# What city is shown in this photograph?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 26, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837 "2010-03-26T02:38:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/1 "2010-03-26T02:38:08Z")
What city is [this](http://www.myurbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Untitled_Panorama1.jpg)?
I’ve dreamt it, or something very like it (yes, I have urbanist dreams) but I can’t identify it. Can you?
Thanks in advance,
E.
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/2 "2010-03-26T02:52:37Z")
I noticed some things like palm trees, motorists driving on the left and a word that I can’t quite make out on a white van to the right.
There is also some kind of bunting on the left with the three colors red,yellow, and either green or blue. National colors?
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/3 "2010-03-26T02:57:11Z")
I notice the traffic drives on the left, and also there is the words “Bus Stop” painted on the road. So0 it’s English speaking.
I’d guess UK / Australia/ New Zealand.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/4 "2010-03-26T02:59:50Z")
Countries in blue are left hand drivers.
> **[File:Countries driving on the left or right.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg)**
>
> Original file (SVG file, nominally 2,754 × 1,398 pixels, file size: 1.1 MB)
> Created by bdesham in Inkscape from BlankMap-World6.svg, using information from Sens de circulation.png.
> Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
> You cannot overwrite this file.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/5 "2010-03-26T03:03:04Z")
The flag is White and Red…
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/6 "2010-03-26T03:05:29Z")
It looks Mediterranean to me and Malta and Cyprus are the only Mediterranean nations where they drive on the left. What lettering I do see other than “Bus Stop” is in Latin lettering, so I’m leaning towards Malta or a city on the Turkish side of Cyprus.
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### Author:  [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/7 "2010-03-26T03:07:29Z")
I’m also leaning toward Malta, thanks to the “Pulizija” van in the lower right. Maltese and English are co-official languages, says Wikipedia.
“De facto capital” is Valletta but I haven’t found a matching photograph yet…
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/8 "2010-03-26T03:10:56Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#):
>
> Largest Maltese city is Valletta but I haven’t found a matching photograph yet…
Haha…I looked up Valletta too, it doesn’t appear to have a “river/canal/inlet” like the one in the photograph. The architecture looked relatively similar though.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/9 "2010-03-26T03:10:58Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#):
>
> I noticed some things like palm trees, motorists driving on the left and a word that I can’t quite make out on a white van to the right.
The first five letters on the van appear to be “Puliz”, which suggests to me that it might be the word for “Police.” The blue and white van looks like it _could_ be a police van.
Also, right next to the van is a flagpole, with what appears to be a red and white flag on it.
I’ve lived in Australia and the UK, and been to New Zealand, and it doesn’t look like any of those countries to me, although i could be wrong. My first guess is Malta.
On preview, i see others are thinking along the same lines.
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### Author:  [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/10 "2010-03-26T03:17:07Z")
Spinola Bay in Valletta.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&q=valletta%2Bmalta&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Valletta,%2BMalta&gl=us&ei=jSasS-nzMsH98Ab-tOnMDw&ved=0CBEQ8gEwAA&ll=35.91911,14.490854&spn=0.001625,0.003664&t=h&z=18
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/11 "2010-03-26T03:22:51Z")
Good show…I didn’t look far enough north from the central portion of Valletta.
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### Author:  [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/12 "2010-03-26T03:22:57Z")
Looks like it’s [St. Julian’s](http://www.wayfaring.info/2009/09/25/about-st-julians/) (of which Spinola Bay is a part). Thanks, everyone.
ETA: **Randy Seltzer** is right about the body of water itself, of course.
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### Author:  [@envirocr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/envirocr)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/13 "2010-09-10T06:42:08Z")
This photo of Spinola Bay, St. Julian’s Malta was used here without permission from [www.myurbanist.com](http://www.myurbanist.com). Please provide attribution. Thank you.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/14 "2010-09-10T07:10:29Z")
> [@envirocr](#):
>
> This photo of Spinola Bay, St. Julian’s Malta was used here without permission from [www.myurbanist.com](http://www.myurbanist.com). Please provide attribution. Thank you.
No, he did not claim to have taken the picture, he was using it to illustrate the place he was looking for. It was not used in any profitable way to himself or others. In fact, if you mouse over it [or click on it] the URL leads to the website in question, so he did not even move a copy of the image to some other site and link it.
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### Author:  [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/15 "2010-09-10T07:22:57Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> > [@envirocr](#):
> >
> > This photo of Spinola Bay, St. Julian’s Malta was used here without permission from [www.myurbanist.com](http://www.myurbanist.com). Please provide attribution. Thank you.
>
> No, he did not claim to have taken the picture, he was using it to illustrate the place he was looking for. It was not used in any profitable way to himself or others. In fact, if you mouse over it [or click on it] the URL leads to the website in question, so he did not even move a copy of the image to some other site and link it.
I don’t think the poster really thinks it’s a copyright violation, I think he/she is trying to advertise myurbanist, at least that seemed like the only logical explanation.
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### Author:  [@envirocr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/envirocr)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/16 "2010-09-10T08:09:46Z")
My point is simple. This is a photo taken from a copyrighted blog post without attribution, with an obscure link that happens to be tagged to the photo. It was probably grabbed from google images. No one is trying to advertise anything.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/17 "2010-09-10T09:10:27Z")
It is attributed by the fact that clicking on the link takes one to the blog. The picture can not be viewed separately from the blog. If you wish to report the post to the moderators because you believe that it violates your copy rights, you can do so by clicking on the little “danger signal” on its top right corner, but you seriously don’t seem to understand what “attribution” means.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/18 "2010-09-10T09:23:09Z")
> [@envirocr](#):
>
> My point is simple. This is a photo taken from a copyrighted blog post without attribution, with an obscure link that happens to be tagged to the photo. It was probably grabbed from google images. No one is trying to advertise anything.
Do you want people to read your site or not?
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/19 "2010-09-10T09:32:19Z")
A new user, only two posts are in this thread and both are not very friendly. Way to make friends and influence people. If you bothered to read the thread most of it consisted of “Anyone know where this is?” and then we tried to glean clues from the photo. We’re a curious lot here in SDMBland, and love to figure things out.
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-city-is-shown-in-this-photograph/533837/20 "2010-09-10T10:20:23Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> It is attributed by the fact that clicking on the link takes one to the blog. The picture can not be viewed separately from the blog. If you wish to report the post to the moderators because you believe that it violates your copy rights, you can do so by clicking on the little “danger signal” on its top right corner, but you seriously don’t seem to understand what “attribution” means.
That doesn’t work for me - I get to the image, but not the blog. In fact I searched [myurbanist.com](http://myurbanist.com) for “spinola”, “valetta” etc. and couldn’t find the blog entry (there is a smaller version of the image at [http://www.myurbanist.com/archives/131](http://www.myurbanist.com/archives/131)).
I guess **envirocr** is assuming that the OP found the image through Google Images and is upset that the blog was not mentioned (although for the life of me I can’t find this particular instance of the Spinola Bay panorama through Google Images or TinEye). But yeah, if you put an image on a public web server, it’s just that, public. All the OP did is say “look at that image over there”, in effect.
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