Thread: Guess where?

  1. #8001
    Cookiegod's Avatar CIVUS DIVUS EX CLIBANO
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    I have never been there and I only heard/read about it maybe once or twice, but I still instantly recognized it, also because you're Norwegian.
    That and my surprise that I'd be able what would be posted here led to the: "HAH!"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cookiegod View Post
    From Socrates over Jesus to me it has always been the lot of any true visionary to be rejected by the reactionary bourgeoisie
    Qualis noncives pereo! #justiceforcookie #egalitéfraternitécookié #CLM

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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Solovetsky monastery.

  3. #8003
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Wow, I'm impressed that you guessed it so quickly.


    I took that picture myself btw. I think in 2012.
    Here's the picture by someone from wikipedia with better photographic skill:
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    The walls of this monastery don't look like much, but they're massive. 9 meters thick at the base, and built with huge granite rocks. You might wonder what strategic purpose that place has. Well, none, except that it's on an archipelago in the middle of the white sea. It saw one uprising, and the British bombed it once in the Crimean war and after 20 minutes of nonstop bombardment they realised this was going nowhere. I think that's all the fighting that happened there in all those centuries of existence.
    The only people to normally inhabit it permanently were (and maybe again are? not sure) monks. The villagers do their best to gtf away before winter comes.
    Which you do by boats either to Kem' or Arkhangelsk. Most of them are nutshells. If you happen to sail to the archipelago in a storm, you'll probably be alright. Just make sure you're as drunk as possible so you don't get seasick. If you sail from Kem', I'd recommend you find the "mestnaya babushka" ("local grandma'") and buy some samogor' (=moonshine). It's way more effective than vodka, and also you don't have to walk as far to get it. Just ask random people and they'll likely lead you to her.

    The island has a hotel, which can be seen in the picture above. Just don't get your hopes up in terms of luxury, as the interior looks like this:
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    At least it's cheap though. But if you have some higher standards I think there are plenty of other options, including asking random strangers to stay with them.
    The option I went with was sharing the tent with a cossack I just met, so that my friend and his girlfriend could have the other tent for themselves.

    People are, like throughout most of rural Russia, very friendly and willing to put a lot of effort to help complete strangers, even if you didn't ask them, but they still think you might need it, but of course most of them don't speak anything other than Russian and sometimes rubles (the higher income you have, the better your language skills, you know...).

    The archipelago is close to the arctic circle. If you get there in the right time of the year, the weather will be very pleasant (t-shirt weather), and it'll never be dark.

    The wildlife and nature are absolutely beautiful. Seals live on some of the beaches. The island the monastery/fortress is built on has an absurd amount of freshwater lakes considering its size. I think over 70 was the number I heard. This is the only downside to the islands: It's filled to the brim with mosquitos. People say those didn't exist before Stalin put one of the most famous GULAGs there. Solshenizyn (who won the nobel price for the "archipelago gulag") called it "the mother of the GuLaG". Prisoners brought the mosquitos to the island and suffered a lot from them. And so will you. I know of no other defunct concentration camp in the world that offers its visitors to experience the torture first hand!
    So if you decide to camp (in a tent, I mean), and don't want to camp (the bad way, I mean), raise your tent at a safe distance from fresh water. That is usually enough to solve the torture problem, except for when you go out to do stuff.

    Almost all of the lakes (except two that I know of) are absolutely teeming with fish. Survival isn't hard here when it's summer. I went fishing with my friends one day and whilst searching for a suitable lake we met the cossack on his way back with several buckets worth of fish. He had done that in about an hour, and iirc catched more than 70 or so, which means that on average he had catched more than one fish per minute. He told us which lake to go to, but of course we misunderstood and got to the wrong one, which everyone fished in... We catched 2 fish before dusk, one of them so young we let him go, the other one was tiny as well, but the three of us were hungry... After returning to our two tents we found out the cossack had given all the fish away to strangers (how would he have eaten all of them anyway?). Which meant that while we went hungry, an entire school class from Moscow including teachers had gotten enough food not only for dinner, but also for a hands-on science project, as one of their teachers happened to be in biology...

    Where were we? Oh, right. Have your rep and your turn.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cookiegod View Post
    From Socrates over Jesus to me it has always been the lot of any true visionary to be rejected by the reactionary bourgeoisie
    Qualis noncives pereo! #justiceforcookie #egalitéfraternitécookié #CLM

  4. #8004
    lolIsuck's Avatar WE HAVE NO CAKE!
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    It'd have probably taken me some more time if the ship in the background didn't say Archangelsk, my first thought before spotting it was Veliky Novgorod. I know there are quite a few Russian Orthodox monasteries om islands and next to rivers so that was my next guess and together with Archangelsk it was quickly found. Searching for Russian monastery island would've been just as quick though I see now.

    Alright, next:
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  5. #8005
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Looks like the Valencian flag there - Googling "Valencia Castle" leads me to believe these are the Serranos Towers
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  6. #8006
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    It is indeed Valencia. I couldn't find a place to stay when I was there for a day a few years back so I spent the night walking around and lying on a park bench, not the greatest of nights.

    Over to you.

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    Default Re: Guess where?

    If only AirBnB was a thing back then, eh?

    Proudly under the patronage of General Brewster of the Imperial House of Hader
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  8. #8008
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    I'd presume it'd be expensive though and I was only going to be there for one night.

    This is the Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan.

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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Fair enough then, as long as it works!

    And you are correct, your go
    Proudly under the patronage of General Brewster of the Imperial House of Hader
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  10. #8010
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Starting to run out of good pics from my phone, I'll have to start searching the camera soon
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  11. #8011
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    The Zwinger Palace in Dresden, I googled baroque palaces.

  12. #8012
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Dresden it is.

  13. #8013
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    Default Re: Guess where?


  14. #8014
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    A greek city with an ancient theatre. I cannot recognise which one it is though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cookiegod View Post
    From Socrates over Jesus to me it has always been the lot of any true visionary to be rejected by the reactionary bourgeoisie
    Qualis noncives pereo! #justiceforcookie #egalitéfraternitécookié #CLM

  15. #8015
    Muizer's Avatar member 3519
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Larissa? The building in the background seems to match some photos I found.

    http://www.visitgreece.gr/deployedFi...rissa__560.jpg
    Last edited by Muizer; March 26, 2019 at 06:32 PM.
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  16. #8016
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Larissa, Greece it is, Muizer has the ground.

  17. #8017
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    "Lay these words to heart, Lucilius, that you may scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many men praise you; but have you any reason for being pleased with yourself, if you are a person whom the many can understand?" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca -

  18. #8018
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Rouen.

  19. #8019
    Muizer's Avatar member 3519
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    Default Re: Guess where?

    Correct! It is the Palais de Justice. Back to you
    "Lay these words to heart, Lucilius, that you may scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many men praise you; but have you any reason for being pleased with yourself, if you are a person whom the many can understand?" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca -

  20. #8020
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    Default Re: Guess where?


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