I first visited Budapest exactly twenty years to the day of my most recent visit. Communism had been gone for only three years and Budapest was ditching the old Socialist restrictions and emerging as a great city. Scarily, on this trip in 2012, -the agent who checked me into my hotel this trip had not even been born when I made my first visit. Today, Budapest is definitely part of a free market economy. I have now been to Budapest five times since my first starry eyed visit and this city remains one of my all time…
Place Reviews (Thursday)
Category Archives for Place Reviews (Thursday).
Incredible Istanbul
For the last few years, every year a friend of mine, Paul and I, have an extended long weekend in a new city. The rule is that the city must be new for both of us. i.e. we have never been to that city before. As a result we have been to Reykjavik (iceland), Madrid (Spain), Berlin (Germany), and Southampton, UK. We usually travel sans partners and use the time to explore, catch up and eat! This year we chose Istanbul, an immense metropolis of 13 million people which has been home to people for…
Cornwall Captivates Me
Cornwall sits at the westernmost part of the south-west of Great Britain and as a result is often left off people’s travel itineraries. I believe Cornwall needs to sit at the top of people’s lists of destinations to visit in the UK. Around five million people visit annually but most are from England. Aesthetics: 10 out of 10 Cornwall covers an area of 3,563 sq km (1,376 sq mi). It is a little bigger than Rhode Island and one and a half times the size of Australia’s ACT. Its population is 535,300 people. Some of the most stunning landscapes in…
Visiting Virginia’s Norfolk
It has been ten years between visits to Norfolk, Virginia and the city has done some improving! I stayed near the Waterside Convention Centre which is next to the Marriott Hotel and handy to transport, restaurants and Macarthur shopping center. Aesthetics: 7 out of 10 Norfolk is located at the junction of the Elizabeth River and Chesapeake Bay. The city is 237 kilometres (147.3 miles) from Washington DC. The city’s location is very pretty built around the waterways. The Norfolk downtown has had a major scrub up and the Granby Street area was unrecognisable compared to a decade…
Buffalo, New York, USA
Buffalo is New York State’s second-largest city, with just over a quarter million people in the city and just over a million in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area. The city is located in the western part of New York state on the eastern shores of Lake Erie. It is opposite, Ontario, Canada. Like many US cities it has really struggled with the stagnation and a falling population as industry moved out in a major way. Buffalo’s population is 55 per cent less than it was in the 1930s. Further, 27% of Buffalo’s residents are financially disadvantaged. Aesthetics: 6.5 out of 10 Buffalo could have…
Seoul at last
A Korean movie In Another Country at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival followed by an amazing Korean banquet with friends, reminded me I have not written about my Seoul experience. So here we go: Aesthetics: 8.5 out of 10 Seoul is built on the Han River, its plains and is bordered by eight mountains. It is easy to bike, run or walk along the riverside and there are many cafes and restaurants dotted along. In a 2011 survey, over half the population and two-thirds of “urban planning professionals” voted the river as the second most scenic place in the…
Does Most Liveable Matter?
Vancouver slipped out of the top spot and Melbourne, Australia became the Economist’s most liveable city in their latest six mothly Liveability Ranking and Overview released August, 2012. Again. In fact, four of the world’s most liveable cities, according to the Economist, are in Australia and one is in New Zealand. Canada has three. Helsinki and Vienna are Europe’s representatives. No US cities made the cut. Living conditions in 140 cities around the world are assessed across 30 indicators in five broad categories including Stability, Healthcare, Culture, Environment, Education and Infrastructure There are a number of these liveability surveys eg the Mercer Quality of living Worldwide City Rankings which places Vienna…
Fish Soup in Baja, Hungarian
Type “Baja” into Google and you get the resort area of Mexico and not this ancient Hungarian city. Baja is approximately 140 Km south of Budapest, sitting at at the confluence of the Danube and one of its tributaries the Sugovica. The town has been settled since the Iron Age and has had town status for over 300 years. It was a major trading centre then manufacturing centre. It has been ruled over by the Turks, Austrians, Serbs and now Hungarians. Yet until a few months ago, I had never heard of it. Baja holds an annual…
Wild About Berlin
Berlin Rocks! Every time I return, I feel the city gets better and better. In fact I rate Berlin the second best city in the world. Established as a cultural capital of a united Germany, Berlin became home to artists, intellectuals and hedonists who enjoyed its freedom before becoming the centre of Naziism in the 1930s. Hitler hated Berlin and longed to see it completely rebuilt architecturally -and socially. He almost got his wish as the city was 80% bombed in World War Two. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, Berlin operated as two separate cities split by walls…
London Pre Olympics
This week I celebrate my Birthday in “sunny” pre Olympics London. Lots of building work around the place. I am still not sure how the city will cope with the actual Olympics!
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