1 – In 1962, elephant bones were discovered under the Vatican. They were the bones of Hanno, the pet elephant of Pope Leo X. He died in 1516 after doctors, in an attempt to treat his constipation, inserted a gold-infused enema up its rectum. 

2 – The ATM machines in Vatican City have default instructions in Latin. They are the only ATMs in the world with this feature. 

3 – There is a giant replica of St. Peter’s Basilica in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, which took over €300 million and five years to build. Measuring in at 30,000 square metres of exterior area, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is the largest church in the world. When the Vatican first got wind of its copycat design, Pope John Paul II personally requested that the observatory crowning the dome be built slightly lower than the height of St. Peter’s dome. Côte d’Ivoire’s President, Houphouët-Boigny, complied, but then went ahead and topped his dome with a huge gold cross, earning it yet another title as the tallest church in Christendom. Houphouët-Boigny is also personally pictured beside Jesus in one stained-glass panel ascending to heaven. 

4 – The Vatican’s postal services are considered to be amongst the best in the world, with more letters sent each year from its postcode than anywhere else in the world. Many Romans make the trip there to post their letters and documents from the Vatican’s post office rather than Italy’s far less reliable post services. 

5 – Vatican City has the world’s shortest railway. It consists of two 300-meter tracks and one station: Città del Vaticano. It’s mostly used for importing goods and is kept for symbolic reasons, with no regular passenger trains. 

6 – Its official website has been online since Christmas 1995. The site is housed on three main servers, called “Michael,” “Gabriel,” and “Raphael” after the archangels. The word angel literally means “messenger,” so the three tools for the Vatican’s outreach into cyberspace were named after God’s three main messengers.

7 – It owns its own astronomical research and educational institution: the Vatican Observatory. It is one of the world’s oldest astronomical research facilities and even owns a telescope in Arizona, USA. The Observatory was founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 “so that everyone might see clearly that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible devotion”.

8 – Popes cannot donate organs after they die. Their body becomes property of the Vatican and must be buried intact. Up until 1903, popes’ organs were preserved as relics in the church of Saints Anastasio and Vincent at Trevi.

9 – Citizenship is not granted based on birth, but rather only to those who reside in the Vatican because of their work or office. Cardinals who reside in the Vatican City or in Rome, as well as diplomats of the Holy See, are also considered citizens. Citizenship terminates when the person stops working for Vatican City or the Holy See. Those who risk becoming stateless for that reason will automatically be given Italian citizenship.

10 – It is the only entire country designated as a UNESCO heritage site. It was added to the list in 1984 for its unique collection of artistic and architectural masterpieces.

Did you enjoy this article? Read also our top ten curious facts about the Principality of Monaco or Liechtenstein!

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1 – Traditionally, those who succeed in climbing Mount Triglav – Slovenia’s highest mountain with its 2864 metres – for the first time have to face a peculiar christening: being spanked with a rope. This three-headed (its name means as much) peak is so much a part of Slovenian identity that it even features on the country’s national flag. Climbing the mountain at least once in a lifetime is often considered the patriotic duty of every Slovene.

2 –  France Prešeren’s poem ‘Zdravljica’ (‘A Toast’) is Slovenia’s national anthem. Uniquely, each of its stanzas is shaped like a wine glass through concrete poetry techniques, making it quite suitable for raising a toast.

3 – In 2003, a campaign started to partially or completely alter Slovenia’s flag, adopted after achieving independence. The aim was to enhance Slovenia’s international recognition, and especially to differentiate it from the very similar flag of Slovakia. An eleven-striped design won the official contest. However, due to public opinion being strongly against this change, the results of this contest were never enacted. 

4 –  Vrtiglavica, a karst shaft in Slovenia, features the longest straight vertical drop in the world (603 metres) and one of the tallest underground waterfalls. It won’t surprise you to learn that the Slovenian word “vrtiglavica” translates to “vertigo”.

5 – The fifth largest religion in Slovenia is the Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing. Born as a parody religion in 2013 with the aim of protesting corruption in politics, it has since enlarged and now counts over ten thousand members. Followers of this religion gather every Wednesday around the “Temple of Corruption” (the National Assembly Building of Slovenia) for holy mass. During the mass, they use pots, pans, and bells to produce clanking sounds.

