20 Years of a Free Nelson Mandela

Exactly 20 years ago today, on the 11th February 1990, the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was released from a 27-year incarceration in an event that was broadcast live all over the world. The South African courts convicted Mandela on charges…

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Thursday, 11th February 2010

Crazy SCUBA Guys Chase Street View

Google has today launched brand new Street View imagery for Norway, Finland and large parts of Canada. But it’s in Norway where we’ve now uncovered one of the most utterly bizarre sightings we’ve ever seen on Street View. On arrival…

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Tuesday, 9th February 2010

Mount Everest no longer world’s highest mountain

Which is closer to the surface of the moon, the summit of Mount Everest or Ecuador? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is Ecuador, as the Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. As the Earth is constantly spinning, centrifugal force causes…

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Monday, 8th February 2010

Leaning Buildings

We can’t always be perfect right? Even some of history’s best architects made mistakes when they designed some of the world’s most beautiful structures. Maybe the ground was too unstable, or adding another 20 meters to the top wasn’t such…

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Thursday, 4th February 2010

The Day the Music Died

Today, February 3rd, is the 51st anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly. The day before his death, Buddy Holly and associated acts Dion & The Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, had played the Surf…

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Wednesday, 3rd February 2010

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day, a North American festival which reckons that “if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees…

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Tuesday, 2nd February 2010
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Welcome to Google Sightseeing

Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Our team of authors present weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

Could you be one of our authors? We're looking for more freelance writers - please get in touch for more information.

Best of Google Sightseeing

Hadrian’s Wall

When the Romans invaded Britain in the 1st century AD, they never quite managed to conquer Caledonia – the area…

Sivash: The Rotten Sea

Sivash is the shallow system of lagoons that separates Crimea from mainland Ukraine. Home to large-scale salt deposits, Sivash may just contain the most colourful waters to be found in Google Maps, with ponds of blue, beige and organe readily visible.

Robben Island

Robben Island is a prison island off Capetown, South Africa, best known as the jail where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated…

Top Ten Northernmost Items on Google Maps

Here at Google Sightseeing, our obsession with superlatives knows no bounds, whether it be the largest, the smallest, the funniest, or the strangest. Join us as we literally go in another direction with our look at ten items that have the right to be called the northernmost such things on Earth!

Top 5 Worst Traffic Cities in the World

Nobody likes traffic. The frequent starts and stops just to roll another few feet can grind away at anyone’s mind.…

World’s Tallest Lighthouses

For centuries lighthouses have served as navigation aids, helping protect marine traffic from running aground on dangerous coastlines, rocks and…

Recent Comments

  1. Ian Brown: Thanks again markus. I’ve updated the post to say that Cape Hatteras is the tallest traditional...
  2. Ian Brown: Oops. You are correct, markus. Thanks for spotting that. I got caught in the confusion / dispute about...
  3. markus: wouldn’t the second tallest lighthouse in the world – located in the US – be the tallest in...
  4. edmonton website development: This is what I was exactly looking for thanks a lot for this.
  5. Ahmed: Are you kidding? Damascus, Cairo, and even Amman are far worse than half this list.

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