Where on Earth? Week 12: Elephanta Island, Mumbai, India

by Justin Glow on

I was so impressed with the guess by Stiv last week of Elephanta Island that I completely forgot to write this post on Friday! Sorry, but awesome job, Stiv! (And a shout-out to Carol B for backing him up!) Here I was trying to make the challenge a little more difficult and the Gadling readers still guessed it in less than three hours. Impressive.

I was in India a few months ago, and on our big Mumbai sightseeing day, we took a boat out to Elephanta Island. The thousand-year-old , hand-carved caves on the island were impressive, but what I remember the most is all the different fees we had to pay just to get there. Granted they were all very cheap by USD standards, but even so, we had to pay for the boat ride to the island, a fee once we got off of the pier and onto the island, another fee to be allowed to walk up the vendor-laced stairs, and then another fee at the top to enter the area with the caves. My friend had a video camera, too, so that was another charge — and then you couldn’t even use it in the caves!

This photograph was snapped just outside of the caves, looking out at an area where families sat down to picnic. Monkeys were everywhere on the island — eating trash, harassing dogs, locals, and tourists alike — but somehow I was still able to take this picture without a single one in frame. Amazing.

Where on Earth? Week 12

by Justin Glow on

Recognize this spot? Leave your guesses (the more specific you can be, the better!) in the comments, and the answer will be revealed on Friday. Good luck!

Where On Earth (Week 11): Amsterdam

by Willy Volk on

There were lots of good guesses in this week’s Where on Earth, but only one person got it right: Richblackmon was correct in thinking that this fruit stall resides in Amsterdam. In fact, this image was captured near the Leidseplein, a popular square in the vibrant city.

In December 2000, I was traveling from Africa to the US for a month-long home leave. I hadn’t been since I’d left, in July 1998.

We decided to arrange a 3-day layover in Amsterdam in the middle of the return trip. Western enough to feel like home, but foreign enough to feel like I was “transitioning,” Amsterdam served as a brilliant stop-over. We visited the Van Gogh Museum. We toured Anne Frank’s House. We drank beer from those funny little glasses the Dutch serve beer in. But the thing that sticks out most in my mind was the fruit. Maybe it was because I had been living in rural Africa for 2.5 years, but the fruit sold in Amsterdam seemed to me the best in the world.

We ate strawberries the size of Roma tomatoes. The raspberries were the size of ping pong balls. The colors of the fruit were so vibrant, so dazzling, and so rich that I inspected each one carefully before devouring its sweet juiciness. We ate some traditional Dutch meals, but most of the time, we ate from street vendors and fruit stalls. It was amazing. And this picture perfectly captures that.

If you ever visit Amsterdam, be certain to buy some of the fruit and sample it. You’ll remember it forever.

Where On Earth (Week 11)

by Willy Volk on

This city had the most fabulous fruit I have ever eaten. This photo shows a typical fruit market in this city. What is the name of this fruit-loving city?

Please leave your fruity guesses in the comments. The fruity answer will be revealed on Friday.

Where on Earth (Week 10): Dalí Museum, Figueres, Spain

by Neil Woodburn on

Where on Earth indeed! Who else but Salvador Dalí could design such a bizarre building?

The eccentric Spanish artist personally dreamed up “the largest surrealistic object in the world” in Figueres, Spain to house his artwork after he died.

The Dalí Museum contains 4,000 works of art and is undoubtedly the largest such collection in the world.

When I was younger, I was a big fan of the artist’s surrealist landscapes and paintings and was therefore excited to learn about this museum just a two-hour train ride from Barcelona. It’s an easy day trip to what is one of the most unique museums in the world. The whole structure is in fact a Dalí creation and when I visited I felt as though I’d stepped right into one of his paintings.

But it’s not all paintings hanging on walls. As you can see from the photo above, Dalí focused on the three-dimensional aspects of his art in creating his museum; everywhere I turned while walking through it, I was confronted by so many bizarre sculptures, statues, eggs, and other surrealistic eye-candy that I was starting to wonder if I was actually on drugs instead of in Spain.

Congrats go out to Goran, Jim Rennie, and Rich for all nailing the location last Wednesday. Good work guys!