Where's this?

[biguc]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Close enough. Jajce, Bosnia.

What's the architectural feature, the brims around the edge of the rooves? And whatever it is, what's the story?

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by franktko

Geez, lichtenstein was actually the title of the photo you posted (I thought it was a joke) - which rofina then carefully took out when quoting your post

So true! I didn’t even see it, only saw the quoted image. The mountains definitely have an “Alps look” though. I don’t think you’d see pastures on the mountainsides like those in the picture in BC. Also, the buildings and even the pavers in that plaza were a good indication that this was in Europe.

[SignalHillHiker]

Not my area of expertise, but:

I just know that tidbit fact that you can differentiate them SO specifically an expert could pretty well guess the town with enough close-up shots. But I've seen LOTS of pics. It's really easy to tell the Medieval ones from the Ottoman ones, although they're similar. The Ottoman ones have almost no attic in comparison and almost always have a central courtyard. With the medieval ones, they range from no roof overhang in the West, to HUGE overhangs in the East. You'll get different colour roofs, with green being the least common and farthest west. The arrangement of the windows on the top floor and their number differs (in region and time, actually). I understand one big factor is which windows are screened (with elaborate wooden carvings between the glass and the outside world) - that denotes where the women's quarters were inside, and their placement is kind of regional too (i.e. in most of Bosnia the women's quarters in the later Ottoman houses were downhill from the men's, with a steep staircase between, to prevent young children from bothering the men, they literally couldn't climb up the super high stairs. Think of it like a sunken living room kids couldn't escape lol; but in parts of Montenegro at the same time, the women's quarters were on the highest floor for protection, etc.) It's a bunch of fascinating stuff.

So you see a pic like this:

208 by Xavi Tarafa, on Flickr

Apparently, You can guess it's a Balkan mosque by the square shape, you know the women's section is on the top floor because it's screened (and you know it's a fairly liberal area, as traditionally in that part of the world women didn't go to mosque at all, and rural ones often had no accommodations for them). You can see the roof has a large overhang. You can see the ground floor is very open, so Muslims in this region were obviously dominant with no need for privacy or protection. That'd narrow it down to Bosnia or northern Montenegro. I would guess northern Montenegro if I didn't already know (and be wrong). It's Travnik, Bosnia:

Travnik by Andy Shaw, on Flickr

It's like... my father can accurately guess which bay a Newfoundlander is from based on their accent. What sounds the same to me, he can be like, "Oh you're from down by St. Lawrence." I don't have the knowledge, I just know it exists lol

[biguc]

Fascinating! Thanks for that. I thought the Moorish influence in Andalusia was super interesting—I can't wait to go to the Balkans.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes, the "genericness" of the buildings was what led me to take the pic. I thought some might be fooled into thinking it was in BC.

And you were correct. My first reaction was "that pic is labeled 'Liechtenstein' but with those mountains and the genericness of that bank building, it could easily be somewhere in the Lower Mainland."

[Dengler Avenue]

Now this...

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

no peeking.

Actually, it could be any suburb in any Canadian city, as these horrible places all look the same and have the exact same mixture of stores/restaurants.

My first guess is Wonderland Road in London, but yes this could be any of 100s if not 1000s of different places. It does look specifically Ontario though.

[Dengler Avenue]

I vaguely remember that image from a video on "stroads", so it's either London or Vaughan.
Actually, it's probably London because there are no divided roadways (except 400-series expressways) in Vaughan.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by franktko

Geez, lichtenstein was actually the title of the photo you posted (I thought it was a joke) - which rofina then carefully took out when quoting your post

I thought I changed it, though not apparently on SSP.

[craner]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

no peeking.

Actually, it could be any suburb in any Canadian city, as these horrible places all look the same and have the exact same mixture of stores/restaurants.

I was going to guess Edmonton.
Not sure why but that is the first thing that popped into my head.

[megadude]

The answer to that pic is surprising. I know it's not GTA, but I wasn't expecting where it is.

[Chadillaccc]

It's not really thaaat surprising. It's basically just in Edmonton Jr. But it could have been anywhere in anglo Canada. The only city in the country I'd be surprised to see that in would be Quebec City, or within the actual municipality of Vancouver, but even then they both have their fair share of power centres on the outskirts.

[rousseau]

Bucharest doesn't have such orange homogeneity in its rooves. The website guy must have grabbed any old European photo to accompany the factoid. So where's this?

[whatnext]

Looks more like somewhere in Germany to me.

[suburbanite]

I don't know, the tower in the centre of the photo still gives off heavy Eastern European vibes. Just because it's not Bucharest doesn't mean it couldn't be somewhere else in Romania.

[suburbanite]

Given that the town looks pretty medieval and compact, I googled "best tourist towns in Romania" and found this list:

https://www.touropia.com/best-cities...it-in-romania/

In the number two spot is Brasov which has this photo:



The Church looks pretty similar to the one on the left side of the original photo. This is quickly confirmed on Google Maps.



It's actually pretty interesting how it shifts to very homogeneous red rooftops as soon as you go North of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Given that the town looks pretty medieval and compact, I googled "best tourist towns in Romania" and found this list:

https://www.touropia.com/best-cities...it-in-romania/

In the number two spot is Brasov which has this photo:

Wow, great investigative work on this. Thanks!

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

It's not really thaaat surprising. It's basically just in Edmonton Jr. But it could have been anywhere in anglo Canada. The only city in the country I'd be surprised to see that in would be Quebec City, or within the actual municipality of Vancouver, but even then they both have their fair share of power centres on the outskirts.

Outside of its historic city centre Quebec has everything that every other Canadian city has regardless of anglo or franco - wide avenues, suburbs, and power centres. There's really no difference aside from what brands or stores you like. The photo above of Regina could be literally anywhere in Canada and that's kind of the point.

We really praise Quebec's city centre here (for good reason) but it's also a bit of a tourist trap. Comes with the territory.

[SignalHillHiker]

Brasov is gorgeous. And has a Hollywood-style sign.

Sighisoara is my fave city in Romania - I've not been, I just mean in terms of the pics I've seen.

Which reminds me - not Romania, not Bosnia - but one of the most fascinating cities I've become aware of (not Tbilisi):


Booking.com

One hint is just to elaborate on what you see - the old part of the city is on the top of a modestly-deep river canyon. Creates a cool vibe like Santorini, but more earthy.

And a potentially bigger hint... the city's name has two words, the first meaning Great/Big/Etc.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Looks more like somewhere in Germany to me.

Too intact on a large scale to be Germany IMO. It could pass as a pre-WWII German city though.