadly bombed to bits during WW2. Of course, after the war, the open spaces created by bombardment were used to enable "car-friendly" cities, but that was a secondary effect...

My parents/ancestors small town in Germany wasn't bombed (except a few accidents) but after the war they decide to destroy many of the charming ancient buildings and replace them with 70's style ugly. It still has some character, but you have to look harder.

You're right in the sense that the supply can't actually increase, but I have to say that Central + Southern Europe (but Italy in particular) has so many of these kinds of cute, walkable, quiet-but-fun towns that if you want a lovely trip where you're not arse-to-elbow with other tourists you're spoiled for choice.

Visited Venice while living in Italy back in the early aughts. Pretty much my least favorite city in Italy that we visited. Sure it's an actual real old city, but somehow it had a kind fake feel to it. I distinctly remember sitting down on a bench and then realizing that there was a drunk guy in the bushes right behind me mumbling about something (not in Italian). And none of the people we met who were working in the restaurants or running the BnBs were Italian - they were mostly Moldovan, Slovenian, Croatian. The owner of the apartment where we rented a room was Italian, but living in a completely different part of Italy. They hired a Moldovan woman to run the BnB. It was pretty much the same in all the restaurants we visited as well.

I enjoyed visiting a few years ago, but yea, it feels more like "Renaissance Disney" then a real city. Even in out of the way parts of the city, the tourists and staff commuting in from the mainland seemed to far outnumber anyone that actually lived there.

I actually found an out of the way synagogue specifically for a gift for a friend, and otherwise did make a point to find a few places where I saw no obvious tourists.

It has its charm, but I think it's a place to avoid during high tourist season.

what frustrates me is just getting around. I suppose one would eventually get used to it, but despite what some say, it is not pedestrian friendly, with tight ally, bridges, dead-ends, etc.

However, what I love is, how unique it is. how many places on earth are you able to take a boat taxi to an international airport?!

I visited Rome, Florence and Venice in January.

I can't recommend the season enough, it felt as if I had some aspects all to myself.

In the summer, I understand the crowds are insane. The only drawback is moderate rain.

My favorite was the old city of Ostia.

> how many places on earth are you able to take a boat taxi to an international airport?!

Also Boston Logan International Airport in Boston:

https://www.massport.com/logan-airport/to-from-logan/transpo...

(This page describes a public ferry service, but there have also been, and I think still are, private water taxis that serve it.)

that's awesome :)

What's awesome about venice airport is, when you get off the dock, you're basically in the terminal!

I'd recommend Vicenza and Verona. A single train line connects them to Venice, too.

You'll probably never read this but: were you part of Insomnia Crew?

Wow, you have a great memory. Yes I was. I wrote a (terrible) guide to C when I was 13-14 years old.. :D

https://web.archive.org/web/20030428061819/http://www.insomn...

And I "composed" a (terrible) anthem for the crew (I used to use the nickname 'throttle' back then). So there's that :P

Small world :)

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