VFYW: Famous For Its Toilets

In the magical land of contest #388, even the urinals are charming.

(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)

The winner of the most recent contest is overjoyed:

Holy crap! I could gush like an Academy Award winner but I won’t (even if I just did). I’ve been trying to explain the VFYW to my wife, and now she’s going to be even more baffled that I won after I just finished explaining the concept of super-sleuths and how hard the contest is. I think she thinks I’m mad.

You already get a cornucopia of information, recipes and movies on each week’s location, so I’m doing some thinking on a new angle that might make things more interesting.

I’m still so stoked I won!

Here’s a followup from our American super-sleuth in Singapore:

I was thrilled to see my photo used as the window for your most recent contest. It’s interesting to see how various readers approach these geolocation challenges. I must say, I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or unnerved by the AI-related comparisons — I guess that is just the moment we live in.

As for the “unlived” look of the houses in view: indeed, as another sleuth notes, this development was only completed in 2021, right in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus only now is it beginning to see real foot traffic. This aspect of the place — brand new, unlived — was specifically why I thought it might be a challenging VFYW subject!

Our wine geek in San Francisco also follows up:

Last Monday, I was flying back from visiting family on Oahu and spent a little time trying to figure out the VFYW — without success. (My family is safe.) I wish I had spent more time on the contest, though, because it turns out I rode my bicycle right through Kumbor during my eight-month cycling trip many, many years ago.

I had been solo cycling for several weeks through northern Italy and then down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik, where I met a crazy Aussie and two stoic Canadians. I was grateful for some English-speaking company, and we decided to cycle together to Athens. The day we left Dubrovnik we went through Kumbor on the way to Kotor. Here is photo of me at a vista point that day with Dubrovnik in the background:

I don’t have any photos from Kumbor, but I can assure you that there was no fancy resort or marina in those days. Croatia and Montenegro did not exist, and neither did the EU. There was no evidence of massive investment from other parts of Europe; most newer buildings looked like they were a product of cheap statist construction during the Tito years. It started snowing when we left Kotor the next day, so we hung out for a day in Bar (a town further south) and then made the smart decision not to try to cycle over the mountains in winter and instead took a train to Athens. So this is now the second VFYW that I cycled past many years ago. (Contest #306, in Villefranche-sur-mer, was the other). I hope there will be another one.

Looking at this week’s window, here’s Giuseppe:

I was expecting something harder for such a long break, maybe something in Crestone’s league (the toughest view I ever solved). This view is closely reminiscent of the one featured in contest #210, in Oban:

Oban was the fifth view I guessed right, nine years ago. Time flies.

Enjoy your vacations, ye busy Americans!

He gloats from Italy. From the super-sleuth in Clinton, CT:

So the Dish takes its summer vacation, and you increase your workload by taking it easy on us for this contest? Interesting. Actually, you must really love us and needed the extra reading of correct submissions over the break.

I’ve come to regret the easy window, since I’m currently finishing the contest results on a plane to Colorado — a trip I decided to take last-minute to check out plots of land in Crestone (the small mountain town I’ve Dished about before, and it was featured in contest #370). My flight out of Dulles was delayed six hours — first for thunderstorms, then a staffing crisis — and the internet connection on the tarmac was a snail’s pace … a snail that kept dying. We finally got in the air at 12:30 am, with a strong WiFi at 35,000 feet. Hopefully I’ll have photos to share of a purchased property by next Friday.

Back to this week’s window, Chini provides an illuminating view of the area:

A sleuth focuses on the French car in view: “The red car in the foreground of the VFYW appears to be a Citroen, and, since I’m now out of time, I’ll guess where somewhere near the port of La Trinite, Martinique, France.” Another sleuth:

Who knows? Not me!