The most historically intriguing cities you've visited?

I don't know that they are the "most" but Vienna and Istanbul come to mind.

Warsaw, Poland

Granada Spain

Istanbul.

I'm wondering what cities you have found to be the most historically complex and intriguing, whether "beautiful" (in the eye of the beholder, of course), or not?

Wow what a fun and thought provoking question!

Well for me, historically complex cities mean places that over the centuries played host to various peoples and cultures, usually through some kind of strife or upheaval but sometimes through more peaceful means like migration.

The two most historically complex European cities I've been to are:

Zaragoza, Spain - a city which most wholly represents Spanish history like no other. Like Spain, Zaragoza (first known as Caesar Augusta) has seen the influence of first the Iberians, Romans, Jews, Visigoths, Moors, and Aragonese over the centuries. Its well-preserved architecture reflects this rich tapestry of cultures, from the Roman Theatre and Forum to the Moorish Aljafería Palace and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. Zaragoza is a treasure trove for history buffs and hardly known by foreign tourists.

Here are my photos from my travels to Zaragoza and environs:
Aragón + Castilla 2018 | Roadtrip

Wroclaw, Poland - has a past also marked by the presence of various cultures, including Celtic, Polish, Czech, Austrian, German, Ukrainian, and Jewish. Wroclaw's unique cultural cocktail is demonstrated from its architectural eye candy to its vibrant culinary heritage and lively music scene. These days, Wroclaw is a youthful university town with a colorful market square, bustling riverside scene, beautiful churches, and the historic University of Wroclaw. Also not very well known to foreign tourists, mostly it's local Poles or Germans, but I have a feeling it's becoming more and more popular.

Here are my photos from my travels to Wroclaw and environs:
Southern Poland | April 2022
Poland 2017 | Wrocław + Silesia

I am an English history buff, so I love greater London. There are SO many historical sites to visit including Hampton Palace and WIndsor. When in London I love London Walks. The variety of walks and the guides are very good.

Istanbul, London and Rome.

Zaragoza has quite a Jewish history, too.

Some other cities that come to mind are:

• Edinburgh, Scotland
• Kirkwall, Orkney (and surrounding area), UK
• Lyon, France
• Saint-Remy de Provence, France
• Leadville, Colorado, USA

@ Cyn - yes both Zaragoza and Wroclaw have the important Jewish history.

A nice day trip from Zaragoza is the medieval town of Tarazona, which I'd describe as a "mini Toledo", with a long history during which Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived in harmony. The town's unique architecture reflects this synergy between the three cultures. Tarazona’s medieval Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved in Spain I think.

In Wroclaw, there is also the Old Jewish Cemetery, opened in 1856, the cemetery's eclectic layout features many architectural forms and styles on a monumental scale, quite well preserved even after the destruction of WWII - https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/wroclaw/Old_Jewish_Cemetery.html

Granada and Cordoba. What a lovely, interesting mix of cultures, religions, and ethnic history.

Zaragoza is surely making its way up my list of “need to go there” places 😊

Dresden for the East Germany/World War II angles. We only had less than a day there, but I would go back and do a tour to learn more. It is so hard to believe that the allies bombed this beautiful city, leveling it. It wasn't until the 1990's where reconstruction started happening.

I would also like to go back to Poland. Being in Krakow was incredible. I would like to see Warsaw and Gdansk because of how pivotal they were in bringing down the Iron Curtain as well as WW II with Warsaw.

Venice, because I read a history of Venice before we went there. York as well, because I had little knowledge of the Norse influence on British history.

Hard to say. My partner is a keen historian so we have done a trip with a Hanseatic theme and our most recent trip theme was "Romans outside Italy". We don't adhere strictly to our themes but they have led to the discovery of wonderful cities like Antwerp and Lubeck, and most recently Zaragoza, Merida and Lugo.

My European travels are often far and few between, but my last was Spain, mostly Andalucia. It still intrigues me, how they could live in harmony and adapt between Arabic, Jewish and Catholic cultures. But then one stands in the Roman Forum and looks up many feet to see thr newest layer of the city. Imagine all the tales yet to tell in between.
Going further afield to Ecuador or Peru to see the juxtiposition of local earth religions with Christian beliefs and how they work (or don't work) in harmony. And then ancient civilizations like India just blow your mind away.....too complicated for my brain to follow other than some broad strokes.

First number the most historical intriguing, the second, the most intriguing overall. Bold, my favorite cities

1/1. Jerusalem
2/3. Rome
3/4. Cairo
4/8. Athens
5/5. Sarajevo
6/7. Istanbul
7/5 Kyiv
8/6. Mexico City
9/2. Budapest

Chania, Ghent, Bath, Prague.

Most historical intriguing, mesmerizing, complex, captivating, fascinating cities I've visited:

Paris, Potsdam, Berlin, Weimar, Vienna .

Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Venice and Cusco (Peru).

Venice noted above is a good one! Such interesting and unlikely history outside of the Roman system.

