Favourite cities

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Sniffer
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by Sniffer »

Europe - Bristol. Oh alright, Vienna or Palma Majorca.
North America - New York (not been anywhere else to be honest)
South America - Never been
Africa -Never been
Australia - Sydney probably but I had a great 6 months in Townsville QLD
Asia - Difficult. Mumbai for it's madness, Bangkok for it's hippy vibe (we're talking nearly 30 years ago here, mind), Chiang Mai for it's Songkran festival. Maybe Cochin, the embarkation point for the Keralan backwaters. But is it a city?
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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by NottinghamWhite »

I totally forgot San Francisco I’ll replace Boston. Pier 39, the trams, Alcatraz etc magical
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HalifaxWhite
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by HalifaxWhite »

ChilwellWhite wrote:Where is your favourite city in.

Europe - Paris
North America - New York
South America - Never been
Africa - Cairo
Australia - Never been
Asia -Never been
PARIS!? How long ago were you there? If you have been recently you will change your mind, disgusting city with a real imbalance between rich and poor, possible the greatest divide I have seen in one place. I went last year with work, you cannot get out of the airport without your vehicle being stopped in a threatening manner by what I can only assume to be refugees or even illegal immigrants. Honestly it was very scary, the local taxi drivers carry change at all times to give a bit so they let them pass. Then when arriving towards the main city there is a perimeter around it which is just hundreds probably even thousands of homeless people and refugees. Now the main parts of the city are still beautiful but I did not feel safe in the city at all. I used to travel a lot with work (I actually worked with Leeds a lot, for Catapult Sports - they provide the tracking devices the players wear in training and matches), anyway on the note of not feeling safe, I generally feel safe anywhere. I once went to Bilbao working with the basketball team, I walked around 10 miles across the city and through some urban areas, just having a mosey around after finishing. I went through an urban housing estate, flats, graffiti, youths on skateboards. Felt safe as houses, I would not walk like that in Paris.
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by zigzag »

Europe - York at home and Dresden on the continent
North America - Seattle
South America - not been
Africa - Cape Town, there last month, loved it, saw Cape Town City vs Kaiser Chiefs that was a football experience
Australia - not been to Aus but if I can stretch this Id go for Wellington in NZ
Asia - Hong Kong
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by Deleted User 728 »

Europe - Berlin. Just the most interesting, beautiful, enigmatic and downright dramatic city I've ever seen. I'd move there in a heartbeat.
North America - Memphis : beautiful but tragic, modern but historic, urban but rural. There's a bit of everything in the area and then there's the music ..
South America - N/A
Africa - Jo'burg, more specifically an area called Melville. It's a trendy, arty area near the university where anything goes and the most diverse and "woke" part of Africa I've visited. Great food, good nightlife and some interesting shops and galleries.
Australia - N/A
Asia - N/A
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dlw10
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by dlw10 »

Europe: Loads! Vienna we loved last year, LIsbon is fantastic, Barcelona is possibly top of my list.
North America: Again, there are so many and they all have something. New York we loved and Boston, San Francisco there is so much to see. Washington less impressive to me. Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto all superb.
South America... not been!
Africa: Cape Town and the worst was Jo'burg - never ever want to go there again!
Australia: Again love most of the cities we've done over there - Sydney is just iconic but loved Perth too. Brisbane and Cairns less so.
Asia: So far Hong Kong and Singapore... only ones we've stopped at for any length of time.

It's one of those questions though where the the choice is really influenced by how good a time you have - I'm sure Joburg is a fab place but we had a couple of dodgy moments there and it's tainted for ever!
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by Deleted User 728 »

My sister moved to Joburg about 12 years ago having previously lived on a farm two hours from Durban and in Zimbabwe (she's married to a Zimbo) and I've spent - all told - about a year down there ever since.
Only once have I felt slightly uneasy and that was when I took my gf and oldest nephew to a football match in 2009. We went to the Soweto stadium next to Ellis Park and to get there you have to pass through the Nigerian area, Newtown. If you think some of the locals are dodgy, then these guys are another level - they get blamed for most of the crime in the city and South Africans really don't like them at all. They can tolerate folk from Zim coming over the border every day because for decades their country supplied most of the food they ate, but they think the Nigerians should go somewhere else to make a living.

I was looking over my shoulder that day, but most of the time I feel totally safe.
Then again, I never go into the CBD or townships when I'm over there and I dress and act like a local and am usually in a family group anyway.
Sorry you had a bad experience. It's a beautiful city and the people are amazing, especially if you talk football. 2010 was a joy from start to finish and I spent six months there that year.

Zimbabwe was always stunning too, but it's a mess now. I feel very lucky to have gone there when it was a wealthy country and tourism was a boon to the economy not an opportunity. Victoria Falls is probably the most incredible place I have ever visited and Lake Kariba is wonderful but I doubt I'll go there again, sadly.


