Category: Contest

A reader writes:

Looks Mediterranean. One yacht has a Greek flag. Cars approaching the parking lot are driving on the lefthand side of the road. Based on Google maps it looks as though Larnaca, Cyprus has a bay with a view of the Turkish side of the island like this.

Another guess:

Marseille, France? This looks like the pier that was under construction the when I was visiting a friend there in 2011. It’s hard to tell because I haven’t been back since. The cars are European. Are those Les Îles in the background?

Another is more confident:

This view is from the hills above the dock for boats coming across the Gibraltar Strait to Tangier, Morocco. It is actually about a 45-minute taxi ride from the city itself. The buildings to the right are Customs.

Another:

I got as far as identifying the ship in the background (a Royal Caribbean vessel) and figuring out where it had been lately, but couldn’t for the life of me determine which of the many ports it had visited had yielded this photo. I’m going to go with Split, Croatia (though it could be Naples, or anywhere in that general area, really).

Another gets the right country:

My first impression was Caribbean, but then I thought, “What if it’s not?” – and my brain went straight to Greece. Now to settle in to the real work. I’m pretty confident that the cruise ship is the Splendour of the Seas (and wasn’t that a fun exercise, all on its own), which seems to run from Venice, Italy, to Croatia and to a few stops in Greece. I’ve given up searching the Greek islands for a pier that looks like this one. It’s a holiday, and I’m not going to spend it all on the search. I’m just going with Corfu.

Another island:

That is a RCCL Cruise ship and as they are using the tender, obviously a very small port. I couldn’t read the ship’s name so went on to cruise ship tracker and saw that the Serenade of the Seas was in port in Fira on the island of Kritko Pelegos, Greece earlier today.

Another:

It’s been years since I was there, and the harbor looks like it’s grown, but it has a familiar feel to it. It would be the quay below the town of Phira facing the caldera of the ancient volcano that erupted in the 15th century BCE. Phira is the capital of the Greek island of Santorini, also known as Thera. The view is toward one of the islets that emerged in the 20th century CE, perhaps Therasia.

Another gets the right island in Greece:

This must be an easy one because I think I actually got it. It’s a view of the Old Port in Mykonos, Greece.  I even found a very similar photo here. However, I cannot determine the name of the building I think it was taken from.

Another goes for the right building:

This week’s picture is taken from a window near the cruise berth in Mykonos. I could not find what I think is the building, but for the sake of guessing I’ll say it’s the Harmony Boutique Hotel. I’ve attached a photo circling two places I think it could be taken from, though it’s hard to tell without street view/pictures:

I found the location because of the cruise ship. The emblem on the smoke tower, or whatever one calls that, is Royal Caribbean. With the help of my mom (who knows cruise ships better than I do), we figured it was an older one cruising through the Eastern Mediterranean. And right we were. Not sure if it’s the Splendour or the Legend of the Seas, but both are older and run cruises through Mykonos.

Another zooms in further:

I used to enter this contest a dozen times and never got any where (with the exception of Boston, my hometown – but so did a million other people).  I once correctly guessed Hastings-On-Hudson without having been there, but never entered the contest.  I’m pretty convinced about this one: Mykonos Greece. I’ve added a Google maps satellite picture with all the elements in place; the open air enclosure; the trees along the street; the dive that zigs at the end of the wharf; the small rocky island of MPAOS; and the larger island of Rinea behind it:

Another:

I was just in Mykonos not a month ago. The tricky part with this week’s challenge, not unlike the planning of my trip, is that there is no Google street view on that island, so it’s hard for me to pinpoint the precise location. I’ve included my best guess at a location, which I guess would be at the following coordinates: 37.451196,25.328979. Location is SSE of the Bank of Cyprus Building and NNE of the Harmony Boutique Hotel (and might in fact actually be taken from that location).

Another gets the right hotel:

I did the best geometry I could and I think I can identify the building. My best guess is that the it’s part of the Porto Mykonos Hotel complex, which is certainly on the other side of the little road, with the tower and the pool.  Since Frommers says “be sure not to get the back rooms, as they look into a parking lot” when describing the Porto Mykonos, and the bulk of it is right next door, and it has weathered white pane windows in some rooms, and they most certainly are not bragging about that view on their website, I’ll give it that guess.

Details from the submitter:

It was taken last week in Mykonos, Greece from my window at Porto Mykonos Hotel. The hotel is made up of scattered structures on a hill, so they’re like townhouses. My room was Room 137, which is a 1st floor room (not ground floor). And I was there on holiday. My room had excellent views of the sea, especially at sunset, but the passing cruise ship caught my attention while I was getting dressed for the beach. Let me know if you need more info. This is so exciting! I’ve had three VFYW pics posted before, but never for a contest!!

No one guessed the exact room number, but out of all the previous correct guessers who haven’t won a contest yet, three guessed the right floor. One of them writes:

The view is of the Old Port above what looks to be the bus and boat terminal.  A little google-fu tells me this is the Porto Mykonos Hotel.  This picture from Room 128 seems pretty close:

Just a note to add that my family and I, though separated by hundreds of miles, love playing the contest every week.

