Guidebooks are annoying. Just because some editor who doesn’t know me tells me which restaurant is the best or what attraction is a must-see doesn’t make it a must-see attraction. Sightseers’ Delight is dedicated to the weird, the quirky and the fun. After all, traveling is fun.
If it’s not, you’re doing it wrong.
All of the places highlighted in this ever-growing database are great. Sightseers’ Delight has visited them all. We think you should make a point to see every one of them. But, this is not a guidebook. Just a webpage to help you plan your next adventure.
The Cardrona Bra Fence in Central Otago, New Zealand, is a quirky and controversial tourist “attraction.” The “attraction” dates to sometime between Christmas 1998 and New Year 1999. Apparently, passers-by began attaching bras to a rural fence near the Cardrona Distillery. The original reason for doing so remains unknown, but the number of bras quickly grew, reaching hundreds. By early 2006, about 800 bras adorned the fence, drawing attention from far-away media sources. Although popular with visitors, the fence has sparked debate over its value as an attraction.
The Carnegie Education Pavilion, often called the Carnegie Monument, is a marble Beaux-Arts monument built in 1996 using the exterior facade of the Carnegie Library. From 1899 to 1901, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie donated $145,000 to build and supply a new public library in Atlanta at 126 Carnegie Way. New York architects Ackerman and Ross built the library, which opened in 1902. It was renovated in 1950 and 1966. The central library remained until it was demolished in 1977 to make way for the Marcel Breuer-designed Central Library.
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The house of John Luther “Casey” Jones is today a museum. Although it has been moved from its original location, it is open to the public and features a wide array of exhibits, including railroad memorabilia and Jones’ personal effects. A life-sized replica of Illinois Central engine No. 382, the locomotive Jones was engineering on his last trip, sits behind Jones’ house. The actual locomotive was repaired after the wreck and ran for 35 years before being scrapped.
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The Casimir Pulaski Monument stands in Monterey Square near the battlefield where Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski died during the siege of Savannah. Pulaski, along with Michael Kovats de Fabriczy, is considered “the father of the American cavalry.” Workers laid the cornerstone for the monument in either 1825 or 1853, depending on the source. The monument’s inscription reads, “Pulaski, the Heroic Pole, who fell mortally wounded, fighting for American Liberty at the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779.” On October 29, 1779, Congress passed a resolution that a monument should be dedicated to Pulaski, and the Savannah monument was the first monument in the United States dedicated to Pulaski.
Castle Clinton, also known as Fort Clinton and previously Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort located in what is today Battery Park. The structure sits roughly two blocks west of where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626. At the time, New York City was still named New Amsterdam. Construction on Castle Clinton started in 1808 and finished in 1811; it was built on a small artificial island just offshore. The structure was America’s first immigration station and predates Ellis Island. More than 8 million immigrants passed through Castle Clinton while entering the United States between 1855 and 1890.
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The Cathedral Church of St. James is home to the oldest congregation in Toronto. Its parish dates to 1797 in what was then the city of York. Construction on the cathedral began in 1850; it was open for services starting in June 1853. It was one of the most massive buildings in the city at the time it opened.
The Cathedral of Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph, colloquially known as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland and the seat of the Bishop of Auckland. Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier acquired the land in 1841, and a wooden chapel was built in 1843. A stone church replaced the structure in 1848. The church expanded in 1884 and was replaced by the current cathedral in 1907. The church was designated as a cathedral in 1848 and consecrated in 1963. Heritage New Zealand registered the cathedral as a Category I historic place on Sept. 9, 1984.
The crown jewel of Florence is the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore. The glorious cathedral dwarfs most other buildings in this city of about 356,000. Construction started in 1296 and was completed in 1436. Filippo Brunelleschi designed the famed dome. The building’s façade, generally described as a “neo-gothic façade of white, red and green marble,” is relatively new. It was completed in 1887 when the church was 591 years old.