Barcelona City of Antoni Gaudí
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| La Sagrada Família |
Though founded around 230 BC, likely by the Carthaginians, and invaded by the Visigoths and then the Muslims, the history of the city, in a sense, only truly began after armies from what is now France pushed back the Muslims in 801 AD. At the time, the plains and mountains to the northwest and north of Barcelona were populated by the people who by then could be identified as 'Catalans' (although surviving documentary references to the term only date to the 10th century). Catalan's closest linguistic relative today is the langue d'oc, the old language of southern France.
Paris The City of Love
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| The Eiffel Tower |
Paris started life as the Celto-Roman settlement of Lutetia on the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine currently occupied by the Cathédral de Nôtre Dame. It takes its present name from name of the dominant Gallo-Celtic tribe in the region, the Parisii. At least that's what the Romans called them, when they showed up in 52 BCE and established their city Lutetia on the left bank of the Seine, in what is now called the "Latin Quarter" in the 5th arrondissement.
The Romans held out here for as long as anywhere else in the Western Empire, but by 508 CE they were gone, replaced by Clovis of the Franks, who is considered by the French to have been their first king. Clovis' descendants, aka the Carolingians, held onto the expanded Lutetian state for nearly 500 years through Viking raids and other calamities, which finally resulted in a forced move by most of the population back to the islands which had been the centre of the original Celtic village. The Capetian Duke of Paris was voted to succeed the last of the Carolingians as King of France, ensuring the city a premier position in the medieval world. Over the next several centuries Paris expanded onto the right bank into what was and is still called le Marais (The Marsh). Quite a few buildings from this time can be seen in the 4th arrondissement.
Venice the romantic City of Water
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| The Grand Canal |
The Grand Canal: without doubt Venice boasts the most magnificent main street in the whole world.
Along a 4 km stretch and to the left and right of the canal, impressive churches and palaces surpass each other in splendour.
Piazza San Marco: the heart of Venice. Surrounded by arched arcades and unique monumental buildings, this is truly one of the world's most beautiful squares.
The Basilica di San Marco, an enormous five-domed church combines Byzantine and Romanesque styles on a layout in the shape of a Greek cross. Its grandiose design dates from the 13th century.
The Campanile (bell tower) of St Mark's Church collapsed in 1902. Two years later it again stood in all its former glory.
Roma The Eternal City.. one life is not enough.
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| St. Peter's Square |
No one can visit Rome and not be touched by her timeless beauty. La Città Eterna - the Eternal City - has been around for over 3,000 years.