That reader has only entered two contests overall, but the following two readers have each entered nine:

I have a feeling you’ll get a lot of correct responses on this one. The picture was taken from the Porto Mykonos Hotel in Mykonos Town, Greece. Given the photographer’s position relative to the ferry pier, I think the room number is somewhere between 120 and 126. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship passing by is the Splendour of the Seas. The ship underwent structural modifications in the fall of 2011, and the picture was taken after those were completed.

The other reader is much more detailed, so we are going to award the razor-thin tiebreaker to him this week:

This is a view from a guest room window of the hotel Porto Mykonos, in Mykonos, Greece.  My guess is room number 124, since a view I found from room 128 was slightly to the south.  I attached two fuzzy pictures with first a sighting line, then an arrow pointing to the probable hotel room.  Also attached is the view I found from room 128 on TripAdvisor:

As usual, I think I only get these when they are easy.  My initial take on the view was that it was somewhere in the Mediterranean, based on the olive trees, the calmness and color of the water, the appearance of the islands, and the EU appearing license plates on the cars.  Since the cruise ship was anchored out, the cars were all small, and the shadows indicated a western view, my first guess was a country in the eastern Adriatic.

Before trying to find it by scanning with Google maps (especially since my internet is so slow), further research was in order.   The cruise ship seemed like a good place to start.  Aha, there seems to be a logo on the ship’s funnel.  It took me awhile to find the company, probably because it seems improbable that Royal Caribbean has ships in the Mediterranean.   Then I tried to figure out which of their ships it was.  This was not made easy, since the ships pictured on their site seem to be intentionally poor, missing or consisting of only representative sketches.  I then looked for their Med itineraries, and worked backward from there.  It turns out to be the Splendour of the Seas.  It’s interesting that most images I found of this ship do not match the one in the window view; it turns out that updates have been made recently to add a whole row of balconies to one level.

Then I just walked through the itineraries for this ship and looked for a west pointing pier with two islands off its end. Et voila!

(Archive)

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

What do we have to go on? Boxy architecture, A/C units, and radio towers as far as the eye can see. So it’s a warm climate that’s not very affluent, but still forward enough that people can afford air conditioning. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess a suburb of Jakarta. (I’m probably completely wrong and this is Venezuela or some other Central or South American country, which was my other instinctual reaction.)

Another:

Post-Soviet concrete, plus lots of antennae and cisterns – and an abundance of balcony foliage and reckless power lines. I’d put this somewhere in Anatolia, Turkey. And since Syria might be getting some more public attention this week, I’ll say it’s Gaziantep.

Another:

This has to be Japan, and somewhere reasonably north, judging by the winter sky and vegetation. There’s no other clues to its location other than the large number of masts in the background. It looks like Tokyo, and there’s a US communications station in Fuchu, so I’m going to guess there.

Another:

Isn’t it the dream city at the end of Inception?  I think the buildings are about to fall …

Another:

I have no idea what city this week’s VFYW shows, but I am just glad I don’t live there.

Another:

A tough one with not much to go on. I can’t wait to find out what city it is and if anyone can guess the actual window. I’m guessing Barcelona, Spain. And since I’m guessing, and it’s a big city, I’m going with the Ciutat Vella neighbourhood. The only things I had to go on: 1) I thought the city had a vaguely European or possibly South American feel – based on the flower boxes and some architectural clues. 2) It obviously has weather extremes, as there are lots of chimneys and A/C units. 3) It appears to have water issues, as there are several water tanks visible. With that little bit of information I deduced Barcelona, but for the life of me couldn’t find the right view. I found a few that were close but missing the cell phone tower (and a map of cell phone towers for Barcelona didn’t help, as there are well over 100).

Another reader:

Arrgh!

I’ve gone from Albania to Romania to Moldova to Lebanon … I think I’m settling on Athens, Greece. I’ve been, but not long enough to have a solid memory of this kind of vantage point. It’s the only place I’ve found with windows that look right on buildings that are densely packed enough, along with the stair-shaped buildings. Pictures of Athens seem to feature more awnings over apartment balconies than I see in the contest picture, but I am drained. Athens! The window is a needle in a haystack, but if I had to guess I’d say somewhere in the Zografou area.

Another:

I know this is Beirut – it just has to be! There aren’t any discernible clues to my eyes in the photo – so it COULD be somewhere like Istanbul or even somewhere in Eastern Europe. And one has to consider, if you did Amman last week, why would you choose another neighboring city in the region like Beirut. But I know the city skyline in Beirut, and a considerable portion of it (especially in the suburbs) looks like that. The difficulty is pinpointing an area of the city. I’m going to guess Hamra Stree area in downtown Beirut just because some of the apartments in this photo look pretty nice and upscale – which is typical of this area. This is only the second VFYW that I have entered and I’m finding it a challenge!

Another gets in the right area:

I’m pretty sure this is São Paulo, Brazil because I live there. Looks like a decent neighborhood, but I don’t know more specifically.