Oh, and I agree about Lisbon - fantastic city with so much to offer. I'd move there too !
Portugal generally is gorgeous and really cheap .. or it was pre-Brexit.
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dlw10
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by dlw10 »

We didn't actually come to any harm in Joburg - we were on the 1st leg of a SA tour following our youngest on a rugby tour there. Funnily enough we flew to Victoria Falls first for a couple of days and I agree that was stunning. We then went to Joburg. Again cutting a long story short, the boys played one game at a posh white school just outside the city and we got lost coming away on foot looking for a pick up point where we were being met: it was going dark. It was a bit panicky as every flipping house was protected by huge fences and security and dogs! There was no one around to help and our driver couldn't find us! Fortunately though the driver didn't give up (he told us he'd have kept looking no matter how long it took as he knew we could be in danger!) and he eventually found us. The moral of the story was always check what dialling codes you need on your mobile in a strange country as that was why we couldn't contact anyone!!!!! We ventured in to central Joburg on foot and we were constantly told we shouldn't do that! No one walks anywhere as it's considered too dangerous!
A few days later we played a game at a very poor school somewhere out near Soweto - it was a requirement of the tour. The lads were given boots and kit for the game by the state to be able to play us. You know what, they were brilliant lads as were the teachers - it was a fantastic experience whereas the other posh school felt very awkward. Anyway, from Joburg we went to Port Elizabeth and up to Shamwari Safari Park and that, along with the Falls is a fabulous memory as was the final leg of our trip to Cape Town.
Sniffer
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by Sniffer »

dlw10 wrote:.
Asia: So far Hong Kong and Singapore... only ones we've stopped at for any length of time.

It's one of those questions though where the the choice is really influenced by how good a time you have - I'm sure Joburg is a fab place but we had a couple of dodgy moments there and it's tainted for ever!
Perception's a strange thing. Take Hong Kong and Singapore.

I travelled to HK by land via the USSR (ask your parents, kids) and China. Two weeks of January bleakness and then to be suddenly confronted by humidity and neon. It makes your head spin. And then the hostel caught fire which meant I trawled the night bars to pass time before I was allowed back to sleep. But I couldn't sleep because of the smoke so I took a coffee and the ferry across to the Indian Embassy to get a visa. I sat down on the ferry, fell asleep and ended up back where I started. I'm guessing it was just one return crossing but who knows? I got to the Embassy just before it opened, the first one there. I sat down to wait and woke up with a queue in front of me. I wouldn't say I disliked HK but I would like to visit it in a better frame of minds.

Singapore in many ways is the flip side of that to me. I'd been travelling for 3 or 4 months by now through India, Thailand and Malaysia. Laid back and chilled. I took an overnight coach to Singapore. The air-con was set on Polar blast - refreshing at first but … I had a flight that night but I had started talking to a Singaporean who offered to show me Singapore. I saw the seemingly soulless suburbs, we ate at a cheap works canteen and I was regaled with tales of chewing gum laws and Prime Minister Lee's rule of strict public order. I missed and, to be honest , couldn't have afforded Raffles' Bar or any of the other touristy things.

As I say, perception's a strange thing. Had I flown in to either of those places more recently I would have had a enough money to cope better. Well, cope differently, certainly.
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Re: Favourite cities

Post by johnnysmiles »

Europe - I was going to say Paris too, but I'm sure Halifax White is spot on... I haven't been in 20 years, but will always hold special memories for me as I spent 3 months there when I was 18... I spent 24 hours each in Helsinki and Tallinn this summer... Tallinn was nice but Helsinki was boring... I also went to Nice which was much nicer (pun intended) than I was expecting and I love Marseille...I also thought Berlin was great... but nostalgia for my old hometown of London wins the day... I appreciate it all the more now I don't live there...

North America - I loved New York and Havana had lots to love too but, unless it's changed since 2002, you get hassled a lot by people touting for business... kind of spoiled it a little, although I'm sure we'd all do the same if we lived under those conditions...Also really liked Antigua in Guatemala... nothing special.. just a really laid back atmosphere for a Central American city, which are usually to be avoided... I think New York shades it...

South America - not been

Africa - Really surprised to read others' comments about Jo'Burg... we spent 2 nights there on the way to Madagascar and didn't really rate it.... what a pity we didn't know where to go... if we'd had you guys as guides, we might have had a better impression... instead we ate at a mall and had one of the worst meals in memory... also surprised at the obesity levels of people there... wished we'd known about Melville... Anyway, my pick would be Marrakesh for atmosphere... if it wasn't cities I'd say the Serengeti.... everyone should go on a safari once in their life... by far the best travel experience of my life so far...

Asia - Interesting to read Sniffer's experiences of Hong Kong and Singapore... HK has been my hometown for nearly 15 years... (proud to say I only missed one game (tv) last year so lots of getting up in the middle of the night for midweek games!) and recently we've started to feel as if we've done everything there is to do here although it's been less boring recently! Singapore on the other hand was ok for a short holiday, but I'm not mad about going back...I think once we leave HK, it will become my favourite place for nostalgic reasons, but for now I'd say Phnom Penh in Cambodia (although I haven't been since 1998). Sniffer mentioned perception... at the time I went to Phnom Penh I was much less well travelled as now, so it felt really exotic... perhaps some of the places I've been to more recently would have had a greater impact on me had I visited them earlier... so sometimes it's the order in which you visit countries that is the key factor...

Going to Lebanon for Christmas... we're going to stay at a B&B in Shatila refugee camp... now that 's going to be different... and worried about being able to watch Leeds ):
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