České Budějovice, Czechia

České Budějovice is a city of roughly 95,000 residents in southern Czechia, founded in 1265 by King Ottokar II on the banks of the Vltava River. Its Přemysl Otakar II Square measures 133 by 137 metres and ranks among the largest medieval squares in central Europe, watched over by the 72-metre Black Tower completed in 1577. The city gave the world the original Budweiser through the Budweiser Budvar brewery, which opened in 1895 and still brews under that name today. In 1832, a horse-drawn railway from here to Linz became the first such line on the European continent, tying this southern Bohemian hub to an unexpected first in transport history.