What It's Like to Visit a City on the Brink of the Olympics

[0:00] Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Put the Guidebook Down, Kultura Travel's podcast, brought to you by me, Kiara, the creator as your host, and back for another episode, my best friend, Christine.

Hello.

So for those of you who didn't see our last episode, Christine was really focusing more on this idea of growing confidence as a newer traveler and the different types of travel styles. She mentioned her trip to Paris a little bit in the last episode, but this one, we're really going to dive into it, because you went to Paris during a rather interesting time, right?

I sure did. I went during 2024, in April, which was right before the Summer Olympics.

Right, yep. So this episode is going to be all about diving into what it's like to visit a world-famous city right before it becomes the center of the world.

So, Christine, I'm going to let you kick it off right away by just recounting your story generally, in terms of from departure to arriving to the city and then to when you left to return home. What was that like, to go to Paris before the whole Olympic crowd?

I mean, it was really interesting. There was definitely — you could tell they were gearing up and getting ready for the Olympics. Obviously, they built a ton of things — there are some things like the Eiffel Tower, everything around it was just metal grates blocked off, do not enter here, do not enter there. I know there's a lot of grassy areas, people like to sit right around the Eiffel Tower, those were closed off. They were building stadiums and stuff, so we couldn't do that. We saw them flushing out the Seine.

Oh boy, the famous Seine conundrum.

Talking to a few people who live there, they did not love the idea that they were going to make the Olympians swim in there, they didn't like all the money they were putting in to flush out the river — the Parisians were not with the Seine idea, they did not like it, they did not want it.

Right, but was their attitude just towards the Seine, or how did they feel about all of this idea of Paris becoming the center of the Olympics?

They didn't love it. I think they both appreciate tourists, because it's a big money-making thing, but I think they're also just like, no more tourists. And obviously the Olympics is going to bring in the most amount of tourists you could ever imagine, so they were not thrilled with the Olympics coming to Paris. But for the most part, nobody had any qualms with us — for the most part they were like — our taxi driver was pretty eager to talk to us about the Olympics, he actually was like, oh, it's great you came in April, because May, whew, that would be crazy.

Right, like, if you waited two more weeks, it would have been a zoo, a madhouse, and that would have been even less that we would have been able to get access to and view and see and do. We saw where the Olympians were going to be staying and sleeping.

The Olympic village.

Yeah, so cool. All of the rings they were putting up everywhere, the mascot for the Olympics, he was everywhere.

Oh, really? That little red hat thing?

He was all over the place, they were even advertising him, you could buy that merch before the Olympics even started, they were selling him everywhere, our hotel had him, little plushes.

Wow, okay. So then what was the general vibe of the city then?

I'd say for the most part it was still the same — I mean, I guess it's a little hard to tell because I've only been there during this time, so I'd have to go back, I guess. But I'd say you could definitely tell there were people gearing up and getting ready for it. There was more hustle and bustle, a lot more construction, there's construction everywhere. I know a lot of times they're trying to make things really pretty and eye-catching for the camera — we were there before the pretty started to happen, we were there for all of the metal, all the construction, all the "do not enter," all of the loud noises, all of the clanging. So that was interesting, it was kind of interesting to just see how much goes into hosting the Olympics. The entire city was — think about how much you have to build for the Olympics, how many tracks there are, how many different events there are, there's a lot of construction.

And I think you started transitioning a little bit into — no, you're good, you're good, that means we're on track, we're on theme, we're going the right direction. But this is going in terms of the idea of how much work goes into transforming a city for such a large global event, and really how this large-scale event shifts the local culture and travel dynamics. So you talked about the beautification that comes with creating it, right — what does this say about how destinations perform culture for the world versus what the actual day-to-day is? Because, as you said, they put on this kind of mask or performance of what the city would look like for those people going for the Olympics, but after that they break it all down. So then what does this say about the destination?

Oh, I mean, clearly they want to put their best foot forward. They want to show the rest of the world the best that they have to offer, and that is it. They want to show the cream of the crop, the prettiest, the most eye-catching, the most engaging parts of their culture, and hide anything else. So it's definitely a little bit of a facade, a little bit of a show, but I think every country does that to a certain extent — I get it, they want to put their best foot forward, this is their chance to show off their country, they're going to do as much as possible.

They're going to do the most. And like you said, it's not just for something as large scale as the Olympics, but even for smaller festivals — the World Cup, but I'm talking more in terms of even local events. Like, for example, we have the National Wine Day in Moldova, a huge celebration for the locals — they have over 100-plus wine vendors, and they want to make it seem like the city's everything's great. So they come together for these two days, the streets are all very clean, everyone's coming together warm and fuzzy, but then right after those two days it goes back to regular day-to-day life, and it's not always super clean, it's not always super warm and fuzzy. So I know — well, you could probably speak about that even just living in New York City.