6 – Lake Bled is undoubtedly the most recognisable tourist attraction in Slovenia. In the middle of it, you will find one of the very few islands in Slovenia. Bled Island is home to an important pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The church is a popular destination for couples looking to marry. Traditionally, it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up 99 steps leading up to the church, before ringing the bell and making a wish inside.

7 – A whopping 216 square kilometres of Slovenia are covered in vineyards. There is one vineyard or winery approximately for every 70 people! Wine is so important here that the country even can boast the oldest vine in the world. The Old Vine in Maribor is over 400 years old and still bears between 35 and 55 kilos of red grapes annually. 

8 – In the early and mid 20th century, the spaces of Ljubljana Castle were transformed into apartments for socially disadvantaged citizens.

9 – Slovenia is among the most biologically diverse countries in the world. It accounts for less than 0.004% of the Earth’s surface but is home to more than 1% of all living creatures and 2% of terrestrial creatures. A total of 24,000 animal species live there, and almost 60% of its territory is covered by forest. In recent decades, the proportion of forest has been increasing, with the government planting over 1,200,000 trees a year. As if that weren’t enough, a remarkable 53.6% of the country is protected land, a higher percentage than any other European nation.

10 – Hives and honey are extremely popular in Slovenia: there are around 90,000 beekeepers in a population of just two million.

Did you enjoy learning more about Slovenia? Check out also our top ten facts about Malta and Russia!

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1 – You probably already knew that Malta is one of the smallest countries in the world, but did you know that it is technically an archipelago – not an island? It is comprised of seven tiny islets, the two largest islands, Malta and Gozo, are regularly inhabited, while the third biggest, Comino, features just one luxury vacation resort. The remaining four are totally uninhabited. Collectively, they total a land-mass of just 316 km².

2 – In the 1970s, Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader of North Korea, spent one year learning English at the University of Malta. Rumours say that this was part of a secret agreement between the Labour government and the North Korean regime: English lessons in exchange for the provision of military training and weapons.

3 – The George Cross – the second highest award of the United Kingdom, awarded “for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger” – was awarded to the whole of Malta and its inhabitants for the resistance during the siege in World War II. The Cross was incorporated into the design of Malta’s flag at the beginning of 1943 and has remained there since. 

4 – Malta is known for its variety of unique traditional boats. Among these the luzzu, used for fishing, is particularly noteworthy. It is decorated with very bright colours, and the bow of the boat is painted with a pair of eyes. These eyes, known as eyes of Horus or of Osiris, are said to protect the fishermen while at sea. They are thought to be the modern survival of an ancient Phoenician custom.

5 – During the Great Siege of Malta of 1595, an Ottoman general beheaded nine Maltese knights and sent them across the bay on mock crucifixes. The Maltese responded by beheading all of the Turkish prisoners and shooting their heads out cannons across the bay again towards the Ottomans.

6 –  In 1956, Malta – at the time officially the Crown Colony of Malta – almost because the 5th constituent country of the United Kingdom. In February of that year, citizens went to the polls to decide for or against ‘integration’ with the UK. The proposals provided for three Maltese MPs in the House of Commons and for all matters other than defence and foreign policy to continue to be the responsibility of the Maltese Parliament. The referendum was approved by 77% of those who voted. However, the turnout of 59% led the opposition to decry the results as inconclusive and Britain, which had initially agreed to accept the referendum results, never implemented it. Malta achieved independence eight years later. 

7 – There are seven megalithic temples on the islands of Malta and Gozo. These prehistoric monumental buildings were constructed between the 4th millennium BC and the 3rd millennium BC. They rank amongst the earliest free-standing stone buildings in the world and they are unique architectural masterpieces, especially given the limited resources available to their builders. No surprise they are on the UNESCO World Heritage List! 

8 – Maltese, the national language of the country and co-official one together with English, is the only existent example of a standardized Semitic language written in the Latin script. 

9 – People in Gozo often leave their keys on their house door. This is a habit from the Fifties, when a wave of emigration saw numerous men leaving the island to Australia, US or Canada. The women used to leave the key on the door in case of her husband came back. In a strong exhibition of serenity and confidence, supported by very low crime rates, people often don’t lock the car either.

