Athens, the most important metropolis of Southeast Europe

19 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Academy of Athens © Olavfin

Academy of Athens © Olavfin

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and it is one of the world’s oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.   read more…

Krakow is home to the second oldest university in Central Europe

18 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Fortress Wawel © Hstoffels

Fortress Wawel © Hstoffels

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow, 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.   read more…

Trondheim in Norway

17 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  6 minutes

Overview of Trondheim © Åge Hojem/Trondheim Havn

Overview of Trondheim © Åge Hojem/Trondheim Havn

Trondheim, historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. With a population of 171,000, it is the third most populated municipality and fourth most populated city in the country. It is the country seat of Sør-Trøndelag. Trondheim lies on the south shore of the Trondheimsfjord at the mouth of the river Nidelva. The city is dominated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), SINTEF, St. Olavs University Hospital and other technology-oriented institutions.   read more…

The medieval town of Goslar

16 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Mediaeval Imperial Palace © Tobias Helfrich

Mediaeval Imperial Palace © Tobias Helfrich

Goslar is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.   read more…

Dublin, capital of Ireland

15 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dublin at Night © Hans-Peter Bock hpbock@avaapgh.de

Dublin at Night © Hans-Peter Bock hpbock@avaapgh.de

Dublin is the largest and capital city of Ireland. The English name is derived from the Irish name Dubh Linn, meaning “black pool”. It is a primate city with an urban population of over 1 million, containing almost 25% of the country’s population. Dublin is situated near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island’s primary city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century, and for a brief period was the second largest city within the British Empire and the fifth largest in Europe. After the Act of Union in 1800, Dublin entered a period of stagnation, but remained the economic centre for most of the island. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the new parliament, the Oireachtas, was located in Leinster House. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State and later of the Republic of Ireland.   read more…

Theme Week Warsaw

15 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

© DocentX

© DocentX

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly 260 kilometers (162 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometers (186 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of June 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000. The city area is 516.9 square kilometers (199.6 sq mi), with an agglomeration of 6,100.43 square kilometers (2,355.4 sq mi) (Warsaw Metro Area – Obszar Metropolitalny Warszawy). Warsaw is the 9th largest city in the European Union by population.   read more…

Hannover on Leine river

12 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  7 minutes

Street view © AxelHH

Street view © AxelHH

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later described as the Elector of Hanover). At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Electorate was enlarged to become the capital of the Kingdom of Hanover.   read more…

Theme Week Frankfurt am Main

12 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Skyline Frankfurt on the Main © Nicolas Scheuer

Skyline Frankfurt on the Main © Nicolas Scheuer

Frankfurt am Main, commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2009 population of 672,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,295,000 in 2010. The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region which has a population of 5,600,000 and is Germany’s second largest metropolitan area.   read more…

Theme Week Madrid

12 February 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, Bon voyage, European Capital of Culture, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Plaza Mayor © Sebastian Dubiel

Plaza Mayor © Sebastian Dubiel

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million (as of December 2009); the entire population of the metropolitan area (urban area and suburbs) is calculated to be nearly 6.5 million. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous in the European Union after Paris and London. The city spans a total of 698 km² (234 sq mi).   read more…

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