March 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Ever feel like you're stuck in a tourist trap, surrounded by selfie sticks, waiting in line just to glimpse something you've already seen a thousand times on social media? There's a better way to travel, and it doesn't require visiting the Eiffel Tower or Times Square.
Drawing from personal stories that span from small-town Texas to Czech beer halls and Filipino prisons, I reveal how real travel magic happens when you ditch the guidebooks and tourist hotspots.
Through five practical tips, learn how to become a modern-day explorer: looking beyond big-name attractions, chasing local legends, talking directly with residents, hunting for quirky experiences, and embracing the back roads. Each strategy is illustrated with remarkable stories—like discovering a museum dedicated to General Patton in Pilsen, Czech Republic after a casual beer with a local, or spending the night alone in a 1747 Spanish Presidio where a famous Texas massacre occurred.
What makes this approach to travel so powerful isn't just the unique experiences it creates, but how it connects you to the authentic pulse of a place. Instead of experiencing the sanitized, gift-shop version of history, you discover the raw, unpolished stories that reveal a destination's true character. Sometimes the best adventures happen when you're gloriously lost—not GPS lost, but "I have no idea where this road goes" lost.
Ready to transform your travels from predictable sightseeing into genuine exploration? Listen now, and discover how the world opens up when you're willing to look where others don't. Share your own hidden gem stories at thetravelingfool.com—they might even feature in an upcoming episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bob Bales (00:01):
Hi and welcome to the Traveling Fool, the show where
we explore the most intriguingaspects of travel, culture and
history.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday's episode is all about
becoming a modern day explorer,uncovering hidden history and
surprising adventures that theguidebooks won't tell you about.
We're not talking Eiffel Towerselfies or Times Square hot dogs
(00:24):
here.
This is about digging deeper,finding the stuff that makes
travel real.
I've got tips, tales and a bitof grit to share.
So grab a drink, settle in andlet's explore.
All right, picture this.
(00:59):
I'm in a tiny Czech town calledPilsen Not Prague, mind you,
but close by.
I went there specifically tovisit the Pilsen Brewery, where
they invented Pilsner beer andhad been brewing beer since 1842
.
So I'm sipping a beer at thebar at the brewery with a local
(01:19):
who, after finding out I'm anAmerican, tells me about a
museum in town dedicated toGeneral George S Patton.
So just having a drink withsomeone, and I find out about a
military museum I've never heardof, dedicated to a US general
that's located in a foreigncountry.
Now, that's the kind of travelI live for.
(01:40):
Finding the hidden, theoverlooked, the surprising, and
today I'm going to show you howto do it too.
We'll cover five tips to turnyou into a modern day explorer,
with some examples to help sparkyour next trip.
Are you ready to ditch theobvious?
Well, let's get started.
All right, let's kick us offwith tip number one.
(02:02):
Look beyond the big names.
If there's one thing I'velearned, is that you don't need
the Coliseum or Big Bend to findthe good stuff, although I love
visiting those type of sites.
But history isn't just in thepostcard spots.
It's hiding in the cracks, inthe back alleys.
You know the places where thetour buses don't bother to stop
(02:24):
and, trust me, those littlecracks and hidden away places,
that's where the real storieslive, unpolished and worth every
minute of you digging them up.
See the big names like theEiffel Towers, grand Canyons.
Well, they're fine, sure, butthey're loud, they're crowded
and they're just polished todeath.
They exist for tourists You'reelbowing through selfie sticks
(02:47):
just to get a look at somethingyou've already seen on Instagram
or Facebook a thousand times.
Well, that's not exploring,that's just checking off the
boxes.
Me, I'd just rather wanderaround and explore the area.
Somewhere like Bandera, Texas.
I've visited that cowboy townand while everyone was piling in
San Antonio for the Alamo andthe Riverwalk, Bandera sat there
(03:09):
just a few miles up the roadwith its saloons, little museum
filled with all kinds of stufffrom days gone past and a
frontier vibe that hits you likea good slug of bourbon.
I mean, it's not screaming forattention up there and that's
why it's gold.
It's those places that you needto dig out.
I remember driving up toBandera one summer morning.
(03:32):
I wasn't there for any kind ofglossy tour, I just wanted to go
check the place out and by thetime I got there I wanted
something to drink.
So I found this bar called the11th Street Cowboy Bar.
It's really cool.
It's all withered wood, neonsigns.
It's even got a hitching postoutside for horses.
Well, I got a Shiner Bock, whichis one of our local Texas beers
(03:54):
, and I asked what around hereshould I go visit that a lot of
people don't know about or thatthe tourists often miss?
And the waitress told me.
She said well, if you likehistory, the Frontier Times
Museum is right down the road.
She told me it's a little funky, cool little spot with old
saddles, rusty guns and tellsabout cattle drives and all the
(04:16):
local history.
So I drove over to check it outand there were no lines, no
hype, it was just me and awindow into Texas past, and the
people there were real friendlyand gave you a little bit more
detail, with stories about thelocal area.
Well, that's the kind ofhistory I'm chasing, not stuff
that's in a gift shop.
(04:36):
So how do you pull this off?
Well, first, ditch the must-seelists online, those little
clickbait articles, the onesthat are written by folks who
never even leave their cubicles.
You want a real deal.
You got to go straight to thesource.
Next time you're in a new spot,find you a bartender, a gas
station clerk, hell, even someold guy sitting on a bench and
(04:57):
just casually ask him what's thecoolest thing around here that
I should see?
That nobody knows about?
And nine times out of tenthey're going to spill something
better than anything you'regoing to find on some travel app
.
