International Cities

Did You Know … ? Amsterdam is Holland’s legal capital, but the Hague is the seat of government. There are 600,000 bicycles in Amsterdam. Although marijuana and hashish are legal in the city, ...

Did You Know … ? The Greek capital was named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The Parthenon’s slightly tilted columns would touch — if they were more than a mile high. Athens ...

Did You Know? Auckland’s Sky Tower, at 1,076 feet, is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. The Auckland region is home to 48 (extinct) volcanoes. More Polynesians live in Auckland than on ...

Did You Know? Bangkok has the world’s longest official name (21 words) as follows: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan ...

Did You Know … ? Antoni Gaudi’s surreal Sagrada Familia Cathedral has been under construction since 1895. Barcelona had no street names until 1770; family shields were used as identifiers. Columbus’ 1493 reunion ...

Did You Know … ? Hitler used Baedeker guidebooks to select culturally important targets in England, including Bath. The Thermae Bath Spa is Britain’s only natural thermal spa. Jane Austen set two novels, ...

Did You Know? It would cost about $155 billion to restore and reconstruct the Great Wall. The Forbidden City, on 183 acres, is the world’s largest palace complex. Tiananmen Square is the world’s ...

Did You Know…? Baird’s tapir, known locally as the mountain cow, is Belize’s national animal. Belize’s capital was moved out of Belize City after Hurricane Hattie devastated the place in 1961. The bricks ...

Did You Know? Berlin was divided for its first 500 years; it was two trading towns: Colln and Berlin. Forests and lakes cover close to 25% of the city’s total area. Berlin, at ...

Did You Know? Brighton’s Sea Life Centre is the world’s oldest operating aquarium (1872). The Royal Pavilion was used as a military hospital during World War I. Brighton’s earliest bathers entered the sea ...

Did You Know … ? The art of diamond polishing was invented in 15th century Bruges. Philip I, the first Hapsburg ruler in Spain (1478–1506), was born in Bruges. The carillon in Bruges’ ...

Did You Know … ? The Manneken Pis fountain has a large wardrobe; it includes an Elvis jumpsuit. The Belgian capital counts 1,800 restaurants. Brussels claims Europe’s oldest shopping arcade, Galeries St. Hubert ...

Did You Know? Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel built the iron-columned West Railway Station in Budapest. Budapest’s springs feed the city’s spas with 19 million gallons of thermal water daily. Continental Europe’s first subway opened in ...

Did You Know? At 460 feet, the widest avenue in the world is Av. 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires. The first explorers on the Rio de la Plata were killed and ...

Did You Know … ? Cheops Pyramid (aka Great Pyramid) is the world’s tallest (450 feet) and covers 13 acres. There are 5.5 million registered cars in Cairo. Tahrir, the name of the ...

Did you know … ? The Calgary Stampede, billing itself the world’s richest rodeo, offers $1.75 million in prizes. The Olympic Hall of Fame in Calgary is the world’s largest Olympic museum. The ...

Did You Know … ? DNA, the neutron and the electron were discovered at the Old Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The word blazer originated as the name for bright red jackets worn ...

Did You Know … ? Cancun originated as a Mayan name meaning serpents’ nest. The Maya had the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas. The base coral in the Cancun ...

Did you know … ? Julius Caesar uttered his line, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” upon landing in Kent in 56 B.C. Canterbury’s St Martin’s Church is England’s oldest still used ...

Did You Know? Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant In Cape Town (1967). Wine production in Constantia Valley dates back to 1659. Cape Point is home to nearly 20% of ...

Did You Know … During the French Revolution, Castries was renamed Ville de la Felicite (Town of Happiness). St. Lucia is really the tip of an underwater volcano. Castries was virtually leveled by ...

Did You Know? Chester is the only city in Britain that maintains the tradition of a regular midday town crier. One shop in Chester Rows is believed to have Britain’s oldest surviving ...

Did You Know … ? Christchurch was New Zealand’s first established city, in 1856. New Zealand’s first international airport opened at Christchurch in 1950. In two years after its September 2010 quake, Christchurch ...

Did You Know? The Cologne Cathedral, started in 1248, took 632 years to complete; for 282 years, nothing happened. Farina, in Cologne, is the world’s oldest fragrance house (1709). Cologne boasts Germany’s oldest ...

