Did you ever go to a city that was very different than you imagined and surprised you positively? If yes which city was it and why did it surprise you? - eviltoast

For me it was Brasov in Romania. It was more beautiful than I had expected and really liked the vibes of this medieval city.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Merida in Mexico. It’s not a tourist city, but I was there during a weekend and there were all sort of family events organized at the market, it was really fun and inclusive. We sat down to watch a kids play and got brought into the play as “ghosts” (we’re white) so the kids would run up to us and pretend to be scared (we’d play it up), and at the end everyone gathered around us and thanked us for being sports. The rest of the day was just an immersion in actual Mexican culture and friendliness.

    Not what I expected just dropping into the city on the way to see ruins, we stayed an extra couple days just to enjoy it. Maybe it’s gotten more urban and stand-offish, this would have been a decade ago.

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    5 months ago

    When I went to Brussels, Belgium I was shocked to find out there are no fast food restaurants in the entire city, even the airport.

    Nice to see them support small businesses.

    • merari42@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      Aren’t there hundreds of independent fritures (small places that serve traditional Belgian fries)?

    • jxk@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Thanks for saying something nice about Brussels I guess, but there is literally a Quick (ie, French Mcdonalds) in the Schengen terminal. And tons of fast food elsewhere in the city.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      Nice to see them support small businesses.

      yeah. Franchising is for successful ideas and other chump games. I’d rather support local strangers and a local land baron than local strangers and a remote land baron with service level objectives. Fuck those people I’ll never know instead of those people I’ll never know.

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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    5 months ago

    San Antonio. I was going to visit family and honestly was dreading it, but the downtown core is surprisingly pleasant. Extremely walkable, semi easy to get around, and the river walk is honestly pretty nice. (Not nice nice, I’d say it’s like a Vegas lite, everything is a little garish, but not too much).

    Getting outside of SA was annoying though, car centric hellhole, endless sprawl, no way to get around. But - downtown is nice.

    • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      I used to go to PAX South every year in SA. Unfortunately it has been cancelled indefinitely. SA is a fun place, even though I despise Texas.

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    5 months ago

    Seoul. I was barely 18 and got stationed there. I was expecting grass huts and donkey carts based off MASH or other movies I’ve seen.

    But I was legitimately shocked. Like you know in movies when someone goes through Tokyo for the first time and they are starting struck, that was me in Seoul.

  • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Paris. I’ve always heard how rude and unfriendly Parisians are towards English speakers but that was not my experience.

  • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 months ago

    Osaka Japan. I love it there. There’s so much to see and do, and beautiful parks and shrines everywhere.

    • Repple (she/her)@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Great food, too. One side of my family is from Amagasaki so I’ve spent way more time in Osaka than other places in Japan. Great city.

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        5 months ago

        The food is otherworldly. Not just in taste, but in variety.

        Also, the retro electronic scene is so much better in Osaka than Tokyo. I always come back with 2 large suitcases full of LaserDisc and old video game consoles and peripherals.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    5 months ago

    NYC was different than I expected in that while I was there, I saw practically no cars on the street, but the sidewalks were packed and it was actually harder to walk anywhere due to the sheer number of people also walking down the sidewalk.

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    5 months ago

    Kuala Lumpur. Had to go there on short notice for a three day work trip, and I knew next to nothing about the country in particular or the region in general. Gorgeous city. Friendly people, awesome street food, and beautiful architecture. 10/10, looking forward to going back.

  • Ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 months ago

    Buenos Aires in Argentina. There was something magical about that city that changed me. I get back there as often as i can (quite a task from Australia)

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    People think Buffalo is gritty and cold but it’s so much more than that and actually has amazing food and drink and things to do and shopping and simply spectacular architecture. I’d rather go there than anywhere else in the US anymore. I always have a fantastic time.

  • KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. In my prejudiced mind, everything east of Germany was still sad, grey, former commie land.
    But Ljubljana is one of the nicest cities I’ve been to in Europe.
    You could just walk around the canals and at every corner, there’d be a public concert, an open air library with hammocks strung up to lie down and read, a traditional market, an art gallery, etc.

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    5 months ago

    Funny enough for me it was also a Romanian town - Constanta.

    Actually a fairly nice city with even nicer surroundings.

    Nice place.

    • merari42@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      Despite the really bad reviews by the famous Roman poet Ovid, who was banned to Constanta, it is a really nice city.

      • philpo@feddit.de
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        5 months ago

        Lol. Didn’t know about Ovid. Another reason to hate the guy.

        Tbh, I stayed at efforie, a bit further south.Also absolutely lovely place.

        I had a trip to Constanta and the danube delta scheduled… But then Covid happened and the war - sadly there is zero chance to persuade the wife to go to the Delta while the Ukrainian side is under fire.

        Anyway, I will be back. (I live close to the beginning of the Danube and that would be fairly interesting to see the end. Additionally we are often in the Delta of the Po which is quite similar - and we love it there)

        • merari42@lemmy.worldOP
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          5 months ago

          I was in the Delta this year. It’s really beautiful. Had a nice little boat tour ans saw a lot of birds. The Saint George arm (that is completely in Romania) is still mostly safe but aquatic mines were already spotted near the very end at Sulina, so we obviously did not go there. The captain of my boat told me that in earlier phases of the war you could see the russian drones attacking the Ismail grain terminal on the Ukrainian side from Tulcea.

          • philpo@feddit.de
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            5 months ago

            Yeah,I know the St. George part is safe,and I am fairly sure the missus knows as well - we have done more dangerous shit in the past. But there is always a difference between knowing and feeling. So we have to wait.Hopefully this nightmare is over soon and the Putler defeated fully.

  • xylogx@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Singapore is a tropical city above ground with an underground city beneath it. Great food, great people, just do not chew gum on the subway.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Singapore sounds like a really cool, safe, clean, organized, and hi-tech city, but their laws and enforcement seems a bit extreme to my American self. I both want to visit and am scared of visiting.

      • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Yea, same, I know smoking pot can get you a prison sentence very easily over there