10 curious facts from places around the world
While we can’t go out and discover the world in person right now, we can still relish planning our next trip for when it’s safe to travel. To help fuel your planning, we’ve found 10 fascinating facts from destinations around the world – oddities and unknowns that may well inspire your inner explorer.
1. Mongolia has the world's sparsest population
Mongolia is a vast, landlocked country spanning from Russia in the north to China in the south. It may not be the world’s largest country in size, but it can feel like it due to it having the world’s lowest population density – in some regions, it’s possible to go days without coming across another person. And with such varied and dramatic landscapes including mountainous terrains, rolling plateaus, grasslands and arid desert steppes, it may just be the escape we’re all dreaming of.
2. Granada, Spain is known as Europe’s ‘capital of caves’
The Sacromonte and Guadix caves in Granada are home to communities that still enjoy the ancient Spanish cave-dwelling way of life, dating back to the 15th century. Nestled in a rocky formation here are 2,000 underground houses, discreetly carved into the stone. In the past, these caves were a place where people fled to avoid religious and racial persecution. Today, they offer a place where residents continue to live off the land just as centuries of people before them.
3. Oymyakon, Russia, is the coldest inhabited place on Earth
The valley of Oymyakon in Yakutia – or The Pole of Cold – is located in northeast Russia. Here, temperatures can reach -70℃ – it’s so cold, even alcohol freezes. With few modern conveniences available, this seemingly uninhabitable village is home to 500 Siberian people with traditional occupations such as reindeer herding, hunting and fishing. Tourism is also becoming popular among those who can brave the harsh conditions.
4. China has built a replica of Paris
Sitting on the outskirts of Hangzhou, China, is what locals call ‘Little Paris’. This luxury real estate development is an architectural and engineering feat complete with an Eiffel Tower replica (although one-third of the size of the real thing, it’s still the second largest copy after the one at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel in the USA), an Arc de Triomphe, a Champs Elysées, a fountain from the Jardin du Luxembourg, and even close-to-perfect versions of the French capital’s boulevards of cream, neoclassical buildings.
5. The Bahamas is home to the world's largest underwater sculpture
Despite the water being crystal clear, there is more than meets the eye in New Providence. Hidden beneath the ocean’s surface is the world's largest underwater sculpture (weighing 60 tonnes, and standing 18 feet high), named ‘Ocean Atlas’. The artist behind it, Jason deCaires Taylor, creates myriad underwater sculptures that usually attract colourful sea life back to a once-barren seabed.
6. Galesnjak, Croatia, is the most perfect heart-shaped island
While there are a fair few heart-shaped islands around the world, Galesnjak in Croatia has been crowned as the most perfect of them all. It was once uninhabited but now work is underway to make it an unforgettable romantic getaway destination, which will soon host wedding ceremonies and honeymoons.
7. Denmark is the cleanest country in the world
Charm, culture and coffee; Denmark has a lot going for it. And now it’s become something of a global environmental pioneer, being ranked as the cleanest country in the world by the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) for 2021. Denmark's forward-thinking environmental attitude is part of everyday, local life – take the city’s state-of-the-art CopenHill building. It’s a waste energy plant that turns the city’s rubbish into heat and power, but it also has a dry ski slope perched on the roof. Throughout the year, you’ll find both families and professionals enjoying the adrenaline rush down to the bottom.
8. A Turkish village still uses ‘bird language’ in everyday life
The Turkish village of Kuşköy practises a rare, whistling language known as ‘bird language’. Despite its name, this language is not used to communicate to birds but rather to villagers scattered along Kuşköy’s steep mountainous terrain. The messages can be as intricate as human language and the high-pitched sounds are a genius way to communicate over long distances. This centuries-old custom has also landed itself on the UNESCO 2017 list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, so we may be lucky enough to hear the whistles bounce over the tree canopy in person someday.
9. New York's Central Park ranks as the most-filmed location in the world
Central Park is a New Yorker’s refuge from the bustle of Manhattan, which surrounds the park. Being America’s first public park complete with grassy areas, monuments, sculptures, endless bridges, migratory birds and even a zoo, it provides endless options for savvy location scouts.
10. You can walk across Liechtenstein in less than a day
If exploring a city on a weekend once sounded like an enticing challenge, try walking across a country in a matter of hours. The small but beautiful country of Liechtenstein spans only 25km north to south and 4km east to west, so regardless of the direction you hike in, you can cross the country in a matter of hours. The only catch is that – being located in the heart of the Alps – you should expect to encounter some steep inclines along your journey.
