Category: Reveal

This week’s contest location was a bridge in northern Ontario, Canada near the town of Nipigon. It’s the only spot that everyone must pass by when driving across the country. No other paved routes exist to go around this one bridge! The cable-stayed bridge in Canada carrying Highway 11 and Highway 17, designated as part of the Trans-Canada Highway, across the Nipigon River was constructed between 2013 and 2018 when the eastbound span was opened.

During the process of construction after the westbound span was opened and all traffic was crossing it, the bridge “broke” during the first period of extremely cold weather. On January 10, 2016, the new bridge was closed to traffic after all 40 M22 bolts attaching a main deck girder to the northwest bearing failed causing the deck to lift by 60 centimetres. The bridge fully reopened to one lane in each direction on February 25, 2016.

Found before the hint:

• Lighthouse
• Martin de Bock
• Phil Ower
• hhgygy
• Walter_V_R
• Glenmorren
• Graham Hedley
• Garfield
• Paul Voestermans
• Bas van Limpt
• David Kozina

This week’s contest location was a lake in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. Crane Lake is an endorheic lake (no outlet to an eventual ocean) and is a favourite stopping point for birds migrating north to the Canadian Arctic or south. It is part of an Important Bird Area (IBA) of Canada and was included in a bird sanctuary in the past. Franklin’s gull, ferruginous hawk, piping plover, burrowing owl, Wilson’s phalarope, eared grebe, black-crowned night heron, California gull, ring-billed gull, and the lark bunting have been spotted in the area.

Found before the hint:

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

After the hint:

• Walter_V_R

The White Pass and Yukon Railway used to run from Skagway, Alaska in the United States to Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It was built to help get supplies and folks north to Dawson City, Yukon for the Klondike Gold Rush – with construction beginning in 1898. The construction crews working from Skagway and from Whitehorse met in Carcross on July 20, 1900.

The White Pass and Yukon Railway now operates strictly as a tourist attraction with trains running in the summer out of Skagway – some going all the way to Carcross and others turning around at this location.

Found before the hint:

• hhgygy
• Martin de Bock
• Graham Hedley
• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Angie CF

And after the hint:

• Phil Ower

This week’s contest location showed the staircases to the east of Montmorency Falls, just outside Quebec City, Canada. Clinging to the flank of the cliff, this impressive staircase features no fewer than 487 steps. A number of athletes train here, but don’t let that discourage you. There’ll be ample opportunity for some well-deserved breaks during your climb. At the bottom, there’s a concrete promontory, an ideal place to enjoy being splashed by spray from the waterfall and to feel all its cascading might.

Montmorency Falls is a 83-meter-high waterfall making it taller than Niagara Falls and one of the province of Quebec’s most popular attractions. Visitors can experience the falls by taking a cable car to the top, crossing a suspended bridge to a panoramic viewpoint, hiking nearby trails, or even taking a zipline. The surrounding Parc de la Chute-Montmorency offers hiking, picnicking, and guided history tours, with the area being a significant historical and natural site for Quebec.

Found before the (delayed) hint:

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

After the hint:

• Bernd

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Inuvik, a trip north of the Arctic Circle is not complete without a photo in front of, and inside, the Igloo Church.

This bleach-white building, capped by a silvery dome meant to imitate the Inuvialuit snow-houses of old, dates back to Inuvik’s early days as a planned community.

Built in 1960 by a team of volunteers, Our Lady of Victory church was designed by Catholic missionary Maurice Larocque – an experienced carpenter who had no formal architectural training. Construction was actually completed without a building permit because the government officials in Ottawa couldn’t understand Larocque’s blueprints.

Nevertheless, Larocque knew a thing or two about building in the Arctic. The round shape of the structure mitigates the damage caused by frost heaving. The church is also the only major building in Inuvik that doesn’t rest on piling. Its foundation consists of a bowl-shaped concrete slab on top of a bed of gravel. The gravel acts as insulation, stopping the heat of the building above from melting the permafrost underneath.

Wood for the church was floated down the Mackenzie River from Fort Smith, nearly 2,000 kilometres away. Inside, old hockey sticks were repurposed to floor a walkway in the cupola and the interior walls feature paintings of the Station of the Cross by local Inuvialuit artist Mona Thrasher.