10 – While it showcases some great architecture and natural sites, you won’t find a single forest in Malta. There are also no mountains or rivers across all seven islands that comprise the Republic.

Did you enjoy learning more about Malta? Try out some more curious facts about Romania or Russia!

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1 – The Soviet navy trained dolphins and whales to attack enemies with harpoons and undertake kamikaze strikes against enemy shipping. They could even allegedly distinguish foreign and Soviet submarines by the sound of their propeller. In 2000, Russia then sold them to Iran after becoming unable to continue feeding them.

2 – In Russia’s Altai region there is a “spacecraft graveyard”. There, over 2.500 tons of space debris – some tens of metres long – have rained down since the start of the Space Age. That’s because the Altai region sits right beneath the Baikonur Cosmodrome – the main flight path of the oldest, largest and busiest spaceport in the world.  As new space junk falls, locals rush to raid the wreckage for precious metals they can sell.

3 –  In the dacha settlement of Staroye Arakchino, inside the Kazan municipality in Russia, there is an architectural complex known as the Temple of All Religions. The large complex consists of several cupolas, minarets and spires representing the religious architecture of 12 major religions of the world. It was started in 1992 and is still under construction. Eventually, the goal is to have 16 cupolas, corresponding to the 16 major world religions including past religions that are no longer practiced.  

4 – In September 1994, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin met for the first time with his US counterpart, Bill Clinton, in Washington. During his stay there, Yeltsin got drunk and wandered into the street in his underwear, trying to get a pizza. After being escorted back to the Blair House and getting his pizza, Yeltsin tried to do it again the next night.

5 – In the 1908 London Olympics, the Russian team arrived 12 days late and missed their most favoured event. The reason? They were still following the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.

6 – As Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, was directed to the launch pad in April 1961, he asked the bus to stop so he could relieve himself. He got out and urinated against the back right-hand tyre of the bus. To this day, all male astronauts departing from the Russian Soyuz traditionally urinate against that same wheel before reaching the launch pad. Female astronauts have been known to bring vials of their urine to splash on the wheel.

And this is not the only astronautical tradition inspired by Gagarin on that day. While he was strapped into his capsule on the launch pad, he requested that mission control play some music over the intercom. They started playing some Russian love songs. Exactly the same thing happens today, although it intersperses with some other international tracks as well.

7 – In  Novosibirsk, Siberia, there is a monument to honour laboratory mice that have lost their lives furthering scientific research. The Monument to the laboratory mouse, completed in 2013, is located in front of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. 

8 – It is home to a widespread anti-semitic conspiracy theory which says that Jews have a secret ‘hairy vegetable’ they eat so they don’t become alcoholics. Anti-semitism is justified because they refuse to share their magic vegetable. This myth dates back centuries, and was by eternalised in writing by the novelist Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov, in his short story “Immortal Golovan” dating back to 1880.

9 – Almost 23% of the world’s fresh surface water is contained in a single lake in Russia, Lake Baikal.

10 – In the vault beneath the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, the only sound is the steady ticking of a metronome. During the 900-day siege of the city during World War II, this was the only noise that could be heard on the local radio, interrupted only for emergency communications. With this sound still going, that residents knew the city was still alive. Today, it commemorates the heroic efforts of the residents of Leningrad and the soldiers on the Leningrad Front to the repel the Nazis.

Did you enjoy learning more about Russia? Try out some more curious facts about Romania or Portugal!

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1 – The official currency of the United States, the U.S. dollar, got its name from its Spanish counterpart. Prior to American independence, Spanish silver coins were widely accepted in North America as Spain had more silver than any other country in the world. This is why the US opted to pick the so-called “Spanish dollar” as a model for both its design and the name.

2 – The world’s most expensive ham is made in Spain, with a single leg costing no less than €4.100! Made in the southwestern province of Huelva, this jamón won the annual Biofach award in 2016, which is basically the cured meat equivalent of winning an Oscar.

3 – Spain was the last country in the world that executed people with a garrote, which is a sort of strangling device. The last execution happened in 1974, when two men were strangled to death for killing police officers.

4 – After the Spanish Civil war, many Republicans fled to exile in France. During World War 2, more than 60,000 Spanish Republicans joined the French Resistance and Free French Forces. The first allied division that entered Paris upon its liberation in 1944 was the 9th Armoured Company of the Free French Forces, and was almost entirely made up of Spanish volunteers.

