What are your favorite medieval cities in Europe

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

What are your favorite medieval cities in Europe, looking at cities rather than towns and those with a substantial portion of medieval structures still standing?

My list, in order, would be

1. Venice, Italy
2. Prague, Czech Republic
3. Dubrovnik, Croatia
4. Krakow, Poland
5. Tallinn, Estonia
6. Lviv, Ukraine
7. Rome, Italy
8. Sibiu, Romania
9. Salzburg, Austria
10. Split, Croatia

.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Bruge, is another really cool medieval city.

[catwgirl Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close catwgirl]

and Rhodes.

[LisaH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LisaH]

I second Bruge...simply beautiful.
I have only been to Rome from Carolina's list. Time to visit some of the former Eastern Bloc countries.

[MaryH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MaryH]

Seen quite a few but my 3 favourite are:

1. Prague
2. Heidelberg
3. Bruge

[Tony Mayer Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tony Mayer]

Bruges, definitely.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

RHodes and Bruges are indeed great medieval cities. If I went beyond 10 I would have included them, but decided to stop somewhere.

We could also get into great medieval towns like Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, and Rothenburg on the Tauber, Germany, but I decided to concentrate on cities in my list.

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

Every one I like is a town: Rothenburg, Carcassone, Riquewihr, and Ribeauville.

How about Strasburg? City or Town?

London? At least it has a cool tower. Maybe I can arrange a night's stay for Carolinian?

[pranas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pranas]

Warsaw
Tallin
Vilnius

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Warsaw
Tallin
Vilnius

Warsaw is a special case. I do enjoy its old town, but it is not like most, as is was entirely recreated from old pictures, maps, etc. after it was totally destroyed in WWII. When the Polish Home Army rose up against the Germans in 1944, they fought their last stand from the Warsaw Old Town, which was badly wrecked as a result of the house to house fighting. Then, Hitler was so enraged by the rebellion, that he ordered what remained of the Old Town to be thoroughly dynamited.

To the great credit of the Poles, they rebuilt, as close as possible to the original, a new Old Town after the war. Walking through it today, it is hard to imagine that the buildings date from the late 1940s and 1950s instead of being centuries old as they appear. And it was not just Warsaw where they did this. They received the German cities of Danzig and Breslau at the Potsdam conference, renaming them Gdansk and Wroclaw, and both were badly damaged from the war, Danzig from allied bombing and Breslau from a major stand the Wehrmacht made in the city in the final months of the war. Those old towns were also restored. Danzig was nearly as badly damaged as Warsaw and walking through its Old Town today it is hard to imagine that it is a re-creation instead of the real thing. Breslau was in a bit better shape but still took major work.

One can contrast that with Frankfurt, Germany, where old photos show a wonderful Old Town existing in 1939 that was obliterated by allied bombing in the next few years. With the exception of a few buildings at Romerburg Square, the Germans built back mostly postwar crap, and the city has completely lost the charm it once had. Overall, the Poles did a much better job in restoring their architectual heritage than did the Germans.