It might be a rusted outjailhouse where some outlaw
cooled his heels for a while, ora forgotten battlefield with
bullet scars still in the trees.
(05:19):
I mean, these folks live there.
They know where the secrets are, that the tourist board is
sometimes too busy to notice.
Take Pilsen, Czech Republic.
Like I said, not Prague, butPilsen, close by.
Everyone's clogging intoPrague's Charles Bridge and the
castle.
But while visiting Prague, Itook a train ride to Pilsen.
(05:40):
So I'm sitting there drinking abeer with a guy who looks like
he's been a regular at that barforever.
I ask him the same questionwhat's something really cool
around here that a lot oftourists and people that visit
just don't know about?
So he sends me to this museumwhere the only way you could
find it is a sign up high on thebuilding on the second story
(06:00):
saying Patton Memorial Museum.
Now, the museum was fantastic.
It was started by a local guywho began collecting memorabilia
as a kid.
He told me he wanted to open upthat museum because when the
Czech Republic was under controlof the Russians, the Russians
told everybody that they hadliberated the country from
(06:23):
Hitler during World War II whenit was General George Patton and
the US Third Army and he wantedeveryone to know that.
He and I had a goodconversation.
In fact, when I was up there, Iwas the only one walking around
in his museum and he found outI was American and we got to
talking and come to find out Iwas in the army in Germany at
(06:46):
the same time that he was in theCzech army but serving on East
German side of the border and wewere there at the same time,
probably looking at each otherevery now and then.
But it was a great museum.
And from talking to him, I askedhim the same question and he
pointed me to the city'scatacombs and told me where to
go.
At this little door, basicallynext to one of the shops
(07:10):
downtown.
He said if you knock on thatdoor, there's going to be a lady
answer and she'll take you downin the catacombs.
Now how cool is that?
You're not going to find thatin the guidebooks.
So here's the trick Don'toverthink it.
You don't need a PhD in historyor some fancy guidebook, just a
willingness to wander aroundand talk to people.
Next time you're tempted bysome shiny brochure, just turn
(07:35):
the other way, hit a side street, step into some dive bar,
follow that little dirt roadthat looks like it's going
nowhere, and don't be afraid tolook stupid.
I've asked dumb questionsplenty of times, but they've
landed me in spots like thePilsen Museum or a London pub
having drinks with localstalking about Lily Langtree,
known as the Jersey Lily.
(07:57):
History's everywhere folks.
You got to cut through thatslick tourist gloss like it's
clutter in your gear bag.
It's a grind sometimes, but youknow the raw stuff you uncover
is what makes the trip.
So that's tip number one Lookbeyond the big names, skip the
hype, talk to locals and chasethe stuff that doesn't come with
a hashtag, whether it's somelittle cowboy town like Bandera
(08:20):
or a museum in Pilsen.
The best adventures are theones you stumble into and not
the ones everybody's alreadygoing to.
You'll thank me later whenyou're sipping something cold in
a place nobody's ever heard of.
All right, let's dive into tipnumber two Chase local legends.
Forget the sanitized plaquesand overpriced audio tours.
(08:42):
Finding the legends is a wholelot more fun than anything
you'll dig up on some top 10list, and today I'm going to
show you how to do it.
Here's the deal Legendsoutshine tourist traps every
time.
You don't need a museum with avelvet rope to tell you what
went down.
Those stories are too neat, toopolished.
I'm talking about the untamedstuff.
(09:02):
You know, something like theghost in the old mill or some
outlaw who vanished into thehills, the tales that bounce
around over the bar stools andwhen you're sitting there
drinking coffee in some place.
That's history with a pulse.
It's tied to places where youcan still walk through and feel.
Chasing legends isn't just aboutthe story, it's about the hunt,
(09:24):
getting off the main drag andinto the heart of a place.
That's where the real adventurelives, and it beats standing in
line for a photo with someoverhyped statue any day of the
week.
So how do you find these places?
Well, it's not complicated.
First, you just get rid of theguidebooks.
You're starting to see apattern here, aren't you?
(09:45):
They're too busy hyping theobvious to bother with things
like these.
You got to go straight to thefolks who know the place inside
and out, the locals.
I told you we got a patterngoing on.
Find a diner or even some oldguy sitting there drinking
coffee and just ask him whatkind of wild story has this
(10:06):
place got?
What unusual history happenedhere?
And they'll tell you somethingabout a haunted bridge or a
stash of gold.
And then just go see foryourself.
That's your pass to the realdeal.
Sometimes a legend isn't aperson but a place.
I'll tell you about a time Ichased a legend worth chasing.
At least I thought it was.
(10:27):
You can call it the day I wentto prison.
So I'm in the Philippines, onthe island of Palawan.
Now, palawan had a JapaneseJapanese prisoner war camp that
was notorious during World WarII and when General MacArthur
was getting ready to return tothe Philippines, the Allies were
flying bombing runs over theisland.
The Japanese made the decisionto execute the prisoners before
(10:51):
the Allies returned.
So one day the guards blew theair raid sirens and they herded
all the prisoners in theselittle makeshift bunkers.
They rolled gasoline barrelsonto the entrances and set them
ablaze.
Over the next few hours, whilethe prisoners were attempting to
escape, the guards chased themdown and killed them.
The camp, now it sits on theedge of a bay, and during the
(11:13):
carnage 139 prisoners werekilled, while 11 managed to
escape by swimming acreoss thebay where they were rescued by
prisoners of a Philippine prisoncalled the Prison Without Walls
.
