Top 10 Cities in the World - 8 Shanghai

NUMBER 8 - SHANGHAI

Having been to China's big three cities of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, all of which might make my top ten, I opted for the latter. Shanghai is the most vibrant city in the world, and one day I can even see it taking over from New York as the world's unofficial capital city and economic centre.

Shanghai has a youthful population of 14 million, many of whom seem to be out walking on the streets, especially on the humid summer nights. It is a mix of old, like the Taoist temples, quite old, like the pre-war waterfront buildings on the Bund, new, like the dirty 1960s apartment blocks which cover much of the city, and ultra-modern, like the futuristic syscrapers sprouting up ever higher in Pudong to create a Chinese Manhattan in what was until recently farmland.

The city sprawls across the low-lying land of the Yangtze delta, with the Hunagpu River, a branch of the Yangtze, separating the Bund and the old city from the new city of Pudong on the east bank. The Bund is perhaps the most famous waterfront in the world and for many it is the classic image of Shanghai. The row of imposing Art Deco and Neo-Classical buildings on the west bank of the Huangpu constituted the administrative centre of what was for a time, in the 1920s and 30s, the busiest port in Asia. On warm summer nights, thousands of promenaders, many of whom, when I was there, seemed to selling fake Rolexes, throng the Bund, and take river cruises which offer spectacular views of the illuminated buildings. The way the city is booming, I'm sure it won't be long before those Rolexes are real ones like those worn in the chic, upmarket bars and restaurants of Xintiandi. The favourite destination for most foreign visitors, however is the Yuyuan temple gardens and bazaar. Built in 1559 during the reign of the Ming emperor Jiajing, it is famous for its classical Chinese architectural marvels, including the Big Rockery and the wonderfully named Hall of an Emerald Touch of Spring. As you wander round the gardens in summer, looking down at the golden carp in the ponds, the noise of the thousands of crickets in the bushes is deafening.

NUMBER 9 - MARRAKECH

NUMBER 10 - KIEV

Top 10 Cities in the World - 9 Marrakech

NUMBER 9 - MARRAKECH

Marrakech is both ancient and exotic. If you are prepared for the fact that Marrakechis have 101 ways to relieve foreigners of their money, you can begin to enjoy the sights and sounds of 'The Pink City".

Marrakech was founded nearly a thousand years ago by Youssef ben Tachfine, the first leader of the great Almoravid dynasty, who conquered southern Spain for the Moors. His son, Ali ben Youssef, brought in the best architects and craftsmen from Cordoba to build a great capital city for his empire. In 1126 the city was fortified with walls around it. Then, between 1150 and 1199 the Koutoubia mosque, which you can see in the first photo, was built.

At the heart of the Old City is one of the biggest squares in the world, Djemaa el Fnaa, which although it means Assembly of the Dead in Arabic, is full of life, especially after sunset, when it has hundreds of food stalls, lit by lanterns, fresh orange juice sellers, musicians, dancers, acrobats, magicians, fortune tellers, henna artists and snake charmers, all plying their trades. Wander off the square and you will disappear into a maze of souqs.

It is a city that is not always easy on the eye, the ear or the pocket. No matter how well you speak French or Arabic, and no matter what that friendly carpet seller, who treats you like a long-lost brother, tells you, you will always be an outsider in Marrakech. When I pointed to the meter in a taxi, the driver shrugged, took another drag on his cigarette, and replied, as the smoke drifted past his No Smoking sign, "That's for local people". But, perhaps the fact that you will never feel at home in Marrakech, is what makes it so exotic.

Number 10 - Kiev

Top 10 Cities in the World - 10 Kiev

This is the first in a list of cities I have visited that I consider, for various reasons, to be among my Top 1o in the world. Beating off competition from Dubrovnik, Jogyakarta, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Munich and Beirut:

NUMBER 10 - KIEV

Kiev is one of the grandest cities in Europe, but like most people, I was totally unaware of that until I saw it with my own eyes. From the late ninth century until the mid twelfth century, during the Golden Age, it was the capital of the Kievan Rus empire, and by the time of the Mongol invasion of 1240, it was one of the largest cities in the world.

Kiev has some of the world's greatest Christian buildings, including the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of St Sophia's Cathedral and the massive Pecherska Lavra monastery complex, which was founded nearly a thousand years ago, when the first cave chapels were excavated by Orthodox monks in the hills overlooking the River Dnieper. Kiev may also lay fair claim to being the city with the most beautiful women in the world, and you'll see more leggy, blonde 'supermodels' here than you'll see in a dozen Paris fashion weeks.

The best way to travel around the city is by Kiev Metro. which has the deepest underground stations in the world, and at times as you travel down the steep escalators you feel like you are on a journey to the centre of the earth.