Nicest European Cities?

[balkair 6]

And Sofia is actually located in EUROPE. Ankara isnt

[jayo 44]

Originally posted by: El Burro Hell, all European cities are nice... except maybe Murmansk and Glasgow quote>

Glasgow is actually really nice now. Lot of regeneration going on there now and is now 3rd in the top business cities in the UK,quite good for a city with such a turbulent past

[Alexzero77 3]

Originally posted by: balkair You can't say that just because Ankara has a street that looks european then it is. This would also make Shanghai European...

http://users.bigpond.net.au/lsc/ionad/shanghai/images/Bund5.JPGquote>

Yes but that's architecture from English imperialization, not native to the land. Whatever, I have better things to do than arguing with you.

It's not geographically part of Europe, mm-kay but your forgetting it's in the Council of Europe and soon the EU.

Originally posted by: jayo

Originally posted by: El Burro Hell, all European cities are nice... except maybe Murmansk and Glasgow quote>

Glasgow is actually really nice now. Lot of regeneration going on there now and is now 3rd in the top business cities in the UK,quite good for a city with such a turbulent past quote>

Same with Brum. It's better than London and you know it.

[awake_78 0]

That's true. Even though i disagree with both of you, driving the topic to nationalistic ways.

I ve never been to Ankara and it is possible tha it is a very European style city but this doesn' t make Ankara a European city. As I know Turkey  has a part in Europe and the largest part in Asia. And Ankara is in Asian part. It s like to start mentioning cities as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem European as well. Israel take place in a lot of european events but this doesn't make Israel a European country.... 

But from the other way when Turkey enters the EU maybe then Ankara it is considered as European I don't know....

[balkair 6]

Whatever, I have better things to do than arguing with you.quote>

Then don't reply to me trying to make me change my mind. I was merely pointing out that Ankara isnt in Europe! And I don't see where your objection to that is... Its pure geography!

I have nothing against turkey Its just that he's trying to convince me that Ankara is European, which of course it is not Turkish architectures is not related to European architecture in any way! And I dont think Turkey will enter the EU. Greece would LOVE Turkey to enter the EU because then we would have to FINALLY solve all our political (cuz we only have political) problems with Turkey. But the decision has to be unanimous, and countries like France object (which is stupid, because in 1921 i think, France signed a treaty which says that supposingly turkey is European ). Anyway, this is SO out of topic xD

[Muck308 55]

Well, I like London, Dublin, Grenoble, Florence, Dubrovnik, and Oslo. But I intend to visit the following cities which I have heard great things about...

Lisbon, Prague, Vienna, Venice, and Skopje. (just kidding... I know nothing of Skopje.)

[jayo 44]

Originally posted by: Alexzero77

Same with Brum. It's better than London and you know it.quote>

I like brum

[fukuda 351]

Toulouse, France.

Not a gigantic city, but I find it pretty

Albi is a nice city too

They obviously aren't the nicest, but well

[BuggUla 405]

My favorite Euro-Cities:

1. SIENA, ITALY: So beautiful only an artist can capture the beauty... pitch out the camera and commence to gawking

2. FLORENCE, ITALY: The old heart of town is as magnificent as its designers envisioned. A true jewel!

3. BUDAPEST, HUNGARY: Truly impressive.

4. PRAGUE, CZECH: A great town to stroll

5. VENICE, ITALY: Aint nothing else like it

6. GLENDALOUGH, IRELAND: Haunting and enchanting

7. BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Chocolate gorge-fest!

8. KOSICE, SLOVAKIA: A surprisingly beautiful town!

9. KRAKOW, POLAND: How could such a jewel ever have been behind an iron curtain?

10. EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: A fabulous city!

[yellowguy88 1]

BuggUla

"6. GLENDALOUGH, IRELAND: Haunting and enchanting"

I agree its an amazing place but its a national park.. About 100 people live there so its not even a village yet alone a city

Best City has to be Paris..

[Craig91 12]

Walked five miles around Glandalough yesterday (took over 80 pictures) and I am in PAIN! Like yelowguy said, it's barely even a village

[Eskisehir 0]

My top 5:

1- Istanbul - TR Turkey (Please call turkish city names in Turkish and not in old or greek names it is ISTANBUL!!!!!!)

2- Zurich - Ch - Switzerland

3- Siena - I - Italy

4- Venetia - I - Italy

5- Geneva - CH - Switzerland

please don't write Dutch Belgium Luxemburg British Cities here they are all so ugly sorry for thaat

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

Originally posted by: Eskisehir My top 5:

please don't write Dutch Belgium Luxemburg British Cities here they are all so ugly sorry for thaatquote>

Thats a little offensive isnt it?