Did You Know? Georg Jensen Silversmiths originated in 1904 when Georg Jensen opened a silver workshop in Copenhagen. An estimated 1.2 million people visit the Little Mermaid statue each year. Walt Disney took ...

Did You Know? William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was born in Kinsale outside of Cork City. Youghal, on Cork’s coast, claims to be home to the first Irish potato. Cobh in Cork’s harbor ...

Did You Know? It took six years for 5,000-plus workers to build India’s largest mosque, the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque). There are approximately 150 graves in Humayun’s Tomb. The name of Delhi’s market ...

Did You Know? The 16th century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, patrolled Ireland’s west coast for 50-plus years. Donegal means Fort of the Foreigners, referencing the city’s history as a Viking outpost. Donegal’s central ...

Did You Know? Satirist Jonathan Swift was the dean of Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral when he wrote “Gulliver’s Travels.” Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for the Guinness Brewery at £45 in ...

Did You Know? The Placa (the main street) follows a path that was once a strait separating Dubrovnik from the mainland. Dubrovnik’s historic drawbridges were used in Croatia’s 1991-1992 war of independence. Dubrovnik ...

Did You Know? Dunedin is home to the world’s rarest penguin, the yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho. Baldwin Street is described as the steepest street in the world. Larnach Castle in Dunedin is New ...

Did You Know…? J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book in Nicholson’s Cafe in Edinburgh. Sneaky Pete’s, a pub on the Cowgate, was built on a graveyard with gravestones under foot. The ...

Did You Know….? The Duomo has the largest cupola ever constructed (diameter: 143 feet). Dante, author of “The Divine Comedy,” was born in Florence but died in exile. Florence was the capital of ...

Did You Know? The city was first named Francono Furd because it was near a natural ford in Franconia. Frankfurt was the birthplace for novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749) and Anne ...

Did You Know … ? The Connemara pony is considered Ireland’s only native breed of horse. The two pilots who were first to fly nonstop across the Atlantic (1919) crash landed at ...

Did You Know…? Glasgow Green is Britain’s oldest open public space (from 1450). Glasgow was the first British city to establish a professional police force (1800). TV pioneer John Logie Baird transmitted the ...

Did You Know? The name Alhambra means Red Castle. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold to be reclaimed for Spain (1492). American writer Washington Irving penned two books about the Arabs (Moors) in ...

 Did You Know? In 1917, Halifax Harbor experienced the world’s largest manmade explosion (until atomic weapons). One hundred fifty Titanic victims are buried in Halifax. Each year Halifax sends a huge Christmas tree ...

Did You Know…? The 1952 Olympics in Helsinki were the first at which the Soviet Union participated. The Finnish language doesn’t have a future tense. Nokia, the global telecommunications company, was a riverside ...

Did You Know … ? The Peak Tram is the steepest funicular in the world. The Hong Kong International Airport passenger terminal is the world’s largest airport building. Hong Kong comprises 263 islands ...

Did You Know …? Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two continents (Asia and Europe). The nearly 550-year-old Grand Bazaar has 80 streets, 4,000 shops and 22 ...

Did You Know….? In their very earliest days, Moslems faced Jerusalem to pray. The Temple Mount encompasses 35 acres, about 16% of the Old City. The city is surrounded on three sides — ...

Did You Know? The world’s largest diamond (3,106 carats) was found outside of Pretoria (1905). Johannesburg has produced about 40% of the world’s gold. Pretoria’s founders considered several names for the city, including ...

Did You Know … ? The city’s St. Francis Abbey Brewery produces 700 kegs of cider, beer and ale per hour. Princess Diana descended from the Butlers who owned Kilkenny Castle for ...

Did You Know? Spanish Town is the oldest continuously occupied city in the Western Hemisphere, from about 500 A.D. Kingston is the largest English-speaking city in the Americas south of Florida. The city’s ...

Did You Know? The 1993 epic, “Schindler’s List,” was filmed on location in Krakow’s Kazimierz district. Pope John Paul II was born near Krakow, in Wadowice (1920). The Nazis wired Krakow for destruction; ...

Did You Know? Nintendo is headquartered in Kyoto. Kyoto was on the first list of targets for America’s atomic bombs in 1945. Japan boasts more than 100 types of native cherry blossoms. Nijo Castle’s ...

Did You Know … ? Lima’s Acho bullring is the oldest in the Americas (1760s). An economic boom in the mid-19th century was fueled by guano (bird droppings). The catacombs at the San ...