The Filipinos managed to helpthe POWs, get back to some
allied lines and once word gotout about the massacre, the
(11:38):
allies were in a rush to freeother POW camps around the
country, and that led to thesuccessful liberation of the POW
camp at Cabadawan, where USArmy Rangers, along with
Philippine scouts, liberated 489POWs along with 33 civilians.
It's considered the mostsuccessful rescue raid in US
(12:01):
military history.
Today, the site in Palawanwhere the POW camp was is a park
.
And when I heard that the prisonwithout walls is still in
operation, well, that's the kindof story that sticks with you.
So I had to visit it.
So I asked around to varioustrike taxi drivers.
(12:24):
If you don't know what that is,it's a motorcycle with a
sidecar.
Basically you sit in thesidecar and he takes you around.
And I was asking these guys whocould take me to the prison.
And I run across a guy thattells me he knows someone in the
prison and can get me in.
He said he knows that a formerhigh-ranking Philippine police
officer is in prison for murder.
He says, yeah, I know the guyand we can go visit.
(12:45):
So it gets better and better,doesn't it?
So I get in the little trike,get in the sidecar and he takes
me on this 20-minute drive atbreakneck speed around the bay
and he's weaving in and out oftraffic, making me think that
he's going to get us killed anysecond.
Now once we arrive he tells theguard at the front gate that we
need to see this police officerin this jail for murder and the
(13:08):
guard goes no, you can't go in.
And so he talks to him a littlebit more and comes back to me
and he says give the guy $5.
So I slip him a couple ofdollars and he lets us in.
Now they call it the prisonwithout walls because, except
for prisoners in the maximumand medium security, the rest of
the prisoners walk around ontheir own, and this is over
(13:31):
several acres where they'remaybe growing rice fields and
everything else, and theseprisoners just have the run of
the place.
There's nobody guarding them oranything.
And why?
Well, because there's reallynowhere for them to go.
They know they can't go to theairport and catch flight out.
Most of these guys are fromother islands, so they have no
family there.
(13:52):
No one ever comes to visit themthere and that's why they call
it the prison without walls.
But once I'm in the prison, oneof the guards tells me the
history of the prison and therole it played in the rescue
back in World War II.
And I was even allowed to walkaround and talk to some of the
inmates in the maximum andmedium security area.
(14:12):
I had to stand there talking tothem through some 10-foot-high
barbed wire fence, but it wasfascinating to talk to these
guys and most were eager to talkto me, since they were, like I
said, all from other islands andnever received any visitors.
So not only did I wind upgetting stories about the
location where a POW massacretook place in World War II
(14:35):
because I'm a big history buff Ialso got stories about visiting
a Filipino prison.
So that's tip number two, chaseyour local legends.
It's about skipping the obviousand hunting the wild tales
still lurking in the cornersWhether it's a prison in the
Philippines or some outlawhideout, nobody's bothered to
pin down.
These are the threads that tieyou to a place.
(14:57):
You got to cut through thattourist gloss.
It's work sometimes, but that'swhat makes the trip.
So go, track one down and comeback and tell me about it.
Tell me how it was when youfound that legend.
So that's your second tip tobecoming a modern-day explorer.
We've got three more tips to goand, as you notice, this is not
(15:17):
some professionally rehearsedand edited podcast.
This is just me talking to you.
So it's a little raw, maybe notquite so polished, definitely
not going to win any awards forbeing a podcast host, but hey,
you get me.
So here's tip number three wegot a pattern going on here, so
(15:38):
let's keep it going Talk to thelocals and not the tour guides.
Guides are great, but they'rescripted and a lot of them are
out of date.
Locals, they've got the dirt.
I learned this in SoutheastAsia.
Some fisherman took me to abeach nobody visits all because
I asked him where his favoritespot was.
(15:59):
I have gotten some of my bestleads by talking to people.
People I meet in bars, coffeeshops, hotel workers, people in
shops and markets and taxidrivers.
Once, while on a trip toGeorgetown, Texas, I was staying
at this bed and breakfast and Igot to talking with the owner
and asked him about places Ishould visit.
Well, he tells me about a town20 miles away called Walburg,
(16:23):
and when I visited it was thislittle small town, by small, I'm
telling you, it had oneflashing light in town.
I think it's probably grownsince then because it's gotten
more popular and people aremoving out there but it was
settled by German immigrants andit had a German restaurant in
town that was famous in the areabecause the food was pretty
good, but they also had livemusic, so a lot of people went
(16:45):
out to that German restaurant.
They also had some old bankthat was close to the restaurant
.
It looked like it had beenrefurbished or something, but it
was closed.
It hadn't been in business fora while and it was in Walburg
that I met a fellow named Ray.
Ray owned the st ation in town.
Not a gas station, the gasstation, there was only one,
(17:14):
called Meekin Motors.
It looked like something rightout of the 60s.
Google a picture of a gasstation in 1960s and even the
50s.
And that's kind of what thisplace looked like.
And I struck up a conversationwith Ray because when you walked
in there was little areas wherethey sold honey and some of the
local olive oil that isproduced there, and so it was a
(17:36):
combination little store,souvenir shop thing for people
to buy local products and gas.
So I get in there and I'mtalking to Ray and he tells me
about the history of the townand the people that live there.
I mean, it just happenednaturally.
I asked the guy behind thecounter.
I said do you own this place?
(17:56):
He goes no, I'm the son-in-law.
The old man sitting there isthe owner, and that's when Ray
introduced himself and juststarted talking.
He tells me about his threelonghorn steers that he has,
along with some donkeys that hehas.
He tells me about the oldchurch in town and the cemetery
where there was a tree wherethey hung a horse thief in the
(18:18):
1880s.
He also tells me about the bankI passed.
He said you know, that banknever closed during the Great
Depression because no onebothered to tell us and we
didn't know there was adepression until it had been
going on for a while.
And by that time, well, thebank didn't see any need to
close.
And the adventure all started bytalking to the owner of a bed
(18:39):
and breakfast that I was stayingat.
I got the best tour of thattown by Ray.
So strike up a conversation andask, " you know where do you go
to get away?
It works wonders.
They'll spill secrets, hiddentrails, dive bars, old ruins and
, who knows, you might meet aguy like Ray and that'll make
(18:59):
your day.
I'm telling you.
So, three tips down, two to go.
So let me ask you what's yourtrick for finding good places
and good stuff when you'retraveling?
Send me a message on Facebookor email me at
thetravelingfoolcom.
I'd love to hear your stories.
And here's tip number four.
Hunt for the quirky and the oddstuff.
(19:20):
The weirder the better.
I mean, it's where the bestsurprises hide.
You ever heard of spending thenight locked in a Spanish
presidio that was built in 1747?
Well, I found one in Goliad,texas.
And how do you track these down?
Well, Google, just put in thereweird, strange, unusual, any
other descriptive word, and thenadd hotel or attraction or park
(19:44):
in whatever location you'regoing to.
So if you're going to FortWorth, Texas, google strange and
unusual places to visit in FortWorth, Texas, or strange and
unusual hotels or hotels thatare haunted, you can put in all
(20:06):
kinds of good stuff.
And also, here we're back tothat same theme.
Ask some of the locals what isthe strangest thing?
Here You'll get stuff likeabandoned theaters, roadside
shrines or a bar that's in acave.
It's not on the tourist map butit's pure gold.
(20:31):
So that Spanish Presidio I wastelling you about.
Well, I spent the afternoonthere.
I was walking around thePresidio and taking in the
history.
Now see, I knew about Goliadfrom my Texas history classes
growing up in school.
In 1836, colonel James Fanninand his men were headed to San
Antonio to reinforce thedefenders of the Alamo.
When they got into a battlewith the Mexican forces, Fannin
(20:53):
and over 300 of his men werecaptured and taken to the La
Bahia Presidio in Goliad, whereMexican General Santa Ana
ordered them to be executed.
What came to be known in Texasas the Goliad Massacre occurred
at the Presidio, and there's abig mass grave located just
(21:15):
outside the walls.
So while I was there, I learnedthat you can rent the quarters
where the Presidio officerslived and stay the night.
The quarters have been updatedand modernized, but still
keeping the old charm.
The quarters have two bedrooms,a living room area, a fireplace
, along with a kitchen, bathroomand shower.
You get after-hours access tothe entire Presidio's inner
(21:39):
courtyard through the back door.
Nobody there but you.
You've got an entire SpanishPresidio all night long.
Now you're not going to findthis on any hotel booking site
and since this is a state park,you have to reserve the quarters
on the Texas State Parks page.
Now that's the kind ofadventure I'm talking about.
(22:01):
If you do decide to stay there,word has it because all the
people that died there, youmight see a ghost or two, I
don't know, but you never know.
So that's tip number four Lookfor quirky and odd things.
And tip number five, follow theback roads.
The highways get you therefast, but the back roads get you
(22:27):
there deep.
I've driven back roads in Texasand other states that lead to
ghost towns and roadside jointswith some of the best barbecue
you'll ever find on Yelp.
And how do you do it?
Pick a small road off the mainroute and see where it takes you
.
Look for signs of life oldbarns, rusty bridges, random
statues.
It's slower travel, but it'swhere the real world lives.
One time I took a back road inTexas and ended up in the town
(22:49):
of Cuero, population less than9,000.
Now, at first glance it's justanother small country town in
South Texas that people drivethrough without thinking twice,
that is, if they aren'ttraveling on the interstate or a
major highway.
Well, I love small towns and Idecided to take a few minutes to
drive around and see if I couldfind something interesting.
(23:10):
Well, it didn't take longbefore I came upon the Chisholm
Trail Heritage Museum, housed inan old Knights of Pythias Hall
that was built in 1903.
The building itself is fabulous, but the museum was extra nice.
The Chisholm Trail started inSouth Texas and it went north,
(23:33):
driving cattle to the stockyardsand railheads in Kansas.
The museum, which I had neverheard of, was fantastic.
Along with the Chisholm Trailstory, it told the story about
the local area in the 1800s.
But that wasn't all.
Cuero has two other museums.
The Cuero Heritage Museum,which is located in the federal
(23:55):
building that was built in 1915,and the Pharmacy and Medical
Museum of Texas, housed in anold drug store that the building
was built in 1889.
So that's three interesting andfairly unknown museums, all
(24:18):
located in a town that takesabout two and a half to three
minutes to drive through.
They also have a killerbarbecue shack named Tilly's.
Now Tilly's is actually amakeshift barbecue stand at a
guy's house where he lives andhe started selling barbecue out
of it, and some of the bestbarbecue in South Texas, but
known mostly by the locals thatlive there.
Now that's not in a lonelyplanet guide book.
You're never going to find this.
(24:39):
That's just plain back roadmagic.
So, there's your playbook tobecome a modern day explorer.
Skip the big names, chase thelegends, talk to locals, hunt
the odd and make the back roadsyour travel companion.
You got to hit those back roads.
It's not about ticking offboxes and saying I saw this, I
(25:01):
saw this, I saw this.
It's about finding what's real,what's hidden, what's yours.
I mean, history is not just inthe museums, it's in the little
dive bars and the stories thatnobody's telling.
So next time you travel, ditchthe crowd and dig in.
You'll be amazed at what youuncover.
One surprise I've learned is thebest adventures often come when
(25:23):
you're lost, not GPS lost, butI've got no clue where this road
goes lost.
That's when you stumble intothe good stuff, like a prison in
the Philippines or a barbecueshack at some guy's house.
Embrace the detour folks.
That's your ticket to theunexpected.
So that's it for today'sepisode.
(25:45):
Again, I'm Bob Bales, theTraveling Fool.
I'm going to go have a cigar,maybe drink a bourbon, if you
like this episode, hit me up onthetravelingfool.
com, drop a review whereveryou're listening and tell me
your hidden gem stories.
I might share them next time.
But until next time, safetravels and keep exploring.
Hi and welcome to the Traveling Fool, the show where
we explore the most intriguingaspects of travel, culture and
history.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday's episode is all about
becoming a modern day explorer,uncovering hidden history and
surprising adventures that theguidebooks won't tell you about.
We're not talking Eiffel Towerselfies or Times Square hot dogs
(00:24):
here.
This is about digging deeper,finding the stuff that makes
travel real.
I've got tips, tales and a bitof grit to share.
So grab a drink, settle in andlet's explore.
All right, picture this.
(00:59):
I'm in a tiny Czech town calledPilsen Not Prague, mind you,
but close by.
I went there specifically tovisit the Pilsen Brewery, where
they invented Pilsner beer andhad been brewing beer since 1842
.
So I'm sipping a beer at thebar at the brewery with a local
(01:19):
who, after finding out I'm anAmerican, tells me about a
museum in town dedicated toGeneral George S Patton.
So just having a drink withsomeone, and I find out about a
military museum I've never heardof, dedicated to a US general
that's located in a foreigncountry.
Now, that's the kind of travelI live for.
(01:40):
Finding the hidden, theoverlooked, the surprising, and
today I'm going to show you howto do it too.
We'll cover five tips to turnyou into a modern day explorer,
with some examples to help sparkyour next trip.
Are you ready to ditch theobvious?
Well, let's get started.
All right, let's kick us offwith tip number one.
(02:02):
Look beyond the big names.
If there's one thing I'velearned, is that you don't need
the Coliseum or Big Bend to findthe good stuff, although I love
visiting those type of sites.
But history isn't just in thepostcard spots.
It's hiding in the cracks, inthe back alleys.
You know the places where thetour buses don't bother to stop
(02:24):
and, trust me, those littlecracks and hidden away places,
that's where the real storieslive, unpolished and worth every
minute of you digging them up.
See the big names like theEiffel Towers, grand Canyons.
Well, they're fine, sure, butthey're loud, they're crowded
and they're just polished todeath.
They exist for tourists You'reelbowing through selfie sticks
(02:47):
just to get a look at somethingyou've already seen on Instagram
or Facebook a thousand times.
Well, that's not exploring,that's just checking off the
boxes.
Me, I'd just rather wanderaround and explore the area.
Somewhere like Bandera, Texas.
I've visited that cowboy townand while everyone was piling in
San Antonio for the Alamo andthe Riverwalk, Bandera sat there
(03:09):
just a few miles up the roadwith its saloons, little museum
filled with all kinds of stufffrom days gone past and a
frontier vibe that hits you likea good slug of bourbon.
I mean, it's not screaming forattention up there and that's
why it's gold.
It's those places that you needto dig out.
I remember driving up toBandera one summer morning.
(03:32):
I wasn't there for any kind ofglossy tour, I just wanted to go
check the place out and by thetime I got there I wanted
something to drink.
So I found this bar called the11th Street Cowboy Bar.
It's really cool.
It's all withered wood, neonsigns.
It's even got a hitching postoutside for horses.
Well, I got a Shiner Bock, whichis one of our local Texas beers
(03:54):
, and I asked what around hereshould I go visit that a lot of
people don't know about or thatthe tourists often miss?
And the waitress told me.
She said well, if you likehistory, the Frontier Times
Museum is right down the road.
She told me it's a little funky, cool little spot with old
saddles, rusty guns and tellsabout cattle drives and all the
(04:16):
local history.
So I drove over to check it outand there were no lines, no
hype, it was just me and awindow into Texas past, and the
people there were real friendlyand gave you a little bit more
detail, with stories about thelocal area.
Well, that's the kind ofhistory I'm chasing, not stuff
that's in a gift shop.
(04:36):
So how do you pull this off?
Well, first, ditch the must-seelists online, those little
clickbait articles, the onesthat are written by folks who
never even leave their cubicles.
You want a real deal.
You got to go straight to thesource.
Next time you're in a new spot,find you a bartender, a gas
station clerk, hell, even someold guy sitting on a bench and
(04:57):
just casually ask him what's thecoolest thing around here that
I should see?
That nobody knows about?
And nine times out of tenthey're going to spill something
better than anything you'regoing to find on some travel app
.
It might be a rusted outjailhouse where some outlaw
cooled his heels for a while, ora forgotten battlefield with
bullet scars still in the trees.
(05:19):
I mean, these folks live there.
They know where the secrets are, that the tourist board is
sometimes too busy to notice.
Take Pilsen, Czech Republic.
Like I said, not Prague, butPilsen, close by.
Everyone's clogging intoPrague's Charles Bridge and the
castle.
But while visiting Prague, Itook a train ride to Pilsen.
(05:40):
So I'm sitting there drinking abeer with a guy who looks like
he's been a regular at that barforever.
I ask him the same questionwhat's something really cool
around here that a lot oftourists and people that visit
just don't know about?
So he sends me to this museumwhere the only way you could
find it is a sign up high on thebuilding on the second story
(06:00):
saying Patton Memorial Museum.
Now, the museum was fantastic.
It was started by a local guywho began collecting memorabilia
as a kid.
He told me he wanted to open upthat museum because when the
Czech Republic was under controlof the Russians, the Russians
told everybody that they hadliberated the country from
(06:23):
Hitler during World War II whenit was General George Patton and
the US Third Army and he wantedeveryone to know that.
He and I had a goodconversation.
In fact, when I was up there, Iwas the only one walking around
in his museum and he found outI was American and we got to
talking and come to find out Iwas in the army in Germany at
(06:46):
the same time that he was in theCzech army but serving on East
German side of the border and wewere there at the same time,
probably looking at each otherevery now and then.
But it was a great museum.
And from talking to him, I askedhim the same question and he
pointed me to the city'scatacombs and told me where to
go.
At this little door, basicallynext to one of the shops
(07:10):
downtown.
He said if you knock on thatdoor, there's going to be a lady
answer and she'll take you downin the catacombs.
Now how cool is that?
You're not going to find thatin the guidebooks.
So here's the trick Don'toverthink it.
You don't need a PhD in historyor some fancy guidebook, just a
willingness to wander aroundand talk to people.
Next time you're tempted bysome shiny brochure, just turn
(07:35):
the other way, hit a side street, step into some dive bar,
follow that little dirt roadthat looks like it's going
nowhere, and don't be afraid tolook stupid.
I've asked dumb questionsplenty of times, but they've
landed me in spots like thePilsen Museum or a London pub
having drinks with localstalking about Lily Langtree,
known as the Jersey Lily.
(07:57):
History's everywhere folks.
You got to cut through thatslick tourist gloss like it's
clutter in your gear bag.
It's a grind sometimes, but youknow the raw stuff you uncover
is what makes the trip.
So that's tip number one Lookbeyond the big names, skip the
hype, talk to locals and chasethe stuff that doesn't come with
a hashtag, whether it's somelittle cowboy town like Bandera
(08:20):
or a museum in Pilsen.
The best adventures are theones you stumble into and not
the ones everybody's alreadygoing to.
You'll thank me later whenyou're sipping something cold in
a place nobody's ever heard of.
All right, let's dive into tipnumber two Chase local legends.
Forget the sanitized plaquesand overpriced audio tours.
(08:42):
Finding the legends is a wholelot more fun than anything
you'll dig up on some top 10list, and today I'm going to
show you how to do it.
Here's the deal Legendsoutshine tourist traps every
time.
You don't need a museum with avelvet rope to tell you what
went down.
Those stories are too neat, toopolished.
I'm talking about the untamedstuff.
(09:02):
You know, something like theghost in the old mill or some
outlaw who vanished into thehills, the tales that bounce
around over the bar stools andwhen you're sitting there
drinking coffee in some place.
That's history with a pulse.
It's tied to places where youcan still walk through and feel.
Chasing legends isn't just aboutthe story, it's about the hunt,
(09:24):
getting off the main drag andinto the heart of a place.
That's where the real adventurelives, and it beats standing in
line for a photo with someoverhyped statue any day of the
week.
So how do you find these places?
Well, it's not complicated.
First, you just get rid of theguidebooks.
You're starting to see apattern here, aren't you?
(09:45):
They're too busy hyping theobvious to bother with things
like these.
You got to go straight to thefolks who know the place inside
and out, the locals.
I told you we got a patterngoing on.
Find a diner or even some oldguy sitting there drinking
coffee and just ask him whatkind of wild story has this
(10:06):
place got?
What unusual history happenedhere?
And they'll tell you somethingabout a haunted bridge or a
stash of gold.
And then just go see foryourself.
That's your pass to the realdeal.
Sometimes a legend isn't aperson but a place.
I'll tell you about a time Ichased a legend worth chasing.
At least I thought it was.
(10:27):
You can call it the day I wentto prison.
So I'm in the Philippines, onthe island of Palawan.
Now, palawan had a JapaneseJapanese prisoner war camp that
was notorious during World WarII and when General MacArthur
was getting ready to return tothe Philippines, the Allies were
flying bombing runs over theisland.
The Japanese made the decisionto execute the prisoners before
(10:51):
the Allies returned.
So one day the guards blew theair raid sirens and they herded
all the prisoners in theselittle makeshift bunkers.
They rolled gasoline barrelsonto the entrances and set them
ablaze.
Over the next few hours, whilethe prisoners were attempting to
escape, the guards chased themdown and killed them.
The camp, now it sits on theedge of a bay, and during the
(11:13):
carnage 139 prisoners werekilled, while 11 managed to
escape by swimming acreoss thebay where they were rescued by
prisoners of a Philippine prisoncalled the Prison Without Walls
.
The Filipinos managed to helpthe POWs, get back to some
allied lines and once word gotout about the massacre, the
(11:38):
allies were in a rush to freeother POW camps around the
country, and that led to thesuccessful liberation of the POW
camp at Cabadawan, where USArmy Rangers, along with
Philippine scouts, liberated 489POWs along with 33 civilians.
It's considered the mostsuccessful rescue raid in US
(12:01):
military history.
Today, the site in Palawanwhere the POW camp was is a park
.
And when I heard that the prisonwithout walls is still in
operation, well, that's the kindof story that sticks with you.
So I had to visit it.
So I asked around to varioustrike taxi drivers.
(12:24):
If you don't know what that is,it's a motorcycle with a
sidecar.
Basically you sit in thesidecar and he takes you around.
And I was asking these guys whocould take me to the prison.
And I run across a guy thattells me he knows someone in the
prison and can get me in.
He said he knows that a formerhigh-ranking Philippine police
officer is in prison for murder.
He says, yeah, I know the guyand we can go visit.
(12:45):
So it gets better and better,doesn't it?
So I get in the little trike,get in the sidecar and he takes
me on this 20-minute drive atbreakneck speed around the bay
and he's weaving in and out oftraffic, making me think that
he's going to get us killed anysecond.
Now once we arrive he tells theguard at the front gate that we
need to see this police officerin this jail for murder and the
(13:08):
guard goes no, you can't go in.
And so he talks to him a littlebit more and comes back to me
and he says give the guy $5.
So I slip him a couple ofdollars and he lets us in.
Now they call it the prisonwithout walls because, except
for prisoners in the maximumand medium security, the rest of
the prisoners walk around ontheir own, and this is over
(13:31):
several acres where they'remaybe growing rice fields and
everything else, and theseprisoners just have the run of
the place.
There's nobody guarding them oranything.
And why?
Well, because there's reallynowhere for them to go.
They know they can't go to theairport and catch flight out.
Most of these guys are fromother islands, so they have no
family there.
(13:52):
No one ever comes to visit themthere and that's why they call
it the prison without walls.
But once I'm in the prison, oneof the guards tells me the
history of the prison and therole it played in the rescue
back in World War II.
And I was even allowed to walkaround and talk to some of the
inmates in the maximum andmedium security area.
(14:12):
I had to stand there talking tothem through some 10-foot-high
barbed wire fence, but it wasfascinating to talk to these
guys and most were eager to talkto me, since they were, like I
said, all from other islands andnever received any visitors.
So not only did I wind upgetting stories about the
location where a POW massacretook place in World War II
(14:35):
because I'm a big history buff Ialso got stories about visiting
a Filipino prison.
So that's tip number two, chaseyour local legends.
It's about skipping the obviousand hunting the wild tales
still lurking in the cornersWhether it's a prison in the
Philippines or some outlawhideout, nobody's bothered to
pin down.
These are the threads that tieyou to a place.
(14:57):
You got to cut through thattourist gloss.
It's work sometimes, but that'swhat makes the trip.
So go, track one down and comeback and tell me about it.
Tell me how it was when youfound that legend.
So that's your second tip tobecoming a modern-day explorer.
We've got three more tips to goand, as you notice, this is not
(15:17):
some professionally rehearsedand edited podcast.
This is just me talking to you.
So it's a little raw, maybe notquite so polished, definitely
not going to win any awards forbeing a podcast host, but hey,
you get me.
So here's tip number three wegot a pattern going on here, so
(15:38):
let's keep it going Talk to thelocals and not the tour guides.
Guides are great, but they'rescripted and a lot of them are
out of date.
Locals, they've got the dirt.
I learned this in SoutheastAsia.
Some fisherman took me to abeach nobody visits all because
I asked him where his favoritespot was.
(15:59):
I have gotten some of my bestleads by talking to people.
People I meet in bars, coffeeshops, hotel workers, people in
shops and markets and taxidrivers.
Once, while on a trip toGeorgetown, Texas, I was staying
at this bed and breakfast and Igot to talking with the owner
and asked him about places Ishould visit.
Well, he tells me about a town20 miles away called Walburg,
(16:23):
and when I visited it was thislittle small town, by small, I'm
telling you, it had oneflashing light in town.
I think it's probably grownsince then because it's gotten
more popular and people aremoving out there but it was
settled by German immigrants andit had a German restaurant in
town that was famous in the areabecause the food was pretty
good, but they also had livemusic, so a lot of people went
(16:45):
out to that German restaurant.
They also had some old bankthat was close to the restaurant
.
It looked like it had beenrefurbished or something, but it
was closed.
It hadn't been in business fora while and it was in Walburg
that I met a fellow named Ray.
Ray owned the st ation in town.
Not a gas station, the gasstation, there was only one,
(17:14):
called Meekin Motors.
It looked like something rightout of the 60s.
Google a picture of a gasstation in 1960s and even the
50s.
And that's kind of what thisplace looked like.
And I struck up a conversationwith Ray because when you walked
in there was little areas wherethey sold honey and some of the
local olive oil that isproduced there, and so it was a
(17:36):
combination little store,souvenir shop thing for people
to buy local products and gas.
So I get in there and I'mtalking to Ray and he tells me
about the history of the townand the people that live there.
I mean, it just happenednaturally.
I asked the guy behind thecounter.
I said do you own this place?
(17:56):
He goes no, I'm the son-in-law.
The old man sitting there isthe owner, and that's when Ray
introduced himself and juststarted talking.
He tells me about his threelonghorn steers that he has,
along with some donkeys that hehas.
He tells me about the oldchurch in town and the cemetery
where there was a tree wherethey hung a horse thief in the
(18:18):
1880s.
He also tells me about the bankI passed.
He said you know, that banknever closed during the Great
Depression because no onebothered to tell us and we
didn't know there was adepression until it had been
going on for a while.
And by that time, well, thebank didn't see any need to
close.
And the adventure all started bytalking to the owner of a bed
(18:39):
and breakfast that I was stayingat.
I got the best tour of thattown by Ray.
So strike up a conversation andask, " you know where do you go
to get away?
It works wonders.
They'll spill secrets, hiddentrails, dive bars, old ruins and
, who knows, you might meet aguy like Ray and that'll make
(18:59):
your day.
I'm telling you.
So, three tips down, two to go.
So let me ask you what's yourtrick for finding good places
and good stuff when you'retraveling?
