[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

> I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person.

European cities are also relatively young. If you want to see old cities, you should visit the Middle East or China.

[docdeek]

The city I live in here in France is about 2000 years old. That might not be as old as some of the cities in the Middle East but relative to most cities it is doing pretty well, non?

[reddog]

Thats 10x older than the city I live in (Austin). But Jericho is 6x older than yours.

[username90]

China doesn't have a lot of old intact structures though since they used worse building materials than Romans. Age of the city doesn't matter much if all structures are new.

And no, the great wall of China isn't ancient. The parts we see today were built in the 14th century, the parts that are millennia old are no longer there so you can only see traces of it in the ground.

Europe on the other hand has impressive structures 2 millenia old like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_of_Segovia

[Ericson2314]

How much old stuff is in Chinese cities vs countryside though? My understanding is since the capitals moved many times (often with city destruction at dynasty end) that there's less old stuff in the cities (and a lot of 19th century less historical stuff has been raised.)

At least a lot of the famous stuff around Xi'an and Luoyang seems to be monumental works outside city. Maybe various parts of the grand canal and stuff surrounding is a better example than that?

[namdnay]

I think they mean the actual buildings and layouts, rather than the fact that people lived there 500 years ago. It's quite normal in Italy or Southern France for example to walk past churches that are 500-1000 years old

[immigrantsheep]

I come from a very small town on the Adriatic coast and the church there is from the 6th century. The town itself was founded sometimes BC.

[oblio]

Most Chinese cities are younger than Rome or Istanbul or Athens.

[williamdclt]

I suppose it's not a fair comparison, "most" chinese cities against the oldest european ones. How old are the oldest chinese cities? I'd love to know more about these

[sudosysgen]

Most European cities are younger than Rome or Istanbul or Athens. Shanghai and Beijing are older than Rome and Istanbul, Luoyang and Xi'an were inhabited since the neolithic.

Damas, Luxor, Erbil, Jaffa, Jericho, are also older than Rome, Athens and Istanbul.

[iso1631]

Athens dates back before cities like Damascus and Jehrico, and probably even before Luxor. Not aware of any cities in China older than about 2000BC.

[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

> Athens dates back before cities like Damascus and Jehrico,

I think that is highly controversial to say the least. I think the accepted consensus is Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city.

[iso1631]

Wikipedia says

Jericho: "late 1st millennium BC"

Athens: 5th–4th millennia BC

Mind you I had a picnic yesterday at a village that was settled c. 1000 BC, and has evidence of people living there before then. It's nothing particularly special.