Did You Know? John F. Kennedy’s Fitzgerald forbears came from Bruff in County Limerick. Eamon de Valera, prime minister and then president of Ireland, was reared in Limerick but born in the ...

Did You Know? Lisbon’s name comes from Olissipo, which is based on Phoenician words for enchanting port. Lisbon is north of San Francisco The melancholy music called fado originated 200 years ago in ...

Did You Know…? The Beatles first performed together at a local horticultural society dance (1962). The world’s oldest intercity railway linked Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. The local Birkenhead Park influenced Frederick Law ...

Did You Know…? The Langham, London was the world’s first hotel with elevators when it debuted in 1865. The Tate Modern is housed in the former Bankside Power Station. Big Ben is the ...

Did You Know? The Mount Pilatus Cog Railway is the world’s steepest cogwheel railway. The Chapel Bridge, originally built in 1333, is Europe’s oldest preserved wooden bridge. The “Lion Monument” honors Swiss Guards ...

Did you know … ? King Phillip II established Madrid as the capital of Spain in 1561. In the 17th century, Madrilenos used the elegant Plaza Mayor as a bullring. Madrid is north ...

Did You Know? The first programmable computer was built at Manchester University (1948). Charles Rolls and Henry Royce created Rolls-Royce Ltd. over lunch at Manchester’s Midland Hotel (1904). Manchester University’s Ernest Rutherford was ...

Did You Know? Imelda Marcos once served as governor of Metro Manila. Manila Bay was the site of the decisive battle that helped the U.S. gain control of the Philippines in 1898. Metro ...

Did You Know? Marseille is the oldest city in France (2,600 years). La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, named for Marseille, was originally called “War Song of the Army of the Rhine.” Paul ...

Did you know … ? Melbourne originated as a tent city of 50 settlers in 1835. Little Penguins are about 12 inches tall, the world’s smallest penguin species. Melbourne is the only city ...

Did you know … ? Founded as the Aztec capital (1325), Mexico City is the Western Hemisphere’s oldest capital city. The city’s heaviest buildings are sinking four to 12 inches a year. Mexico ...

Did You Know? The word milliner originated as a reference to sellers of finery made in Milan. The first Prada store opened in the Galleria in 1913. The red color in the original ...

Did You Know? The Greenwood great house was built by the Barretts of Wimpole Street, London. Rose Hall is a “calendar house,” with 365 windows, 52 doors and 12 bedrooms. The city’s name ...

Did you know … ? Just more than half of Montrealers are bilingual in French and English. The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery has more than 1 million graves. Hockey originated in Montreal, in 1875, with a ...

Did You Know? Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer fest, attracting more than 6 million visitors annually. Pope Benedict VXI was born in Bavaria’s Marktl am Inn in 1927. Munich can accommodate about ...

Did You Know…? Naples is considered the birthplace of modern pizza (1889). The University of Naples is the world’s oldest state-run university (1224). Dormant since 1944, Vesuvius is the only active volcano in ...

Did You Know…? Nassau was a base for pirates until the Spanish and French emptied the hornets’ nest in 1703. Cable Beach was the entry point for the first U.S.-Bahamas telegraph cable ...

Did You Know … ? Nice is the only French city to boast a vineyard with rights to a protected place name (AOC status). Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, was ...

Did You Know … ? Ian Fleming wrote 13 of his James Bond books at his Ocho Rios home, Goldeneye. Also, Fleming’s master spy was named for James Bond, author of “Birds ...

Did You Know? The iconic Osaka Castle is a 20th century reconstruction. Osaka hosted Expo ’70, the first world exposition ever held in Asia. As in most Japanese cities, many Osaka streets don’t ...

Did You Know? For 300 years, Oslo had another name, spelled two ways, Christiania then Kristiania. Norwegians have rejected European Union membership in two referenda (1972 and 1994). The first Nobel Peace Prize, ...

  Did You Know? In winter, a section of Rideau Canal is the world’s longest ice skating rink, five miles. Queen Victoria selected Ottawa to be Canada’s capital. Ottawa’s tulip festival is the world’s ...

Did You Know? Lewis Carroll named Alice in Wonderland for the daughter of the dean of Oxford’s Christ Church. Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world (1191, maybe earlier). Blenheim, Winston ...

