Just coming back from Madrid, it was really nice. Wide pedestrian streets, beautiful buildings, nice terraces and amazing food.
I guess being Belgian I always have some negativity towards capital city (Brussels gave its name to the phenomenon of lack of urban planning leading to ugliness, bruxellisation), but this made me reconsider this.
So, dear Europeans, what is your favorite capital?
I lived in Berlin for almost 4 years and it lost all of the appeal during that time.
It’s hip and cool to visit, but if you actually live there and have to take the subway to work at 7 when all the drunk clubbers are just getting home, reeking of weed, booze, vomit, and piss, it’s not so fun anymore. Plus it’s really really dirty in most somewhat central locations.
Stockholm on the other hand is awesome, fully agree. Might as well throw Oslo and Helsinki into the mix. And Reykjavik for good measure. I really love the Nordics.
Pro tip: Riga is like a cheap cousin of Stockholm. Just as nice at a quarter of the price.