"A" Cities of Europe Trivia Quiz

Answer: Antwerp

Antwerp, or Antwerpen in Dutch, is Belgium's second largest city after the capital, Brussels. In the 17th century, it was the center of Flemish Baroque art, due to the presence of Rubens as well as others, including Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Many residents speak Antwerpian, a sub-dialect of Brabantian, itself a dialect of Dutch. The city is known for minority Jewish and Jain populations.

Sites include one of the world's oldest zoos, the Antwerp Zoo, founded in 1843 and an important research and conservation center. As well as the Cathedral of Our Lady, there are various other churches, such as St. James's Church, containing Rubens's tomb. Antwerp is also home to many museums.

Answer: Alicante

Alicante is known as Alacant in Valencian, and is the Valencian community's second largest city after Valencia itself. The area of the city has been inhabited for about seven millennia. Around the third century BC, Hamilcar Barca, father of famous Carthaginian general Hannibal, founded the settlement of Akra Leuca ("White Mountain") on the site that would become Alicante, and later the Romans founded Lucentum within their province of Hispania Tarraconesis. Later, Alicante suffered greatly in the Spanish Civil War, when it was bombed extensively in the 1930s.

Alicante is a city full of culture with various festivals, including that of the Bonfires of Saint John. A popular tourist resort as well as a university city, it has a lot of nightlife to enjoy, including on its many beaches. The Port of Alicante is a popular port for passenger cruises. The Castle of Saint Barbara is the main site of the city, which is also home to various parks including El Palmeral Park.

Answer: Bayern (Bavaria)

Augsburg is Bayern's third largest city by population, after München (Munich) and Nürnberg (Nuremberg), and is situated in the region of Swabia. Founded as Augusta Vindelicorum in 15 BC and named after the Roman Emperor Augustus, Augsburg is Germany's third oldest city, after Neuss and Trier. Due to its age, the city has many lovely sights, including the world's oldest housing complex that is still in use, the Fuggerei, and also the palaces of the Fugger family from whom the Fuggerei takes its name. A central landmark is the Perlachturm, a tower in the region of the beautiful Town Hall, and there are many churches throughout the city.

Augsburg's notable people are many: other than Mozart, Brecht, and Diesel mentioned in the question text, this city has been called home by both the elder and younger Hans Holbein, Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Hans von Euler-Chelpin, and Mietek Pemper, a Polish-born Jew who helped Oskar Schindler compose and type his famous list and who is buried in the Jewish cemetery of the city.

Answer: Astrakhan

Astrakhan is situated in Astrakhan Oblast, which is bordered by the Caspian Sea on the south and the country of Kazakhstan on the east. It is a major river and sea port, and was important historically; first mentioned in the 13th century, Astrakhan was the capital of a Tatar khanate and was completely razed by Timur (Tamarlane) in 1395. About 150 years later, the khanate was sacked by Ivan the Terrible.

Astrakhan's sites include various churches, the Museum of Local Study, and many bridges over the Volga as well as the delta where it empties into the Caspian. Famous inhabitants include Ilya Ulyanov (Lenin's father), poets Vasily Trediakovsky and Velimir Khlebnikov, and actor Dmitri Dyuzhev.

Answer: Angers

Angers is situated in the Pays de la Loire region of France, about 190 miles (300 km) from Paris. The city has been known as the Athens of the West since the 19th century, due to its plethora of universities, museum, and culture. The river Maine, formed just north of Angers by the joining of the Mayenne, the Sarthe, and the Loir, flows through the city and joins the Loire south of it. This river system forms many islands and ponds in the landscape of Angers, providing a habitat for many birds.

The Chateau d'Angers dominates the Old Town; founded by the Counts of Anjou, it was expanded by Louis IX, Saint Louis, in the 1200s and was the seat of the Plantagenet dynasty, particular Henry II of England. It is one of the main sites of Angers, along with others including the Saint-Maurice Cathedral, which contains many noteworthy artworks and was designated a national monument of France in 1862.

