Hey everyone and welcome back to the Understandable English Podcast.
My name is Oliver, and today, on this episode, we will be talking about my favourite cities in the UK and why I love them and why you should probably visit them if you come to the UK too.
For those of you who don't know, I live and am from Northern Ireland.
It is a small region of the UK and I live just outside of a city called Belfast.
Belfast is a small city.
It is the capital of Northern Ireland but only has around 670000 people that live there in the Greater Belfast area and within the city itself, around 300000 people.
On the island of Ireland, Belfast is the second largest city after Dublin.
And although small, I think it's a great city too.
But because I'm from here, it is definitely not one of my favourite cities in the UK.
Probably because it is something I am used to.
It's not anything new.
Although loads of people love to visit because of its history.
In Belfast, they built the ship called Titanic.
You've probably heard of it.
It is very famous because on its maiden voyage, so its first trip, it sank.
So it went under the ocean.
And at the time, it was the largest ship in the world.
As well as that, Belfast is known for its difficult history during the Northern Irish Troubles.
So a period of conflict or war.
And you can still very much see that today.
So that is where I am from.
Just a small town or village outside of Belfast.
But today I really want to talk about my favorite cities in the UK.
I'm not going to say them in any particular order.
I don't have a number one favorite, but there are three cities that I really like.
The first city I studied in for about three years and it is the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh.
I think this city is amazing.
So much so that I probably will make a separate episode of the podcast all about Edinburgh and the best things to see and do in this city.
Edinburgh is a really old city.
So it was founded or first created before the 7th century AD.
So around the year 600 or in and around that.
And it is a city built around hills.
So small little mountains with lots of nature.
The city itself is split into two main parts, the old town and the new town.
The old town is medieval, so it has a lot of medieval architecture.
So very old stone buildings and cobbled streets.
It is like stepping back in time.
I think it is amazing.
There are so many tiny little streets and alleyways, lots of old pubs and restaurants.
It is so amazing to visit a pub for a drink, which is, let's say 700 years old.
There is so much history in every part of the city.
And at the top of Old Town There is a big old castle, Edinburgh Castle, which is home to Scotland's crown jewels and where the Scottish rulers and royal family used to live.
It is a beautiful castle and the view from even below, looking up at the rock and the mountain or the hill with the castle on top, is fantastic.
So good.
This city also has so much to do for a pretty small city to be honest.
There are so many restaurants and cafes and museums.
For tourists.
It is a dream.
It is one of the best tourist locations in the uk and there is so much to do.
Alongside all of that, there is also the new town, which is the more modern buildings, like neoclassical buildings, And this architecture is also beautiful in itself.
And there are some lovely fancy restaurants and lovely little cafes and coffee shops there too.
And around all this there are fantastic parks and nature, walks and hikes, such as Arthur's Seat, which is an amazing mountain peak that you can climb.
It doesn't take too long and you get fantastic views over the city.
So the next city which I love and everyone knows this city, I'm sure some people love it and some people hate it because it's so big and busy and that is London.
I think London is amazing and I've visited London so many times, But every time I visit I find new things to do and amazing experiences.
I love the atmosphere in London.
And I think it's such an exciting but still beautiful city, especially for the age and the size of it.
In my opinion, London is possibly the greatest tourism city in the world.
There is so much to see and do.
In so many iconic or famous places such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament around that uh, the thames river, buckingham palace uh, the street famous for sherlock holmes, some of the world's oldest museums um hyde park and fantastic other parks.
It is full of things to do for visitors and there are so many restaurants.
I know the UK often doesn't get the best reputation for food, but I think that does not apply to big cities like London.
You can find any type of food from cultures all over the world.
London is also a really multicultural city.
There are nations and cultures from all over the world that live and work and study here.
If you love history, there is so much history.
This city is fantastic and it's so old but modern at the same time.
London was first settled or founded almost 1977 years ago.
Wow, that is an old city too.
My only criticism or negative side of visiting London is it is quite expensive.
Because of the demand, because of the salaries and jobs there, the cost is expensive.
Lots of tourists visit London every year, and it is as expensive or more expensive than big cities like paris or new york, so don't expect it to be very cheap.
But there are so many free things that you can do in london as well, and just to walk around and experience it, and i could definitely make a podcast episode just about this.
The third city that I want to mention is one I only visited for the first time recently.
And I really enjoyed it.
And that is Bristol.
Bristol was a fantastic weekend that I spent there.
Or the weekend was fantastic that I spent in Bristol.
And it was a really exciting and young feeling city. full of bars and cool places.
It had a real student atmosphere.
So many young people in their 20s and 30s.
Lots of cool street arts and architecture.
It had a more rough around the edges feeling than London.
It is built around a river or on the edge of it and has a really cool marina or harbour with lots of restaurants, shops and museums as well around this area.
And there's plenty of lively, so streets full of life and entertainment.
It did not seem like a boring place at all.
It had amazing life to the city.
But be careful, it is also quite expensive.
Definitely one of the more expensive cities in the UK.
But not quite as expensive as London.
Of course, there are many more amazing cities to visit if you take a trip to the UK, but those were just three of my favourites that I really like and I enjoyed visiting.
Bristol I've only visited once, but I will definitely go back for some more trips.
Edinburgh and London.
I have been to many times and of course I lived in Edinburgh, so maybe I'm a bit biased towards that, but it is a wonderful city, so definitely visit those on your trip to the UK.
Thank you for listening.
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Thank you and have an amazing day.
Goodbye.
