Ashgabat vs Tours

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Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat; Ашгабат, pronounced [ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt], Persian: عشق آباد‎; Russian: Ашхабад), formerly named Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк, IPA: [pəltɐˈratsk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It is situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range in Central Asia. It is also near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924.

Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov’s "White City" urban renewal project, resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble. The Soviet-era Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west. Since 2019, the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan's inflation and import issues.

Source: Wikipedia

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Tours ( TOOR, French: [tuʁ] (listen)) is the prefecture of the Indre-et-Loire department and largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of Western France, although it is not the regional prefecture, which is the region's second-largest city, Orléans. In 2017, the commune of Tours had 135,787 inhabitants; the population of the whole metropolitan area was 495,379.Tours stands on the lower reaches of the Loire river, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Former Caesarodunum city of the Turones, founded by the Emperor Augustus, it possesses one of the largest amphitheaters of the Roman Empire. Known for the Battle of Tours (732), it is a National Sanctuary with Saint Martin, Gregory of Tours and Alcuin under the Merovingians and the Carolingians, with the adoption by the Capetians of the local currency the Livre tournois which became the currency of the kingdom. Capital of the county of Tours which became the Touraine, the garden of France. First city of the silk industry, wanted by Louis XI, royal capital under the Valois Kings with its Loire castles and city of art with the School of Tours.

Capital of loyalty during the French Wars of Religion and city of retreat in June 1940 which will lead it to be partly destroyed. The White and Blue city keeps nevertheless a historical center registered in the UNESCO and city of art and history with its Vieux-Tours, a remarkable patrimonial site. The garden city concentrates a green heritage and an urban landscape strongly influenced by its natural space. The historic city that is nicknamed "Le Petit Paris" and its region by its history and culture, has always been a land of birth or host to many personalities, international sporting events, university city with more than 30,000 students in 2019. Culinary city with its specialities : rillettes, rillons, Touraine vineyards, AOC Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine cheeses and nougats.The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race.

Source: Wikipedia