Do some creative tourism — before artisans are all gone

[...] I’ve also seen the slow churning of local traditions and lifestyles as unique family-run enterprises have given way to a rising tide of cookie-cutter chains and synthetic conformity.

In historic city centers, as rents go up, longtime residents, families and craftspeople are pushed out.

Recently, the Florentine government ended rent control, and prices immediately spiked, driving artisans and shops catering to locals out of business — to be replaced by boutiques and trendy places to eat and drink.

Small hotels, one-of-a-kind shops and individual craftspeople simply don’t have the scale to compete with the big guys.

Friends in little towns on the Rhine are lamenting how the younger generation isn’t following in the footsteps of their family businesses.

The artists who craft handmade guitars in Madrid, the family winemakers of Burgundy, the fisherman who sells his shrimp on the Oslo harbor front — these have all been fixtures for me in a lifetime of European travel.

[...] I can’t blame the children of artisans for jumping into the modern rat race any more than I’m guilty for not being an old-school piano technician like my dad.

For Cesare, every day is show-and-tell, as streams of travelers drop by to see him at work, fashioning ornaments for the town cathedral and pounding out fine cookware.

Guiding a tour group through eastern Turkey, I once dropped in on a craftsman who was famous for his wood carving.

Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television.