In the city of Lyon, named the world capital of Gastronomy, East-Central France

"Historians of Lyon are not sufficiently aware of the bi-polarity between Paris and Lyon, which is a constant structure in French development" -- Fernand Braudel
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(in east-central France The city of Lyon, named the world capital of Gastronomy, is a paradise for foodies. and is known for its historical landmarks. In the late 15th century, the fairs introduced by Italian merchants made Lyon the economic counting house of France. Even the Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, resembled a public bazaar. . During the Renaissance, the city's development was driven by the silk trade.

+ The Rhône and Saône converge to the south of the city center, forming a peninsula bounded by two hills to the west and north, and a large plain eastward. Place Bellecour is the third-largest public square in France. The northern hill is La Croix-Rousse, known as "the hill that works" because it is home to many small silk workshops, The western hill is Fourvière, known as "the hill that prays" because it is the location for Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The district, Vieux Lyon, also hosts the Tour métallique (a highly visible TV tower, replicating the last stage of the Eiffel Tower). Fourvière, along with portions of the Presqu'île and much of La Croix-Rousse, is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

East of the Rhône from the Presqu'île is a large flat area upon which sits much of modern Lyon. In this area is La Part-Dieu urban center, which clusters the landmark structures Tour Incity,Tour Part-Dieu, Tour Oxygène, and Tour Swiss Life, as well as the city's primary railway station. North of the district lays the 6th arrondissement, home to one of Europe's largest urban parks (and Interpol's world headquarters).

+ In 1572, Lyon was a scene of mass violence by Catholics against Protestant Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. 200 years later, Lyon was again convulsed by violence during the French Revolution. Many buildings were destroyed. A plaque was erected proclaiming "Lyons made war on Liberty; Lyons no longer exists.".

The city became an important industrial town in the 19th century. + During WWII, Lyon was a center for occupying Nazi forces, including the "Butcher of Lyon". On 3 September 1944, Lyon was liberated. (The city is now home to a Resistance museum.)
Urban development began only in the 1950s, after the periods of stagnation and depression between 1920 and the end of WWII.

+ Lyon is now the seat of a university and is the most important educational center outside Paris. Cultural life is reflected in the riches of the local museums. The collections of the municipal library are noted for their specimens of items from the first 50 years of printing and for their rare books. City theaters include the Opéra, the Célestins (a municipal theater), and some companies that have gained national recognition. Music and drama festivals, held every year at the Roman theater at Fourvière, provide a reminder of the long history of the city.

In the city of Seville, the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia

 "The air soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to breathe it" -- Christopher Columbus

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(in Seville [Spanish: Sevilla], the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville) It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The fourth-largest city in Spain, Seville's  Old Town has a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising three buildings: the Alcázar palace complex, the Cathedral, and the General Archive of the Indies. The Seville harbor, located about 80 km (50 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean, is the only river port in Spain. Seville has a municipal population of about 701,000 as of 2022, and a metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, making it the largest city in Andalusia, The 20th century in Seville saw the tribulations of the Spanish Civil War. Since the 1950s it has been the seat of the University of Seville, as well as its Schools of Law, Philology, Geography, and History.

+ Between 1825 and 1833, Melchor Cano acted as chief architect in Seville; most of the urban planning policy and architectural modifications of the city were made by him and his collaborator Jose Manuel Arjona y Cuba.

+ Industrial architecture surviving today from the first half of the 19th century includes the ceramics factory installed in the Carthusian monastery at La Cartuja in 1841 by the Pickman family, and now home to the El Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC)., which manages the collections of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla. In the years that Queen Isabel II ruled directly, about 1843–1868, the Sevillian bourgeoisie invested in a construction boom unmatched in the city's history. By the second half of the 19th century, Seville had begun an expansion supported by railway construction and the demolition of part of its ancient walls. The Sevillana de Electricidad Company was created in 1894 to provide electric power throughout the municipality, and in 1901 the Plaza de Armas railway station was inaugurated. In 1929 the city hosted the Ibero-American Exposition, which accelerated the southern expansion of the city and created new public spaces such as the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park) and the adjoining Plaza de España. Not long before the opening, the Spanish government began a modernisation of the city in order to prepare for the expected crowds by erecting new hotels and widening the mediaeval streets to allow for the movement of automobiles.

+ Seville fell very quickly at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. General Queipo de Llano carried out a coup within the city, quickly capturing the city center. Under Francisco Franco's rule Spain was officially neutral in World War II and like the rest of the country, Seville remained largely, economically and culturally, isolated from the outside world.

