Stavanger, the petroleum capital of Norway

23 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  7 minutes

Aerial view of Stavanger's city center © Godztian

Aerial view of Stavanger’s city center © Godztian

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland. Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,000. There are 198,000 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway. Stavanger is the centre of the Stavanger metropolitan area, which has a population of 297,569, and the administrative centre of Rogaland county. The city is commonly referred to as the Petroleum Capital of Norway.   read more…

Theme Week Istanbul – The gateway between Europe and Asia

13 January 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Bon voyage, European Capital of Culture, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Aerial view over historical Sultanahmet and Galata district © www.Istanbulpark.de

Aerial view over historical Sultanahmet and Galata district © www.Istanbulpark.de

Istanbul, historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople, is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province (municipality) had 14.4 million people living in it, which is 18% of Turkey’s population and the 2nd largest metropolitan area in Europe (including the Asian side of the city) after London and Moscow. The city in its administrative limits had 8.8 million residents counted in the latest Turkish census from 2000. Istanbul is a megacity, as well as the cultural, economic, and financial centre of Turkey. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. Istanbul is a designated alpha world city.   read more…

20th Anniversary of the European Union

2 January 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  10 minutes

The flag of The Council of Europe and The European Union

The flag of The Council of Europe and The European Union

Not only this year, but especially this year, it’s time to celebrate the 20th Anniverary of the European Union. The more the better ;-)   read more…

The city of Cork

7 December 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  10 minutes

Winthrop Street © Ticketautomat

Winthrop Street © Ticketautomat

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland’s third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,000, while the addition of the suburban areas contained in the county brings the total to 190,000. Metropolitan Cork has a population of approximately 274,000, while the Greater Cork area is about 380,000. County Cork has earned the nickname of “the Rebel County”, while Corkonians often refer to the city as the “real capital of Ireland”, and themselves as the “Rebels”.   read more…

Bologna, the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region

3 December 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  9 minutes

Bologna Collage © DaniDF1995

Bologna Collage © DaniDF1995

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. It is the seventh largest city in terms of population and it is the heart of a metropolitan area (officially recognized by the Italian government as a metropolitan city) of about 1,000,000 inhabitants. The urban sprawl of Bologna – Modena, whose metropolises are adjoining, is continuously expanding. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna hosts numerous students who enrich the social and cultural life of the city.   read more…

Galway has everything for a relaxing city break

17 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  11 minutes

The Tribes of Galway on Eyre Square © flickr.com - Eoin Gardiner

The Tribes of Galway on Eyre Square © flickr.com – Eoin Gardiner

Galway (Cathair na Gaillimhe) is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the fifth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. The population of Galway’s Borough area is 75,414 according to the 2011 census.   read more…

Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland

14 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Mitchell Library © Andeggs

Mitchell Library © Andeggs

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country’s west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian. Glasgow grew from the medieval Bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, which subsequently became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as one of Britain’s main hubs of transatlantic trade with British North America and the British West Indies. With the Industrial Revolution, the city and surrounding region shifted to become one of the world’s pre-eminent centres of Heavy Engineering, most notably in the Shipbuilding and Marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was known as the “Second City of the British Empire” for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period. Today it is one of Europe’s top twenty financial centres and is home to many of Scotland’s leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew to a population of over one million, and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after London, Paris and Berlin. In the 1960s, comprehensive urban renewal projects resulting in large-scale relocation of people to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes, have reduced the current population of the City of Glasgow council area to 580,690, with 1,199,629 people living in the Greater Glasgow urban area. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland’s population.   read more…

Reykjavík, capital of Iceland

4 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  8 minutes

Reykjavík from Hallgrímskirkja (church) © Jóhann Heiðar Árnason

Reykjavík from Hallgrímskirkja (church) © Jóhann Heiðar Árnason

Reykjavík is the capital and largest city of Iceland. Its latitude at 64°08′ N makes it the world’s northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavík Area) it is the heart of Iceland’s economic, cultural and governmental activities.   read more…

Theme Week Paris

17 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Bon voyage, European Capital of Culture, Paris / Île-de-France, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Town Hall © Cédric Bonhomme

Town Hall © Cédric Bonhomme

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region. The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,193,031, but the Paris aire urbaine has a population of 11,836,970, and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe.   read more…

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