Strandurlaub - vacation at the beach - Part I
Germans love to vacation “am Meer”. As Germany borders on the “Nordsee”, while it may be convenient to go there, it only pays off for a short period of time of the year when it’s warm and swimming is possible. Also, Germans love the Mediterranean Sea and the “südländisches Klima”. So, especially people from middle and southern Germany are eager to travel to Spain and Italy, and Greece. Very “beliebt” are the islands and they even call Mallorca the 17th “Bundesland” of Germany. Menus are in German and receptionists often speak in German to you.
It is the same in northern Italy. In the 70s it was probably still a nice destination for Austrians and Swiss people, and for the people from south of Germany it was attractive as they could easily go there by car.
Today, while you can still find nice places in northern Italy, these have become rare and much more expensive.
Nowadays, “Massenturismus” has taken over, „die Wasserqualität“ isn’t as good as before, it is very crowded and you probably don’t find your “Liegestuhl” when coming out of the water.
I’m sitting at a nice café in Palma de Mallorca, feeling very comfortable since I am very well aquainted with the Spanish language and culture. So, I’m sipping my “café con leche”, and observing my surroundings. I see a lot of tourists passing by and recognize the older generation of German tourists immediately. The whole person shining like a red traffic light (“como una gamba” would Spanish people say), making a good contrast to their white socks in sandals, “Kameras” hanging from their neck, resting on their bellies, sometimes wearing a “Sonnenhut” and “Sonnenbrille”, heading to the next cold beer and a chair to relax. Keeping in mind that elsewhere the beer is not as good and strong as in Germany, the consumption rises dramatically – and with this also the number of drunk tourists.
With one eye I look over and also glimpse a nice German family sitting down in a restaurant, trying even to order in Spanish.
Vocabulary:
die Nordsee – the North Sea
das südländische Klima – mediteranean climate
beliebt – popular
das Bundesland (Pl. die Bundesländer) - state of Germany
der Massentourismus – mass tourism
die Wasserqualität – the quality of the water
der Liegestuhl (Pl. die Liegestühle) – the sun bed
die Kamera (Pl. Kameras) - the camera
der Sonnenhut (Pl. die Sonnenhüte) – the sun hat
How was your experience with German tourists or going for vacation in Germany? Let us know in the comments. :-)
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