Especially when you consider that a lot of Paris looks like this...

And a lot of London looks like this...

My point is, even the prettiest city (Paris is lovely in the middle) has its ugly areas, and even the ugly cities (London has some dire neighbourhoods) have miles of lovely streets.

[PhilsCafe 8]

What IllTonkso said is a very good point in fact... that's why I don't think it makes a lot of sense to argue about the nicest city in Europe. If there isn't any criteria, it's pretty much a matter of preference and bias.

We all know that the nicest city in Europe is located in Switzerland... and it's definitely not Zurich

[MandelSoft 2,775]

Originally posted by: ILL Tonkso

Originally posted by: Eskisehir My top 5:

please don't write Dutch Belgium Luxemburg British Cities here they are all so ugly sorry for thaatquote>

Thats a little offensive isnt it?

Especially when you consider that a lot of Paris looks like this...

And a lot of London looks like this...

My point is, even the prettiest city (Paris is lovely in the middle) has its ugly areas, and even the ugly cities (London has some dire neighbourhoods) have miles of lovely streets.quote>

Well, ugly is a relative term. It depends on what you think of what's beautiful. Still, it's offensive to say that the cities of Belguim, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and the UK are all ugly.

[montrouge 2]

Originally posted by: ILL Tonkso

Thats a little offensive isnt it?

Especially when you consider that a lot of Paris looks like this...

And a lot of London looks like this...

My point is, even the prettiest city (Paris is lovely in the middle) has its ugly areas, and even the ugly cities (London has some dire neighbourhoods) have miles of lovely streets.quote>

 

This is the stereotyped view, the large majority of Paris suburbs are nice. 

Honestly I never read an article about Paris in press where I reconised my city. It is always stereotype, myth, myth...bla bla, even the people who visit Paris are so blind when they see things that don't look like the stereotype. They believe that Louvre and other touristy districts where Parisian never go represent more Paris than les Halles where the large majority of the crowd is Parisian.

Of course les Halles is dominated by Macdonal'd starbucks and other global chains... but this is Paris

Paris is a big city of 12 million inhabitants, it is multifaced, very complicated to understand. It is not all white or all black. 

There is beautiful district in the center and there is ugly district in the suburbs, the oposite is also true.

I hate the fact that my city is too stereotyped, Paris is the most know and the most unknow famous city in the world.

Paris is too big for being the nicest  city in Europe but if we speak of big european cities Paris has its chance.

[BuggUla 405]

I will happily accept a free trip to any city which considers itself the best and will gladly report back on my findings!

[JanYpe 17]

Originally posted by: Eskisehir My top 5:

1- Istanbul - TR Turkey (Please call turkish city names in Turkish and not in old or greek names it is ISTANBUL!!!!!!)

2- Zurich - Ch - Switzerland

3- Siena - I - Italy

4- Venetia - I - Italy

5- Geneva - CH - Switzerland

please don't write Dutch Belgium Luxemburg British Cities here they are all so ugly sorry for thaatquote>

Now that's silly, since it comes down to a matter of taste. Objectively speaking, there's probably plenty of areas in Istanbul that aren't all that nice, and lots of people think Venice is overrated. British and Benelux cities have their ugly areas, but no more so than other cities.

[ethan_paris 0]

if you go to Paris, go to its suburbs and stop listening to what your media tell you...because there are such lovely places there...

[ethan_paris 0]

and if you go to Paris' suburbs, you could see this, it doesnt look like what you would want...

[metasmurf 705]

My favourite

Bergen, Norway

[ExiL3 10]

wooow... thats not good, someone actually mentioned Oslo in here... Oslo is not a nice city.

Sure it has got some nice parts, but most of the city is either way to "high-tec" and commercialist, or industrial and gloomy. I love the city, don't misunderstand me, but it still is not beautiful.

Bergen, on the other hand is VERY beautiful, I would very much like to go there:

Bergen has about 250,000 inhb, but greater Bergen has around 370,000, lots of fjords and mountains, so not much space to build on.

btw, I live in the suburbs of "greater Oslo" (about 1,1 million inhb.), 25 minutes out from CBD.

,take care

[Mr. Beer 12]

Should we have to explain again that Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, etc...) is not in Europe???

[Muck308 55]

Originally posted by: BuggUla I will happily accept a free trip to any city which considers itself the best and will gladly report back on my findings!

quote>

 

www.jetlagstudy.com

go to that site for a free trip to Paris while they test your suceptibility to jetlag. It all depends on where you live, but if you're not in Pittsburgh like me, maybe you can sgn up. They only test in certain areas.