+ The Tomb of Christopher Columbus is located in the Seville Cathedral since 1899.

In the coastal city of Dundee, eastern Scotland

 “We are a sentimental people, and it sometimes plays havoc with that other sense of ours, the practical.” -- Robert Burns

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(in Scotland's fourth-largest city) Dundee was recognized by the United Nations in 2014, as the UK's first UNESCO City of Design for its diverse contributions to fields including medical research, comics, and video games. Since 2015, Dundee's international profile has risen. GQ magazine named Dundee the "Coolest Little City in Britain" in 2015 and The Wall Street Journal ranked Dundee at number 5 on its "Worldwide Hot Destinations" list for 2018.

+ Dundee, a royal burgh and seaport of eastern Scotland. constitutes the council area of Dundee City in the county of Angus. About 40 miles (64 km) north of Edinburgh, it is situated on the northern bank of the North Sea inlet known as the Firth of Tay. The city extends from the Tay to the Dundee Law, which is a prominent volcanic plug with an elevation of 571 feet (174 meters).

+ The earliest mention of the town dates from the late 12th or early 13th century, when it was designated a royal burgh. The next few centuries saw more sackings of the town and much bloodshed at the hands of the English. Dundee was created a city in 1892 and an autonomous county burgh in 1894. Fishing was important in Dundee from early times, and one of Scotland’s largest fleets came to be based here. The city’s traditional textile manufactures became linked with whaling in the 19th century after the discovery that jute fiber, when mixed with whale oil, could be woven into sacking for bags and carpet backing. Dundee then emerged as a world center for jute manufacturing, and the city grew rapidly. Textiles are still produced, but since World War II large numbers of workers have been employed in new light manufactures. Dundee is also known for its production of confectionery and preserves, particularly marmalade. During the late 20th century Dundee’s manufacturing sectors declined, and service activities played an increasingly important role in the city’s economy. Dundee also became a prominent educational and research center, with strengths in information technology development.

+ Few historic buildings and only one town gate (the East Port) have survived the city’s turbulent past. The City Churches remain as a focal point in the modern glass-and-concrete city center. The University of Dundee dates to 1881; it gained independent university status in 1967. Broughty Ferry is now incorporated within the city. Dundee was the first city in Scotland to gain official city status, after Queen Victoria announced the transition of Dundee from a royal burgh to a city on 26 January 1889.+ A £1 billion plan to regenerate Dundee Waterfront is expected to last for a 30-year period, until 2031. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Angus, the city developed into a burgh in the late 12th century and soon became an east coast trading port. This gave Dundee its epithet as the city of "jute, jam, and journalism."

In the city of Linz, the capital of Bundesland (federal state) of Upper Austria

 "In Linz beginnt’s" (it begins in Linz) goes the Austrian saying, and it’s spot on.

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(in the city of Linz, the capital of Bundesland (federal state) of Upper Austria in north-central Austria.) Linz lies along the Danube River 100 miles (160 km) west of Vienna. It originated as the Roman fortress of Lentia and became an important medieval trading center. By the 13th century it had the outward characteristics of a city but none of a city’s rights. It became the provincial capital in the 15th century during the residence of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III and was noted for its fairs. The see of a Roman Catholic bishop since 1785, Linz has become an important cultural center, with the Johannes Kepler University (1966), schools of art and music, a college-level Academy of Industrial and Art Design (1947), a seminary, scientific institutes, museums, and art galleries, libraries, archives, an opera house, and theaters. Despite its baroque architecture and historic Old Town, Linz is strikingly contemporary. The city hosts a cutting-edge cultural scene, that is exemplified by its futuristic electronic arts center and glass-fronted modern arts museum, both set on the banks of the Danube.

+ The city is rich in historic buildings, which include the old castle, St. Martin’s Church (first mentioned in 799), the early Baroque Town Hall, the 13th-century main square with a monument to the Holy Trinity, the City Parish Church (13th century), the old cathedral (1669–78), the Minorite (Franciscan) Church (13th century, remodeled 1752–58), and the 16th-century Landhaus (“State House”). Also notable are the monastic churches (Capuchin, Ursuline, Carmelite), the neo-Gothic New Cathedral (1862–1924), and the 19th-century fortifications built by Archduke Maximilian d’Este. The bridge across the Danube leads to the Urfahr quarter on the left bank beneath the Pöstling Hill (1,768 feet [539 meters]).