I mean, I can only imagine the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — I'm sure that they're cleaning up all those streets, putting up those barricades, making sure everything looks nice for that parade route. That is not how it looks any other time. You're so right, and I'll get to experience that for the first time this year. But you guys were talking about Halloween the other week — I was there during the Halloween parade, it was crazy, mass mayhem, in terms of the large amounts of crowds and the barricades and how much work went into organization for that. The next morning I'm up early walking with my dog, and there's garbage everywhere, there was a deflated Minions costume — I was like, how did you lose your costume? I had a lot of fun last night. But it's just that whole side of all the prep work that goes into creating, as you said, this facade, or how they want to be portrayed for that event, and then what happens after — I don't think we necessarily talk about that all the time.

Going into that prep work that goes with creating this beautification for such an event — did you notice any changes in accessibility, pricing, or just the general atmosphere?

Oh, things were definitely more expensive. The prices of all the normal museums, touristy stuff, everything went up. Also, I know there's always different pickpocketers or things, but the sellers, the people standing by the Eiffel Tower selling their little products, extra aggressive — like they were out for blood, they wanted to sell those mini Eiffel Towers.

But was there any — because you mentioned the prices were so high — were there any benefits of going early? I mean, obviously maybe fewer crowds, but anything else?

I mean, it's like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you get to see the building of the Olympics, which only happens for the summer, only happens once every four years. It was kind of cool to see where things were going. And, oh, I can say, while we were watching the Olympics on TV, my mom and I were like, we were there, we were there, we were right there — or like, oh my gosh, that's what that — like we were literally standing there, and when the boats were going down for the different countries, we were like, that bridge, we took photos on that bridge. So there's a lot of that, especially going so recently, your memory is still so fresh of everything, seeing the Arc de Triomphe when they zoom out, I'd be like, oh yes, we were right there.

And so that was actually really cool, to be able to be like, I recognize that, and I recognize that, and I know what that is, and feeling almost a little bit closer to the Olympics.

That's so interesting, because I feel like some people might consider that a downside of going early — seeing all the construction — but you're saying it was actually a positive, you liked it.

I mean, I like the Olympics, so I liked getting to, while watching it, be like, oh, I recognize that, I know that, cool. So that was really nice.

So then were there any downsides?

I mean, there were certain things we couldn't do, there were certain things that were just closed — like, for instance, the Eiffel Tower, that grassy area was closed off for construction, we could not walk there. It made navigation harder, because certain sidewalks and streets were closed off, so now Google Maps is telling you go this way — girl, I can't believe I'm walking through a construction site. That was a challenge, especially in a walkable city where you're really walking or taking the subway places — if you have to walk any distance, you might have to take one or two detours, which in a city where you're trying to follow Google Maps, and you have to stray from the path, it can go all disorienting.

So then how can travelers decide the right moment to visit a place that's about to become the center of the world?

I'd say don't go during it — unless you're going there for the event. If you are going somewhere where the Olympics are being held, for the Olympics, then okay. If you want to go and visit a city, and they are also hosting the Olympics at the same time — no, don't go then, just wait like a month or two. I'd say going right before, during, and right after, you're not really going to get the full experience you want, because they're going to be focused on building everything for the city, getting ready for the Olympians, getting ready for whatever they have to prepare for. Then during the Olympics, it's going to be swamped, it's going to be a zoo, there's going to be way more people than normal, I'm sure there was way more security than normal, I'm sure it makes it even harder to get to places you already want to go — like, we did a riverboat tour down the Seine, I don't think we would have been allowed to do that during the Olympics, actually, because even if they're not swimming down at that moment, they probably don't want to show any regular tourist boats zooming down the river, pumping potentially gasoline and stuff into a river where people are about to swim the next day. The Eiffel Tower might have been even harder to get to — we were still able to go in, we went up to the top, we looked around, I don't know if we would have had that access when the games were going on. A lot more things would have been shut down on different days that you might not even be aware they were going to be closed that time.

Yeah, I think there was a video I saw of this one guy — I don't know, it was from years ago — but there's this idea of disaster tourism, or whatever. Maybe you've seen it — some people go, usually to a destination, after there's a major event or disaster, and the guy says, well, the prices are cheaper, and there's a high alert of safety around it, because it just happened.

Oh yeah, so that's — taking advantage of another country's tragedy, how about that.

Yeah, I was going to say, that's definitely — when we look at it, I was like, okay, I don't know, again, I don't know his story, I don't know his context, but I think that was something I was never thinking of as an option, and then he said that, and I was like, well, he's not wrong, the safety is at a — I mean, I'd say definitely going after something like the Olympics or the World Cup, something the country brought upon themselves that they wanted to do — maybe the prices probably still do go down to a certain extent, maybe there are still safety measures, but it's not like you taking advantage of a tsunami.