Another nails the right country and city:

The photo shouted out Latin America, and closer inspection gives clues that this is Buenos Aires, Argentina (BA). Aside from the traditional and heavily built-up urban aesthetic, the barren vines on the lot-line wall on the left indicate this this is their comparatively mild winter. The balconies at the high-rise to the right are installed right up to the corner – a Latin-American speciality – while the location of several ACs in through-wall sleeves at the center-right building is a particularly New York City approach that harks back to the first buildings retrofitted with air-conditioners, something only likely in a city that was already highly urbanized in the ’50s. Finally, I recall from my youth reading National Geographic that BA is a city spiked with these funny sorts of television towers spaced at odd intervals, and recent photos confirm that this is still the case.

Now as soon as Google gets around to driving their Streetview vehicles around BA’s streets, uploads and stitch together all of the views and includes it in their maps, I’ll be able to tell you where exactly this is. Unfortunately, since my lovely wife isn’t patient enough to have me look through the thousands of user-submitted Google photos of BA (apparently this thing called “dinner” is calling), the best I can do today is look at the wide expanse of city in the background, observe the shadows from the sun in the north, and conclude the view is taken in the southern part of the city; I’m guessing the neighborhood of Constitucion.

Am I close?

Very close. Another guess:

The balconies full of plants make me think of Buenos Aires. I lived there for seven months and that is one of the strongest lasting visual impressions I have of the city: green in every balcony. The lack of Victorian-era architecture makes me think it’s the outskirts as opposed to the city center. The prevalence of air conditioners would put it at one of the richer suburbs. Shot in the dark: Ramos Mejia.

Another gets the right neighborhood:

I believe this is Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I know because I am here right now on vacation and it is sunny and cold, and this sort of all-floor apartment building architecture is very common.

Another:

I’m fairly certain this is Buenos Aires, though I suspect identifying the precise window will be fairly difficult even for your most skillful VFYW maniacs. The entire central part of the city has a skyline that looks very similar. I’m leaving from LA to Buenos Aires on Monday. When I arrive there Tuesday I’ll look for the exact location.

One of the earliest winners of the window contest – #9 from Sarajevo – nearly gets the exact location:

I haven’t entered one of these in a couple of years, but I wanted to write because I recognized it in about 5 seconds. This is a view from relatively high up in a building in the lower 1600 block of calle Montevideo in Recoleta, Buenos Aires between Guido and Quintana, looking North-East. (Unfortunately, Google Streetview has not made it to Argentina, so I can’t identify the exact number.)

Last November, my husband and I stayed at the Algodon Mansions, a couple of doors down the street, during our honeymoon. It was fabulous. Best memory is probably lingering over a sublime steak at a parrilla in San Telmo before stumbling on one of the local gay clubs on the way home and stopping by to demonstrate Gangnam Style to some rather befuddled locals, staying out to 6am – first time in about a decade!

The clear winner this week:

I’ve never submitted to a VFYW competition and I’m amazed by the investigative powers (and time commitment) of your readers who do. But I had to submit this time, because this picture is clearly Buenos Aires. I’m from New York, but I live in BA part-time for work. The architecture, strung cable lines from building to building, the nature of the sky – they all scream Buenos Aires. I also pretty quickly guessed Recoleta, given the architecture (I myself live in Palermo Soho, and it doesn’t look like this).

Having narrowed it down substantially, how does one go about getting an address and even perhaps a window location? There are not a lot of landmarks to go by – a couple of cell phone towers. I’ve been through the experience of living in temporary apartment rentals here, researching the apartments online. They often have shots out the window or from a terrace that I thought might help orient me against those landmarks. Scanning a Google images search on Recoleta apartment rentals, I somewhat quickly came across an airbnb apartment rental picture that I thought might have the same cell tower in the background. Clicking through to the actual ad on airbnb, I realized I got luckier than I thought:

A bit of scrolling through the pictures – the 11th photo specifically – revealed nearly the exact same view, although possibly one or two floors above the VFYW window. There isn’t the plant near the window of the airbnb ad, so I don’t think this is precisely the same apartment – but clearly in the same vertical line. The building is the Concord Callao, Avenida Callao, 1234. The view is western – toward Riobamba and away from Callao. The view is out the living room window. I would guess about the 10th floor.

That was fun!

From the submitter:

Evidence that I’m a hardcore Dishhead (or that I just don’t get out much): I was hugely gratified when I saw you’d used my photo! It’s evidence of the limitations of photography, as well, because the actual view out that window is much prettier than what you see here. I couldn’t get the lens to see what my eyes saw.

I’ll be surprised if people get this one, as it’s an internal/courtyard view. The apartment building is 1234 Callao, in the part of Buenos Aires where Recoleta meets Barrio Norte (not too far from Palermo, not too far from Once) but the apartment (1210) is on the back side of the building. I spent a wonderful month here, researching a new book project and eating too much bitter-chocolate ice cream. (Unfortunately, Buenos Aires’ three main ice cream chains, Persicco, Freddo, and Volta, all have outposts within a block of this building.)

