"I believe it shall be my life's ambition to have the Buza Bar in Dubrovnik mentioned in the same breath with these famous sights."

No way; then this gem will be more overcrowded!

The Eiffel Tower wins for Europe by a very wide margin, and it also wins worldwide. Perhaps the Great Pyramid comes close, but you can look at any travel poster anywhere and the most likely landmark you'll see is the Eiffel Tower (even when the poster has nothing to do with France!).

Big Ben and the Colosseum are easily recognized but closely linked with their home countries, whereas the Eiffel Tower is a sort of generic symbol for travel and exotic foreign locales independent of its actual location in France.

We found the Acropolis in Athens by asking a local. He told us to "look up". Worked like a charm.

Tomorrow we arrive in Istanbul. We have no idea what the Blue Mosque looks like so we will try the looking up strategy again. I think we are on to something.

Look up in Istanbul and you'll see Asia! If you take the ferries across the water you can certainly see where the Blue Mosque is.

Turkey (both sides!) has been in Europe politically, culturally and sportively for a long time, and very officially since WW2.

There are so many wonderful sights in Europe, Asia and Africa that we would be hard pressed to pick just one. I would tend to agree that the Eiffel Tower is probably one of the most recognizable sites but there are many more.

Europe - Eiffel Tower
North America - Statue of Liberty
South America - Machu Picchu
Asia - The Great Wall of China
Africa - The Pyramids
Australia - Uluru (Ayer's Rock)
Antarctica - Penguins

We found the Acropolis in Athens by asking a local. He told us to "look up". Worked like a charm. >>>>

I'm not being sniffy, but did you know what "Acropolis" means?

Serious question.

BTW It's the Eiffel Tower by miles.

CW yes I know what it means. And no one minds if you are sniffy.

We found the Blue Mosque by following approximately 40 billion other sweating tourists. Someone turn the furnace off. Then we all took our shoes off. I bet you can see the result from space.

It means that building up there, the citadel. Or something like that.

I must agree with TravMimi (Aug 4), with one exception:

I think the Sydney Opera House is more recognizable for Australia than Ayers Rock.

"No way; then this gem will be more overcrowded!"

You are correct. My lips are sealed!

((H))

Or something like that.>>>.

yup - the high point in a city. Innit. Which is why I asked.

Probably Big Ben is #2?

Hey, nobody thinks the Louvre, more specifically the pyramid at the Louvre is readily recognizable? It is no Eiffel Tower but it belongs in the conversation. Gaudi(?) in Spain, Victoria Falls in Africa, Grand Canyon.....

<i>It is no Eiffel Tower but it belongs in the conversation.</i>

Isn't this sort of contradictory? If we already know that it doesn't measure up to the Eiffel Tower, what is there to discuss?

Tuff crowd! "Europe's most famous single sight" is cause for speculation. I would as surely know the Pyramid at the Lourve as I would the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye as surely as Big Ben- neither of which was mentioned in this thread. What others know is unclear to me.

"If we already know that it doesn't measure up to the Eiffel Tower..." Probably, but do you really know?

<i>Probably, but do you really know?</i>

Yes, I think I do know that the Eiffel Tower is far more famous and identifiable than the pyramids at the Lourve. I suspect that nobody here would disagree if they had their hand on a bible and swore to tell the truth. Heck, it took some 70+ posts before anybody even mentioned it - that pretty much tells you everything you need to know. This thread is about the most famous <b>single</b> sight and the pyramids at the Lourve doesn't belong in the discussion.

But that is beside the point. I was just pointing out that the OP had said that the pyramids weren't in the same class as the Eiffel Tower but then said that they belonged in the conversation. That simply doesn't make sense.

<i>I must agree with TravMimi (Aug 4), with one exception:

I think the Sydney Opera House is more recognizable for Australia than Ayers Rock.
</i>

And I disagree with Machu Picchu. I think people recognize the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro much more than Machu Picchu.

I do think it's the Eiffel Tower. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is pretty well known, but I think that the Eiffel Tower is more in the popular consciousness worldwide.

Most people on earth have probably never heard of the Acropolis--and maybe not the Eiffel Tower either. The world average educational level for adults is something like 6th grade. Western nations (Europe, USA, Canada) plus countries like Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan make up the vast majority of countries averaging 9 years education or more. Explains a lot.