+ Lying on a direct rail route between the Baltic and Adriatic seas, as well as on the Danube, Linz has extensive docks and a busy river-transit trade. After 1938, it developed into an important industrial center with ironworks and steelworks and a nitrogen-fixation plant. (War damage necessitated their reconstruction after 1945.) With its large shopping malls and extensive wholesale facilities, Linz is a retail trade center for Oberösterreich (Upper Austria). It is a large center of employment as well, and, as Linz is the capital of the state, many people work in public administration. Despite its baroque architecture and historic Old Town, Linz is strikingly contemporary. Indeed, this is a city still on the move, with its finger on the pulse of the country's technology industry. Daring public art installations, a burgeoning cultural scene, a cyber center and a cutting-edge gallery that looks freshly minted for a sci-fi movie -- all suggesting what tomorrow’s Austria.can look like.

In the town of Calw, in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany

 “No permanence is ours; we are a wave

that flows to fit whatever form it finds”
― Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
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(in the town of Calw which is a good base from which to explore Germany's northern Black Forest.) It has an attractive, historic town center. (The town is the administrative center of the Calw district.) Located near the northeastern corner of the Black Forest part of Baden-Württemberg, Calw is part of a tourist route linking historic towns known for their half-timbered houses.

+ Like many towns and villages in the Black Forest, Calw began as a trading center for the Nagold valley The origins of the settlement can be traced back to the monastery at Hirsau, a few kilometers to the north, which was once one of the most important in Germany. It grew rapidly due to its commercial succes as part of the domain of the Counts of Württemberg. It suffered during the wars of the Middle Ages, but by the 17th century it was still half the size of Stuttgart. The textile industry, which had been so successful over the centuries, came to an end during the Napoleonic wars at the end of the 18th century. The town survived the conflicts of the 20th century relatively undamaged.

+ Herman Hesse was born in Calw in 1877. The author of such works as Steppenwolf and The Glass Bead Game spent much of his childhood and youth in the family home, which still stands on the market square.(The building where Herman Hesse was born is on the extreme left) Although Hesse moved away and eventually lived on Lake Constance or in Switzerland, he retained an affection for the town of his birth and it appears in his works as the fictional "Gerbersau.". He wrote: "The more age catches me in its net, the more unlikely it becomes that I will see the home of my childhood and the years of my youth again, but the images I carry with me of Calw and Swabia retain their validity and freshness."

The Special Operations Forces of the German Army has been stationed since 1996 in the Graf Zeppelin barracks (Graf-Zeppelin-Kaserne) near Heumaden.
Calw also has a small historic center that was largely untouched by the last war. Many guests visit the town's marketplace and the Nikolausbrücke (a historic bridge). Calw has begun catering to the tourist trade, with many shops, bistros, restaurants, and ice-cream parlors.

+ A shopping center built around 2000 borders the historic center to the north. One of the cultural high points of the calendar in Calw is the Calw Hermann Hesse Prize. Every year in the Benedictine ruins of the Monastery of St. Peter und Paul the Calw Monastery Summer in Hirsau takes place. (This replaced the Monastery Plays of Hirsau, which were rich in tradition.) Hermann Hesse's Gerbersau stories provide the material for the yearly Gerbersau Reading Summer. A cultural strength of the "Hesse Town" are the Aurelius Boys' Choir. Other musical features include concert series in the Evangelical Lutheran Town Church, and in the St. Aurelius Church.

In the capital city of Madrid, Spain

 “The sun also sets in Madrid.”

-- Ernest Hemingway
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(in the capital and most populous municipality of Spain.) With almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of some 7 million, it is the second-largest city in the EU. Translated to "Gate of the Sun," Puerta del Sol is Madrid’s busy central public square and main crossroads. A clock sits atop the plaza’s main building, the old Casa de Correos -– now the headquarters of the Madrid government. Every New Year’s Eve, thousands of revelers gather here to eat the traditional 12 grapes with each chime of the clock at midnight. All roads quite literally lead to Sol, as it is the symbolic center of Spain, marked by the Kilometer Zero plaque at the doorstep of the Casa de Correos. At the plaza’s center is the equestrian statue of King Charles III, though his popularity is overshadowed by a more famous sculpture on the east side of the square – El Oso y el Madroño (the Bear and the Strawberry Tree) that appears on Madrid’s coat of arms.
+(Join locals after work any day of the week, hopping from one tapas bar to the next to sample a selection of Iberian hams, cheese and speciality dishes.)