(Archive)

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

The architecture and the many satellite dishes and TV antennas are reminiscent of the couple of countries in the Arab world I have visited . The “star and crescent” in one of the windows also suggests that we are in an Arab country. The writing on the water tank could be in Arabic. I assume the location is Egyptian because of the the structure of the number plate of the vehicle; it has a horizontal band running along the top, and a Google image search of “number plate” and various Arab countries suggests that this could be an Egyptian number plate.

While this is not an upscale neighborhood, the buildings look fairly modern and there is a number of ornamental trees. For local standards this is a higher-end neighborhood. According to some Egyptian real estate websites, Zamalek, an affluent district of central Cairo, encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island, could fit the bill. I have never been in Egypt (other than the Cairo airport), so I am probably off by hundreds or even thousands of miles.

Just hundreds. Another reader:

The red star and crescent in the window of the building and the general Middle Eastern looking buildings led me to Turkey, but the buildings didn’t look quite right.  After looking at photos from Cypress, I am going to guess the location is Nicosia, Cypress.

Another:

The style of the buildings and their stone exteriors (this type of rock is locally called Jerusalem stone) are a clear giveaway that this picture was taken in West Jerusalem.  You can also see water tanks on the roofs with attached solar panels, which are ubiquitous throughout Israel.

Another goes east:

It’s quite obviously Jerusalem, and the Arabic writing on the roof-top water tank puts it in East Jerusalem. Beyond that I’m not sure, so gonna guess somewhere in Sheikh Jarrah, north of Damascus Gate.

Another:

This looks like somewhere in Israel/Palestine. Israel is one of the countries where solar water heaters are commonly used, and the only one of those places (according to Google) where you might expect to find Arabic script. The landscape and architecture confirm this. The stone looks like “Jerusalem stone,” which suggests a locale somewhere in that area. The car has what look like white plates, which indicates an area controlled by the Palestinian Authority, not Israel.

Since the West Bank is basically a blank spot according to Google Maps (few if any street names), it’s hard to get very precise. So I’m going to hazard a guess and say this is Ramallah. The apartments look like recent construction, so I’m going to say specifically the Beytunia neighborhood, which is where a lot of new housing has been built as a result of Ramallah’s building boom. That would make the communication tower on the hill in the distance a part of the Israeli settlement of Psagot, which is built on a mountain overlooking central Ramallah. Fingers crossed!

Another gets a strong feeling:

This street is one of the favorite views of my life. This might sound a bit crazy, but I know this view because I lived in the house where this photo was taken for two years about twelve years ago.

It’s Kuwait City, Kuwait. The neighborhood is a bit more built up than I remember, but I’m sure this is it. This was my window. This was my view. This was our home when my children were babies and toddlers. This is the balcony where I sat with them in the evening. Seeing the image now of the low sun reflecting off the buildings, I can feel the heat and the heavy evening breeze. I can smell the hot dusty sand in the air, and I can see my young daughters’ super wide smiles. And I’m dying right now, because the heavy heat and my daughters’ smiles made those evenings so peaceful. I really miss it too much.

Another is also confident:

I am sure it is Lebanon because of the red roof in the distance behind the building in the front. Those are typical historical Lebanese homes, so it has to be Lebanon. We have got a repeat of the Islamic “muqarna” motif in this photo as well – similar to the recent view from the Al Hambra. The entrance portico of the building in the photo has a modernist architectural approach to a “mihrab” – a feature typical of most mosques oriented in the direction of Mecca. The question is what city. I doubt it’s the capital, Beirut, because there are too many trees. I would have to guess Jbeil, or perhaps Aukar near the American Embassy.

Another Lebanon guesser:

Gonna say Beirut and the neighborhood of Geitawi. Arabic script on that small sign atop the near building and what looks like cypress (?) trees to the left.  I’m guessing Geitawai because when I googled “cypress trees in beirut,” I found this story.

Another:

I was so close but just a bit too far north last week for the Olympia, WA view. Now I feel close but so far! I have been to Tunisia but didn’t get to spend much time in Tunis. The neighborhood looks newer and pretty nice. And are those solar panels? So maybe a more progressive/modern area? My husband thinks Istanbul but that thing on the roof with the tank appears to have Arabic script on it so I decided to rule that out. The Islamic crescent and star on the window is so helpful but so not helpful at the same time! So I’m just going to take a guess of Tunis, Tunisia.

Another nails the right city:

This is my first time guessing for the VFYW contest, and usually my personal guesses are wrong, but I think I know this one.  It’s definitely a Muslim country, with the red crescent and star in the window in the building across the street.  And the white buildings everywhere remind me of Amman, as that certain shade is mandated by law within the city.  There are a few too many trees for me to make this guess entirely comfortably, but they only seem to be in the foreground, and the hill rising in the back doesn’t appear to have any (another indication its Amman, because its a very hilly city).  So that’s my guess.

Correct guess. Another Amman entry:

I lived there for three years. Haven’t quite figured out how to search images/maps and pinpoint the exact location but this is the first VFYW contest where I’ve immediately guessed it. I hope someone gets the precise location – can’t wait to find out what it is. It’s been driving me crazy.

