A tale of three cities

A city straddling two continents

"Istanbul's greatest virtue is its people's ability to see the city through both western and eastern eyes," says Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk in his ' Istanbul: The memoirs of a city'. It's the amalgam of two cultures that has made Istanbul a different city altogether. It's the only city in the world which is located in two continents, one arm reaching out to Asia, the other to Europe. Today Istanbul preserves the legacy of its past as the former capital of three successive empires- the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. The name Istanbul itself is interesting. Etymologically, the modern Turkish name is derived from the Greek phrase meaning "in the city", "to the city" or "downtown". Byzantium was the first known name of the city. All these qualities notwithstanding, Istanbul has been torn by earthquakes and disasters. In 1509, the city was partly destroyed in a tsunami, one of the earliest of its kind in the world.

The city of water

Those who have read Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice' can understand that the plot of the drama relies on the traffic of the city. Venice is called 'the city of water', where ships and boats are the only vehicles to carry people from place to place. It is described as ' the only city in the world where there are no cars'. The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The term Venice is derived from a Latin term meaning 'sea-blue'.The Venetian Republic was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Kerala's Alappuzha district is also a river town, which is the centre of lake water tourism in the state. That is the reason Alappuzha is called the 'Venice of the East'.

An African city named after a US President

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States (1817-1825). It is he who said that "the best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil". When a city was founded on the African continent in 1822, Monroe had a major role to play in financially helping it due to colonial interest. The city was named Monrovia, the only city outside the United States to be named after a US President. Monrovia is the capital city of Liberia, which became independent in 1845. The city has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of homeless children in the continent. A large number of children are involved in fighting or are denied education due to it. Monrovia is also the name of a city in California. Monrovia, the fourth oldest general law city in Los Angeles County, has grown from a sparse community of orange ranches. People travelling between Los Angeles and San Bernardino travelled "via Monroe's Ranch," hence the name.