Ten Most Evocative City Names

After spending weeks combing through atlases and spinning my out-of-date globe (whither North and South Yemen?), I have compiled a list of the ten most evocative names of cities. Without even knowing what they mean, these city names conjure up a circus of colourful imagery, from lions and zeppelins to opium dens and high-class prostitutes. I realize my associated imagery is probably highly inaccurate, but I've always been one to prefer imaginal Morocco over real Morocco. Onward:

#10 City Name: Odessa
Imagery: Stone staircases to the sea, palace-sized opera houses, catacombs containing hidden White Russian treasure

#9 City Name: Kinshasa
Imagery: Elephant-riding royalty, roads paved with ivory, up-market animal skins at down-market prices

#8 City Name: Sarajevo
Imagery: Shining cathedrals filled with medieval iconography, international assassins at the precipice of history, ethnic cleansing

#7 City Name: Kuala Lumpur
Imagery: Temples of high finance, tropical zoos atop skyscrapers, escalators to the sun

#6 City Name: Casablanca
Imagery: Casbahs on fire with rock n' roll, crypto-Nazi espionage, star-crossed lovers under the desert sun

#5 City Name: Kathmandu
Imagery: Subterranean monasteries, free-roaming tigers, inter-dimensional portals to Shangri-La

#4 City Name: Brasília
Imagery: Interactive architectural super-parks, government-run pleasure-domes, monuments to people yet to be born

#3 City Name: Godthaab
Imagery: Ice sculptures of Cthulhu, polar bears sacrifices over pagan altars, secret entrances to the Hollow Earth

#2 City Name: Addis Ababa
Imagery: The spiraling castle of Prester John, ancient gnostic churches, saffron and spice

#1 City Name: Ulan Bator
Imagery: Horsemen running down pedestrians, desert ziggurats, walls made of human skulls