+ "Hemingway did not drink here" is a joke on signs in some Madrid establishments. It’s no secret that the American literary giant and Madrid’s adopted scribe, fondly called Don Ernesto, loved to drink, eat, write, and watch bullfights while covering the civil war as a foreign correspondent.
Fans of Hemingway can retrace his footsteps to some of his haunts that still exist today, including Restaurante Botín, the world’s oldest restaurant. Hemingway also used to frequent La Venencia, a sherry bar that is virtually frozen in time. The statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree standing on one side of Puerta del Sol is still considered a symbol of Madrid. The city is full of great monuments, like the royal palace, the Plaza Mayor or the museum Del Prado, Reina Sofia, or Thyssen has some of the most fantastic collections of famous Spanish painters.

+ A year after the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Hemingway left for Spain to cover the conflict for the American Newspaper Alliance. During his coverage of the war, he traveled with a fellow reporter named Martha Gellhorn. The two had first met in Key West and became close during their time in Spain. Reporting on the war and traveling through Spain during such a time of upheaval formed the basis of inspiration for Hemingway’s work, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," as well as his play, "The Fifth Column."

+ During his earlier years living in Paris, Hemingway spent time in Pamplona watching bullfights. After leaving Paris, Hemingway returned in the 1930s to do research for his manifesto on the subject, "Death in the Afternoon." Hemingway visited Spain often and attended bullfights throughout his life. (His last trip to the country in 1959 to watch the contests between two famous matadors lead to the Life magazine story "The Dangerous Summer."

In the city of Lucerne, the capital of Lucerne canton, in central Switzerland

 "There's no end to amazing grace." -- David Wallace Crowder, an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and author.

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(in Lucerne city, the capital of Lucerne canton, in central Switzerland) It lies on the Reuss River, where it issues from the northwestern branch of Lake Lucerne southwest of Zürich. The city’s name was derived from the Benedictine monastery of St. Leodegar, founded in the 8th century. From the nearby fishing village whose inhabitants were originally serfs of the monastery. After the opening of the St. Gotthard Pass (ca.1230), Lucerne developed into atrade center between the upper Rhine river and Lombardy. In 1291 the monastery and city were purchased by Rudolf IV of Habsburg (also called Rudolf I of Germany), Instability under Rudolf’s successors led Lucerne in 1332 to join the alliance formed by the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden in 1291. By 1415 Lucerne had acquired most of the territory of the present canton, It became the leader of the Catholic cantons at the Reformation and was the seat of the papal nuncio from 1579 to 1874. The city’s aristocratic regime abdicated in 1798 under Napoleonic armies.
Lucerne was for a time the capital of the Helvetic Republic, resuming its status as the cantonal capital in 1803.

+ Divided into two parts by the Reuss River, which is crossed by seven bridges within the town, Lucerne has one of the prettiest settings in Switzerland. The Old Town on the right bank is distinguished by14th-century town walls with watchtowers, quaint alleys, and squares with medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque houses. Other landmarks are Bertel Thorvaldsen’s “Lion of Lucerne” monument (1819–21), in memory of the Swiss guards slain while defending the Tuileries in Paris in 1792; the Glacier Garden, a relic of the Ice Age; and the Swiss Transport Museum. On the left bank are the cantonal government building, Regierungsgebäude, or Ritterscher Palast (1557–64; a Jesuit college; the State Archives (1729–31), and the Central Library; the St. Francis Xavier (Jesuit) Church (1667–77); the 14th-century Gothic Franciscan Church; the new Town Hall (1913); the Richard Wagner Museum (1933); the St. Anthony’s Chapel (1954); the Art Gallery and Congress Hall. The Culture and Convention Center, on Lake Lucerne, was opened in 1998.

+ Because of its easy access by road and rail, Lucerne has become one of the most important tourist resorts in Switzerland. One of Europe’s oldest covered bridges serves as its centerpiece, and fresco-adorned houses line the streets, but it’s also home to a concert hall and art gallery. Take the cableways up the mountains for great views, or see Lake Lucerne on a steamship cruise.

+ Lucerne is quite deservedly popular since the likes of Goethe, Queen Victoria, and Wagner savoured its views in the 19th century. Legend has it that an angel with a light showed the first settlers where to build a chapel in Lucerne, and today it still has amazing grace.