5 – In 1966, two US Air Force planes collided over Spain during mid-air refueling. One of the planes, a B-52G, was carrying four nuclear bombs. Three of them hit land and one of them was later found in the sea. The non-nuclear parts of two of the bombs actually did detonate upon impact, which contaminated a two-square-kilometer area with plutonium.

6 – The small village of Castrillo de Murcia has a very special yearly ritual to baptise new-born babies. Once a year, babies are laid out neatly in rows over pillows in the streets. Men dressed like devils then proceed to jump across the pillows, leapfrogging the babies. The baby jumping festival is known as El Colacho, and is considered a traditional baptism ritual by a number of Catholic families.

7 – The 1918 influenza pandemic, a calamity that killed up to 100 million people around the globe, is also known as the ‘Spanish Flu’. The pandemic didn’t actually originate in Spain, but due to wartime restrictions on freedom of the press, neutral Spain was the only country where the media could openly report on the outbreak. This gave a false perception of Spain being the only country that got hit by the flu.

8 – During the Spanish-American war of 1898, the Spanish government failed to communicate to its manned fortress in Guam that a state of war existed between Spain and the US. When the American Navy came to conquer the island, they fired thirteen rounds at the fortress. Instead of returning fire, the Spanish sent out a ship to the American fleet to show their friendship and welcome these visitors. The Spanish apologized to the Americans for not returning their salute shots and asked if they could borrow some gunpowder so they could return the salute. The Americans then told them that they were in fact at war with each other and that they had just become prisoners of war.

9 – In the Paralympics of 2000 in Sydney, Australia, Spain won a gold medal in basketball for athletes with intellectual disabilities. However, thirteen years after this victory, the Spanish athletes were found guilty of fraud as they had fielded not one, not two, but ten people who posed as mentally disabled.

10 – In 1873, during the Contal rebellion, a city in the southeast of the country supposedly declared its independence from Spain. What makes this declaration of independence especially weird is the fact that the city also sent out a letter to the US president Ulysses Grant, asking him permission to join the United States. This was an attempt to get the Spanish forces to stop bombing the city.

Did you enjoy learning more about Spain? Do you want to find out more curious facts about other European countries? Check out its neighbour Portugal, or its old dynastic partner Austria!

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The 1^st of December is a public holiday in Portugal. Local governments organise a number of cultural events and the Portuguese remember their historical heritage from a time when Portugal was one of the most important countries of the world. Monarchists use the day to emphasise the historical importance of the Portuguese monarchy and the role that they played in the development of the Portuguese nation. Here are ten other facts about Portugal; use them to impress your family, friends, and colleagues at parties and elsewhere!

1 – The country has had the same defined borders since 1139, when Afonso Henriques was proclaimed the first King of Portugal. In addition, its capital Lisbon is around four centuries older than Rome and the second oldest European capital after Athens. Historians believe that the city was founded by the Phoenicians around 1200 BC, thanks to the transport possibilities offered by the river Tagus.

2 – Portugal has one of the world’s most advanced ATM systems. It allows for more than 60 operations including charity donation, phone credit top-ups, and buying concert tickets.

3 – Portugal once had a dead queen. When Pedro I was crowned king of Portugal in 1357, he proclaimed his dead lover Inês de Castro ‘queen’, even though she had been decapitated two years earlier on the orders of Pedro’s father, King Alfonso IV. According to legend, when Pedro ascended the throne after his father’s death, he had Inês’s body exhumed and placed upon a throne, dressed in rich robes and jewels, and required all his vassals to kiss the hand of the deceased queen.

4 – Rio de Janeiro became the capital of Portugal in 1808. That year, the Portuguese royal family and most of the associated Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal, moved to Portugal. This is the only instance in history of a European capital being located outside of geographical Europe

5 – Portugal is home to the longest bridge in Europe: the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon. Also related to this bridge is the world record for the largest dining table, which was set on the bridge to serve lunch for around 15.000 people as part of the inauguration celebrations.

