”In the visual arts a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area.” This is the Wikipedia definition, and I must express my love for the easiness by which the English language constructs new words, adding – scape is only one possibility.

I must admit, this time I have had to struggle a bit, because I seldom take the time to see a city from a high up vantage point. I am not a city girl – more of a town girl and most of a country girl. I do enjoy visiting big cities for a very short time – for the architecture and all the other arts found in museums, opera houses, exhibition halls and the like. But one week is enough for me. Thus, my photos for Patti’s challenge, are mostly shot from boats, trains or planes. I have to excuse the lesser quality through all those windows…and the biggest city, Shanghai (25 million people), in rain.

Rain, fog and smog – that is Shanghai, and so many other big cities all over the world – in China not the least…but here I found most of my cityscape photos.

We managed to get a short glimpse of Shanghai by night – in heavy rain.

Our ship passed many big cities on the Yangtze cruise – I don’t even remember their names…

…through the windows it seemed to me…they all looked – the same.

Now we are on the other side of the world, Quito (2 million people), Ecuador. The people here are gentle and very sweet, and I loved their friendly and colourful city.

How about returning to Europe? London (8 million people) is an absolute favorite with me, and I have chosen the moment I first saw the Shard – through a dirty train window on arriving from Gatwick. Funny, I was chocked, I did not even know it existed!

Another favorite is Barcelona (1.6 million) – the home of so many of  Gaudí’s architectural masterpieces. I do plan to return to see the Cathedral finished.

I recently found a new favorite city of mine, in Bulgaria – ancient Plovdiv (345000 people, and 2019, The European Capital of Culture). A true gem.

Lastly, my nearest big city in Sweden, Malmoe, with its 312000 inhabitants. A windy city by the sea, just opposite Copenhagen on the other side of the water. Shot through the plane window flying in with a beautiful sunset. The only skyscraper you will see here is  Turning Torso – by the architect Santiago Calatrava.

In the header, the City of Cities – Rome, in late afternoon light.

Thank you to Patti for this wonderful opportunity to dig in the archives for cityscapes I did not think I had… and for the chance to see so many cityscapes I will never be able to visit!