Top 8 Climbs for a Great City View in Europe

There are so many ways to see and experience a city. But one of my top ways to get to “know” a city is by getting up high and looking down at it. Of course, this is not hard to do as there are usually man-made or natural high points. While I like getting a view more than anything else, the view is even more appreciated when I have had to climb my way to get it. I will only list here places that I have actually climbed as opposed to places where I rode up when there was a way to climb it – the ones I rode up will be the subject of another post… So, here are eight (in no particular order) of my favorite climbs to get a city view in Europe!

Paris’ Eiffel Tower

Yes, I may be stating the obvious but most people ride the elevator on this one. I have been up the Eiffel Tower two times and both times I climbed it up to the point at which there is no other way open to the public to get to the very top (and then you are required to take an elevator). I love the freedom of walking up the tower, seeing its beams and bolts up close, and pausing a lot along the way (yea, for the view, that’s the ticket!). It may not be for everyone but if you are able to do experience the tower this way, do it! Regardless of how you go up, the altitude and the view of Paris combine to give one a great experience!

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Up close and personal

Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre

You can walk up or ride up to Montmartre (I have done both) but the best view is from climbing the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur itself. Of course, this is a better view in some ways than the Eiffel Tower since this view includes the Eiffel Tower. But not only are you rewarded by looking at Paris from this angle, but you get to see the many gargoyles and other details of the church up close and personal – which makes for good photo opps!

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One of the gargoyles keeping watch over a park

St. Paul’s Cathedral in London

When I went up St. Paul’s Cathedral, it was the first time I had gone to the top of any church. St. Paul’s, built in the 17th century, is 111 m high (365 ft) so you really are high up when you climb it. I enjoyed not only the view but seeing the “innards” of the structure as I made my way up to get a glimpse of London (pre-London Eye!).

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Looking down towards the front of the Cathedral

Bologna’s Medieval Towers

Bologna is a city of arcades (or porticoes): it is great to be able to walk around the city whether it is raining or not thanks to this feature of this unique Italian city (home of the world’s oldest university!). But perhaps a lesser known secret of this town, former possessor of many medieval towers (estimated at 180 towers!), is that you can go up one of the remaining towers (one of the pair called the Due Torri). It will not be the one with the serious tilt but the other one (which is taller). I recommend putting out the effort and going up!

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The lower of the Due Torri (the tilted one)

St. Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican

OK, to get to the first viewing point, you do take an elevator but to get to the top of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, you walk it up. Not only do you get to look down across the Tiber to Rome but you get to look down onto St. Peter’s Square (where I have participated in a papal audience (as a VIP!) and an Easter Mass) from a great vantage point. What I enjoyed (besides getting to the top) was walking inside the dome’s inner and outer walls in the passageways – the higher you got, the more you noticed the curvature of the walls and sometimes had to tilt the head a little bit to adjust to it! When you come down, you are deposited right inside the basilica.

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St. Peter’s Square from the top of the dome

La Giralda in Sevilla (Seville), Spain

La Giralda, Seville’s famous tower is part of which is a former minaret built in 1198 during the Moors’ occupation of Spain. It sits in the center of the city right next to the amazing Cathedral of Seville (3^rd largest church in the world). To go up this 100m+ tower, you do not walk up stairs. So how do you go up if it is a “climb” and there are no stairs? Well, it actually has ramps! Why? So horses could go up! So, do like the horses and go up the ramps to enjoy views of the city center of Sevilla.

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Composite picture looking down onto the Cathedral of Seville

Galata Tower in Istanbul

Where else, other than Istanbul, can you look at a city laid across two continents with a great bird’s eye view? Besides learning about its history, it was a great climb. Once at the top, I looked at Asia across the busy Bosphorus with all its maritime traffic and then with a slight turn of the head, I was looking at Europe. Across the Golden Horn, I could see the “skyline” of Seraglio Point where the eye quickly focused on Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

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Looking towards the Asian side of Istanbul

The city walls of Dubrovnik

Though there are higher vantage points from which to admire the tiled roofs and setting of Dubrovnik, the city walls allowed me to look down but yet be close enough to feel the city. It was more of a walk than a climb but, since I had to use stairs to get to them, I will call them a “climb” – but don’t be scared, it is pretty easy to walk along these walls!