Yeah, I think that's a really good differentiation point — is taking advantage of it versus it being something that —

Exploiting.

Yeah, that's — no, it's definitely an interesting type of tourism I'm not quite familiar with, but that video went viral, and then it made people aware of it.

Anyways, I want to tie it back to the cultural travel element, right — because with that, maybe not thinking on a large scale, the Olympics, World Cup, etc., but even just when it comes to trip planning and what's going on where you're going, the importance of looking at local calendars before you go, because, as you said, it can lead to road closures, maybe unplanned spontaneity, because you had a plan to visit X, but that's closed because there's actually some festival there. So now you have to choose why — they're not just tourist events, but the local cultural ones too, so you understand what's happening on the ground.

I think one of the ones for me was going to like Turkey or Morocco during Ramadan — if you're not a Muslim, maybe you don't think about Ramadan as often when you're planning your travels, but it is something you have to take into context with your planning, because that's a major cultural element to the destination.

Huge. Yeah, stuff closes. I also want to go back into one other topic we talked about a little in our previous episode, in terms of this idea with some of these events, or maybe just how we approach some tourism — like authenticity, right? So how do we ensure that places are not putting on cultural performances, such as maybe come with large events like the Olympics, and how does that come into tourism both help and harm that authenticity?

Yeah, I think they're definitely putting on a show — like we even discussed earlier, they want to put their best foot forward, they want to put on the best show. I was even thinking, are all of our waitstaff being super nice to us just because they are very nice? Or are they doing it because they're like, gotta put my best foot forward, the Olympics are coming up, a bunch of different cultures come, just gotta bear down and be extra friendly and hospitable. But I mean, hey, I appreciate that, you don't gotta be mean to me to have an authentic experience. But I think it's hard to tell, though, as somebody who's visiting a country for the first time, what is truly authentic and what's not. I think you can definitely maybe pause and take a moment to be like, is this truly authentic, or is this an extra little razzle-dazzle because of the time that I'm here? So maybe if you go during a specific time when you know they might be putting on a little extra show, maybe don't go back to your country and say, this is how all of these people act in this country, this is how this country looks all the time — oh yeah, there's always fresh flowers on this place, whatever — there might not be, you don't know. So taking that into consideration when going there. But I think tourism is definitely a large — it's a money-making thing as well, which I think helps to boost the economy, helps the locals in a sense — even though it can be maybe frustrating having to deal with so many tourists, it helps stimulate the economy there, which is usually always a good thing.

I think the point about needing to understand the context and maybe put a little bit extra effort into being reflective of what you're taking in and experiencing is such a good point, and maybe not one that's just for the situation of a world event, but just in general when it comes to travel, being aware of the context of how something's being delivered or what you're seeing, and then reflecting on it before going out and posting something online, which is what we can kind of see sometimes with travel influencers.

Yeah, they're like, oh my gosh, I love this thing that's going on in Bali, the locals do this every day, and you're like, no, oh my god, that's not their culture, they're just doing that for the tourists. Understanding that context.

But what is, as we're closing up this episode, what is one moment or takeaway from Paris that you'll never forget? Just one, though, just one.

One moment or takeaway from Paris — it's artwork. Just how much artwork impacts culture and life, and how important art is. There are so many art museums in Paris, and so many museums dedicated to just one artist, and it's so incredible to see so much art in one city, and one city that inspired so much art. I mean, I am an artist, so maybe this is why I love it so much. But I think we need to still support art and artists and creativity, especially in an age where everything is so — like, point A to point B to point C, no creative outflow, everything is so structured and made and pinpointed for you. I think art and creativity and letting art flourish is so important, because those museums are so popular for a reason — people want to go to them for a reason.

Yeah, so 100%. And see, I didn't even — that was all her, that's exactly culture travel, talking about art, right, because that is part of their culture, it's part of the heritage. So I love that.

But tying this all together, seeing a city before it becomes a global headline reminds us that this culture isn't just a performance. It's the people, the routines, all the context going around, and the things that often disappear once the cameras arrive. If it's not being caught while on screen at the Olympics, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not part of their culture, right? So that differentiation point between cultural performance and authenticity — to end today's episode, I'm going to leave our listeners with a question: what city would you love to experience before the world arrives? Now, this can be for any of our major events that we tend to connect with globally, such as the World Cup, the Olympics — we have the Winter ones coming up soon — just anything in general.

I know, I forgot about that as well.

But thank you so much again, Christine, for joining us and sharing your experience, not just about visiting Paris, but then also visiting before the Olympics. And thank you to everyone who listened during our episode. Be sure to check out our social and my new Substack account, where I'm sharing my real thoughts and experiences and stories directly to you. And remember, get ready to step out of your comfort zone and travel more deeply and more meaningfully. Bye. Bye.