Tell me the most random fact you know about Europe
June 3, 2025
My most random fact is that in Camariñas, Spain there is an island called "cagada grande"
21 comments
Maltese law explicitly forbids “leading a bear in public” unless it’s part of a licensed show.
There are no native bears, no zoos with bears, and no real history of bears on the islands.
There is a tiny island in a river that marks the border between France and Spain, and sovereignty of it changes between the countries every six months.
I always like to point out the spagetthi of Belgium that goes through Germany.
It’s an old rail-line, and after the wars, they didn’t want Germany to have it.
So now it’s like a path of a few meters wide, the grass on the sides, however, is Germany.
During corona lockdown we walked there when the borders were closed, the humans stayed in Belgium, the dog, however, was shitting in Germany. Malicious compliance.
ETA: it’s a part of the Vennbahn. But i prefer “the spagetthi of Belgium”
That sadly is not a country, even if media like to pretend otherwise to give a sense of greatness to Europeans.
It’s not a sarcastic “sadly”, it’s really sad it isnt a country
It’s legal to marry your cousin in Slovakia. I mean literally your parent siblings child a.k.a. – first cousin. Absolutely legal.
Alsace and Moselle are still using some laws of German and Napoleonian heritage, so there are a few things of everyday life that are different there from the rest of France, like bank holidays, the health system, personal bankruptcy, and some civil laws. Even weirder, they still have state funded religion, which was abolished in France at the beginning of the 20th century and it’s something we are quite proud not to have anymore…but if you look well, it still persists next to the German border haha.
The point where Sweden, Norway and Finland meet is called Treriksröset, The three realm cairn. It is a big round structure of concrete with wooden walk way around, it is really ugly. They had grand ideas for this area but WWI happened and plans was halted and then ignore and then some one was maybe we should do something but Finnish winter war and WWII happened and now we have this concrete lump.
Oh it isnt easy to get to either.
There is a little wooden house from 1632 in the Netherlands that is owned by the Dutch state and the heirs of Tsar Nicolas II.
There is a small village in Hungary called Somoskőújfalu, but the castle that belongs to the village is located in Slovakia.
In the Harz mountains, there are two places called Elend (misery) and Sorge (sorrow), and there is a railroad that first stops in Elend, and then continues to Sorge (or vice versa), so one can say that it is only a short way from misery to sorrow
In the Harz mountains, there are two places called Elend (misery) and Sorge (sorrow), and there is a railroad that first stops in Elend, and then continues to Sorge (or vice versa), so one can say that it is only a short way from misery to sorrow
The uninhabited and very tiny Pheasant Island switches ownership between Spain 1 Feb – 31 July, and France 1 Aug – 31 Jan, bc of some treaty from the 1600’s.
The most northerly point on the island of Ireland is in southern (republic of) Ireland as opposed to northern Ireland
In Iceland there are really not any accents anymore, except for that the people in the North pronounce the letters K, T & P more harshly than other Icelanders. Icelandic people can always tell when someone is from the north when they speak.
One of the oldest cultures in Europe was found in Serbia around a hundred years ago – the Vinca culture.
But it was located on the Danube bank near the site of a planned huge international project for a hydroelectric dam, so they eventually had to flood the entire archeological site and move it to another place nearby.
They did save all that could, but I always found it fucking crazy that they actually relocated an entire archeological site, and not just any but the most imporantnt in our country.
In medieval Italy, the city of Lucera became a Muslim colony under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the 1200s. He relocated thousands of Sicilian Muslims there and for decades, it was a mini Islamic city, mosques, Arabic language, and even a Muslim army, all under a Christian emperor. That was way before modern European Colonialism.
France shares it’s longest land border not with Germany, Spain or Italy, but with Brazil.
The longest domestic flight ever also took place in France; 15715km between French Polynesia & Paris.
All to do with how France & it’s overseas territories are legally organised
There used to be a village in Austria called Fucking. They had to change it to Fugging. Guess you can image why.
What can be argued as being the first capital of Denmark (although the realm wasn’t really united yet) is now a small village few people really know of. It is also featured in Beowulf, although under a different name. So, in that sense, there may actually be a decent chunk of foreigners who know of the village without knowing it
For a while, there was a tiny country called Moresnet, between the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.
21 comments
Maltese law explicitly forbids “leading a bear in public” unless it’s part of a licensed show.
There are no native bears, no zoos with bears, and no real history of bears on the islands.
