hidden europe 28

List mania

by Nicky Gardner

Summary

Is the Baltic the new Med? Or Bridlington the new St Tropez? Come now, we don't write about that sort of thing in hidden europe. But we do like to keep in touch with mainstream travel writing. And we find that in Britain the travel pages are full of lists.

There was a time when travel writers would string together entire paragraphs of narrative prose. You know the sort of thing: nicely woven words that developed a theme, often with the odd literary pirouette thrown in for good measure. A little light alliteration always goes down well in such prose pieces. But skim the newspaper travel pages nowadays and they are full of lists. Europe’s ten best celebrity beaches. Moldova’s ten worst airports. One hundred bus stations to see before you die.

We have started collecting such lists. We have everything from top ten bellinis (think cocktails, not late-Renaissance art for that one) to Europe’s ten best arrival experiences.

This is just an excerpt. The full text of this article is not yet available to members with online access to hidden europe. Of course you can read the full article in the print edition of hidden europe 28.
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