Top 20 Mind-Blowing Facts about Europe

Among the seven continents, Europe is the second-smallest continent in the world. It is believed that, Europe or Europa is the derived from the name of a princess in Greek Mythology. Europe is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the south Asia on the east the Arctic Ocean on the North and the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

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Although Europe is the second smallest continent but it has the third highest population with 742 million people. In the year 2019, 744 million global tourists arrived in Europe. Here are some of the interesting facts about Europe

Top 20 Amazing facts about Europe

St Peter's Square, Vatican City

1. Vatican City – Vatican City is the smallest country of the world and the Europe. The area of this small country is just over .44 sq Kilometers and in 2019, population was around 450. This country belongs to Roman catholic Church and is home to Pope, the Bishop of Rome. Pop is the head of the worldwide Catholic Church and Vatican palace is his official residence.

2. Bulgaria – Bulgaria is the oldest European nation by name. Due to several wars in Europe many countries have been transformed into new countries. But Bulgaria is the only country who has not changed his name since 681 A.D., when it was formed. Thus, Bulgaria is considered as the oldest European Nation by name.
Bulgaria is also among the top exporters of Rose oil in the world.
The popular Facebook promoter Mark Zuckerberg is of Bulgaria origin, and his name is also taken from grandfather Marko who was Bulgarian.

3. Perućica – Perućica is one of the last remaining Old Growth forests in Europe. It is part of the Sutjeska National Park, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The forest consists of many trees that are 300 years old, and the forest’s vintage is stated 20,000 years. It is also a UNESCO recognized site.

4. Louvre – The Louvre is the most visited attraction in the Europe and also, is the world’s most-visited museum. Louvre, a historic landmark, is housed in Louvre palace situated on the right bank of the river Seine. This museum is decorated world’s best-known work of art like Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo etc.

LOUVRE: The Napoleon Courtyard, with Leoh Ming Pei's pyramid

5. Iceland – Iceland doesn’t have mosquitoes! Mosquitoes occupy even the coldest places on Earth, like Antarctica, but not Iceland. Iceland has three major freezes, which makes it difficult for the eggs of mosquito to survive through such long spells of freezing.

6. St. Peter’s Basilica – St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, is the largest church building in the world. It is one of the holiest temples for Christendom. The basilica was built above the burial site of St. Peter, who was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and the first Bishop of Rome. To maintain the tradition, Popes of the church are buried within the basilica.

7. Russia – European Russia occupies nearly 40% of the entire area of Europe, making Russia a biggest country in Europe. Also to mention that, the largest population, the longest river which flows in Europe is also in Russia.

8. Lakhta Center – The Lakhta Center, Saint Petersburg Russia is the tallest building in Russia, Europe. This 87- story building is among the Top 20 tallest buildings in the world. It is constructed in 2019, in the city Saint Petersburg, Russia standing 462 meters or 1,516 feet tall.

Lakhta Center

9. Hungary – People never clink their beer glasses in Hungary. After Hungary was defeated by Austria during the 1848 revolution, Austrians celebrated victory by clinking their beers during a toast as the Hungarian revolutionaries perished.

10. The European Union has 24 official languages while more than 200 languages are spoken across Europe. Europe’s languages encompass a huge amount of variety. Languages in Europe can be categorised into three major sub-groups: Indo-European, Uralic and Basque.

Superlatives of World – Largest, Longest, Biggest, Highest

11. Norway – Norway has the longest coastline in Europe and the third longest in the world. It is 58,133 km long and highly indented. The longest total coastline in the world is with Canada while the second longest in the world lies with Indonesia.

12. Spain – La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona is taking a longer time than the pyramids to be constructed. La Sagrada Familia is an unquestionably breath-taking church. This uncompleted gem in Barcelona construction started in 1882. When completed, will have taken longer to build than the Egyptian Pyramids. This time period is only 50 years less than the construction time of Great Wall of China.

Sagrada Família

13. Denmark – Denmark has an approved list of baby names. The purpose of Denmark’s very firm Law on Personal Names is protecting children from odd names that suit the parents’ fancy. So Parents are bound choose their baby names from a list of 7,000 pre-approved names, made for boys and girls.

14. Poland: Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland has become the winner of WSM championships five times! This is more than any other contestant in the event’s past. He began strength training at the age of 13, when a school friend lifted him up over his head and held him there for a few minutes.

15. Red Wine Fountain: In Italy, it looks very strange but true, there is a 24-hour open red wine fountain. Visitors and residents of a town in the Abruzzo region of Italy can drink red wine for free anytime from the fountain set up by a local winery.

16. Bicycles in Netherlands – There are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands! There are around 23 million bicycles which include about 2.4 million e-bikes in total around the Netherlands. This equates to an average of 1.3 bicycles per person, and nearly 680 bikes per square kilometer in the Netherlands. Due to this, the Netherlands helps in providing a boon for the environment.

Amsterdam, 1982. Demonstration against Car Terror

17. McDonalds in Germany: Germany Consists of the Most McDonald’s in Europe. For McDonald’s, there has been a rapid period of growth and success in Germany ever since the first restaurant in Germany opened, on December 4th 1971.

18. Monarchies in Europe: European Countries Still Have Monarchies. Currently, a total of twelve monarchies exist in Europe. Eleven of these monarchies are constitutional monarchies while one which is the Vatican City State is an absolute monarchy.

19. Mount Elbrus: The highest peak in Russia is Mount Elbrus, and it is also the most prominent and highest peak in Eurasia. Mount Elbrus is located in the western part of the Caucasus Mountain chain.

20. Monaco: Monaco Has the Highest Life Expectancy. Despite being the world’s 2nd-smallest nation, the country is famously the playground and favourite place of the rich and famous. The people of Monaco on an average, live to be 89.4 years old which is the highest life expectancy not just in Europe, but in the world.

Some of the popular tourist attractions in Europe will include the Eiffel tower in Paris France, the acropolis in Athens Greece, the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy, the cliffs of Moore in Ireland, Sagrada Familia in Spain, and saint basil’s cathedral in Moscow Russia

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