Did You Know … ? The Printemps department store has the world’s largest beauty department, 43,000 square feet. During the French Revolution, Notre-Dame Cathedral was used as a warehouse. Wide boulevards were created ...

Did You Know…? The Leaning Tower began to tilt while in construction; adjustments left the top leaning less than lower sections. Pisa Cathedral was the world’s largest cathedral when built in the ...

Did You Know? The Mayflower sailed from Southampton (but had to return to Plymouth before heading to America). Portsmouth is home to the Victory, the world’s oldest commissioned ship (launched 1765, commissioned ...

Did You Know? The Mayflower sailed from Southampton (but had to return to Plymouth before heading to America). Portsmouth is home to the Victory, the world’s oldest commissioned ship (launched 1765, commissioned ...

Did You Know?  It took nearly 600 years to build St. Vitus Cathedral (1344-1929). Czechs drove on the left side of the road until Hitler invaded and changed that. Prague’s Old-New Synagogue is ...

Did You Know? The Dominican Republic is North America’s main source of amber. Puerto Plata got its name a decade after Christopher Columbus called it a puerto plata (i.e., silver port). The words ...

Did you know … ? John Huston’s “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) was filmed in Puerto Vallarta. Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta’s state, is the home of mariachi music. Only tequila made in the ...

Did You Know … ? Samuel de Champlain founded the city, Canada’s first permanent European settlement (1608). Quebec City stages the world’s largest Winter Carnival (17 days, 300-plus activities, 1 million visitors). During ...

  Did You Know? Shotover River in 1862 was the world’s richest, yielding up to five ounces of gold per shovelful. The first commercial bungee site, opened in 1988, was at Kawarau Bridge ...

Did You Know? Quito is South America’s oldest capital, having first been an Incan capital. The city’s Metropolitan Park is the largest urban park in South America (1,376 acres). A ton of gold ...

Did You Know…? The average January temperatures in Reykjavik are higher than those in New York. Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital city. Iceland continues the old Norse tradition of using patronyms rather ...

Did You Know? In 2016, Rio de Janeiro will become the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. Hans Stern founded the H. Stern jewelry chain in Rio in 1949. The ...

Did You Know … ? Rome’s main street, Via del Corso (Way of the Course), was once a horseracing course. Visitors toss roughly $220,000 a year into Trevi Fountain. The famous city on ...

Did You Know? The famous White Terrace, formed by thermal waters, covered seven acres and was 98 feet high. Rotorua’s Bath House is New Zealand’s most photographed building. Lady Knox Geyser can be ...

Did You Know? Salisbury Cathedral is home to one of four surviving Magna Cartas, written in 1215. Educated estimates suggest it took 30 million man-hours to build Stonehenge. Longleat was the first drive-through ...

Did You Know … ? The first Salzburg Cathedral was consecrated in 774. The oldest child in the von Trapp family was not a “16-going-on-17” daughter named Liesl, but a son. Salzburg’s Stiegl ...

Did You Know? Eighty percent of the world’s Atlantic humpback whales mate and give birth in Dominican Republic waters. Silver Banks, a marine sanctuary, was named for the coins recovered from a ...

Did You Know…? For a short time in the 19th century, Costa Rica rotated its capital among four cities including San Jose. San Jose’s residents call their city Chepe, which is the ...

Did You Know…? San Juan is the oldest European-built city on U.S. territory (1521). The pina colada cocktail was born in San Juan. Originally, the city was Puerto Rico (Rich Port) and the ...

Did You Know? Santiago was the first permanent Spanish settlement in Chile (1541). There are three wineries within the Santiago city limits. Telefonica CTC built its headquarters in the shape of a 35-story ...

Did You Know? Santo Domingo claims the New World’s first cathedral, hospital, monastery and university. Vasco de Balboa, Hernando Cortes and Ponce de Leon started their history-making journeys from Santo Domingo. The city ...

Did You Know?  Sao Paulo is capital of a state that generates almost half Brazil’s gross domestic product. The city boasts the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. The architecture of the Banespa ...

Did You Know? The name tapa (lid) refers to the custom of serving wine in a glass topped with bread and meat. Christopher Columbus planned his expeditions in a Seville monastery. The fictitious ...

Did You Know? Speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese cannot understand one another. China’s Communist party held its first national congress in Shanghai, in secret (1921). The verb shanghai, meaning kidnap, recalls a ...

