City tours: Activity or even new job?!

We live in a time in which many municipalities and communities are busy reappraising and rediscovering their history. As part of such efforts, there are sometimes private cultural associations and clubs that are enthusiastically dedicated to the history of their hometown. We at Alterix explain how you can use this for yourself in the context of various activities in old age!

On the one hand, there are the already well-known city tours that are on everyone's lips. On the other hand, in addition to the "usual" city tours for tourists, there are also tours that are dedicated to a specific theme or that are tailored to a specific audience. The differences here are as varied as the interests of the creators. For example, there are guided tours of cemeteries and burial grounds that take visitors on a journey through the history of various burial rites. In many cities, you will also find guided tours that remind visitors of the relics of past "Jewish life" or else of a particular event in the long history of a place. For senior citizens in particular, it is advisable to ask about the content of a guided tour, as not every memory can be of a positive nature for older people. We know of a guided tour in Kiel whose content was reminiscent of the bombing nights and for which the visitors were also led into the air-raid shelters, some of which still existed. What is exciting and educational for the young visitors, awakened terrible memories and trepidation in many older participants, as they themselves had to experience such "bomb nights" in such shelters.

If such a guided tour brings you into contact with an organiser or association in which you can possibly contribute interesting knowledge, it also opens up interesting aspects of cooperation or participation for older people.

We are living on the edge of a time in which the witnesses of one of the darkest chapters of our history are slowly dying out. Yet it is often the accounts of those who lived through this time that are of inestimable value. Here, the curriculum vitae of a contemporary witness hardly makes a difference; it is the personal and authentically told story that counts. But apart from this dark chapter surrounding the Second World War, there are historical events in everyone's past that were experienced first-hand and are worth telling. Thus we are all "witnesses of our time" and have something to tell. It makes no difference whether we are a decorated general or a housewife. The only difference would be in the story we tell. Both are worth listening to because they illuminate events from different perspectives. It is precisely this aspect that makes the participation of seniors in such associations or cultural societies so valuable. No matter how old we are ourselves, such responsibilities will be imposed on us later on. Someday we will be among the few remaining contemporary witnesses who can report what happened on a morning of 11 September 2001 or what impact the Chernobyl catastrophe of 26 April 1986 had on our present home town. On any given day, we all witness events that may be of interest or value to future generations - no matter what career or life path we are pursuing or have pursued.

The organisations and associations that run guided tours of the city therefore not only offer seniors a hopefully interesting way to spend their free time, but may also provide them with a starting point for recreational and edifying activities. Respectable associations and organisers of such guided tours or events can easily be found in any town through the tourist office and the town administration.

Caution should be exercised when using the Internet, as there are organisers who - to put it mildly - may take the educational value of their events less seriously. To be on the safe side, it is always worth making a quick phone call to the cultural office of your town.

There are also guided tours that extend not only to one city but to an entire region. Since itineraries in most cases involve bus tours, information about the organiser should be obtained here in any case. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for so-called "sales events" to be attached to such tours, where rhetorically superior salespeople sell their products to senior citizens at completely inflated prices or in the form of subscriptions. As a rule, participants are lured to these tours with special offers, such as a visit to a restaurant with free coffee and cake and the inevitable sales event. Such tours will almost invariably have a financial disadvantage for participants. Instead, look for private clubs and organisers and, if he or she was good, give the guide a small tip. You will certainly gain more from this than from buying a superfluous electric blanket.

Since you certainly want to choose guided tours that will also strike a chord with your interests, it is also advisable to take a look at the surrounding countryside or neighbouring towns, since such special city tours do not claim to be available in the same guise in the city. So it may well be that you don't find "your topic" in your city - but in the town next door. Here, too, cultural and tourist associations will provide reliable information.