CITYSCAPE PART FOUR

25. Budapest (Hungary)

Budapest castle by night. [ Photo by uzo19 / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Budapest; names in other languages) is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2010, Budapest had 1,721,556 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 because of the mass suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter Area is home to 3,271,110 people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi) within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of west-bank Buda and Óbuda with east-bank Pest. The city attracts about 2.3 million tourists a year. In 1949, Hungary was declared a communist People's Republic. (based on a wikipediaarticle / cc by-sa)

26. Florence (Italy)

Piazza Signoria [ Photo by Jrousso / public domain ]

Florence (Italian: Firenze  , alternate obsolete form: Fiorenza; Latin: Florentia) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with c. 370,000 inhabitants (1,500,000 in the metropolitan area). The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Florence is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and the impact of its artistic, historic and cultural heritage in the world remains to this day. The city has a major impact in music, architecture, education, cuisine, fashion, philosophy, science and religion. The historic centre of Florence contains numerous historical squares, Renaissance palaces, academies, parks, gardens, churches, monasteries, museums, art galleries and ateliers. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

27. Rome (Italy)

Colosseum [ Photo by Julo / CC BY-SA 2.5 PL ]

Rome; Latin: Rōma) is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy. In 2007 Rome was the 11th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. The city is one of Europe's and the world's most successful city "brands", both in terms of reputation and assets. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. (based on awikipedia article / cc by-sa)

28. Siena (Italy)

Piazza del Campo in Siena [ Photo by Massimo Catarinella / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice yearly. The Palio is not simply a tourist event as a true Sienese regards this in an almost tribal way, with passions and rivalry similar to that found at a football 'Derby' match. In fact the Sienese are baptised twice, once in church and a second time in their own Contrade fountain. This loyalty is maintained through a Contrade 'social club' and regular events and charitable works. Indeed the night before the Palio the city is a mass of closed roads as each Contrade organises its own outdoor banquet, often for numbers in excess of 1,000 diners. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

29. Venice (Italy)

The Rialto Bridge over Venice's Grand Canal. [ Photo by W. Lloyd MacKenzie / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Venice (Italian: Venezia  , Venetian: Venexia) is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of the whole Comune of about 270,660 (census estimate 30 April 2009). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000). Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, due to the city's being one of the world's greatest and most beautiful cities of art. The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day (2007 estimate). In 2006, it was the world's 28th most internationally visited city, with 2.927 million international arrivals that year. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

30. Vilnius (Lithuania)

Ausros Vartu street, Vilnius, Lithuania [ Photo by Wojsyl / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Vilnius ( , see also other names) is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 (850,324 together with Vilnius County) as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County. The first known written record of Vilnius as the Lithuanian capital is know form Gediminas' letters in 1323. Gediminas expanded the Grand Duchy through warfare along with strategic alliances and marriages. At its height it covered the territory of modern-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, and portions of modern-day Poland and Russia. His grandchildren Vytautas the Great and Jogaila, however, fought civil wars. During the Lithuanian Civil War of 1389–1392, Vytautas besieged and razed the city in an attempt to wrest control from Jogaila. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

31. Bergen (Norway)

View from Skansen in Bergen, Norway [ Photo by Aqwis / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Bergen) is the second largest city in Norway with a population of 262,300 as of July 8, 2011. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of 386,100 as of July 8, 2011. The hotels in the city may be full at times, due to the increasing number of tourists and conferences. Prior to the Rolling Stones concert in September 2006, many hotels were already fully-booked several months in advance. Bergen is recognised as the unofficial capital of the region known as Western Norway, and recognised and marketed as the gateway city to the world famous fjords of Norway and for that reason it has become Norway's largest – and one of Europe's largest – cruise ship ports of call. Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. (based on a wikipediaarticle / cc by-sa)

32. Kraków (Poland)

Kraków (Poland), Market square seen from tower of St. Mary church: Cloth Hall, Town Hall tower and St. Adalbert church. [ Photo by Pko / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Kraków) also Krakow, or Cracow (English), is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic centres. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596; the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major attraction for both local and international tourists, attracting seven million visitors a year. Major landmarks include the Main Market Square with St. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

33. Warsaw (Poland)

Taken from the Novatel Warsaw Centrum in Poland. [ Photo by Bpa / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa  ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of June 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,631,902. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi) (Warsaw Metro Area – Obszar Metropolitalny Warszawy). Warsaw is the 9th largest city in the European Union by population. Its interiors and park are accessible to tourists. Stanisław August Poniatowski, who remodelled the interior of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, also made Warsaw a centre of culture and the arts. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

34. Lisbon (Portugal)

View of Alfama from the Miradouro of Santa Luzia in Lisbon, Portugal [ Photo by Miguel Vieira / CC BY 2.0 ]

Lisbonis the capital city and largest city of Portugal, with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of 84.8 km2 (33 sq mi). The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on a area of 958 km2 (370 sq mi), it is the 9th most populous urban area in the European Union. About 2,831,000 people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (which represents approximately 27% of the population of the country). Lisbon is the westernmost large city located in Europe, as well as its westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. It lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the Tagus River. The city is the seventh-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

35. Porto (Portugal)

Historical part of Porto, a World Heritage Site seen from Vila Nova de Gaia, trough the Douro river. [ Photo by Olegivvit/ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Porto, also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits (an area of 41.66 km²/16 sq.mi) includes a population of 220,000 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes. The urbanized area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 1.1 million in an area of 389 km2 (150 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. The Porto Metropolitan Area includes approximately 1.3 million people, and is recognized as a Gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group, being one of the four cities in the peninsula with global city status (the others being Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona). (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)

36. Bardejov (Slovakia)

Town Hall Square in Bardejov, Slovakia [ Photo by Hynek Moravec / CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

Bardejov; German: Bartfeld, Hungarian: Bártfa, Polish: Bardejów) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region and has about 33,000 inhabitants. The spa town, mentioned for the first time in 1241, exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely intact medieval town center. The town is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The name of the town comes from the Hungarian word "bárd" (English: "chopper"), which indicated an amount of forested territory which could be chopped down by one man in one day. In the Hungarian name (Bártfa), the "fa" (English: "tree") suffix came later, and it also changed the last letter of "bárd" to "bárt", for easier. The territory of present-day Bardejov has attracted settlers since the Stone Age. (based on awikipedia article / cc by-sa)