Buenos Aires has fascinating history - it grew as the most major pirate trade hub outside of of the Spanish Crown's encomienda system. As such it has wild, complex and varied roots, not a standard stable new world Spanish heritage.

On Orkney, I find Stromness to be even more interesting than Kirkwall, with its whaling history, its links to the Hudson's Bay Company, and even to Captain Cook.

I just got home from Jerusalem 3 weeks ago and it's maybe the most significant city of them all. We'll be in Athens in a month--2nd time in a year. We're also hitting Rome again on this next trip.

There are just so many important travel cities that we've been to that are so very, very old. Malta was another one that's incredibly old.

I am very much enjoying these responses! If anyone wants to elaborate, it seems we are all ears!

On my first visit to Europe in 1967 it was Firenze. In 2006, it is still Firenze. It's a city that makes me want to slow down and absorb the history. And people watch. I think that's because the old city is relatively compact.
Istanbul was exciting and I loved it. But there was too much to see/do that it tired me out.

Sleight, I’m enjoying reading the responses, too! I bookmarked this one to make sure I don’t miss others’ answers later on.

Istanbul stands out as probably the most for me. But I also found several other cities historically intriguing including: Venice, Berlin. Budapest, Vienna, Bath, Canterbury, Edinburgh, and Paris.

I do think what makes a city historically intriguing to a person is their personal interest in a particular period (or periods) in history and how much they are 'into' it. So it will differ a lot among different travelers.

EDIT: Need to add a couple more that slipped my mind - Athens, Taormina, Xian.

Ypres, Belgium.

It's one of those places where you can feel the ghosts.

Cape Coast, Ghana
Ouidah, Benin
Jerusalem, Israel
Petra, Jordan
Athens, Greece
Rome, Italy
Split, Croatia

I would like to add some more:

Kyoto, Japan
Beijing, China
Xian, China
St. Petersburg, Russia
Luxor, Egypt

@Carlos
Thank you so much for elaborating and for the photos... with just a few descriptive words and images you captured a great deal.
I chose to work on projects related to WWII while I was in high school and continue to read books on it here an there. Still, when I visited Europe, I was surprised to find that there were scars everywhere I went. Deeply felt ones. And not in just places people associate with the war.

@Laurie Beth
We've been in London only briefly, but it's easy to forget how ancient the city is. We recently read one of those "Crazy-timeline-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind" articles that reiterated how London is older than the Aztec Empire. I have a feeling the reason we have trouble comprehending that is more because westerners view London as "refined", and Aztecs as primitive despite evidence to the contrary in both cases, but it's still fascinating!

@Elaina
These came to mind for me as well. I'm admittedly itching to get to Istanbul

@Mo R
I keep trying to figure out how to route myself through Krakow during another trip, but then I think, well I should go to Warsaw and Wroclaw, and Gdansk.... and then I realize I clearly want to spend a couple of weeks in Poland and can't do it as an aside.

@Stan
I took my daughters to Venice thinking they might be the last generation to experience it as it is. It was just after travel restrictions became more lenient and we stood in Piazza San Marco with fewer than 20 or 30 others. It was very surreal. There are loads of places I want to return to, but I'm acutely aware that it will be (extremely) unlikely I will ever recapture that feeling in Venice. At any rate, I was surprised at how fascinating and beguiling I found it considering I really went because it felt we should. Your posts reminds me I need to read up on it.

@AussieNomad
Love the theme idea and the cities you mentioned are so often overlooked, but so interesting.

@MariaF
I had the same thought in the Forum. There was discussion, while were there, about the various subway and other infrastructure digs that stop and preserve certain artifacts from certain eras and then, at a point, they just have to plow away. Eeek. And yet that's part of what allows us all to go there and take it all in...

@Mister E
We are spoiled to be able to count on you for such posts. I love this interesting list and the notation of your favorites. Early last year I had just finished scheming out an itinerary which started in St. Petersburg, and ran through a number of places with the most significant stays in Tallinn, Riga and Kyiv- where I planned to end the trip. I had set it aside in favor of taking my daughters to Italy for a much shorter time, but hoped I could make the trip alone someday. Now my son is anticipating potential deployment to the region. I pray Kyiv will be safe someday soon.

@Hank
I was quite surprised by how interesting the historical aspect of Bath was when I was there!

@Fred
Yes, mesmerizing, captivating... even better terms!

@isn31c
I'm researching too many places and now I feel I must add to my list.

@Leonard
I really want to get to Istanbul but I think it might have the same effect on me!

@Nancy
I agree. That's part of what makes it a question worth asking. It's very interesting to hear other perspectives and, even with the most agreed upon places, the reasons for fascination can vary so much.

@Mike Beebe
Hm, I think I know that feeling. I get it in Edinburgh.

@Emily
I'm going to have to search your posts so I can read trip reports!

@geovagriffith
I love the additions...

I'd have to say Budapest. It has been at the crossroads of a lot of history, some of which I knew very little about before I travelled there.