6 – On All Saints’ Day 1755, Lisbon was hit by one of the most severe earthquakes in European history. The quake had a magnitude of around 9.0 on the Richter scale and was followed by a tsunami that almost destroyed the city. Because it happened on All Saints Day, churches were filled with candles, which caused major fires when they toppled and fell. 275.000 residents were killed and 85% of the buildings were left in ruins. The Secretary of the State of Internal Affairs’ response at the time was not limited to the practicalities of reconstruction. He ordered a questionnaire sent to all parishes of the country regarding the earthquake and its effects. He was the first to attempt an objective scientific description of the broad causes and consequences of an earthquake. Because of this, the Marquis of Pombal is regarded as a forerunner of modern seismological scientists.

7 – Portugal and England have been allies since 1373 with the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty. This alliance has been resealed in 1386 at Windsor, making it the longest unbroken treaty still in effect today.

8 – In 1968, Prime Minister Salazar suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He was expected to die shortly after, so President Américo Tomás wasted no time replacing him with Marcelo Caetano. However, despite the hemorrhage, Salazar lived for a further two years. When he unexpectedly recovered partial lucidity, his intimates did not tell him he had been supplanted. Instead, he was made to believe he was still in power for the next two years of his life, until his death in July 1970.

9 – It is world leader in the production of renewable energy. Almost 70% of its energy needs are covered by hydro, wind, and solar power. Portugal is also able to convert the movement of ocean waves into electricity and energy, making the country one of the least worried about a future shortage of energy.

10 – Based on the number of Portuguese inhabitants, the second-largest “Portuguese city” is actually Paris, France. There are nearly 700.000 Portuguese living there. But Paris is not the only place in Europe which attracts many Portuguese people: around 12% of the population of Luxembourg is also Portuguese.

Guest article by Bernard van Dulmen Krumpelman. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of My Country? Europe. Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author.

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1 – The Albanian name for the colour yellow, verdhë, originally comes from the Latin word viridis, which means green. A similar quirk is present also in its word for light blue, kaltër: it can be traced back to a Greek word for “yellow flower”.

2 –  Leka II, Crown Prince of Albania, was born in South Africa. When he was born, the South African government declared his maternity ward Albanian territory for 24 hours, to ensure that Leka was born on Albanian soil.

3 – Enver Hoxha, communist dictator of Albania during the Cold War years, built hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers across the country in preparation for an invasion that never materialized. The most conservative estimates say there were approximately 175.000 bunkers built during those years. That means an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometre. This bunkerisation programme was a massive drain on Albania’s weak economy. In total it cost more than twice as much as the Maginot Line in France and consumed three times as much concrete. They remained largely unutilised and derelict, although a few of them were briefly used Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

4 – Though far from the largest country in Europe, Albania has more than 3.250 species of plants on its territory. , That’s 30% of all flora in Europe!

5 – King Zog I, leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939, occupied all of the highest offices in the country during his life. He first served as Prime Minister (1922–1924), then as President (1925–1928), and finally as King (1928–1939). Zog was said to have regularly consumed around 200 cigarettes a day, and during his reign he survived more than 55 assassination attempts against him.

6 – There are allegedly more Albanians living outside of the country than within. The Albanian diaspora is vast and difficult to quantify. Estimates range from seven to ten million Albanians living elsewhere in Europe, primarily in Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Greece. Only three million Albanians actually live within the country’s borders.

7 – You won’t find any McDonald’s outlets in Albania. But that doesn’t mean people can’t get something very similar With a suspiciously familiar logo and the same red and yellow colours, the local chain restaurant Kolonat provides a very valid alternative.

8 – Albania is one of the biggest producers of hydroelectricity in the world.  Nearly 100% of the country’s domestically produced electricity comes from hydropower.

9 – In 1997, Albania had a civil war that toppled the government. The cause? Pyramid schemes. In the mid-1990s Albania had started to transition into a market economy, after years of socialist planned economy. Government officials began endorsing a series of pyramid investment funds and the still-rudimental system became dominated by Ponzi schemes, which accounted for half of the country’s GDP. By January 1997, after six years in operation, the schemes could no longer make payments. Albanian citizens’ protests soon devolved into anarchy. The chaos led to gangs seizing military arms and the government allowing citizens to arm themselves from armories. Complete peace was only re-established in August of that year.

10 – In Albania, people nod when they mean “no” and shake their head when they mean “yes”.