[Odainsaker 2,137]

Anatolia, Asia Minor...the bulk of Turkey east of the Bosphorus is usually and generally understood as being part of western Asia, and so Ankara itself would usually not be considered as being in Europe. Istanbul, however, straddles both sides of the Bosphorus, with its famed historic center on the European side...I have no problem with Istanbul being considered in Europe. As for Turkey as a whole, it has home territories in Europe, it has in the past been described as a power in Europe, and its outlook often tied more to the West than to Asia or even the Near East...it can be considered a European nation with the understanding that it is a multi-continental nation.

In a way, it is no different than Russia, whose bulk is also in Asia and stretches all the way to Korea and the Pacific, but who is also usually considered a European nation. We usually recognize St. Petersburg as Russia's window to the West as a European city, but not Vladivostok, even if the latter's architecture is more European Russian than East Asian Korean. How do we judge Istanbul in comparison to distant Moscow, or even east-of-the Urals Yekaterinburg? Why is Russia easy to understand without controversy but not Turkey? Politically, we can describe Russia as being something different from Europe, and can do so for Turkey as well, but for the sake of this thread, it is simply easier and advisable to stick to the geographic locations of their cities and not their politics or culture or nationalisms.  Istanbul, Moscow, Petersburg, Sofia, and Edirne are on the European continent while Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, Ankara, Iznik, Ephesus, and even the UK's Falkland Islands are not.

Oh well, let's have some real fun and offer Nicosia on Cyprus to the meat grinder.

[woodpecker 0]

I think you can say that Russia is more European than Turkey, not because of its architectural style, but because of the culture as a whole (For example all European nations are mainly Christian, so is Russia, while Turkey is mostly Muslim). Russia has played a more integral part in European history than Turkey (Russia also has most of its population in Europe, which Turkey has not.)

[fukuda 351]

Originally posted by: woodpeckerRussia has played a more integral part in European history than Turkey quote>

Err, I'm not so sure about it, the turk and ottoman empires played a huge role in european history

[Alexzero77 3]

woodpecker, I have no idea what you're talking about.

It really depends where you are in each country. Can you call the U.S. Mexico if you're in an El Paso neighbourhood with adobe houses dominated by a large Mexican population? No.

The same goes with Russia and Turkey. On the dominant part of Turkey, the Asian portion, the Izmir province and Istanbul districts such as Kadikoy are full of historic Mediterranean buildings. Ankara sports rich architecture as well, yet more modern structures have appeared from the mass industrialisation taking place there (in addition to Eastern Europe). The architecture to these buildings make one feel he or she is in China. This creates a contrasting appearance throughout most of Turkey and Russia (excluding historic Istanbul and Izmir, Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.).

Yet, I feel Turkey's general architecture has a more European feel to it. It's a Mediterranean blend, almost like a mixture of Spanish and Venetian. Plus, many Roman structures dominate the Ankara and Izmir region, if you consider inhabitable stuff under the "architecture" category. Russia, on the other hand has a more bombastic feel. Many structures are still charming, but sometimes proportions don't look like they were taken into consideration.

Keep in mind, the majority of muslims in Turkey are relatively layed back to what the religion requires from Quran. They do not pray five times (if I remember) a day, nor deny consumption of various meats.

I know you said "not because of architectural style," but that's what I'm good at.

[balkair 6]

Originally posted by: Eskisehir My top 5:

1- Istanbul - TR Turkey (Please call turkish city names in Turkish and not in old or greek names it is ISTANBUL!!!!!!)

2- Zurich - Ch - Switzerland

3- Siena - I - Italy

4- Venetia - I - Italy

5- Geneva - CH - Switzerland

please don't write Dutch Belgium Luxemburg British Cities here they are all so ugly sorry for thaatquote>

 

Really, Istanbul was called Constantinople from 337 to 1930. I dont see why change it now, seeing as I'm Greek And just for the record, Istanbul is a Greek name also, google it

Wikipedia quote:

AD 330 as Nova Roma (original name given in 330 and used during Constantine's reign) and later Constantinople (following Constantine's death in 337)
Ottoman period	1453 as Konstantiniyye (in Ottoman Turkish), Constantinople (internationally) and various other names in local languages
Republic of Turkey period	1923 as Istanbul (in Turkish) and Constantinople (internationally), renamed as Istanbul also in foreign languages following the Turkish Postal Service Law of March 28, 1930

quote>

[PhilsCafe 8]

I think when we talk about Constantinople it means the historic city, when it was an important trading center on the edge of the Orient. Today the official name is Istanbul... so maybe we should just stick to that. Let's history be history...