Cities you'd never return to

New York- very overrated city. It surprised me by how old it looks. You can tell in most places the infrastructure hasn't been updated since the 60's. Far too busy and hectic for me, even the parks are teeming with people and distractions. One of the few places that was well-maintained was Times Square and that was filled to the hilt with flashy, soulless advertising. Sinister place. Subway is utter muck in most places- like some sort of sprawling underground junkie city.

Chicago is also very seedy in that 50's noir style way, makes you feel like you're in a gritty pulp novel. Very old decrepit buildings, and the attempt by city planning to modernise the look of the city in the last few years hasn't really worked. Now you have all of these ugly ostentatious abstract monuments all over the place and it looks even more crappy.

I've been in Niagara Falls too (the town near the falls, on the Canadian side), and it is a fairly flashy, soulless place. We crossed over the border into America and I kid you not it looked like a warzone in comparison to the Canadian side- almost totally abandoned, crumbling commercial and residential areas. Very sinister again.

And, of course, Navan- the smallest and least important of all post-Soviet towns

keano_afc wrote: »

Belfast is a great city, plenty to do and the nightlife is great.

I agree that Belfast isn't dodgy at all, i felt perfectly safe there. But nightlife great? Every where stops serving at midnight. That's poxy

Blingy wrote: »

Montevideo, Uruguay.
The weirdest, oddest place I have ever been. Can't put my finger on any one aspect but just got an awful dark, sinister feeling the whole time I was there. Felt like we were in danger most of the time yet had no obvious reason to feel like that. Have been in much worse places regarding safety however never had this awful feeling before. The underground rememberance to Artigas was awful too. Have never felt like I needed to leave somewhere so badly before.

That would be the German influence ..:rolleyes:

Deleted User wrote: »

What exactly were you expecting?

Calm, perhaps? It's not often that you go to a huge, sprawling park and be uncomfortable with the amount of people in it.

Frankfurt, home of the Euro and junkies, living dead occupy it's empty streets at night. Dull, dull, dull.

Beijing (Greyjing) if I could get away with not going back.

Cairo is a massive city with about two traffic lights to it's name, a cacophony of honking horns and horses and carts moving in a random directions 24hrs/day, 7 days a week. The city spills like an overflowing trash heap right up to the pyramids. It seemed stuck in 1972 sometime. When people move in Cairo they take the doors and windows with them. Elevators have no doors. Undercover cops were the friendliest of the locals. The pyramids and museum ROCK though. Supposedly the locals avoid Cairo and hang out in Alexandria.

Sweden can be deathly boring as well.

NSAman wrote: »

Did you even do the basics before going? Like ...errr. google the population and the square milage?

New York is for me one of the most amazing cities in the world. I love it. Rough gritty and people are rude and so damned helpful all at the same time. the food is fantastic, there is ALWAYS something new to see and it changes all the time.

Central Park is packed whenever the weather is good/mediocre and is the main congregation place for NY'ers.

Did you expect it to be like the Pheonix Park on a wet day?

I was 14/15 at the time so I was simply following along with my parents.

The city itself is cruddy, imo....it makes Dublin look like a quaint country B&B in Donegal.

maninasia wrote: »

Cairo is a massive city with about two traffic lights to it's name, a cacophony of honking horns and horses and carts moving in a random directions 24hrs/day, 7 days a week. The city spills like an overflowing trash heap right up to the pyramids. It seemed stuck in 1972 sometime. When people move in Cairo they take the doors and windows with them. Elevators have no doors. Undercover cops were the friendliest of the locals. The pyramids and museum ROCK though. Supposedly the locals avoid Cairo and hang out in Alexandria.

spent 2 weeks there about 15 yrs ago (pre sept 11-might have changed somewhat since).

Of anywhere ive been its the one that some day I will definately go back to. Its as foreign as ive ever felt in every sense - smell, sights, sounds, culture etc. I would say that its best to do a few days then go south, a few days then east, a few days then west as it can be overwhelming especially if your not used to very big crowded cities.

Dont remember seeing any horses or carts, certainly not a lot of them. Lot of very old models of ford cars built in more modern times beeping with no side mirrors and a lot of traffic and accidents.

Its a 3rd world city bigger then any european or american city but its far more developed then many. It has plenty of modern shopping areas, an underground, parklands and plenty of affluent neighborhoods.

The people are extremely friendly and willing to go to extraordinary lengths to help tourists refusing any compensation but yes there are a lot of hecklers (not as bad as india) but a smile and a joke and they leave you alone. I would go so far as to say that no where in the world have I encountered such friendly people.

The place has so much to see from khan al kaneli bazaar, the amazing mosques, the city of the dead, the citadel, the nile, coptic churches and theres a lot of museums not just the ancient egypt one.

I think it has more interesting sights then new york or rome. Its just such a fascinating city with so much history from ancient egypt to islamic culture, the mamlucks, colonial europe etc.

edit I forgot the juice bars and the food which can be fantastic

Daveysil15 wrote: »

Has Manilla been mentioned yet?

No , I think everyone knows it's a ****e hole already without needing to be told by someone whohas had the misfortune of visiting it ,am I right ?:D
Sorry Filipino nurses out there , but you probably agree anway.

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

I was 14/15 at the time so I was simply following along with my parents.

The city itself is cruddy, imo....it makes Dublin look like a quaint country B&B in Donegal.

Most people do not expect or indeed want a city to look like a B & B in Donegal.

Prague, Paris, Athens. 3 ***holes

playedalive wrote: »

Amsterdam. Although it was an interesting place to visit, I did not feel safe in the city at all. The Red Light District attracts a lot of rough people and druggies imo.

It's probably been said, but that's only a small part of the city. Kinda like templebar. the rest of the city is actually beautiful.