Google Earth: Identify the city

[Myrddraal]

I dunno why, the airport caught my eye.

[Charge]

Dunno why, but this river completely confuse me.
Myrddraal, any clues?

Anyway,

STUMPED.

[Myrddraal]

Sorry bout that, here are some clues:

It's in the northern hemisphere. It is the capital of it's administrative region. Population over 500,000.

Look closely at the area near the southernmost end of the southern most bridge in the photo for a clue.

[Makanyane]

hmm, unless I'm miss-reading it there's something that looks like a shadow from a very tall thin monument by the river there, unfortunately that's not sparking a lot of inspiration or googleability yet.

[Myrddraal]

It might help. I'll post more clues soon.

[Charge]

It must be somewhere in the southeast asia, china more preferable..

[Makanyane]

well I thought it should be USA or Canada - but I now think I've looked through every city there with over 500,000 population and haven't found it.

I'm sure I should be able to recognise those buildings in the close up and can't at moment

am now officially fed up.. :(

[Charge]

but I now think I've looked through every city there with over 500,000 population and haven't found it.

And I still searching first one! Cursed 64kbps

[Myrddraal]

The river's source is in Switzerland

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

AHA! Düsseldorf, on the Rhine River. The tower is the Rheinturm.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Clue:

The city has many influences from mixed religions.

[Myrddraal]

Well done EMFM
Onwards

[Charge]

What population it has?

[Tran]

Belgrade?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Not Belgrade. Population is over half a million.

[Tran]

I think I know it. Is it Sarajevo?

[scotchedpommes]

It had better not be Sarajevo. It was the first place checked, managing to
convince myself it couldn't be Sarajevo, of course. Population of the surrounds
takes it over the half million mark, but I wouldn't think so for the city proper.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

No, it's not Sarajevo.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

There's a clue in the filename.

[Myrddraal]

Hmmm.... Looking through german cities of that population I don't find it...

[Charge]

Frankfurt?
Rotterdam?

[Tran]

I'll throw all possibility:

Duisburg
Nuremberg
Dresden
Leipzig
Hannover
Bremen
Düsseldorf
Essen
Dortmund
Stuttgart

[scotchedpommes]

Not sure why you'd consider Düsseldorf at this point, or any of those cities, to
be honest. The religion clue leaves me inclined to look outside Germany.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

None of the cities mentioned.


Clue:

Many people have moved to this city from other parts of the country in the past twenty years.

[Myrddraal]

inclined to look outside Germany.

ditto.

[Tran]

Not sure why you'd consider Düsseldorf at this point, or any of those cities, to
be honest. The religion clue leaves me inclined to look outside Germany.

That's because:

There's a clue in the filename.

Anyway, that city is either Málaga or Seville.

[Charge]

Marseille ???

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

None of the above. The city is European, and has quite the heritage of being run over by larger neighbours.

[scotchedpommes]

Alright, it's Tirana. The clue threw me in the wrong direction entirely, as clues
so often tend to do. The centre did look vaguely familiar, though I was too busy
looking around the Ruhr. Nevermind that.

Here's another one. Unsure if it's been posted already, but it's not on the [incomplete]
list of previous answers I have.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Very good. I'll explain some clues:

1) Albania has influences from the Ottoman Empire and surrounding Orthodox and Catholic regions. Many of the buildings borrow heavily from Muslim design.

2) The population of the actual city is 580000 or so, and the greater region has about 700000 people.

3) The main clock tower contains a clock bought from German makers in 1928.

4) Albania was long under the foreign rule of different empires, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and Nazi Germany.