Cities exist during most of the time that humans also exist on earth, and they are an integral part of our modern culture.
Some cities are small, some are larger, but definitely, some cities are quite famous, and maybe known to each human on planet Earth. But except their names, how many things do we know about them? Let’s find out more about some of the most popular cities in the world!
- Unlike what most people believe, Rio de Janeiro is not Brazil’s capital city.
- In Rio de Janeiro street art is legal.
- The 1950 World Cup Final, between Uruguay and Brazil, remains the highest attended match ever, so basically Rio de Janeiro hosted the largest football match ever.
- Officially, 173,850 spectators crammed into Rio’s Maracanã Stadium.
- Unofficially there were said to be many more.
- The game is remembered as a national tragedy, however: Brazil lost 2-1.
- Rod Stewart played to an estimated 3.5 million people on Copacabana beach in 1994.
- Rolling Stones pulled in just 1.5 million when they played at the same location in 2006.
- The city’s nickname is ‘Cidade Maravilhosa’
- In Portuguese, it means “Marvellous City”.
- Locals are called “Cariocas”.
- Rio de Janeiro holds the largest carnival worldwide.
- During Carnival, the mayor hands over the keys of the city to a man called King Momo.
- This legendary ‘party animal’ then takes the helm throughout the jamboree, but he slopes off at the end, presumably to nurse his hangover.
- During the carnival, there is a $131 fine for peeing in the street.
- Between 1815 and 1822, Rio served as the center for the exiled royal court of Portugal, which had been driven from the motherland by Napoleon.
- With 6.3 million inhabitants, Rio is the 2nd largest city in Brazil, following Sao Paolo.
- The stars on the Brazilian standard represent the sky over Rio on the night of 15 November 1889, the date of the proclamation of the Brazilian republic.
- Rio’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue is frequently struck by lightning.
- Most incidents pass without drama, but in 2014 the effigy lost a thumb during a storm.
- Christ the Redeemer was lightened in order to honor the doctors and nurses who were “fighting” against COVID – 19.
- It’s the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the fifth-largest Jesus statue
- 5,000 people visit the structure daily.
- It became one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
- Its eyebrows and fingers were damaged by lightning a year later.
- In 2010 its face was scrawled with political graffiti.
- The thong was enthusiastically embraced in Rio de Janeiro’s beaches.
- The Rio de Janeiro Antwren is endemic to Brazil, though habitat loss has rendered the species critically endangered.
- It’s home to the largest favela.
- Rocinha is the biggest favela in Brazil.
- Officials claim 70,000 inhabitants are crammed in there, but unofficial estimates reckon 180,000 is closer to the mark.
- Some 40,000 tourists visit Rocinha, Brazil’s largest favela, annually
- Brazil’s oldest beer, this light lager is brewed in Rio and consumed in heroic quantities.
- Michael Jackson, the famous pop star, filmed a video clip in this city.
- here’s a bronze statue dedicated to him in the Santa Marta favela, where the superstar shot the video to the song They Don’t Care About Us.
- Prostitution is also legal.
- For the best panoramas scale the granite peak of Sugarloaf Mountain, which, at 396m, looms large above the city.
- The mountain was thought to resemble a heap of refined sugarloaf, hence its name. -It appeared in the 1942 film Now, Voyager, starring Bette Davis.
- The teleferico that serves Sugarloaf opened in 1912 and is considered one of the world’s most dramatic.
- The cable car featured in a famous fight scene between James Bond and Jaws in Moonraker.
- It also featured in The Simpsons episode, Blame It on Lisa, when Homer infamously snaps the cable.
- 14% of the population class themselves as non-heterosexual.. More than any other Brazilian city.
- Brought to Latin America by African slaves, Samba is the dominant musical representation of Brazil.
- The word samba is believed to have derived from a West African Bantu word meaning “to pray” and from an Angolan word meaning “pelvic movements”.
- The dance is said to be capable of sending people into a trance.
- It was traditionally a dance to encourage procreation.
- Developed from the practices of African slaves, capoeira is a fusion of religious, rhythmic, and social dance influences, blended with urban-combat.
- Capoeira has been variously described as a sport, a ritual, a dance, a musical expression, martial art, and even philosophy.
- Invented by African slaves in Brazil over 450 years ago, capoeira continued to be outlawed after the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888.
- It finally became legal in 1920.
- Tokyo Metropolis is the capital of Tokyo, Japan, and is also the biggest and most populous city in the region.
- Located in the southern Kanto region, Tokyo sits right in the center of the Japanese archipelago.
- Tokyo covers a total land area of 2,188 square kilometers or 845 square miles.
