least beautiful country

Lol I have actually been to Asuncion. From my recollection it's fine.

The discussion on Saudi reminded me of this piece by a (now ex-) Motorsport journalist, where they are finding the bits of Riyadh they like while covering a mixed-gender Motorsport series.

https://hsouthwellfe.medium.com/what-its-actually-like-to-visit-riyadh-alone-for-formula-e-ce88cfc0f4cd🕸

The discussion on Saudi reminded me of this piece by a (now ex-) Motorsport journalist, where they are finding the bits of Riyadh they like while covering a mixed-gender Motorsport series.

https://hsouthwellfe.medium.com/what-its-actually-like-to-visit-riyadh-alone-for-formula-e-ce88cfc0f4cd🕸

UAE is not great, and I would never go there again, but I liked going to the Louvre there and also they had the best Indian food I’ve ever had in my life. (The husband says this too, and he is much better travelled).

I've never been to Saudi Arabia, but I'd assume Mecca would qualify it at the very least

Please see what I said about the royal family destroying historical sites! They have been destroying sites around Mecca too!

― gyac, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 9:59 AM (one hour ago)

yikes, I missed the link in your original post -- that photo of Mecca is shocking

The North of France looks boring as hell from the windows of Eurostar.

it does have very pretty towns though, much like Belgium

I've been to 48 countries, all had beautiful parts, only exception I can think of is Monaco, just a load of luxury yachts and nothing to see, the f1 circuit was fun to see but not beautiful.

Gibraltar?

Started thinking that Nauru might be in contention but getting into the phosphate cantilevers now.

the way monaco is set against the coastline and the surrounding hills is pretty picturesque, though it doesn't have the beauty of many european coastal towns and cities, true.

it was overcast and drizzling when I went there. probably didn't help.

Qatar, UAE, Australia, Saudi, Russia, Angola are places I've visited that definitely didn't impress, in terms of natural surroundings.

Miami for sure.

Gary indiana

does the great barrier reef count for australia? australia also has perth and sydney harbor

also kangaroo island, and pretty coastline along victoria and south australia

yeah, parts of Australia are pretty stunning (northern rain forests, the desert, etc.)

Never having visited....Turkmenistan? Seems to be lacking the stunning mountain vistas of the other 'Stans, more flat scrubby brush land

Turkmenistan

https://i.imgur.com/QJ9SNOl.png

Also have to say I saw some astounding bits of Russia, though mostly it was a week of watching identical clumps of silver birch trees go past the train window.

looking at a map and botswana looks like it's landlocked, mostly plain/desert, and lack of major freshwater formations

lol

Turkmenistan is home to the famous Mouth of Hell crater.

https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1385303/derweze-crater-turkmenistan.jpg

Turkmenistan:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/9108833722_9017b0a2b8_o.jpg

Of course every nation will have highlights... we have to take those into account

NV said "irredeemable" - so we are looking for the place with the least highlights, surely.

Biggest area to highlights ratio imo

The best thing about this thread is going to be the refutations though. Someone sell us Paraguay! And Bangladesh

I think the natural world is generally pretty lovely, so man-made scars, pollution and rusting abandoned machinery will definitely work in the candidate's favor

The Micronesian country of Nauru might be a contender.. the entire island was brutally mined for phosphate:

https://images.theconversation.com/files/130519/original/image-20160714-12383-1iqzv3j.jpg

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/06/nauru-island-country-destroyed-by.html

is there any country in the world that can't fairly be described as beautiful

i think the answer to this is pretty obviously "no" tbh. in my aesthetic opinion the beauty exists to the extent that the land isn't overwhelmed by some kind of nationalist project, and i don't think any country-size piece of land exists that doesn't have land like this. by this definition somewhere very small and artificial like the vatican might be ugliest which idk. like, i find those photographs of big industrial projects, dams, that sort of thing, to be extremely ugly. i don't think any land exists that doesn't have its own character that somehow escapes what all of that does with and does to it.

xp definitely areas that have been scarred by mass extraction. atolls that have been nuclear testing sites. that sort of thing.

capitalism is awesome at turning some of the most beautiful places in the world into the ugliest.

Everyone needs a thneed.

Everybody needs an atoll for to pilfer

clown me all you want but you know deep down in your soul i'm right ;)

Gibraltar isn’t the prettiest of Mediterranean towns but does has the Levante which is pretty spectacular.

Some classic Levante cloud action over the Rock of #Gibraltar this morning.
When moist easterly winds (Levante) hit the Rock, the air is forced to rise and cool rapidly, forming this area of cloud. pic.twitter.com/WOcTSWKyn7

— Met Office Gibraltar (@MetOGibraltar) April 29, 2022