The only city that straddles two continents
Istanbul is the only city that lies in two continents, Europe and Asia. That means you can have Asian breakfast in the morning and European lunch in the afternoon in Istanbul. The Bosphorus strait divides the city in two parts. The European part neighbors with Greece and Bulgaria and the other part sits on Asia neighboring Syria, Iran and Iraq. The strait also connects the Black Sea and the sea of Marmara. This unique geographical position of Istanbul results to a cultural and ethnic place, a cosmopolitan city with Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern Turkish structures all around the city.
Only continent to lie in all four hemispheres
Africa which is the second largest continent after Asia, is the only continent which lies in all four hemispheres – Eastern, western, Northern and Southern hemispheres. This also means that Africa is the only continent to have land at both the equator and the Prime Meridian. The Equator passes through 7 countries of Africa, namely Sao Tome, Principe, Gabon, republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya and Somalia. And the 5 countries through which the Prime Meridian passes are Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tong and Ghana.
Tallest mountain in the world
If you think it is Mount Everest, you are wrong. Mount Everest is the highest mountain not the tallest. The honor of the tallest mountain goes to Mauna Kea, a volcano in Hawaii, USA which is submerged under water. Above sea, Mauna Kea measures only 4,200 meters, but it is total 9,960 meters tall, when you follow it to the base.
An island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island
Vulcan point is a small island in Phillipines. The interesting thing about this island is that the island lies within the Main Crater Lake, which is located on Volcano Island in Lake Taal. And Lake Taal is on the Luzon Island. So Vulcan point is an Island within a lake on an Island within a lake on an Island.
Longest known cave in the world
The Mammoth cave system is the largest ever cave in the world with a length of over 400 miles. It is a limestone labyrinth spreading over 210 km2. Mammoth cave National Park preserved some portion of the cave in Kentucky.
Pacific Ocean is shrinking
The Pacific Ocean is currently the biggest ocean in the world comprising about 28% of the total earth. However as North America and South America are slowly, but constantly moving westward, the great Pacific is shrinking and simultaneously the Atlantic Ocean is getting bigger. However, the shrinkage is too small compared to the vast size of the Pacific. It shrinks about 0.5 square kilometer each year on an average. So, after some million years, the Atlantic Ocean will exceed the Pacific in size.
Country with the most number of time-zones
Despite being the largest country in the world, Russia is not the country with the most number of time zones. France (12) has more time zones than Russia (11). This is basically due to France’s far-flung overseas territories. The French mainland, ‘Metropolitan France’ uses only one time zone that is GMT+1 hour. The other territories around the word like, Guadeloupe, French Polynesia, Martinique, Saint Martin uses the rest 11 time zones, ranging from GMT-10 hours to GMT+12 hours.
Seven days train trip in Russia
The Trans Siberian railway is the largest railroad in the world that takes the train across the whole Russia. It takes 7 days to complete the trip that crosses 16 rivers of Russia. Most interestingly, the railroad passes through as many as 3901 bridges during its journey.
Three countries which are landlocked
There are only three countries worldwide which are landlocked by some other country. While Lesotho is located within South Africa, San Marino and Vatican City both are situated within Italy.
Deepest man-made hole
The deepest man-made hole is the Kola Superdeep Borehole which is more than 12,000 meters deep. It was dug for a scientific project by the Soviet Union. However, it had to be stopped as the temperature reached an unbearable 180 degree Celsius.
As always one bonus for you-
Tomorrow Island and Yesterday Island
There are two small islands between the United States and Russia, namely Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in America. These two islands are separated by the International Date Line and that is why there is a 20 hours time difference between the despite being just 3.5 miles apart. As a result Big Diomede is called Tomorrow Island and Little Diomede yesterday Island.
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