- The largest metropolitan area in the world is Tokyo.
- As of January 2020, Tokyo has a population of 126,647,244.
- Tokyo operates on the Japan Standard Time or JST timezone, which is GMT+9.
- By using colored lights, a skyscraper in Tokyo tells people if they should bring an umbrella when going out.
- More than 6,000 different gardens and parks cover over 1,000 hectares or 2,471 acres of Tokyo.
- The streets of Tokyo boasts of zero vandalism.
- Tokyo is also hailed as one of the safest cities in the world.
- By 2020, Tokyo is about to be the first Asian city to host the Olympic Games more than once.
- Every five years, the Tokyo Tower requires a repaint job worth around 7,500 gallons of paint.
- Takao-san, the most visited mountain in the world, is in Tokyo, along with a beer garden and an udon shop at the summit.
- The most expensive hotel room in Tokyo is the Ritz Carlton Suite priced 25,000 US dollars per night.
- From Tokyo, Mt. Fuji is only visible for only around 79 days each year.
- A manga entitled Akira and was released in 1982 predicted Tokyo’s hosting of the 2020 Olympics.
- A Tokyo travel agency is paid to take your stuffed animal on vacation without you.
- Tokyo has 2,079 7-Eleven stores, with Japan having almost twice as many stores as the U.S.
- Each Tokyo train station has a unique theme song with lines navigating through 503 stations at 23 wards.
- News of the Hiroshima bombing reached Tokyo 3 hours late.
- Marrakech is not Morrocco’s oldest city neither its capital, but it’s one of the most touristic and famous ones.
- The name Marrakech is rooted in the Berber phase murr akush meaning “the land of God.”
- Another theory says that the name comes from the Arabic words murra kish, which translates to “pass by quickly”. It was a warning to travelers to be wary of thieves and wild animals.
- Marrakech is frequently referred to as the Red City.
- This happens because of the shade of the walls surrounding its old town district.
- In the middle of World War II, Winston Churchill begged Franklin D. Roosevelt to accompany him on a jaunt to Marrakech following the Casablanca Conference: “You cannot come all the way to North Africa without seeing Marrakech,”.
- The 700 hectares of Marrakech’s 11th century Medina was designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1985, thanks to its “impressive number of masterpieces of architecture and art.”
- The 230-foot-tall Koutoubia Mosque tower isn’t just Marrakech’s most symbolic landmark.
- Five times a day, the call to prayer, or “adhan,” rings from the tower as the predominantly Muslim population pauses to worship.
- Legend has it that the original mosque wasn’t properly aligned with Mecca, and had to be rebuilt by the Sultan Yocoub el-Mansour in the 12th century.
- Medersa Ben Youssef is a university founded in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 16th century.
- Covering 17,976 square feet and featuring 132 dorms rooms, the school was one of the largest in North Africa until it shut down in 1960.
- Twenty-two years later, it reopened as a museum.
- The official language in Marrakech is Arabic, many locals also use the Berber language Amazigh as well as French.
- Marrakech has many luxurious hotels.
- Among movies filmed in the Red City are 1956’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (at the Mamounia Hotel), 2010’s Sex and the City 2 (at the Taj Palace), and 2015’s Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, filmed in the Selman Hotel.
- El Badi Palace was built by Saadian sultan Ahmed al-Mansour in the 16th century with money received from the Portuguese after the Battle of the Three Kings.
- One century later, his successor Moulay Ismail stripped the palace of all its luxuries.
- Its name is translated as “The Incomparable.”
- When Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé found out that Marrakech’s Jardin Majorelle, which they discovered on their first visit to the city in 1966, was being transformed into a hotel complex, they bought the property and lived in the Villa Oasis on the grounds.
- Now a Roman pillar memorial stands in the garden, as an ode to the fashion designer who died in 2008.
- In 2010 20,000 homes in Marrakech still had no access to electricity or water.
- Marrakech was officially made a sister city of Scottsdale, Arizona, in January 2012.
- The reason why this happened is that both desert cities “share interests in climate, tourism, cultural heritage, and golf management.”
- Stroll around the streets of Marrakech and you’ll quickly discover that there are cats around every corner.
- Since 1987, the city has hosted an annual marathon, which draws approximately 6000 runners a year from all over the world.
- The first-place finisher in the women’s inaugural race was 14-year-old Nadia Ouaziz-Colombero, one of the youngest athletes to ever win an international marathon.
- Riads (Moroccan houses with an open courtyard or garden in the middle, that, of course, exist in Marrakech.
- Marrakech Menara Airport was designed in 2006 and completed in 2008.
- It is often on the cover of lists as one of the most striking terminals in the world.
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