Even those who are visiting for the first time know that they have already been there. It is as in the movies, but much more. New York, New York. Merely to pronounce its name, we start to sing. Come on then, walk the streets of Manhattan and live in them forever.
Start spreading the news: we have arrived in the city that never sleeps. As the Frank Sinatra song tells us, New York is the city where, if we manage to triumph there, we will be able to conquer any other part of the world. It is “the” city par excellence. Noisy, bustling, frenetic but also relaxing in its different parks. There is culture for all and all cultures. There is History and there stories. There are not enough words to describe New York because we feel that we have already been there, even before we arrived in this North American city. We know this because we have seen it in movies of directors like Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese. In streets frequented by gangsters and also in romantic characters. The poor and the rich. Who comes to New York and doesn’t go to the Plaza Hotel to evoke the movie Home Alone or doesn’t spot Tiffany’s jewelry store and sees Audrey Hepburn’s eyes reflected in the shop window? And even the Dakota Building is a pilgrimage site because it was there that John Lennon lived, and it was there, at his house’s doorstep, that he ended up being tragically murdered. And not far away, across the street, in Central Park, are the Strawberry Fields with the mosaic Imagine in perpetual homage to him. Strolling down 5th Avenue from one end to the other, seeing the lights of Times Square, and being part of the human mold when we are in the city which is a melting pot of cultures. The shows on Broadway, or the buildings that are a spectacle even seen from outside. The art collections, such as the Guggenheim Museum or the MoMA. The climbs to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center or the Chrysler Building. Even the 9/11 memorial and the Statue of Liberty, of course, with a walk down Wall Street. Yes, we all know New York even before we go there. But still, there is nothing like being in this city and being a part of it. If only for a few days, which will last for a lifetime. And, if there is still time, after passing by the Brooklyn Bridge – don’t buy it if someone says they can sell it – don’t forget to go to Coney Island as well. It may not be the best walk, but it will certainly be a walk you really have to take.
The city formerly called “New Amsterdam” was founded in the early 17th century by the Dutch. The first synagogue was established there by 23 Jews of Portuguese origin. Later, it took the name New York when the English wanted to honor the Duke of York, James, brother of the King of England, Charles II. And we can also mention that the New York borough of Queens was named after the Queen of England, who at the time was Catherine of Bragança, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, who restored Portugal’s independence from Spain on December 1, 1640, and then sent her daughter to England to reactivate what is the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force in the world.
The history of the world is in New York, just like part of ours. Make the most of this destination, for it is also the destination of all the citizens of the world.
Book your flight now here.
