Nicest European Cities?

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

People are coming up with some very obvious suggestions. 

In my opinion, and you all know what I'm going to say, Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful, interesting and culturally amazing city in Europe, and is most certainly the best in the UK.

I have one solid reason that London is not the best city in the UK:

It's a nice place to visit, but to live there (and this comes from family experience) it would be horrific, the M25 is a living nightmare, the Tube is a joke, and the local trains in and out of the city are terrible.

And now, to shamlessly plug Edinburgh. 

So much happens at everytime of the year. The festival in the summer, the chrsitmas events in winter... You could visit at any time of the year and find loads to do.

And someone else tell me another major city, in fact in the world, that centres around a huge volcanic complex...? You have to see it to believe it, but it's surreal that a wilderness like Arthur's Seat can be right in the middle of such a vibrant city, it's strange, but it makes Edinburgh even more unique.

You know you want to go...

I can't see how anyone can have a reasonable argument for believing that another British city could possibly be more beautiful than Edinburgh. It's got the geography, the architecture, the culture, the history, everything you could want...

[miguelkuk 111]

I think it's ridiculous to keep calling Constantinople to Istanbul. Why not Byzantium then? It was its original name by the Romans. Why not call St. Petersburg Leningrad then? or call Edo to Tokyo or Tenochtitlan to Mexico City or New Amsterdam to New York... If the city changes its name then I think we should call it just that.

Anyway, enough of that!

I like many many cities in Europe (including the UK and BeNeLux cities -- Luxembourg is really beautiful). But one that needs mentioning is Porto, Portugal.

[balkair 6]

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...quote>

Yes but you cant ask a Greek person to call it Istanbul - its insulting to the Greek culture, after calling it Constantinople for the past 1400 years or whatever. Its like me asking an American to call San Francisto "Agios Fragiskos" instead. I was merely pointing out the fact that you cant tell me how to call the city (and it all started from the fact that Ankara is not in Europe - lol).

and just to make this clear - i have nothing against turkish people. I have met many interesting Turks!!

[miguelkuk 111]

Yes but you cant ask a Greek person to call it Istanbul - its insulting to the Greek culture, after calling it Constantinople for the past 1400 years or whatever. Its like me asking an American to call San Francisto "Agios Fragiskos" instead.quote>

 

Why is it insulting to the greek culture? I find this ridiculous actually! Regardless of its origins Istanbul is a turkish city and therefore the turkish have the right to call it whatever they want. Do you think the italians feel insulted because it's not called Byzantium??

[balkair 6]

Ehem, if anything, Istanbul wasnt built by Turks, first of all. And secondly, to the Greek culture, that particular city was the center of the Greek world, so the Greeks wont change the name just cuz Ataturk changed it in 1930. And it is insulting in the way that no Greek would ever call it Istanbul - there is no such word in the Greek vocab. And Byzantium was actually a Greek colony, not a Roman one

However, I never had a problem with people calling it Istanbul. Why should you tell me how to call it? If we go that way, dont ever call us Greeks again - our name is Hellenes. But it doesnt go that way - certain cultures use other names for cities/countries etc, for historical or other reasons.

[miguelkuk 111]

I never said it was built by the turks. I said it's turkish (it's located in today's Turkey). The fact that it is now part of Turkey and not Greece should not be a reason to fuel such animosity.
You still haven't explained why it is insulting to the greek culture.

Wikipedia: 
Byzantium (Greek: Βυζ?ντιον, Latin: BYZANTIVM, Byzantium) was an ancient Greek city, which was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas (Β?ζας or Β?ζαντας in Greek). The name "Byzantium" is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion. The city is what later evolved to be the center of the Byzantine Empire (the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages) under the name of Constantinople. Constantinople fell to the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1453. The name of the city was changed to Istanbul in 1930 following the establishment of modern Turkey.

As you can see, it was part of the greek-speaking Roman Empire (yes it was founded by the greeks!!), and that's what I meant by the romans...
Even the whole of Greece became part of the Roman Empire...