Answer: Ancona

Marche is the Italian plural of "marca", which means a "march" or "mark", a militarized border region. The region was named after the marches of Ancona, Camerino and Fermo. Ancona is its capital city, founded and named around 387 BC by Greek settlers from Syracuse (Siracusa) in Sicily; it was named after the Greek word for "elbow", "ankon", as the promontory that protects the harbour has this shape.

There are many sites to see in Ancona. The Arch of Trajan stands 18.5 meters (60 feet) high and was built in honor of the Roman Emperor Trajan, who expanded Ancona's port with money from his own pocket. Ancona Cathedral demonstrates a variety of architectural styles, such as Byzantine and Gothic, and is known for its red marble lions.

Answer: Portugal

Almada is a small but densely populated city situated on the River Tagus across from Portugal's capital Lisbon, to which it is connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. Almada was one of the Moor strongholds in Portugal conquered by the country's first king, Afonso I, aided by Crusaders from England. Under Afonso's successor, Sancho I, Moorish armies regained hold of areas of Portugal, forcing the inhabitants of various cities along the Tagus, including Almada, to go into hiding.

Sites include the beautiful building of the Convent of the Capuchins in the parish of Caparica e Trafaria; also, the monument of Cristo Rei (Christ the King) in Lisbon can be clearly seen from Almada, towering over the Tagus. Some of Almada's notable citizens include footballer Luis Figo and singer Anabela.

Answer: Alchevsk

Alchevsk is a city in Luhansk Oblast in the Ukraine, about 28 miles (45 km) from the city of Luhansk itself. It is a vital industrial center in the area of the Donets basin (Donbas), a region important for coal mining. It is a relatively new city, founded in 1895 along with its iron works, and named soon afterwards for oligarch Aleksey Alchevsky, who was a significant figure in the industrialization of the Donbas.

The name Voroshylovsk arose in the Soviet era in honor of military officer Kliment Voroshilov, and for a number of years the names Voroshylovsk and Alchevsk were used back and forth as his significance decreased. Thereafter it was named Komunarsk after the Paris Commune, a revolutionary socialist government that ruled Paris in 1871. Finally, with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the name of Alchevsk was restored.

Alchevsk was one of the cities of the Ukraine captured by pro-Russian separatists in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Answer: Arnhem

Arnhem is the capital of the province Gelderland, and is located in eastern Netherlands. As well as being located on the banks of the Nederrijn, the stream Sint-Jansbeek runs through the city, which was vital to the first settlements here as a water supply. Sites here include the church of St. Eusebius, known as the Grote Kerk, which is the largest church in the Netherlands at 93 meters (305 ft) tall. It was rebuilt throughout the 1950s after damage during World War II.

The Battle of Arnhem in September 1944 presented to the Allies the task of securing what is now called the John Frost Bridge in Arnhem. Most of the troops landed too far from the site, and only a small contingent of the British 1st Airborne Division made it to the bridge but nonetheless failed to secure it. This event was written about in the non-fiction book "A Bridge Too Far" (1974) by Cornelius Ryan, on which the 1977 movie of the same name was based. However, the movie used a bridge in Deventer instead. In 1977, the bridge was officially named after John Frost, who commanded the British forces in the battle.

Answer: Aberdeen, Scotland

Aberdeen is a Scottish city situated between the mouths of the River Don and the River Dee on the North Sea, making it an important maritime center. Much of the architecture is Victorian and was built using granite, leading to nicknames of the city including "Granite City" and "Silver City". Aberdeen has won the horticultural award Britain in Bloom many times for its many parks and gardens; two parks alone, Victoria and Westburn, cover 26 acres (110,000 square meters) of land.

The city is home to two universities, the University of Aberdeen and the Robert Gordon University. The former university leases the vast granite building of Marischal College to the city council, the second largest granite building of the world. Aberdeen is known for its live music events and local cinema.

Doric is the name of the local dialect of Lowland Scots and is also called Mid Northern or Northeast Scots. Some phrases include "Fit ye deein?", meaning "What are you doing?" (compare to Scots' "Whit ye daein?"), and "Far aboots?", meaning "Whereabouts?", which gives rise to an informal nickname of the city, "Furry boots".