We become accustomed to seeing images of famous historical and natural sites in photographs and on the telly, which are always enhanced, cropped and photoshopped into perfect images that usually omit any sign of the present and which give us a certain impression of a place or a site that often differs from the reality.

Here are 22 images of famous places which will supposedly destroy our perception forever, but I must admit I found quite a few images included on the site disappointing. The Acropolis for one, not because I'm accustomed to seeing the site from close and afar but because it has always had the city surrounding it. That is the purpose of an Acropolis (Akron - top and polis -city) after all, they are the elevated fortifications at the centre of any ancient Greek city.

http://distractify.com/fun/fails/seeing-these-9-famous-landmarks-from-far-away-might-shatter-your-perception-of-them-forever/

What sites have you visited that have left you either dissapointed or wowed at their difference from the standard travel guide images to which we have become accustomed?

Of those, I reckon Tariq's Mountain & Mont St Michel look more impressive in the "debunking" shots.

Islanddawn wrote:

I found quite a few images included on the site disappointing. The Acropolis for one, not because I'm accustomed to seeing the site from close and afar but because it has always had the city surrounding it. That is the purpose of an Acropolis (Akron - top and polis -city) after all, they are the elevated fortifications at the centre of any ancient Greek city.

Agreed. It's not really clear what the website is trying to say and particularly with regard to the sea terminus of the Great Wall of China. One wonders what exactly they were expecting it would do other than that it would 'end abruptly'.

I think only two places have disappointed me… Stonehenge was probably the biggest flop ever, it’s only a few miles up the road from me but I’ll never bother visiting it again… and Gretna Green… unimportant I know, but absolutely nothing like I’d imagined.

I agree the website includes some images where the long shot looks equally as impressive as the close-up, sometimes even more so.

For me the biggest disappointment was Knossos, not aesthetically but simply because so much of Arthur Evans' reconstruction of the site obliterated the actual archaeology and was a huge barrier to actually appreciating it. The crummy references to Italianate palaces were also irksome for the same reason. Mallia and Phaestos, two other contemporary Minoan complexes, were so much more impressive purely because you could actually trust what you were looking at, however minimal the remains.

My main memory of Knossos is the horrendous hangover I had when I was there - one of those where you think you are going to die and are scared in case you don't.

For disappointment I think the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus meets the bill particularly considering the climb to get there in very hot weather when I just about needed an ambulance by the time I got to the top.

MadNan wrote:

...the horrendous hangover I had when I was there - one of those where you think you are going to die and are scared in case you don't.

  

I was very lucky to get an invitation when I was there one year to attend a lecture in the Villa Ariadne, the house Evans had built for himself when excavating Knossos. I had read Dilys Powell's book and was so overawed being in the same building as the ghosts of John Pendlebury, Hilda Pendlebury and Mercy Money-Coutts et al that I confess I cannot now even guess at what the lecture was actually about.

This is looking at "old and new" from a slightly different direction than the previous posts, but with the internet, one can use the "new" technology for information regarding "old" technology whereas before one would have had to use a book, for example, there are videos on YouTube about traditional crafts if anybody feels like having a go.  I've a chair (was my parents' before me) where the seagrass (I think - could be straw) seat is going and there is at least one "how to" video on how to re-string one.  It would just be a case of bestirring myself to get on with it.

Re the Mona Lisa shot with hordes of viewers, visiting major art exhibitions has become thus - along with a buzz of pretentious remark or soulful souls who dally for ages before an exhibit.I spend most time with such examples of working sketches as are sometimes shown, moving around wishing II was alone and ending up buying a quality book - and an expensive mug, of course, being one, I would. wouldn't I?

The log shots are for the most part otherwise impressive - tho the Alamo looked a tad sad, giving rise to all manner of reflection.

My childhood shock was Buckingham Palace because it looked just like a couple of large factories in our area - all of which were better appreciated once those first seeds of style recognition were nurtured.

Islanddawn wrote:

We become accustomed to seeing images of famous historical and natural sites in photographs and on the telly, which are always enhanced, cropped and photoshopped into perfect images that usually omit any sign of the present and which give us a certain impression of a place or a site that often differs from the reality.

Here are 22 images of famous places which will supposedly destroy our perception forever, but I must admit I found quite a few images included on the site disappointing. The Acropolis for one, not because I'm accustomed to seeing the site from close and afar but because it has always had the city surrounding it. That is the purpose of an Acropolis (Akron - top and polis -city) after all, they are the elevated fortifications at the centre of any ancient Greek city.

http://distractify.com/fun/fails/seeing-these-9-famous-landmarks-from-far-away-might-shatter-your-perception-of-them-forever/

What sites have you visited that have left you either dissapointed or wowed at their difference from the standard travel guide images to which we have become accustomed?

Islanddawn,

the little mermaid in Copenhagen...after a long search...nearly not to approach in a car (my wife, not wanting to walk too far...nearly had to ask the other visitors on the site where "it" was between the rocks...

Niagara falls from the outside...not impressing...but passing behind the water wall with rain clothes and the thundering noise of the mass of water near us on a few yards...

The most impressive in my life? No not the clay soldiers in Xian China...but:
The temple of Queen Hatsheput...


Look at 6 minutes 36 seconds...

When in front of it...now more than thirty years ago...no visitors in front of us...tourists only entering in batches...overwhelmed by this monumental work...seamless incorporated in the big rock mass...and all nearly white in that bright sun...some feeling of "nullity" (insignificance?) in that great "decor"...

Some other rememberings of that event...my sister, although sleeping in the same room of my mother...her face completely swollen up...the eyes nearly not to see anymore...my mother nothing...resistant to the egyptian mosquitos...
We asked for a doctor...the egyptian chambermaid...no that's nothing...we know that overhere...it will pass...you have to rub it with purified petroleum...and they had that petroleum... I saw that they used it instead of water to clean the dishes...
And yes my sister visited the temple of Queen Hatsheput and in the evening the swelling in her face was much less...

Kind regards from your Belgian friend,

Paul.