Our tourist, our enemy

At the beginning of the year I decided to take a short trip to Spain, to Malaga, the city where Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso Lopez was born (this is the full name of the famous Picasso), who, on this day, 52 years ago, passed away. As the world seems to be decomposing before our eyes, I imagined that in the city on the Mediterranean coast there is something special, which clears the view, as it did in the case of the great painter.

I didn't know that I was doing something wrong by traveling, but I later found out from three sources, exactly what I needed.

A month ago, I crossed my words with those of a "sovereignist", who reproached me that we (here come Putin's critics and those who do not curse the European Union) sold our freedom and democracy just to be able to take a vacation in Greece, Italy, Spain...Bulgaria. I did not really understand where the collision between freedom of movement and freedom in general existed, but I did not insist.

When leaving for Spain, at the airport, two gentlemen dressed in opulent sports equipment, produced by companies that have little to do with the sports movement, monologued, one after the other, so that they could be heard at at least 4 boarding gates. The central idea of the speeches was that they, representatives of business people, could no longer move "elegantly" because of those who go abroad to "blabber on about old walls". The hatred was undisguised. The two seemed to be "typical shareholders" in the famous "black and white" game.

In Marbella, I was abruptly approached by a very aggressive beggar. He had heard me speaking Romanian and informed me, in our common language, that I should give him two euros. Since I didn't like the tone, I refused to cooperate, after which a wave of reproaches and curses followed, from which it was clear that he had a grudge against Romanian tourists.

When several people tell you that you are drunk, it doesn't hurt to go to bed. I have not been a big tourist in this life, but now I am starting to feel a little embarrassed when I think that this summer I am planning a vacation somewhere in the Mediterranean area.

If I didn't really understand my compatriots, on the other hand I understand the people who took to the streets in over 40 Iberian cities, protesting against the increase in rents and the lack of cheap housing, one of the causes being... tourism. In 2024, Spain had a record number of tourists: 94,000,000, making it the second most visited country in the world, after France, and rents in big cities are at the level of a decent salary in Romania.

The world is changing, and the people who actively contribute to this do not leave me with the impression that they have a clear picture of the action.