Did You Know ... ? The word geyser comes from one of Iceland’s own, named Geysir. Eldhraun is a rugged lava field where the Apollo 11 crewmen trained for their moon walks. Iceland’s parliament, founded in 930, is the world’s oldest national assembly. The first European child born in North
Did You Know...? Hungary boasts roughly 1,300 thermal springs. Real goulash is a kind of soup cooked on an open fire. Hungary exports more than 5,500 tons of paprika a year. Hungary’s inflation rate hit 12.95 quadrillion percent in 1946; prices doubled every 15.6 hours. Local names for Hungary are
Did You Know...? Roatan’s resident dolphins can earn their owners $4,000 an hour appearing in TV and film productions. Christopher Columbus made his first mainland Central American landfall at Trujillo (1502). American short-story writer O. Henry, running from the law, lived in Honduras in the 1890s. Honduras and El Salvador
Did You Know? Haiti was the world’s first post-colonial black-led nation (1804). Haiti’s 19th century Laferriere Citadel is the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti claims more exhibited artists per capita than any other country. Roughly half the population practices voodoo. Haiti’s Ile a Vache was the scene of
Did You Know ... ? Guatemala is home to an estimated 720 bird species including migratory birds. Spanish is the official language, but 23 Mayan tongues are the first language of 40% of the population. The Tajumulco volcano, at 13,816 feet, is the highest mountain in Central America. Remittances from
Did You Know? Captain Bligh, of “Mutiny on the Bounty” fame, brought the breadfruit tree to Grenada. Grenada has more spices per square mile than any other country in the world. By law, no building on Grenada can be taller than a full-grown coconut palm tree. The all-important nutmeg is
Did You Know...? The first recorded Olympics, in 776 B.C., featured one event: a foot race. In Greece, a nod of the head means “no.” Locally, the country’s name is Elliniki Dhimokratia; the short versions are Ellas or Ellada. The first person to espouse an atomic theory was Democritus (fifth
Did You Know ... ? With no farmland, Gibraltar imports all its food. If the U.K. decides to give up Gibraltar, it must offer it to Spain. Gibraltar’s Barbary macaques are Europe’s only free-living monkeys. Gibraltar tracks all its Barbary macaques and gives each a name at birth. The peninsula
Did you know ... ? Some 5 million people make the pilgrimage to Lourdes each year. Modern soft luggage originated in France, as did the hot-air balloon. The “Mona Lisa” was delivered to France by the painter himself, Leonardo da Vinci. Fleur-de-lis, in literal translation, means flower of the lily,
Did You Know...? Sauna is the only Finnish word to enter languages around the world. Finland counts close to 190,000 lakes and Europe’s largest archipelago: 100,000 islands. Only about 5 million people speak Finnish. Longfellow patterned the rhythm of “Hiawatha” on “Kalevala,” Finland’s national epic. Finland has one sauna for