There is a tiny island in a river that marks the border between France and Spain, and sovereignty of it changes between the countries every six months.
I always like to point out the spagetthi of Belgium that goes through Germany.
It’s an old rail-line, and after the wars, they didn’t want Germany to have it.
So now it’s like a path of a few meters wide, the grass on the sides, however, is Germany.
During corona lockdown we walked there when the borders were closed, the humans stayed in Belgium, the dog, however, was shitting in Germany. Malicious compliance.
[Picture](https://preview.redd.it/who-maintains-this-bridge-from-germany-to-germany-in-belgium-v0-0ibii37z5snd1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9737b8a643ea2c659ead8e8a2e40bfe60be0db6b) here so you can get an idea
ETA: it’s a part of the Vennbahn. But i prefer “the spagetthi of Belgium”
That sadly is not a country, even if media like to pretend otherwise to give a sense of greatness to Europeans.
It’s not a sarcastic “sadly”, it’s really sad it isnt a country
It’s legal to marry your cousin in Slovakia. I mean literally your parent siblings child a.k.a. – first cousin. Absolutely legal.
Alsace and Moselle are still using some laws of German and Napoleonian heritage, so there are a few things of everyday life that are different there from the rest of France, like bank holidays, the health system, personal bankruptcy, and some civil laws. Even weirder, they still have state funded religion, which was abolished in France at the beginning of the 20th century and it’s something we are quite proud not to have anymore…but if you look well, it still persists next to the German border haha.
The point where Sweden, Norway and Finland meet is called Treriksröset, The three realm cairn. It is a big round structure of concrete with wooden walk way around, it is really ugly. They had grand ideas for this area but WWI happened and plans was halted and then ignore and then some one was maybe we should do something but Finnish winter war and WWII happened and now we have this concrete lump.
Oh it isnt easy to get to either.
There is a little wooden house from 1632 in the Netherlands that is owned by the Dutch state and the heirs of Tsar Nicolas II.
There is a small village in Hungary called Somoskőújfalu, but the castle that belongs to the village is located in Slovakia.
In the Harz mountains, there are two places called Elend (misery) and Sorge (sorrow), and there is a railroad that first stops in Elend, and then continues to Sorge (or vice versa), so one can say that it is only a short way from misery to sorrow
In the Harz mountains, there are two places called Elend (misery) and Sorge (sorrow), and there is a railroad that first stops in Elend, and then continues to Sorge (or vice versa), so one can say that it is only a short way from misery to sorrow
The uninhabited and very tiny Pheasant Island switches ownership between Spain 1 Feb – 31 July, and France 1 Aug – 31 Jan, bc of some treaty from the 1600’s.
The most northerly point on the island of Ireland is in southern (republic of) Ireland as opposed to northern Ireland
In Iceland there are really not any accents anymore, except for that the people in the North pronounce the letters K, T & P more harshly than other Icelanders. Icelandic people can always tell when someone is from the north when they speak.
One of the oldest cultures in Europe was found in Serbia around a hundred years ago – the Vinca culture.
But it was located on the Danube bank near the site of a planned huge international project for a hydroelectric dam, so they eventually had to flood the entire archeological site and move it to another place nearby.
They did save all that could, but I always found it fucking crazy that they actually relocated an entire archeological site, and not just any but the most imporantnt in our country.
In medieval Italy, the city of Lucera became a Muslim colony under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the 1200s. He relocated thousands of Sicilian Muslims there and for decades, it was a mini Islamic city, mosques, Arabic language, and even a Muslim army, all under a Christian emperor. That was way before modern European Colonialism.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_settlement_of_Lucera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_settlement_of_Lucera)
There’s a tiny, 13 km² desert in Bulgaria.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pobiti_Kamani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pobiti_Kamani)
France shares it’s longest land border not with Germany, Spain or Italy, but with Brazil.
The longest domestic flight ever also took place in France; 15715km between French Polynesia & Paris.
All to do with how France & it’s overseas territories are legally organised
There used to be a village in Austria called Fucking. They had to change it to Fugging. Guess you can image why.
What can be argued as being the first capital of Denmark (although the realm wasn’t really united yet) is now a small village few people really know of. It is also featured in Beowulf, although under a different name. So, in that sense, there may actually be a decent chunk of foreigners who know of the village without knowing it
For a while, there was a tiny country called Moresnet, between the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.