Today, the church is a major landmark in downtown Inuvik and one of the town’s most-photographed structures. During the summer months, tours are available throughout the week and weekend.

Before the hint:

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

After the hint:

• Angie_C_F
  >li> Bernd

By derivative work: — Malik Shabazz (talk • contribs)Call.jpg: Mariusmm – Call.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The Call is the ancient Jewish portion of the gothic quarter in Barcelona. Tucked away in the The Call you will find this little unassuming building, quite possibly the oldest synagogue in Europe. Built sometime during the 3rd or 4th century, this house of worship served as the center of Jewish life in Barcelona right up until Jewish life in Barcelona stopped happening around 1391. At that time, those Jews who were not massacred were forced to convert, and the synagogue became just another house and dyeing business. The nature of the building was lost to time for 6 centuries, until a couple of historians started to trace the route that tax collectors took during the time before the massacre of 1391. They concluded that the tax collectors ended their journey near this site. A review of the building here revealed that this particular building was askew, facing due east rather than the northwest/southeast orientation of other buildings in the area.

The synagogue was returned to its function in 2002, but without regular worshipers. Religiously, it is used for b’nai mitzvah and weddings. The first of those weddings of the modern era occured in 2003 with a couple from Montreal.

Those who searched around and found it as well before the hint were:

• Graham Hedley
• Eloy Cano
• Paul Voestermans
• Walter_V_R
• Martin de Bock
• hhgygy
• Bas van Limpt
• Garfield
• Phil Ower
• bernd
• Lighthouse

And after the hint:

Congrats to Paul Voestermans, Martin de Bock, hhgygy, Lighthouse for a perfect series!!

By Frank Schulenburg – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

This enduring bastion of Coptic Christianity dates back to the mid 4th century AD making it one of the oldest in-use houses of worship in the world (not THE oldest, but one of them). It started as a community of like minded Christians organized by a priest named Marcarius (now St. Marcarius the Great).

The monastery has been destroyed and rebuilt many times throughout history, and currently contains 5 churches, including one containing the relics of St. Moses the Black, the thief/murderer turned monk described in the very late hint.

Those who found this place before the hint:

• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• hhgygy
• Walter_V_R
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• Graham Hedley
• Bas van Limpt
• Angie CF

And after the hint:

• Ashwini Agrawal
• bernd

This week’s contest took us to the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, where a small but striking timber church has stood since the 1860s. Nestled in the capital city of Wellington, Old St. Paul’s is a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture — built entirely of native timbers and without a single nail holding it all together (okay, maybe a few).

While no longer the city’s Anglican cathedral, it remains a cherished historic site and popular venue for concerts, weddings, and visitors drawn to its glowing wooden interior and stained glass windows.

Well done to those who recognized this spiritual gem tucked away in the windy city!
Before the hint

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

And after the hint:

• Bernd
• Robin

By Yakov Fedorov – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

At the end of the 19th century, a leading guild member in Zharkent named Vali Akhun Yuldashev decided that the town needed a mosque. Not just any mosque, but a unique community financed structure that would speak to the religious ferver of the region. He contacted a master Chinese architect name Hon Pike, who designed this building and lead the team to build it.

Those who found this place, all before the hint:

• Walter_V_R
• Garfield
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse
• Bas van Limpt
• Phil Ower
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans

By Dread83 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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In Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini, once the heart of the Modena’s original Jewish ghetto, you’ll find the beautiful synagogue, one of the largest left in Italy.

Mussolini shuttered the building, but the structure survived unharmed, and is one of the few synagogues remaining from before the fascist periods that demonstrates pre-fascism Italian Judaism. The building features a domed roof replendant in blues and golds

Those who found it before the hint:

• Eloy Cano
• Graham Hedley
• Paul Voestermans
• Garfield
• Walter_V_R
• Martin de Bock
• hhgygy
• Bas van Limpt
• Phil Ower
• Lighthouse
• Angie CF

And after the hint:

• Ashwini Agrawal
• bernd