Another:

This has to be Amman.  Probably the Abdoun neighborhood, in the leafy (by Jordanian standards) western reaches of the city. This has been killing me all week, because I suspect the photo was taken within a mile or so of my apartment.  I kept adjusting my route to work, hoping I’d pass by the view in question.  But, alas, no luck.  I’m sure someone cleverer than me has nailed down the exact location …

Here’s Grand Champion Doug Chini’s entry:

With most contests the hard part is finding the right city, while finding the exact address is easier, but this week is a prime example of the opposite situation. We’re almost certainly in the city of Amman, Jordan, but that choice of city means trouble. Amman’s architecture is strikingly uniform, in part due to government edict, and in part because so much of it has been built in just the past few decades. This is especially the case in the newer suburbs to the west of the city’s historical center. A best estimate then for the exact location would be in the Rabiya neighborhood which is bounded by Khalda to the north and Abdoun to the southeast and sits near the sixth of the city’s famous traffic circles.

About a dozen readers correctly guessed Amman, but no one got the exact location, as described by the submitter:

It’s from Amman, Jordan, which isn’t all that thrilling but I don’t think you’ve used one from there in a while. I was recently visiting a friend who is now living in Jordan, starting his own business. This is the view from his balcony in Amman, near 8th Circle (house number 3, Al-Hajil Street). Here‘s the exact location. Despite the fact that it’s the capital of Jordan, Amman only got street names three years ago, so finding things gets a little complicated! I visited my friend during Ramadan, which makes life interesting for California atheist expats such as himself. His requests to me: “real” bacon, glazed donuts, flip flops, aviator sunglasses, rum, tequila, and avocados. (I only brought the shoes and shades.)

None of the Amman guessers correctly answered a difficult view in the past, so the tiebreaker this week goes to the reader who has participated in the most contests overall.  Since all of the Amman guessers but one have participated in just one or two contests, the following reader, who has entered eight, is the winner this week:

THAT is Amman, Jordan. But man, it could be one of many neighborhoods in West Amman. I don’t see a single unique feature in the whole picture. I’ll guess that this is in Shmeisani, just ’cause.

(Archive)

A reader writes:

Such a classic-looking American lake photo, especially that flag.  At first was thinking Lake George in the Adirondacks, but the mountains are too big, so I shifted to the Rockies. There is very little development on the lake and peculiarly no boats anywhere, despite being a beautiful day and seemingly temperate time of the year (else there’d be more snow visible).  So I thought of Lake Yellowstone in Wyoming, which may be “protected” to some degree from boat usage, and images of the lake (e.g. this, this) suggest that may well be the case, as they feature the same combination of low altitude forests with high altitude mountains nearby.  There are at least some hotels and restaurants allowed on the lake, and so this photo may have been taken from one of those.

Another’s guess:

Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri? My Great Uncle Robert would take us out on the lake when I was a kid. He had a grill on his pontoon boat. The burgers tasted like lighter fluid. Good times.

Another:

This guess honors my brother, who loved boating on Lake Strom Thurmond, Georgia during his posting at nearby Fort Gordon. I’ll guess the military marina.  The area is littered with sites named to honor racists – including Richard Russell State Park and Calhoun Falls Recreation Area – and Lake Strom Thurmond is itself the subject of a naming controversy, as Georgia still refers to the lake as Clarkes Hill Lake.

Another provides a bit of trivia:

Could be anywhere, so this is a wild guess, but it appears to be Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota.  Ah, but which town? Ummmm, Garrison? Sure. Oh, that’s right, amazing facts must be included: Garrison is the smallest town to have a McDonalds.

Another:

It looks like the Chesapeake Bay to me. It’s too rural to be Baltimore, but the raven statue would seem to mean a Baltimore Ravens fan lives there, so not far from Baltimore. The water seems to be narrowing, so I’ll go with northeast of Baltimore. Looking at the map of the west coast of the bay north of Baltimore, I happen to see … Romney Creek, just north of Bush River. But that is Aberdeen Proving Ground, so the flowers and raven statue are a little too personal. I’ll go with Carroll Island, Middle River, Maryland.

Another:

That looks like Lake Charlevoix, where I spend my summers and the place I’m currently missing desperately as I’m taking a SuperShuttle van from BWI into DC. I’d guess it was taken from a cottage on the north arm of the lake, looking west towards Charlevoix and the channel to Lake Michigan. It could be any number of lakes in Northern Michigan, but the clouds, trees, and shores look just like Charlevoix.

Another:

In the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence river, possibly taken from the Canadian side. I’m taking a guess based on two summer vacations there.  The picture makes me want to go again; it’s a beautiful place.

Another:

This could be any of 50,000 places in Minnesota. The lack of development around the shore would suggest it is a place with lots of shoreline available and/or far from the Twin Cities. Swan Lake, halfway between Grand Rapids and Hibbing is as good a place to guess as any.

Another assumes too much:

Mitt Romney’s deck on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire!

Another gets on the right track:

Well, you threw us a bone with the American flag (unless you’re really sadistic and this is some ex-pat flying a flag in Canada or Norway or Japan or Patagonia). As such, it focuses really quickly on the San Juan islands north of Seattle. Snowy mountains? Check. Ocean-y-looking water? Check. Easily identifiable features? Uh …

It appears to be a view to the west, based on the length and direction of the shadows. Beyond that? Who knows. If you need a tie-breaking decision on the exact location (although I’m sure I’m way off) here’s a link to my approximate guess. I’m sure I’m off by a lot, though.

