Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Five favourite

Cities or towns...

1. Akaroa, New Zealand - I wanted to move here when I visited in 2009. Founded by the French who didn't realise the English had already colonised the nation this small town on a cute peninsula with an exquisite, snaking bay, inspires bad writing like this sentence. Great food, places to stay, and one of the world's smallest species of dolphins make Akaroa a winner.

2. Colonia, Uruguay - Europeans say it is too European to impress them, but this little town with its old Spanish forts and cobbled streets has more charm than Jack Nicholson when you are drunk. Its quaint charm is balanced by ease of access to the insanity that is Buenos Aires, a mere hour's ferry ride across the staggeringly wide (50km) Rio Plata.

3. Sydney, Australia - this is not just because I am from there. Go to Balmoral beach on a sunny day, and you will understand why Stephen Fry once asked "Why would a sensible person want to live anywhere else?"

4. Damascus, Syria - The most welcoming people in the world. If you have been to Cairo with its ceaseless and offputting harassment, it is easy at first to mistake Damascans politeness as a sales pitch. But they genuinely just want you to like their city, their country, and the most amazing culture that has developed in the world's most continuously occupied city.

5. San Francisco, U.S.A. - another place I have lived, and it gets the nod for it - great food, possibly (and this is controversial) better than New York. You can walk San Fran and each block reveals something new, something so dramatically different it is as if you stepped through a portal.

Other notables ; Kyoto, Japan; Boston, U.S.A.; Capetown, South Africa; Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; New York, U.S.A; and many more than pisco sours allow me to remember...
Posted by at 3:20 PM

2 comments:

  1. I could quibble with your list of American cities -- SF is great until you realize you don't have a million dollars and have to move to Oakland; Boston is a toilet and doesn't belong anywhere near this list -- but I'd rather instead share my favorite cities.

    1. Key West, Florida - So different in culture and people from the continental U.S. locals often refer to it as "The Conch Republic," few places on the planet have both the beautiful beaches, relaxed attitudes and 24-hour party feel that Key West ably maintains.

    2. Cairns, Australia - Sorry, Peter, but to me Sydney is just another skyscraping megapolis that's iconic only for its Opera House. Cairns, on the other hand, is Australia at its best: an idyllic paradise that every ocean-side travel brochures use as a baseline. Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

    3. Hiroshima, Japan - Westerners only associate this city with first atomic bomb, but it's actually a thriving, vibrant mecca that has the best of all worlds. It's big enough to be a major city, but not so overwhelmingly large that it's unmanageable like Tokyo; it has touristy things but is not overwhelmed with sightseers like Kyoto; and it's Japanese enough that you really get a flavor for the local culture without it feeling forced or fake. Just a wonderful, special city.

    4. New York, USA - I live here so I'm biased, and there's enough to dislike about it that it simultaneously belongs on the list of worst cities to live in, but my opinion on NYC is this: if things are going well for you in your life, no place on earth will make you feel more like a million bucks than New York. If you're broke, lonely and depressed, it will crush you and make you feel like a cockroach, but few cities in the world can boast as many things to see or do or experience in such a small area.

    5. Livingstone, Zambia - Most people have never heard of Zambia, but I'm sure an Africa pro like you knows it's the adventure/party capital of Southern Africa. You can jump off cliffs, bridges, airplanes, experience wildlife, the magnificent Victoria Falls -- all while meeting fun people from all over the world.

    Conversely, three cities I never want to return to: Camden, NJ, Cairo, Egypt, and Jerusalem, Israel.
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  2. I'll agree on Cairo - probably my least favourite city of any that I have been too, followed by Lusaka in Zambia. Both though were several years ago so I am prepared to be convinced they have changed...

    As for Cairns over Sydney, I am baffled. Sydney is a big city but if you get off the tourist trail it is filled with secluded bays and secret beaches. Cairns to me is just a dollop of fake coconut scented sunscreen on an otherwise unblemished stretch of coast and I only liked it for ease of access to the Daintree. Having said that, I like a lot of places that others don't so it is all a matter or perspective.
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