Grandest European Cities

"What are the five grandest European cities?" I was asked this yesterday and to answer the question took me 24 hours. My first instinct was to answer with my favorites. But I thankfully hesitated and pondered the question. Even though this is a subjective question, this is what I believe to be my very best answer in ascending order...

5. Amsterdam - This is Scandinavia's centerpiece. Every continent needs a San Francisco and this is Europe's version. Young, liberal and forward-thinking, this Rembrandt masterpiece come-to-life will convince you that there is still plenty of youthfulness in your blood as you meander the cobbled streets and canals on your borrowed bike. A lovely start to any amazing journey.

4. Venice - Romantically captivating, this city known for it's canals, lovers and pigeons is breathtaking one moment and heartbreaking the next. St. Mark's Square is possibly the grandest of all Italian piazzas and picture postcard beautiful. This city of tiny islands is slowly being taken back by the sea rotting from its foundations upward and quickly becoming a tourist trap. Only the very wealthy and those fortifying the tourist trade still reside on the islands. That is sad.

3. London - This is the English-speaking zenith. Even though London has outgrown its walls by a thousand fold, this city is where an enormous portion of Americans can trace there roots. If not there hereditary roots, then surely their educational and linguistic roots. London is and has been the cornerstone of literary genius since Chaucer. Most of the greatest works of literary art were cultivated through London. What Paris has accomplished in the name of Impressionism and Patriotic Revolution, England has doubled that effort for the written word. Shakespeare, enough said. Sadly, London, in all its growth, has lost its Englishness, that is our progressive world, I know. But it's kind of depressing to know there are more Indian restaurants in London than pubs.

2. Rome - My heart wants this to be the grandest city in all of Europe, but its not. That award goes to the Gauls. Nevertheless, Roma is the cultural and spiritual beginning of our Western Civilization. The largest Christian church in the world resides self-contained in its own country encapsulated by Rome. The most powerful rulers of all time conquered the far reaches of the known world for more than 1000 years. Italy was only unified in 1870, but Rome was founded April 21, 753 BCE. From the Forum to the Pantheon to the Colosseum to the Vatican, Rome's history ebbs from every orifice. Rome can't even expand its subway system in fear of losing any more archaeological history to development. If we are not African or Asian, then we are most probably (at least a little) Roman.

1. Paris - Belgians have a joke, "God made France too perfect, he had to add the Frenchmen to even the score." Even so, Paris is the Grand Dame of European cities. The city was so beautiful Hitler didn't have the heart to bomb it like he did London. Of course, the English would say the French laid down when the Germans turned there tanks toward the French border. So be it. Napoleon commission the Arc de Triomphe in 1810 to stroke his ego, but it wasn't completed until 1836. Next, Baron Haussmann rebuilt the city to its current magnificence between 1852 and 1870. And then Gustave Eiffel added his final touch in 1889. I'm glad Hitler allowed the city to stand. To top off this idyllic and picturesque city life, Paris has the grandest collection of museums in the world including the queen of them all, the Louvre.

One may not agree with my ranking of these cities, but one can't argue they don't belong.

Al, the Travel Valet
thetravelvalet@gmail.com

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