Another:

I’ve seen an iron raven like that before – unfortunately, it’s on a stick in my wife’s back yard garden.  That might make me think this is an Alaskan scene, but the view seems more Puget Sound or the San Juan Islands than Alaska.  The mountains in the back are almost certainly the Olympics, and the lack of sodden wood in this deck makes me think we are in its rain shadow, so let’s go with Orcas Island (second choice would be somewhere around Port Townsend).  No time to look today … summer is running out.

Another:

It sure looks like my neck of the woods: the San Juan Islands in Washington state. Which island? Not sure. Which inn or window? Again, not sure. I know, I’m kind of worthless. I have a bet with my daughter that before I die, one of my bad answers will appear at the top of the list of wrong guesses. I’ll let you know when I’m on my deathbed, so you can grant me this bucket-list wish.

Too long to wait. Another reader:

I’ve never entered A VFYW contest, because I really, really suck at it. I friggin’ LIVED in Ulaanbaatar, when you had the photo from there. I saw it, thought “hey, that’s UB,” the noticed the trees (of which I think there are two in the whole town) and decided, “nah.”

But here again, I looked at this picture and just KNOW it’s somewhere on the Puget Sound. I grew up in Tacoma, and my father is a scuba instructor, so I have been in every nook and cranny of that place with any kind of claim to a beach. But honestly, I don’t have a clue as to where on the Puget Sound. It does look to be somewhere around the Tacoma area, so I’ll say Gig Harbor, though it could be Poulsbo, Bremerton – who knows? I’m just thrilled to death I recognized the Sound.

Another:

My instant reaction was Puget Sound/Olympic Peninsula/San Juan Islands. We were fortunate to live in the Seattle area for a bit in the early ’80s and there is nothing like seeing the Olympic mountains, or the Cascades, on a clear day.

It took a bit of digging through Google Earth to discover that the mountains in the background were not the Olympics, but the Cascade range, beyond Seattle. The view is from Sinclair Island in the San Juans, looking more or less SSE, with Cypress Island on the right and Guemes Island on the left and center. My best guess, based on lining up the end of the dock, is the house circled below:

Another:

The proximity to land, decrepit dock and snow on the mountain peaks (the Olympic Mountains) – it is Vashon, Washington. Vashon lies in Puget Sound between Seattle to the north and Tacoma to the south. With access to the mainland only by ferry, Vashon has a remote, country feel while being a 15 minute (or so) ferry ride into the big city. Lots of small farms, artsy types and cars you might see in Havana (meaning old). Here is a NY Times travel piece from last year that captures the place very well. Come visit! Coffee on me at the Burton Coffee Stand at the south end of the island.

Another:

I’d guess looking West up Nisqually Reach towards the Olympic Mountains, maybe from Steilacoom. A view from a free and tolerant state that recently legalized both pot and gay marriage.

Another gets the right city:

I am hopeful that this is 5538 Marian Drive NE in Olympia, and I’m certain this view is from a home in that neighborhood – just around the corner from the Nisqually Delta in the South Sound. What a nice view. My partner and I moved four months ago from Seattle to a dried out, dusty little farm town in the Oregon Wine Country and we have been really missing the water lately.

An accurate aerial view from a reader:

Another nails the right address in Olympia:

Longtime lurker, first time entrant in the VFYW contest. Whenever a photo is posted on your blog, I hope to see a place I know well or a place I’ve been to. Today’s photo is both for me. In fact, I was just on a ferry today, sailing across the Puget Sound from my home in Seattle to Bremerton to pick up half of a pastured hog. Needless to say, I instantly recognized the locale of today’s photo.

I believe this photo was taken from the living room window of a house located at 5534 Crestview Loop NE in Olympia, WA. The dots in the water that resemble geese are actually the remnants of an old shipwreck. The majestic Olympic mountains are in the background.

BTW, you posted one of my photos in the Weirder Windows category a month or so ago, taken from under a beach umbrella at Priest Lake, Idaho. We’ve just returned from our annual visit. I’m an atheist, but that place is holy.

A correct guesser of a previous difficult view provides a precise visual:

Answer: The picture was taken from the rear of 5534 Crestview Loop NE, Olympia, WA 98516 looking northwest towards the Olympic Mountains.  The rear of the house seems to have a set of glass doors and a bay with three windows.  I think the contest window is the west most window in the bay (left most when looking out from the house).  Attached are two pictures identifying the window.

The only other “correct guesser” gets more detailed:

One look at this week’s VFYW and I knew it was the USA’s Pacific Northwest.  I’ve never lived there, but I travel there occasionally for work and I love the place.  I so wanted the picture to be in one of my all-time favorite places, the San Juan Islands, but I couldn’t find that dilapidated pier anywhere on Google Maps, so I decided to put a little more thought into my search.