Did you enjoy learning more about Albania? Check out also our Top Ten lists about Bosnia and Kosovo!

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1 – As a result of the 1992-1995 Bosnian civil war there are still some 30.000 active landmines left in the country, and 2.2% of Bosnia’s total landmass has yet to be completely cleared of them. The aim was to have the country completely de-mined by 2019, but this has not happened. The problem of unexploded mines is still present in 129 of the country’s 143 municipalities, and the deadline for clearing the country of mines entirely has now been extended to 2024. 

2 – In 2014, Bosnia and Herzegovina was named as the country that hated its government the most. With a government approval rate of only 8%, it managed to outrank Bulgaria and even Greece.

3 – Sarajevo’s tram network is one of the oldest in Europe, having originally served as the test line for Vienna’s trams. It was opened on New Year’s Eve, 1885, making it the first city in Europe to have a full-time (from dawn to dusk) operational electric tram line. The trams were originally drawn by horses, and played an important role in the growth of the city in the 20th century. 

4 – It is home to a self-proclaimed micronation: Hajdučka Republika Mijata Tomića. Since 2002, as a symbolic protest against the lack of local administration, it has its own flag, currency, consul, Constitution and a sole ruler. Here, the formation of political parties, as well as any dealing with politics, is forbidden, since it is not good for human health. It is also interesting to notice that it has a grand amount of 73 ministers. Besides classic ones, there are also ministries for smiles, unsolved cases, for the protection of men from violent women, non-married men, artificial blondes, bankrupted truck and bus drivers, vagueness, provocation, and easy women.

5 – Bosnia’s anthem is one of the few anthems in the world that lacks lyrics. Despite many efforts to officially adopt lyrics to go along with the melody, to this day the Bosnian parliament has yet to vote in favour of any of them. This is a result of the ethnic divisions of the country, which make it hard to find a set of lyrics that represent all three major ethnicities equally.

6 – Bosnia is home to one of just two remaining primeval forests in Europe, Perućica. It is located on the border with Montenegro, in the Sutjeska National Park, and can only be entered when accompanied by park rangers.

7 – The 1984 Winter Olympic games were held in Sarajevo, which at the time was part of Yugoslavia. It was the first time a socialist city held the winter Olympics. The games were considered Sarajevo’s crowning achievement and a symbol of the great things that lay in store for Yugoslavia and its citizens. A great deal of work was done to Sarajevo’s infrastructure to prepare it for the games, but sadly the siege laid waste to most of them. 

8 – The town of Mostar, in the south of Bosnia, is home to a 1.68-meter tall statue of Bruce Lee. The statue is meant to represent the fight against ethnic divisions in the town, as it had seen heavy fighting between Bosnians, Croats and Serbs during the Bosnian civil war. Lee was chosen as a symbol for this fight because, despite the many ethnic differences, “one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee.”.

9 – Sarajevo’s Sahat Kula, or old clock tower, is thought to be the only public clock in the world which keeps lunar time. 

10 – Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the few countries in the world with no official language. De iure its Constitution does not state any official language to be used, but the Constitutional Court has de facto recognised the use of Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian.

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1 –  Monaco is a constitutional principality ruled by a descendant of the Grimaldi family. It is the oldest ruling house in Europe, leading the tiny city-state almost uninterruptedly from 1297 to this day. Up until 2002, it was understood that if there were no heirs of the Grimaldi to rule to country, France would take control of the country. A treaty between France and Monaco in 2002 meant that should the Grimaldi family leave no heirs, Monaco would still retain its status as an independent nation.

2 – Monaco laws forbid locals from setting foot inside the luxurious casinos in the microstate such as Casino de Monte Carlo and Monte Carlo Bay Casino, although the popular gambling destinations of Monaco attract thousands of tourists every year.

3 – As of 2018, no athlete from the Principality of Monaco has ever won an Olympic medal, meaning Monaco has the most appearances at the Olympics (29) without having won a medal. 

4 – Monaco stopped collecting income tax from its residence in 1869, after the creation of the Grand Casino de Monte Carlo. It was an indulgence the princely Grimaldi family could afford to entertain solely thanks to the extraordinary success of the casino.

