2020 Geography Quiz I: Clues

Here are some clues I wrote for a geography quiz in June 2020. Each refers to a city starting with the respective letter, and the second set is supposed to be easier/more obvious than the first. Map clues will follow in a second post.

Clues I:

A.      A statue in the market square depicts a giant who cut off boatmen's hands who didn't pay a toll.

B.      The city's name is thought to derive from "wind-pounded city", and is nicknamed The City of Winds.

C.      The city was thought to have been designed in the shape of a puma.

D.      In September 2019, this city was named the least liveable city in the world.

E.      The unsolved Lake Bodom murders took place in this city in 1960.

F.       This city is noted for its Creole architecture and has Krio as its most widely spoken language.

G.      Since 1818, this city has used a chestnut tree as the official "herald of the spring", one of the oldest records of a plant's response to climate.

H.      This city is well known for its water puppetry.

I.         This city was developed by architects in the 1960s, led by Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis.

J.       This city was painted pink to welcome the future King Edward VII when he visited, leading to the nickname "Pink City"

K.      This city's name derives from a wooden pavilion rebuilt in 1596. It was a 3-storey structure that used no iron nails or supports, supposedly using wood from a single tree; it collapsed due to an earthquake in 2015

L.       The city's motto (translated) is: "The dissenters in harmony gathered together in peace and love, and a town of peace they founded, for perpetual memory."

M.     The UN's World Maritime University is located in this city.

N.     This city was originally named after King Charles II of England before being burnt to the ground; it was rebuilt and named after King William III of Great Britain.

O.      Notable inventions from this city: the TV dinner, the Top 40 radio format, cake mix, raisin bran, the Rueben sandwich.

P.      This is the only capital to contain tropical forest within its borders.

Q.     This is one of two cities in its country not to have a public greenhouse.

R.      The first major expansion outside the 1km^2 old town was Murabba Palace.

S.      The longest siege in modern history of a capital city occurred here in the 1990s.

T.       This city name comes from "warm location" due to the sulphuric hot springs nearby.

U.      The skyline is dominated by the Dom Tower, a church tower of which the unfinished (from 1382) nave collapsed in 1674.

V.      Known locally as the "Hero City", this place also contains one of the only self-propelled floating churches in the world.

W.     This city was founded twice - once in 1840 by Jonker Afrikaner, and again in 1890 by Major Curt von François.

X.      The Lantian Man, a subspecies of Homo erectus, was found ~50km southeast of this city.

Y.       This city is the headquarters of Nestlé, and is well-known for its connection with chocolate manufacturing, with a chocolate bar named after the city itself.

Z.       The city has two main parts called Stone Town and "The Other Side" (translated).

Clues II:

A.      It is the second largest port in Europe, and 85% of the world's diamonds pass through the district.

B.      The city is 28m below sea level, the lowest national capital in the world.

C.      This was the location Indiana Jones travelled to in Crystal Skull to find Ox.

D.      The river Barada runs through this city, which has been settled on since at least 9000BC.

E.      Video Game developers Rovio and Remedy Entertainment have their headquarters here.

F.       This city was founded 30 years before Monrovia.

G.      There is a long tradition of watchmaking in this city, which also serves as headquarters for numerous businesses.

H.      Has the nickname "The Capital of Thousand Years of Civilization" and has two French Quarters.

I.         The largest tourist attraction in the city was financed by the late Saudi king Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, and can accommodate up to 24,000 worshippers.

J.       The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (and its sequel) is set here, which boasts the second most expensive hotel room per night in the world ($45,000US).

K.      The city is dissected by 8 rivers - most notably the Bagmati - and is in the Deciduous Monsoon Forest Zone of its country.

L.       This city is not the constitutional or judicial capital of its country, but it is the executive and legislative capital.

M.     This city appeared with its neighbour (just across the bridge!) in the TV series The Bridge.

N.     It has appeared in 4 James Bond films, and was used as a base by Edward Teach.

O.      This was one of the codenames used in the Normandy Landings. The city also constructed Enola Gay, the first plane to drop an atomic bomb.

P.      This is one of only 8 capitals to contain the full name of the country in the capital's name.

Q.     The official spelling of the city contains an é, though is often omitted.

R.      The second tallest building in the city has a 65m long sky-bridge across the middle, and a shopping centre with a women-only floor.

S.      This city is sometimes called "The Jerusalem of Europe".

T.       Between 1801 and 1917 (when the Empire fell), this was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy.

U.      In 2019 the largest bicycle parking station in the world was opened here.

V.      It used to be called Tsaritsyn, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

W.     This city has been the capital of its country since independence in 1990.

X.      Also buried nearby are more than 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses.

Y.       The archbishop of this city uses "Ebor" in his signature.

Z.       In 1846, this place had 360,000 slaves for 450,000 inhabitants.