Your Favourite European cities

[Flying Pig]

Crudely, a city is a big town, but nobody's quite sure where the difference lies. In the UK, it's traditionally been said that a town with a cathedral becomes a city, which isn't quite true but perhaps reveals a better principle, that a city is the nucleus of its surrounding area rather than somewhere from which people go to access jobs and services elsewhere.

 

[Jehoshua]

Krakow is pretty good, as are Lviv and Vilnius (the old town). A number of the large western European cites come across to me as being either very impersonal (Paris in particular), or are too touristy to really enjoy unless you can manage to escape the mob (Venice comes to mind, Torcello is nice and serene but its not a city [tis one of the lagoon islands])

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The definition of city varies quite a bit (there's the specific definition of a town granted city rights, or the "has a cathedral" definition for example), but I seem to recall from the back of my mind that the cutting line (At least in terms of historical consideration) is around 10000 people. Any less than that is deemed to lack the "critical mass" to be city material.

 

[Arwon]

Crudely, a city is a big town, but nobody's quite sure where the difference lies. In the UK, it's traditionally been said that a town with a cathedral becomes a city, which isn't quite true but perhaps reveals a better principle, that a city is the nucleus of its surrounding area rather than somewhere from which people go to access jobs and services elsewhere.

I have a simpler answer: 50000 people.

 

[Dachs]

What is the difference between a city and a town in English?

In the UK, "cities" are only those municipalities that have been legally conferred "city status". It's basically a governmental whim, based in large part on population figures and urban structural configurations, but also on historical tradition. For instance, "city" used to denote municipalities that possessed cathedrals, while "towns" were municipalities that lacked cathedrals but which still had patents permitting them to host markets or fairs.

I have a simpler answer: 50000 people.

Yeah, but it's not a true simpler answer.

 

[Flying Pig]

Cheltenham has 110,000 people, and is a town.

 

[Domen]

In the UK, it's traditionally been said that a town with a cathedral becomes a city

"city" used to denote municipalities that possessed cathedrals, while "towns" were municipalities that lacked cathedrals

And this is what my English teacher used to say, but after that I've heard ~10 or more other theories about this and got confused.

I've even heard a theory that a town is simply any kind of settlement, including villages.

 

[Silurian]

Wiki article on UK city status

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

Oxford and Cambridge in England are nice if you like that sort of thing, or Cheltenham, which is technically a town.

Yup. Canterburry i thought was also nice. And maybe i should visit Bath one day too.

 

[Grendeldef]

Except if it's a Sunday, one of the seemingly fortnightly holidays, or simply after 7:30pm.

Ah, yes but there's a difference between open/closed on pre-scheduled vs random times and when I first spent any longer period of time in Munich '88 that pretty much applied to Finland in general. Besides I was done with my conscription a month earlier and happy to be anywhere but in the barracks so I was probably still using rose tinted glasses and never got rid of those.

 

[keli]

Ah, yes but there's a difference between open/closed on pre-scheduled vs random times and when I first spent any longer period of time in Munich '88 that pretty much applied to Finland in general. Besides I was done with my conscription a month earlier and happy to be anywhere but in the barracks so I was probably still using rose tinted glasses and never got rid of those.

OFFTOPIC

I am very curious about this so I have to ask this from a Finlander! When I returned from Tallin to Helsinki via cruise during the night I noticed some really weird lights and flashes east of Helsinki. It very much looked like some kind of military fire. Is it possible that there is a military complex east of Helsinki ?

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Was it 4 nights ago? I might know in that case.


Not sure about top cities.
Might go with
Vienna
Stockholm
Berlin
Münich

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Whatever one has the most impressive skyline. Is that Frankfurt?

 

[dutchfire]

Except if it's a Sunday, one of the seemingly fortnightly holidays, or simply after 7:30pm.

I really hated the fact that the shops were closed on Sunday in Hamburg. At least on weekdays they were open until midnight.

 

[The_J]

That's regulated by law; should be everywhere like that in Germany (exceptions apply).

I thought so too at the time. Quite deadly silent (and it was the summer).

I also loved Budapest, and still recall its parliament building which is by far my favorite parliament in our planet
[...]

Paris is dirty and dodgy, I'm not sure what's meant to be so romantic about it. Budapest (got back from there today) actually strikes me as quite similar, including with the dirtiness and dodginess, but without being a giant venus touristtrap, with better prices, and a bit of an Eastern European charm.

[...]

I'd agree on that, especially on the dirtiness.

What is the difference between a city and a town in English?

Wiki article on UK city status



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom

Just wanted to ask if the concept of "city rights" is foreign in the UK ^^.




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Haven't been to many cities yet.
In the Netherlands, well...Amsterdam... I like a bit...but not that much. Maastricht is nice, from the general look, but also not great. Utrecht is, at least for some parts, nicer, but as well... The Hague is a bit unpersonal, although the historical part of the city is really nice.
I've been to a few cities in Spain, but Madrid isn't exactly great (that's why everyone loves Barcelona more ^^), and especially Granada is also a single big tourist trap.
In Germany, I can only really say something about Bremen, which was really nice when I visited it, but that was like 10 years ago, or so.
tl;dr: None, because I'm inexperienced.

 

[Arwon]

Cheltenham has 110,000 people, and is a town.

See I'd just call that incorrect. That's as big as Ballarat or Toowoomba and they are cities!

 

[Grisu]

my absolute top is probably Barcelona. After that it gets murky.

However, I might say that I do not share the dislike here for Paris. It's got its up and downs, but all thinks added up, it's a great city. Of course the whole romance thing is easier to experience when in company of somebody you're romantically connected to

btw, about all that city stuff: in my area there's a place with roughly 1000 inhabitants...and it's a city (well, at least informally, officialy the distinction town/hamlet/whatever/city doesn't exist in switzerland)

 

[Flying Pig]

See I'd just call that incorrect. That's as big as Ballarat or Toowoomba and they are cities!

Which comes back to the point that in the UK, city status is entirely arbitrary. The city of Rochester, in Kent, memorably lost its city status because its city council was merged with those of its neighbours without new letters being granted to reaffirm its being a city. Elgin, in Moray, is a cathedral town which was once a city of some importance, but which has since shrunk.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Another example of strangeness when it comes to cities in the United Kingdom. The town of Swindon has over 185,000 people, while the City of St Davids has just under 1,800.

 

[Grendeldef]

OFFTOPIC

I am very curious about this so I have to ask this from a Finlander! When I returned from Tallin to Helsinki via cruise during the night I noticed some really weird lights and flashes east of Helsinki. It very much looked like some kind of military fire. Is it possible that there is a military complex east of Helsinki ?

That'd be this place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santahamina

 

[Algeroth]

1) Brussels
2) Berlin
3) Budapest

Haven't been to British isles or Iberia yet, though.

Im not too much a fan of the crowdiness and haste of the big city's. there are a lot of smaller city's in Europe which are also quite worth visiting, often for their historical architecture, like:
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Třeboň

From all of Czech cities, why Třeboň?