Lonely Planet says... | City |
xxxx can seem a touch austere at times. Yet xxxx is the home one of the most riotous and extreme festivals in Europe, one that other countries would have banned years ago | |
Paris of the East, xxxx is building so fast that Unesco may withdraw its status due to the number of glittering glass hotels springing up faster than mushrooms after the rain | |
In the World Heritage-listed Old Town...you'll find some historic gems that illuminate both xxxx's medieval past and its long grey days under the Soviet yoke | |
xxxx is a city whose reputation precedes it, and trashes its name, gives it a good kicking. A boring banking capital? The spotless Singapore of Europe? Too rich and uptight? | |
Delicate minarets rise above the cobbled lanes of the Čaršija, where Orthodox churches sit alongside copper-domed bathhouses and historic Ottoman trading inns | |
A mirage of saffron- and terracotta-coloured buildings shimmering between blue water and bluer skies all summer, or covered with snow and dotted with lights in winter | |
xxxx is usually bypassed by tourists heading to the coast or the ski resorts, but they’re missing out on something special. The old east-meets-west feel is still here... | |
Surrounded by seven hills and seven fjords, xxxx is a beautiful city that climbs the hillsides with timber-clad houses, while cable cars offer stunning views from above | |
a reminder that the city of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler and Schönberg is also the xxxx of Falco, who immortalised its urban textures in song | |
xxxx buzzes with the energy of a city that’s certain of its place...so confident is the ‘Rebel City’ that locals half-jokingly refer to it as the ‘People’s Republic of xx | |
It seemed like a lark. When the Emperor built this city on a swamp, his subjects humoured him. When he declared it the new capital, they were less amused | |
More than 20 years after the fall of communism and the Velvet Revolution,the popularity of xxxx as one of Europe’s premier tourist destinations shows no signs of slowing down | |
Squeezed within the Riu Gran Valira Valley, a small historic quarter remains but the place’s main preoccupation is retailing electronic and luxury goods | |
Your first impression of xxxx is bound to be one of surprise. This receptacle of wealth, this paradise of crooked politicians and gangsters is so...beautiful | |
Europe in general doesn’t always speak favourably of xxxx. It has its problems, taxi scams, glue-sniffing beggars, packs of stray dogs, loud traffic, but it has a heart too | |
| Lonely Planet says... | City |
It’s amazing what a lick of paint can do, covering one ugly tower block with horizontal orange and red stripes, another with concentric pink and purple circles | |
Athens of the North is a city of high culture and lofty ideals, and...of loud, crowded pubs and late-night drinking, beer-fuelled poets and foul-mouthed comedians | |
After scaling xxxx’s steep terraced steps, shiny escalators and marble corridors...you could be forgiven for thinking you’re inside a life-size MC Escher illusionary maze | |
xxxx’s buildings are eye-catching milestones. There’s more than enough funky innovation to put a crackle in the air, but it never drowns out xxxx’s centuries-old narrative | |
Like a mini-state, xxxx has a unique feel. Centuries of maritime ebb and flow as a port city; distinctive architecture influenced by a united nations of wealthy merchants | |
If ever a city could claim split personality, it’s xxxx...historic v hip, bizarre v boring, this is a multicultural equation that goes deeper than just red tape and Eurocrats | |
xxxx is a storybook beauty. 1000 years old and World Heritage listed, this charming city, often described as Europe’s most dramatically sited, radiates an air of old and new | |
Cobblestone roads, pedestrian plazas, pastel 18th-century rococo buildings and street cafés galore, institutional housing blocks and a 1970s UFO-like bridge. That's xxxx | |
It may no longer be caput mundi (capital of the world), but xxxx is an epic, bubbling-over metropolis harbouring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be hooked | |
‘Florence of the north’, xxxx was called in the 18th century, when it was a centre of artistic activity presided over by the cosmopolitan Augustus the Strong | |
Its fusion of cultures is best experienced at its thronging street markets of local produce stalls, Algerian souk-like bazaars, and fresh catches splayed along the Vieux Port | |
an Arab emirate and seat of a Norman kingdom, xxxx became Europe’s grandest city in the 12th century but, in recent years, its fame has originated mainly from assassinations | |
The fashion press have been talking up xxxx ad nauseam. The creeping sense of decrepitude that had fallen like a pall over their once-all-powerful home town has vanished... | |
xxxx is not a beautiful city but it is full of hedonism, passion and finesse. Architecturally, it's a mishmash of grandiose buildings and ugly Soviet-style concrete blocks | |
xxxx is a bustling capital inflated with the activity and personnel of foreign agencies, plus all the bars, restaurants and internet cafés to service them | |
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