Category: Reveal

The Ides of March, 44BCE. Outside the Theatre of Pompey, Gaius Julius Caeser had just given a speech to the Senate. Then, all heck broke out.

According to a plaque placed there by Caesar’s adopted son and heir, Octavian, aka Augustus Caesar, This was the location of the assassination on that fateful March evening. This is where the Roman Republic died and the Roman Empire was born. And, according to the play above, this is where “Et tu, Brute?” was spoken.

Those who came to the Curia before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• Phil Ower
• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Martin de Bock
• Garfield
• Ashwini Agrawal
• Graham Hedley
• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse

And after the hint:

• mavidavu
• Kiribatian Jacob
• Hilde Lambeir

You know that old saying “Won the battle but lost the war”?

In 1812, Napoleon had it bad for Russia. He wanted to conquer Russia, and Borodino was his last stop before Moscow. The little colonel put over 150,000 battle-hardened soldiers on the field against a similar number of defenders.

When the day was done, the French had held the field, but at a heavy cost. They lost well over 30,000 soldiers, including a healthy chunk of their leadership.

Borodino is considered a pyrrhic victory for Napoleon. The French took Moscow but were so weakened that Tsar Alexander was under insufficient pressure to sue for peace. Unable to fully capitalize on the win, the Grande Armée eventually had to withdraw, in winter, back to France.

The Battle of Borodino plays a pretty significant part in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Pierre enters the battle as an enthusiastic spectator of warfare and leaves disillusioned and drenched in the blood of his fellow countrymen.

Those who found this site before the hint included:

• krenek
• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Garfield
• Eloy Cano
• Martin de Bock
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Kiribatian Jacob
• Phil Ower

And after the hint:

• Graham Hedley
• Darko Vusak

Featured in James Fenimore Cooper’s “Last of the Mohicans”, this location is where Natty Bumppo (aka Hawk-eye) and his Mohican brothers take the sisters and their English soldier guards to hide from Magua.

This photo of Cooper’s Cave is courtesy of Tripadvisor

The cave itself is visible from a viewing stand under the bridge.

Those who found it besides Magua and his band included:

• krenek
• Paul Voestermans
• hhgygy
• Walter_V_R
• Phil Ower
• Lighthouse
• Eloy Cano
• Graham Hedley
• Martin de Bock
• Garfield

And after the hint:

• Ashwini Agrawal
• Chris Nason

With a perfect score of 20, Graham Hedley is our series champion.

Last in this series of islands around the world was the small island of Brecqhou, just west of Sark. Brecqhou Fort was built by the billionaire Barclay brothers Work on Brecqhou, began in 1993 when they bought the Channel Island.

Found the right island before the hint:

• krenek
• Walter_V_R
• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Graham Hedley
• Martin de Bock
• Garfield
• madone
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• BurningSoul
• Phil Ower
• Luís Filipe Miguel

After the hint:

• David Kozina

Beating the end of the island series, this week we visited the island of Hirta, part of St. Kilda in the United Kingdom.

The actual location in the picture shows the World Heritage Site – for cultural and natural reasons.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387

Recent research indicates that the archipelago has been occupied on and off for over 4000 years. The landscape including houses, large enclosures and cleits – unique drystone storage structures found, in their hundreds, across the islands and stacks within the archipelago – culminates in the surviving remains of the nineteenth and twentieth century cultural landscape of Village Bay.

The St Kilda Wren and St Kilda Fieldmouse live here and are not found anywhere else.

With nearly one million seabirds present at the height of the breeding season, St Kilda supports the largest seabird colony in the north-east Atlantic, its size and diversity of global significance making it a seabird sanctuary without parallel in Europe.

Found before the hint:

• hhgygy
• Walter_V_R
• Martin de Bock
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• Luís Filipe Miguel
• Graham Hedley
• Garfield
• Paul Voestermans
• Eloy Cano
• madone
• Luciano P.
• Walter Schirra

After the hint:

• Chris Nason

This week’s Island was Amantani Island, found in Lake Titicaca, Peru.

It’s got a long history. There has two mountain peaks, Pachatata (“father earth”) and Pachamama (“mother earth”), with ancient Inca and Tiwanaku ruins on top of both. The hillsides are terraced, mostly worked by hand. There are no vehicles and no electricity on the island.

Wikipedia

Found before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Martin de Bock
• Phil Ower
• Garfield
• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse
• Graham Hedley
• MC Solaar

After the hint:

• MuThDdDe

Fisher Island just south of Miami Beach, Florida is this week’s island destination. It’s also one of the highest per capita areas in the US.

It was part of the island of Miami Beach until Government Cut was dredged leaving Fisher Island on its own. In 1925, the island was part of an interesting trade – the island going to William Vanderbilt III, the yacht going to the land developer Carl Fisher.

Getting to the island requires pre-arranged security clearance and a trip on the private 24 hour ferry.

Wikipedia entry for Fisher Island

Found before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• hhgygy
• Walter_V_R
• Martin de Bock
• Phil Ower
• Garfield
• madone
• Graham Hedley
• Lighthouse
• Luis Felipe Miguel

After the hint:

• Teemu Pukki
• ashwini agrawal

This week took us from Iceland to the Faroe Islands and the Vágatunnilin. This image shows the eastern end of the tunnel between Streymoy and Vagar Islands. It’s a 4.9 km tunnel under the sea.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/features/underwater-tunnels-revolutionize-the-faroes

Found what couldn’t be seen:

• Graham Hedley
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• hhgygy
• Garfield
• Phil Ower
• Walter_V_R
• Root007-1
• Lighthouse

Flatey Island is the only inhabited island of the 3,000 small islets dotting the dramatic Breidafjordur Bay on northwest Iceland. The island is significant for its combination of natural features and historical heritage.

It was voted the world’s best island according to Big 7 Travel: https://bigseventravel.com/2019/09/the-50-best-islands-in-the-world-for-2020/

Found another island in the sea:

• Phil Ower
• Garfield
• Martin de Bock
• Graham Hedley
• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Nancy

Sorry for the late hint – thanks hhgygy for reminding us!

The author of the Moomin books, Tove Jansson, and her partner Tuulikki Pietilä spent summers in the cabin on this tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Most of Jansson’s works were written either entirely or partly in this cabin.

Tours of the island and cabin are available, but only for a very short window in mid to late July. Only 8 persons at a time can visit the island and the boat only goes over once per day during the touring window of about 7-10 days, depending on weather, bird nesting, etc.

Those who found it before the hint were:

• Paul Voestermans
• Martin de Bock
• Graham Hedley
• Garfield
• hhgygy
• Phil Ower
• Lighthouse

And after the hint:

• Robin
• Andreas Meister
• Gillian B
• Walter_V_R
• Chris Nason
• René De La Carte