Bell Tower and Church of St Vlaho

Bella Bologna – Italy’s secret

The following is a guest post by fellow traveler, Chris Sanders.

A few years ago, as part of my graduate studies at The Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS), my wife Wendy and I had the wonderful opportunity to live for a year in Bologna – a provincial Italian town situated in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, the region just to the north of Tuscany. Bologna and the broader region are an absolute treasure trove of culinary and other travel delights. It’s difficult to understand why such a wonderful part of Italy is today still relatively undiscovered by tourists (hence the name of this post “Italy’s secret”)…in Bologna and throughout Emilia-Romagna, you’ll find good eats and good sites and sounds, but you will not find hordes of tourists! Hey, maybe that’s what makes it so interesting to visit!

The main square – or, Piazza Maggiore

To whet your appetite, I’ve included a few notables about Bologna and the surrounding area…we highly recommend a visit!!

Bologna – food and higher education

It’s a shame the name of this town is the same as a cheap American lunch meat, because nothing could be farther from an appropriate comparison! Ok, there is a bologna like meat from Bologna called “mortadella” – but Bologna offers so much more than lunch meat.

For starters, how about Bolognese sauce (the yummy meat sauce we all love in our spaghetti) – it comes from Bologna.

And then there is the wonderfully rich lasagna vert – a green spinach pasta lasagna made with ragu and béchamel sauce, oh man!

Finally, Bologna is the birthplace of tortellini and the headquarters of Manjani Chocolate – makers of Fiat – umm, umm goodness!

For all these culinary notables, Bologna is often referred to as “Bologna the Fat.” I wish I could recommend a good restaurant in Bologna, but ironically, we rarely ate out because Wendy took cooking lessons from an Italian chef throughout the year and I was, quite happily, her test subject!

Aside from good food, Bologna is also known as a university town. The University of Bologna is old (founded in 1088 and claimed to be the oldest university in the world!), huge, and has several famous alumni including Dante, Thomas Becket, Erasmus, and Copernicus to name a few. My grad school, Johns Hopkins University, also has a small campus in Bologna. Interestingly enough, the Johns Hopkins campus was constructed with CIA seed money following World War II and was initially envisioned to be a listening post of sorts during the Cold War (Bologna was controlled by the communist party until the 1990s).

Other notable things to see while in Bologna

Great architecture – particularly porticos (some say it is possible to walk around the entire city and not get wet during a rain shower). Bologna suffered high levels of damage in its old sectors during World War II bombings yet it still retains great character!
The Piazza Maggiore with its ever-in-progress San Petronio, supposed to have been bigger than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, not sure if that is true though. Napoleon’s sister is one of the notables buried there. Read more about it here.
Plenty of old churches – Bologna is the burial place of St Dominic.
See the town from up high from one of its medieval towers, the Due Torri (Asinelli and Garisenda). It’s a climb but, think about it, you get the benefit of two things for the price of one!
It’s the headquarters for Ducati Motorcycles (on one visit to the factory, Wendy actually got to start one up on the assembly line)
And it’s the headquarters for Furla – a fact Wendy cherished and still cherishes… there are more Furla shops per square km in Bologna than in anywhere else in the world… and my wife has been to them all.

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The basilica of San Petronio

View of the shorter of the Due Torri from the taller one

Colli Bolognesi

If Bologna can be described as “off the beaten path” of typical visitors to Italy, the Colli Bolognesi is – I suppose- “off off the beaten path?” The Colli are the rolling hills that surround the city and this area is definitely worth a visit. Aside from the scenic beauty and quietness, the Colli Bolognesi is also home to a number of vineyards and bed and breakfast establishments. One that my wife and I came to know (and its our favorite in the region) is Corte d’Aibo (http://www.cortedaibo.it/eng/) . Corte d’Aibo makes a bold Cabernet and Merlot – my wife and I were surprised to find it on the menu at Mezzaluna in NYC (a favorite haunt of ours when we are in the Big Apple).

There are so many great things to experience in and around Bologna. Please share your experiences with this great Italian secret. Do you have a favorite experience, restaurant, or site? Do tell!