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Article: Guests Welcome; Tourists don't deserve their bum rap. Without them, Provence might become a derelict bastion of mediocre food.(Cover story)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- April 10, 2006
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Byline: Peter Mayle (Mayle is the author of "A
Year in Provence" and, most recently, "Confessions of a French Baker.")
Tourists are guilty, so we are frequently told, of a number of crimes: upsetting the ecological balance of Mount Everest, parking wads of chewing gum under the benches of museums and art galleries, wearing unsuitable T shirts in Notre Dame, debauching the local peasantry and generally lowering the tone of everywhere they choose to set their benighted feet. Rarely has a group of people been so widely reviled, and I am one of them. So are you. I've been a tourist in Provence for about 15 years now, often on the receiving end of criticism or mild ...