Did You Know? Soufriere, founded in 1746, was St. Lucia’s first town. There are other Caribbean volcanoes called Soufriere — on Guadeloupe, Montserrat and St. Vincent. St. Lucia boasts Soufriere is the world’s ...

Did You Know? The walls of Diocletian’s Palace encircled about 7.4 acres. The nearby Roman town Salona was named for the area’s salt works, sal meaning salt in Latin. The grounds of Diocletian’s ...

Did You Know … ? In 1849, novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was led to a public square for execution, but the tsar reprieved him (and others). St. Petersburg encompasses 42 islands in the ...

Did you know … ? The Stockholm archipelago has more than 24,000 islands, islets and skerries. Skansen is the world’s oldest open-air museum, dating from 1891. The 1628 Vasa warship sailed a mile, ...

Did You Know? Avon is a Celtic word meaning river. In the 1560s, when Shakespeare was born, only one in three children survived to adulthood. The first Shakespearean festival was organized by actor ...

Did You Know … ? One ounce of silkworm eggs produces 30,000 to 35,000 silkworms and ultimately 12 pounds of silk. Renowned architect I.M. Pei returned to his ancestral home Suzhou to ...

Did You Know….? Meant to cost $4.5 million, the city’s opera house cost $64 million and opened 10 years late. Stadium Australia, built for the Olympics, covers 39.5 acres; its roof covers ...

Did You Know … ? Tokyo’s population is three times as dense as that of Mumbai, India. Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea are among the world’s five top theme parks. Men play all ...

Did You Know? The painter El Greco’s real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos. Toledo is in the region called La Mancha, home of the fictional Don Quixote. The Toledo Cathedral has 750 stained-glass windows. Toledo ...

Did you know … ? Toronto’s latitude puts it well south of Portland, Ore. More than 60% of the U.S. population lives within 90 minutes of Toronto by air. Babe Ruth hit his ...

Did You Know … ? Vancouver has about 135 parks encompassing 2,700 acres. In its earliest days, the city was called Gastown, named for a talkative pioneer. The Capilano Bridge is the world’s ...

Did you know … ? The Piazza San Marco is the only Venetian piazza; all other squares have names meaning field or yard. The average gondola lasts about 20 years. The word ghetto ...

Did You Know … ? The balcony on “Juliet’s House” was added in the 1930s, inspired by Shakespeare’s play. Verona’s name is linked to the root wehr, meaning a defensive wall. Forty percent ...

Did You Know … ? Fan Tan Alley, in Victoria’s Chinatown, is North America’s narrowest commercial street, about three feet wide. Victoria was called Camosack when founded in 1843. Alert Bay on northern ...

Did You Know … ? The ever-so-staid Viennese waltz was first deemed scandalous by 19th century society. The Central Cemetery is Europe’s largest burial site (remains of 3 million in 593 acres). The ...

Did You Know…? Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city, founded by the Vikings in 914. Waterford Crystal, which never discontinues a stemware pattern, melts 825 tons of crystal per year. The Waterford City Library ...

Did You Know? Peter Jackson, director of “The Lord of the Rings,” hails from Wellington. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the vote (1893). Some Maori know Wellington by another ...

Did You Know? Blackcomb Mountain is North America’s only mile-high mountain, with, literally, a 5,280-foot drop. Vancouver/Whistler sought the Winter Olympics three times (1968, 1976, 1980) before the 2010 win. But, after Denver turned ...

Did You Know? St. Cross Hospital, dating from the 12th century, is Britain’s oldest charitable institution. Winchester College is believed to be the country’s oldest continuously running school (1382). Winchester boasts the U.K.’s ...

Did You Know? Windsor is the world’s oldest (1070-1086) and largest (13-acre footprint) inhabited castle. Twenty British prime ministers were educated at Eton College. It takes 16 hours to move the Windsor estate’s ...

Did You Know? Xi’an, during 3,100 years of history, was China’s capital for 13 dynasties. Xi’an was the eastern starting point for the Silk Road. Around 700 A.D., Xi’an was the world’s largest ...

Did You Know … ? The city was called Jorvik when the Vikings were in control; the name morphed into York. James Herriot’s “All Creatures Great and Small” and his other books ...

Did You Know…? Albert Einstein was a student and later a professor at Zurich universities. Zurich’s St. Peter’s Church claims Europe’s largest clock face (28.6 feet in diameter). Zurich has more than 1,200 ...