Think Celts, Romans, Huns, Mongols, Ottomans, the Hapsburgs, the Austro-Hungarian empire, Nazi occupation, Communism, and revolutions.

There is such a varied and interesting history surrounding Budapest, and the people there tend to memorialize it, good or bad, in some way, such as with Memento Park, Heroes Square, the Museum of Terror, Shoes Along the Danube, etc. Plus, there is a variety of baths, including Veli Bej, which has the oldest Turkish-style bath in Budapest, but is also recently restored and renovated.

@ Sleight....No doubt other words can be added too which I've not thought of.

On evidence of WW2 and WW1 (if you're interested in that too) you mentioned , there are tons of such evidence in the the form of memorial plaques on walls, rocks, train stations, statues, war cemeteries, museum exhibitions, parks, monuments (civilian and military), and so on to be found in France, Germany, Austria, etc. etc....just get out of the tourist areas to track down more of such esoteric pieces of evidence.

@Sleight I wouldn't want to visit St. Petersburg right now, or ever; okay I'm a hypocrite as I have been to russia and tha tis one of my guilts i guess; but Kyiv and Lviv are open and receiving tourists if you change your mind; Odesa too i presume and if you dont want to go now, book in advance and pay in advance; as much as you can spare.

@BB I am an architect so that drove the order of my list but the topic for me always fall into two categories, first what shaped the ancient world and became the foundation of Western Culture, and second, what has shaped the world in my lifetime (I am an old geezer for context).

In the second category Budapest is first part because of the history of the last 100 years and part because that history is still on the walls and underfoot and there is no need to go into a museum.

But, unfortunately, progress is covering it a little more each day, for instance, where once you could find bits and pieces of the old ghetto wall, now all that I know of that remains is one partially reconstructed part hidden in a building courtyard.

20 years ago buildings were rife with bullet holes and more severe wartime damage, but most being plaster most have since been patched over, but I do have one luxury each morning as I stand at my doorway with my morning coffee and gin and look up directly across the street at the 2nd floor (our 3rd) windows of one of the few all bick buildings in town where two of the windows are surrounded by bullet holes and 1945 or 1956 is the only question but I am comforted in knowing that being brick and being in a UNESCO zone it will never be repaired and that makes me happy; lest we forget.

My basement room is guarded by a somewhat imposing steel door that looks like a cheap version of a submarine hatch, that leads to a small room and then a second similar steel door to the larger room and that first room was where, in theory, in the small room you washed off the radioactive dust after the American nuclear strike, while the larger room where you sat and starved to death waiting for the world to be safe to re-enter (I keep old appliances there now).

The city is still dripping with this sort of thing if you keep a keen eye and have a vague idea of where to look and amazingly In the last 7 months at least two bombs, one Soviet and one U.S. were discovered and taken care of which is especially poignant now with the direction the world is taking. (No, this didn't mess us up: https://www.loc.gov/item/2022604365/)

Mister E, I'm not an architect, but I found the buildings in Budapest to be beautiful and fascinating.

Prague, Budapest and Krakow

BB, watch this .. 🤣🤣
https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0

Sarajevo and Mostar.

Jerusalem

Rome

Havana

Granada

All of those left me digging up more books when I got home to understand all that intrigued me. So many cultures, conflicts, peoples, triumphs and tragedies. Great topic!

MisterE, OMG, exactly! "Architecture porn" that is "pruriently pleasurable" is right!

I was glad DH and I had strolled up Andrassy Avenue our first evening there. If we had walked along there for the first time to the Chain Bridge and the funicular the next morning, I don't think we would have arrived until the afternoon, because we spent so much time gawping and marvelling and taking pictures as we strolled.

For me, it is Rome, hands down. Its so old, that one has to reconfigure what "old" means in your head. Yes, there is older stuff, but it isn't, "available", or "accessible," like it is in Rome.

Jerusalem. It contains at least two ancient cities -- the Old City and the City of David -- a modern city (West Jerusalem) and a modern ethnic enclave (East Jerusalem). If I were to visit it a hundred times, I doubt that I would grasp a scintilla of Jerusalem's infinite complexity.

Rome, Istanbul and Jerusalem (in no particular order) top my list.

But there are some smaller places, too.

Otranto, a small city in the heel of the boot in Italy, I found unexpectedly intriguing. Two things in Otranto's small cathedral altered my view of the world. First, the floor of the cathedral has a 12th century "Tree of Life" mosaic that manages to weave biblical images, Greek mythology, King Arthur, Alexander the Great, and more into a single image. In addition, one of the side chapels has the skulls of 800(?) men who were executed at the end of an Ottoman siege in 1480. The siege gave Naples and Rome time to strengthen their fortifications and repel further Ottoman incursions. Absolutely fascinating place, and I had never heard of it until I visited.

Actually, I found of lot of southern Italy and Sicily -- Matera, Lecce, and Taormina, too -- to be remarkably complex and intriguing.

Timisuara, Romania. It is the old capital of the Banat region of the Austria-Hungarian empire.