Europe offers tourists the same rewards but with new coronavirus customs to navigate

I’m in the Italian resort of Grado, where it’s the usual picture of indulgence. Yet venture out of the hotel and you discover many differences, writes Simon Calder

Masks are mandatory in public spaces in many countries (Reuters)

The future is a foreign country. They do things differently here. The Adriatic is sparkling, the sky above it clear. The horizon ripples with the foothills of the Dolomites and the urban punctuation of Trieste in Italy and Piran in Slovenia.

I have the good fortune to be in the Italian resort of Grado – another fragment of empire, now devoted to tourism – and specifically beside the rooftop pool of an Art Deco palace that has seen better days.

From the top of the Grand Hotel Astoria, the summer of 2020 looks the usual picture of indulgence, with bathers and boats larking around in the sea and the streets lined with cafes whose tables spill out haphazardly.

Yet don your mask (as appears mandatory in any public enclosure) and descend to ground level, and you discover many differences. Those outdoor tables are actually carefully spaced out, and attended by waiters who must wear masks to cater for their barefaced clientele.

Summer in Italy and the rest of the Mediterranean means, thankfully, that days and evenings are spent outside, with only occasional ventures indoors. Within a couple of days, it becomes reflex to reach for your own face covering when walking into a shop or restaurant.

Across in the south of France, meanwhile, laissez-faire appears to be the order of the day (except on public transport), until you reach the Spanish frontier – whereupon mask wearing becomes mandatory in any public area, except when actually eating or drinking.

The main street here in Grado is the Viale Europa Unita. Yet even though the EU has finally struck a deal on financing the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, there is little sign of any unity from the 27 nations on the correct behaviour to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Instead the rules and conventions change with every international frontier and even between provinces.

Don’t pity the poor traveller: Europe is proving refreshing, enriching and rewarding to those of us lucky enough to be abroad. But the tourist must struggle with a series of new and tricky customs – in which the only common element is the “tut” when you get it wrong. When in Rome...

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent