I knew immediately that you had to be living in Europe. ;) As a reader from the US, I would like to offer a perspective that doesn't excuse anything, but should at least go pretty far in explaining why people from the US are taking these huge personal-safety risks:

The US has a TERRIBLE work–life balance. People are lucky to get even 2 weeks of vacation per year. On top of this, the cost of living there is very high, and the cost of flying to a whole other continent eats up even more money and time from an already limited supply of both. For people living in Europe, it's generally easy to make a last-second decision to visit another country. You can look at the forecast, notice that the weather will be pleasant, and book a train ticket... and then you're there. No major time investment, no stretch days spent groggily adjusting to 6–10 different time zones, no exorbitant cost of an international flight. So when someone from the US invests in seeing a travel "dream" come true... the chances are very real that they might never have that chance again. It's sad that people from the States are so time-and-money-crunched, and so overworked, that this is the case... but it is the case. And it's hard for people in well-located countries with a better quality of life to empathize.

That's my guess for why these people are willing to risk life and limb to see these sites.

As for the ways that travel is fueling the climate crisis, I hope we find solutions soon.

... also reeeeally hope that the municipality did the right thing and recycled that pile of plastic bottles...