First, the shadows cast by the porch furniture are short, indicating midday.  Since midday shadows point north here, the photo looks northwest.  At the far end of the reach are snow-capped mountains, which looked to me like the Olympic Mountains of Washington.  The area between Olympia and Tacoma has two or three broad saltwater reaches aiming northwest toward the Olympic Mountains, so that’s where I resumed my search for the broken-down pier.  And there it was, on the southern shore of Nisqually Reach, between Butterball Cove and De Wolf Bight, near Lacey, Thurston County, Washington, USA.

The next challenge was determining the location of the window, and I struggled for a while because I focused on the wrong cluster of nearby houses.  A seemingly unimportant item in Google’s satellite image came to my rescue.  Google’s satellite photo shows the skeleton of a sunken boat about 400 meters southeast of the pier.  Sure enough, a few pieces of the wreck are sticking out of the water in the VFYW photo, directly in line with the landward end of the pier.  Drawing a line on the satellite image from the landward end of the pier through the wreck brought me to the correct cluster of houses.

Then, noting the staircase, the neighbor’s white fence, and the hint of a gray gravel path bordered by shrubbery on the other side of that fence, I concluded that the photo was taken from the northern end of the house at 5534 Crestview Loop NE, Olympia/Lacey, Washington, USA 98516.  In case the house number is incorrect (although both Google Maps and MapQuest agree on it), in the lineup of six waterfront homes along Crestview Loop, the VFYW home is the third from the left (West) end.  Furthermore, both Olympia and Lacey seem to be valid city addresses for the location.  I lack the skills to capture a picture with an arrow pointing to the house, so my description will have to suffice.

So far I’ve had a few correct VFYW Contest submissions, but no tie-breaker yet.  As much as I would love to win the book, with this VFYW I don’t care.  I enjoyed being transported back to a place I love.  Even if I lose, I will have been rewarded.

The tie-breaker this week is one of the closest ones ever, between the last two readers cited above. Since they more or less provided equally accurate answers, and since they have both gotten a difficult view in the past without winning, the determining factor has to come down to the total number of contests entered. The last cited reader has entered 9 total contests, but the reader with the visual has entered 14 contests, so he wins the prize this week. Thanks to everyone else for the wonderful entries. See you again on Saturday for the next contest.

But here’s one more impressive entry, from a first-time contestant:

A friend of mine said I should follow up with some details of how I narrowed down the location of this week’s photo. In all the excitement, at first I focused solely on the foreground.  The flag was a give-away for the country, and the chairs and water made me think this was on the east-coast somewhere.  After a little while I noticed that there were large mountains in the background, which immediately made me switch my focus to the Seattle area (I’m from Vancouver so the combination of water, mountains, and evergreen forest suddenly looked very familiar).

I next focused on the direction that the photographer was facing.  Short shadows from the furniture suggested that it was around noon.  The shadows also suggested that the porch faces roughly north, and the photographer was looking north-west.  This reinforced my hunch that it was near Seattle as this is the only place that I could think of in the US where you can face north-west and see large mountains across a large expanse of salt-water surrounded with evergreen forests.  It had to be in Puget Sound looking at the Olympic mountains.

Next I looked at other photos that showed the Olympic mountains from different areas around Seattle to get an idea of how large or small the mountains would appear depending on how far away the photographer was.  This let me know that the photographer could have been as far away as Tacoma.  I next focused on channels in Puget Sound, searching Google Maps along the north-facing shores for a combination of an old broken-down dock and adjacent houses with north facing porches.  After an hour or so of searching, I found a likely dock and house combination.

What really sealed it for me was the fact that there was a shipwreck on a tidal flat directly between the houses and dock – a feature which can be seen in the photo.  Running a ruler from the near end of the dock, over the shipwreck to the houses let me pinpoint a house, which had a back porch with stairs in the same configuration as the photo.  Further confirmation was obtained by comparing the treetops on the shore directly above the dock with street-view images taken from up the road behind the house.  In street-view I could also see that the neighbour house has a white fence with the same fence-post style as the photo, and that the house I pinpointed had a back porch with the same style of railing as the photo.

I hope that’s not too much information!

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A reader writes:

First impression of the picture gives me a distinct eastern Mediterranean vibe.  The architecture and climate could fit anywhere between Egypt and Turkey.  While it wouldn’t shock me if this was on the Iberian Peninsula somewhere, I’m staking my claim in Jordan.  It seems a bit too sparsely vegetated for Turkey, too hilly for the Nile delta, and with conflict in Syria, I’m eliminating that country.  It’s a crap shoot between Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon but I had to pick one, so here’s hoping.

Another reader:

I’ve never entered the contest before, but the decoration around the window is the first thing that struck me as so familiar. Though the coloring in the photo isn’t very sharp, the view and the pines also drew me to Villa d’Este, Tivoli, Lazio, Italy.  Looking through photos I have from my last visit, so many of the buildings are similar. Though I’m not sure what exact window in the Villa it was taken, I believe it is facing north from a 3rd floor window toward the Reserva Naturale Monte Catillo. The only other problem is most windows in the villa are rectangular with only a few being arched.