Send me a message on Facebookor email me at
thetravelingfoolcom.
I'd love to hear your stories.
And here's tip number four.
Hunt for the quirky and the oddstuff.
(19:20):
The weirder the better.
I mean, it's where the bestsurprises hide.
You ever heard of spending thenight locked in a Spanish
presidio that was built in 1747?
Well, I found one in Goliad,texas.
And how do you track these down?
Well, Google, just put in thereweird, strange, unusual, any
other descriptive word, and thenadd hotel or attraction or park
(19:44):
in whatever location you'regoing to.
So if you're going to FortWorth, Texas, google strange and
unusual places to visit in FortWorth, Texas, or strange and
unusual hotels or hotels thatare haunted, you can put in all
(20:06):
kinds of good stuff.
And also, here we're back tothat same theme.
Ask some of the locals what isthe strangest thing?
Here You'll get stuff likeabandoned theaters, roadside
shrines or a bar that's in acave.
It's not on the tourist map butit's pure gold.
(20:31):
So that Spanish Presidio I wastelling you about.
Well, I spent the afternoonthere.
I was walking around thePresidio and taking in the
history.
Now see, I knew about Goliadfrom my Texas history classes
growing up in school.
In 1836, colonel James Fanninand his men were headed to San
Antonio to reinforce thedefenders of the Alamo.
When they got into a battlewith the Mexican forces, Fannin
(20:53):
and over 300 of his men werecaptured and taken to the La
Bahia Presidio in Goliad, whereMexican General Santa Ana
ordered them to be executed.
What came to be known in Texasas the Goliad Massacre occurred
at the Presidio, and there's abig mass grave located just
(21:15):
outside the walls.
So while I was there, I learnedthat you can rent the quarters
where the Presidio officerslived and stay the night.
The quarters have been updatedand modernized, but still
keeping the old charm.
The quarters have two bedrooms,a living room area, a fireplace
, along with a kitchen, bathroomand shower.
You get after-hours access tothe entire Presidio's inner
(21:39):
courtyard through the back door.
Nobody there but you.
You've got an entire SpanishPresidio all night long.
Now you're not going to findthis on any hotel booking site
and since this is a state park,you have to reserve the quarters
on the Texas State Parks page.
Now that's the kind ofadventure I'm talking about.
(22:01):
If you do decide to stay there,word has it because all the
people that died there, youmight see a ghost or two, I
don't know, but you never know.
So that's tip number four Lookfor quirky and odd things.
And tip number five, follow theback roads.
The highways get you therefast, but the back roads get you
(22:27):
there deep.
I've driven back roads in Texasand other states that lead to
ghost towns and roadside jointswith some of the best barbecue
you'll ever find on Yelp.
And how do you do it?
Pick a small road off the mainroute and see where it takes you
.
Look for signs of life oldbarns, rusty bridges, random
statues.
It's slower travel, but it'swhere the real world lives.
One time I took a back road inTexas and ended up in the town
(22:49):
of Cuero, population less than9,000.
Now, at first glance it's justanother small country town in
South Texas that people drivethrough without thinking twice,
that is, if they aren'ttraveling on the interstate or a
major highway.
Well, I love small towns and Idecided to take a few minutes to
drive around and see if I couldfind something interesting.
(23:10):
Well, it didn't take longbefore I came upon the Chisholm
Trail Heritage Museum, housed inan old Knights of Pythias Hall
that was built in 1903.
The building itself is fabulous, but the museum was extra nice.
The Chisholm Trail started inSouth Texas and it went north,
(23:33):
driving cattle to the stockyardsand railheads in Kansas.
The museum, which I had neverheard of, was fantastic.
Along with the Chisholm Trailstory, it told the story about
the local area in the 1800s.
But that wasn't all.
Cuero has two other museums.
The Cuero Heritage Museum,which is located in the federal
(23:55):
building that was built in 1915,and the Pharmacy and Medical
Museum of Texas, housed in anold drug store that the building
was built in 1889.
So that's three interesting andfairly unknown museums, all
(24:18):
located in a town that takesabout two and a half to three
minutes to drive through.
They also have a killerbarbecue shack named Tilly's.
Now Tilly's is actually amakeshift barbecue stand at a
guy's house where he lives andhe started selling barbecue out
of it, and some of the bestbarbecue in South Texas, but
known mostly by the locals thatlive there.
Now that's not in a lonelyplanet guide book.
You're never going to find this.
(24:39):
That's just plain back roadmagic.
So, there's your playbook tobecome a modern day explorer.
Skip the big names, chase thelegends, talk to locals, hunt
the odd and make the back roadsyour travel companion.
You got to hit those back roads.
It's not about ticking offboxes and saying I saw this, I
(25:01):
saw this, I saw this.
It's about finding what's real,what's hidden, what's yours.
I mean, history is not just inthe museums, it's in the little
dive bars and the stories thatnobody's telling.
So next time you travel, ditchthe crowd and dig in.
You'll be amazed at what youuncover.
One surprise I've learned is thebest adventures often come when
(25:23):
you're lost, not GPS lost, butI've got no clue where this road
goes lost.
That's when you stumble intothe good stuff, like a prison in
the Philippines or a barbecueshack at some guy's house.
Embrace the detour folks.
That's your ticket to theunexpected.
So that's it for today'sepisode.
(25:45):
Again, I'm Bob Bales, theTraveling Fool.
I'm going to go have a cigar,maybe drink a bourbon, if you
like this episode, hit me up onthetravelingfool.
com, drop a review whereveryou're listening and tell me
your hidden gem stories.
I might share them next time.
But until next time, safetravels and keep exploring.
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