5 – It has the highest life expectancy in the entire world: 85.6 years for men and 93.5 for women, for an average life expectancy at birth of 89.4 years.

6 – Monaco has the greatest police presence in the world a per-capita and per-area basis, with 515 police officers for 38,000 people in a country with an area of 2.02 sq. km. It also has the lowest crime rates in the world: on average, there is one murder every ten years.

7 –  People native to Monaco are called Monégasque. A person born in a foreign country but resident in Monaco is a Monacoian. The country is unusual because the native Monégasque people are actually in the minority in the country: only a fifth of its 38,000-strong population is native. The remaining population are wealthy outsiders. The largest group are French nationals at 28.4%, followed by Monégasque (21.6%), Italian (18.7%), British (7.5%), Belgian (2.8%), German (2.5%), Swiss (2.5%) and U.S. nationals (1.2%).

8 – Monaco and Indonesia share a nearly identical flag. They look exactly the same apart from the dimensions: Indonesia’s flag’s height to width ratio is 2:3, while Monaco’s flag is 4:5. 

9 – Both the current Prince and the current Princess have participated in several Olympics. Albert competed in the bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics, taking part in both the two-man and four-man events. Princess Charlene, on the other hand, has won three gold medals and a silver medal in various swimming competitions. Unfortunately for Monaco’s standing in the Olympic tables, she competed for South Africa, where she grew up.

10 – The official language in the country is French. Despite this, the traditional native language of the country, Monégasque, is still taught in schools and signage in the old part of the country presents a double translation in both French and Monégasque. The Monégasque dialect is a variety of Ligurian, a Gallo-Italian dialect spoken in Liguria, Northern Italy.

Did you enjoy learning more about Monaco? Do you want to find out more curious facts about other European countries? Try our Top 10 Curious Facts about Lithuania, Kosovo, or Estonia!

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1 –  For almost 1000 years, the territory of present-day Republic of Azerbaijan was known as Albania – with absolutely no relation to the country in the Balkans.

2 – Azerbaijani newborns are traditionally bathed in salt water, as doing this is thought to make them grow strong, truthful and bold. Additionally, children’s fingernails and hair are only cut after their first birthday.

3 – Although for most Azerbaijanis the ways of life under Soviet rule are best forgotten, there is still one village which will bring you back to Soviet times. İvanovka is the last village in Azerbaijan with a significant population belonging to the Russian ethnic religious community of Molokans. This is the last place in the world where Kolkhoz, collective farms, from Soviet times are preserved and function to this day. 

4 –  Azerbaijan holds a dubious distinction of having almost double the number of political prisoners than those held in Belarus and Russia combined.

5 –The city of Naflatan is home to crude oil spas, once popular vacation spots of the Soviet Union that are making a return in popularity. Oil from these spas is claimed to be an effective treatment against psoriasis, arthritis and rheumatism. At the height of their Soviet-era popularity, the spas in the city had 75,000 visitors a year.

6 – Bread is considered sacred in Azerbaijan. Because of that, wasted bread isn’t thrown away, as it’s considered too important to be discarded. Instead, it’s usually hung up in bags from a tree. If you drop bread on the floor, it’s custom to kiss it, as an apology, and place it higher up away from the ground and the dirt.

7 – The country is known as the “Land of Fire”. The phrase is thought to be a reference to the natural burning of surface oil deposits which can be observed in the territory. In particular, you can find a sempiternal fire blazing continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula, not far away from Baku. It is known as the Burning Mountain, Yanar Dağ, and it has entranced travelers and conquerors for millennia. In the 13th century, explorer Marco Polo wrote of the mysterious fires that burned all over on the peninsula

8 – Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, is located 28 metres below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level.  

9 – It claims to be the landing place for Noah’s Ark. Over in the town of Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijan exclave, there is a oddly-shaped mountain bulging randomly out of the ground, with a dent at the top. The legend goes that this was the site where Noah first landed after the flood. The city and region even derive their names from the legend, as Nakhchivan means “Noah’s town.”

10 –  In Qırmızı Qəsəbə, a town in Azerbaijan, Jews make up the entire population. It is considered to be the last surviving Jewish shtetl (pre-modern insular Jewish community) in the world.

Did you enjoy learning more about Azerbaijan? Check out more curious facts about Georgia or Kosovo!

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