But there are so many sights like this in central Italy, it could be just about anywhere.  Oh, well! It did take me back to my last trip to Italy.

Another:

Is it the view from the bell tower of St. Francis of Assisi church, Umbria, Italy (and a hat-tip to the pope for his comments about gays last week?)

Another:

It looks like the hilly areas around Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives.

Another:

Tehran? Parts of it are extremely affluent and some of the architecture there is Beverly Hills-esque. That’s my guess.

Another gets in the right territory:

My guess is that this picture was taken in the southern part of Spain, Andalusia region. Specifically I think it is Cordoba. My wife and I went to Malaga for our honeymoon, so when I saw the picture, the South of Spain immediately came to my mind. It looks like the great mosque-cathedral or maybe Alcazar Palace.

Another nails the exact location:

Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey. Right away, I narrowed this week’s contest to those four countries. Next, I eliminated Spain, since last week’s contest was in Spain, and what are the odds? Then I crossed off Italy, since those windows seemed to be plainer. Nothing really doing in Greece, so I turned to Turkey, fairly confident. The detail on the arches themselves, the Byzantine-looking designs around windows, Turkey seemed like a strong possibility.

But then I found the attached picture, and PLOT TWIST, it’s actually in Spain.

Specifically, it’s from the Alhambra, in Granada, Andalusia, Spain, facing north. Thanks for an easier one after last week. Although I did learn a lot last week, and I was the fifth or sixth best guess, which I’ll take given how hard it was.

Another provides some history:

The Alhambra was originally constructed as a fortress in 889 and later converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.  As Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquest of Spain, the last Muslim ruler Muhammad XII of Granada surrendered the Emirate of Granada in 1492, a singular year for the Spanish Empire for several reasons besides this final capitulation of Islam in the West.  Legend has it that as the Moorish royal party moved south toward exile, they reached a rocky prominence which gave a last view of the city. Muhammad XII, surveying for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below, burst into tears. Whereupon his mother, clearly a an unsentimental person, reproached him bitterly mocking, “Thou dost weep like a woman for what thou couldst not defend as a man.”

Another reader:

The window is one of four twin arches in the Oratory at the Alhambra, which means Red Castle in Arabic:

I’m still frustrated I didn’t get my submission in on time last week, so I looked at this week and thought: I’m not sure that I’m ready to face it.  I gave it to my wife to look at, and in less than ten minutes she said: “It’s Alhambra, Spain!”  If I win with this submission – when it wasn’t even me that found it – and when I might have won last week’s really hard one if I’d just got the time change right, then well, I guess c’est la vie.

Another:

I have a feeling that this week’s contest might not be too difficult.  It took about 10 seconds to find a higher quality picture similar to the contest photo to confirm that we are in Granada Spain north of the Alhambra. Then it took some time searching images from inside the Queen’s Dressing Room, the Comares Tower, the Ladies Tower, and the Tower of Mihrab before finally stumbling on the Oratory:

You posted my aerial view with the red lines in the answer to #156.  It was one of the first contests I entered and the first time you posted anything I submitted. I assume that I will lose this one because either I was yet again one or two windows off or someone else will win the tiebreak.  As always, thanks for the contest.

Another:

The palace is of course beautiful, and its reputation is well-deserved. One interesting fact is that there are some 10,000 calligraphic inscriptions in the palace, which are apparently not at all easy to read even for Arabic speakers.  Amazingly, there was no effort to systematically catalog and transcribe them until recently.

Rick Steves provides an up-close tour:

Another reader:

You must be feeling charitable this week. I’ve seen so many of these views where I had not even the slightest clue. This one is obvious enough that I imagine you’ll receive a flood of emails. The Alhambra Palace – one of the most magnificent and beautiful creations of humanity, is the site of the photo. If it’s not, then you’ve really out-tricked me.

I had the opportunity to visit the Alhambra about 13 years ago, and found myself enthralled. I could’ve spent days wandering the place, examining the details and taking in the views. It’s a remarkable achievement from when the Moors ruled Spain.

We did indeed receive a flood of emails this week. Of the more than 150 readers who wrote in, about 95% answered Alhambra. About a dozen of those readers’ email addresses are marked with a “Correct Guesser” filter, which means they have gotten a difficult view (defined as one guessed by 10 or fewer readers) without having won the tie-breaker.  Of those dozen, one clearly stands out for the number of contests participated in (31), so that reader breaks the tie this week. (His entry is the first visual one seen above, the one with a “PLOT TWIST”.)  One more reader writes:

Didn’t you already do Granada within the last year? Regardless, this week took me all of 12 seconds, and I’ve never even been to Granada, so I’m going to assume that I have a flat zero chance at winning (especially since this is a famous window), but I’ll go ahead and submit a guess to hopefully better my chances of winning someday. Not to complain, but all of the recent contests have regularly been either some of the easiest or most difficult ever, any chance you could try to hit that middle ground a little more often?

Finding a good contest candidate – an interesting location that is not too easy, not too hard – is incredibly difficult, especially lately.  Often it takes close to an hour combing through unused VFYWs just to find a decent candidate. So bear with us a little; the contest is only as good as its options.

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