In Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities, Marco Polo tells Kubilay Khan about the cities he has visited. In these narratives the famous traveller mingles his observations with fantasies, colouring real lives and places with dreams. The mundane blends with anonymous desires, images with sounds, and sounds with scents. In this way the tales told by Marco Polo not only form clear images concerning those 'invisible' cities, but render them more mysterious. Finally it emerges that the traveller has been inspired by images of a single city in all these tales.
Together with the Portuguese city of Porto, Rotterdam was proclaimed Europe's Cultural Capital of 2001. Just like Calvino's mysterious city, Rotterdam has represented a multiplicity of urban images over the past year. All conceivable elements of urban cultural life, from music to cinema, theatre to dance, and street entertainment to exhibitions, have been brought together here.

Among the countless events over the twelve months was a show based on Calvino's book. Entitled The City, this spectacular performance was a fusion of acrobatics, dancing, music, shadow play and many other arts. With each month bringing a fresh pageant of events, Rotterdam brought to life a thousand and one city stories, so to speak, over the year. There were events for children, watersports, lectures, training courses, and a myriad other events ranging from literature to photography and modern media. But naturally it was the music and dance events which took centre stage and contributed most to the festive atmosphere.
It would be hard to find a city as appropriate as Rotterdam for the setting of such a festival. Both its history and a modern social and urban structure characterised by ethnic and cultural diversity (the Netherlands' largest Turkish population lives here, for example), make Rotterdam one of the few cities where that controversial concept, 'European identity', goes more than skin deep.

On 14 May 1940 the city centre was bombed to rubble in air raids that left nearly a thousand people dead. After being nearly wiped off the map altogether, Rotterdam somehow found the energy to start from scratch and made a rapid comeback. Opening its arms to architectural innovation, the city took new shape from head to toe, becoming one of the principal centres of modern architecture in Europe. Perhaps for this reason, as you wander around the city you sometimes feel as if you are on a gigantic film set. From the first sights you encounter in the city centre (Schouwburg Square, for example, with its spotlights resembling robots and steel platform stretching from end to end, looking as new as if it were constructed yesterday) this sensation is heightened with every passing day.

A thousand reasons can be found to visit Rotterdam, which at the beginning of February was further enlivened by a spectacular royal wedding, and which is just 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam. If Calvino's Marco Polo had been here, who knows what more fascinating stories he could have told Kubilay Khan!

* Necati Sönmez is a freelance writer.