[PhilsCafe 8]

@ balkair: Please, I didn't want to tell you how you have to call Istanbul. I can understand why Greek people prefer to call the city Constantinople because of its past and I know that there are serious issues between the two countries. Calling different names to the same city seems to be only one example for that. However, I'm quite sure Turkish people are insulted too when you call it Constantinople. So I just ask you to be aware of that.

But that's not what this thread is about, so let's get back on topic now.

[balkair 6]

I dont think there are serious problems between Greece and turkey - on a political level maybe, but i dont think Greek people have a problem with Turkish people and vice versa.

@ miguelkuk: yes, actually Greece was conquered by rome, but it became a new Empire under the Byzantine Empire, where it was a mix of Greek and Roman culture. However, if you ever visit Constantinople nowadays, what they say for the Hagia Sophia, for instance, is, practically, that they built it. So now you see why it is a versy sensitive issue for Greek people? It was always a dream to get the City back (and a stupid one if I may add) so Greeks arent really happy with how things turned out to be. Now, of course the city nowadays is called Istanbul (which btw comes from the Greek "is tin poli" which means to the city, and nobody knows this) but you will never hear a Greek call it Istanbul, especially if he was deported by the Turkish state in '55... Its the same thing with Macedonia - nobody REALLY digs into these things, they just read Wikipedia (which by the way is not that reliable) and its always the Greeks who are obsurd about such issues!

[miguelkuk 111]

Actually I knew these facts before wikipedia even existed. I just used it for a quick reference.

Other than this I have no more to say on the subject since I see it's a pointless discussion and completely off topic.

[ExiL3 10]

can we get back on topic PLEASE!

it would be great if you could make your own topic to discuss this, or do it over PM... or MSN... or what ever...

,take care

[miguelkuk 111]

I totally agree, ExiL3!!!

To get back on topic, and as a response to whomever says Luxembourg cities are ugly, here's a small town in northern Luxembourg that I love: Vianden.

[Sir_Nuttingham 6]

My hometown Nijmegen, The Netherlands (pop: 160.000)

Maastricht, The Netherlands (pop: 120.000):

Talinn, Estonia (pop: 400.000):

[enrico.astro 1]

I don't think that is right talking about what is the most beatifull city in Europe because there are so many cities that are incredible... I think that there are some city that is very different from other and for this reason it could be "more special" than other... I think that one of these could be Venice, Rome that is a commistion of buildings of different ages, Amsterdam that surely has the most fashion contemporary architecture, Berlin, Paris and London. I like Copenaghen, Brussel, Antwerpen, Rotterdam and Munich too but I think they are not so special like the other that I mention.

Someone that reply me plz???!!!

[Geronimo 4]

Well, thats what its about, Europes nicest cities and you mentioned quite a few there yourself. Just like most people posting here you made up your mind on what you think is some of the nicest cities, but it doesnt automaticly mean it is though. Some cities fits some, others dont. Some places is great for a visit, but if you lived there all your life it may seem boring and not interesting at all? I love my hometown though its not the prettiest baby around, but I guess its one of the best to live in anyway cause it fits my needs. Nice that way, not so nice in others.

I cant pick one specific and its impossible for me to compare one to another since there are so many nice cities around. I leave it to others to come up with an answer to this...

[suomi2005 52]

I think european cities are all beautiful but Helsinki is on the top of my list because I like it very much it has beautiful city parks, natural parks, archipelagos, a fortress (Suomenlinna) a nice empire styled old downtown and in Eira you can find very good exampels of Judgen styled buildings and there is alot more to se than that. Here you have a nice gallery showing Helsinki from above. http://www.pjoy.fi/galleria/helsinki/index.htm and of downtown Helsinki http://www.pjoy.fi/galleria/keskusta/index.htm

[lameris123 0]

Talinn, Estonia (pop: 400.000):

quote>

Well, the second picture is Riga, Latvia (pop 800 000)

[panthersimcity4 162]

Santiago de Compostela is a nice town, but of course the reason why its so nice is the HUGE cathedral...

And of course Kiev... it has some very beautiful churches as well...