From ‘Rapid Fire Europe. Hopping around some of western Europe's favourite cities’ by Jason Smart

Interesting fact: Many Icelanders believe in elves. Roads sometimes need to be rerouted to avoid disturbing them

Reykjavik didn’t have any Starbucks or MacDonald’s. The burger-making giant had pulled out of Iceland in 2009 following the financial crash. It has no plans to return either, claiming that the ‘unique operational complexity’ of operating its business model in an isolated island country, with a population of just 320,000 was simply too difficult to manage.

Interesting fact: Boxing was banned on Norwegian TV until the late eighties.

….the most expensive Big Macs in the world are Norwegian ones.

Interesting fact: According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Switzerland is the best place to be born, due to its happiness, low crime rate and fine chocolate shops.

It was hard to believe that, in the 1980s, Zurich had been one of the drug capitals of Europe.

Interesting fact: Liechtenstein is a Principality, meaning a prince rules it.

Liechtenstein, sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, is one of the richest nations on Earth. It makes a large proportion of its money from its sometimes questionable banking institutions …..Bizarrely, it was also the only German-speaking nation in the world not to have a border with Germany……is famous for its manufacture of false teeth ……

Interesting fact: Brussels Airport sells more chocolate than any other single place on Earth.

Interesting fact: More people visit Luxembourg than actually live there.

Interesting fact: Dutch people are the tallest on earth

Water surrounded Stockholm, with thirty percent of the city’s area made up of canals, rivers and lakes.

Interesting fact: ATMs in the Vatican have a Latin language option.

Interesting fact: Medieval London had streets called Pissing Alley, Shiteburn Lane and Gropecunt Lane.

…..1755……one of the world’s most devastating earthquakes struck Lisbon…..With an unimaginable mixture of earthquake, fire and ….tidal damage….eighty five percent of the city lay in ruin and between thirty and forty thousand were dead.

….a fairytale-looking palace ….Sintra, thirty kilometres northwest of Lisbon…. Lord Byron had once claimed that it was the most beautiful village in the world.

Interesting fact: There is no tooth fairy in Spain. Instead, there is a tooth mouse.

Interesting fact: It is illegal to call a French pig Napoleon.

Interesting fact: The oldest zoo in the world is in Vienna.

Interesting fact: Hot Dogs, a Frankfurt invention, are responsible for 17% of food-related asphyxiations in American children under the age of ten.

Interesting fact: There are no public payphones in Finland.