It is the summer of sports and as we prepare for one of the most exciting weekend with the World Cup quarter finals taking place today in Brazil, let’s have a look at the twenty amazing fun facts about tonight's final four – Argentina, Germany, The Netherlands and of course the host country and five-time World Cup winner, Brazil.
Germany
The Fairy Grottoes (Feengrotten) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, are the world's most colourful caves, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Ulm Cathedral is the tallest church in the world, with 161.53 metres (530 feet) in height.
Cologne Cathedral took 632 years to build and it was the highest building of the world from 1880 to 1889. Bill Bryson in Neither Here Nor There (p. 88) wrote: “It is absolutely immense, over 500 feet long and more than 200 feet wide…It can hold 40,000 people. You can understand why it took 700 years to build – and that was with German workers. In Britain they would still be digging the foundations.”
The Wurzburg Residence possesses the world's largest fresco ceiling (677 m² or 7287 square feet). It is the work of Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).
The German Autobahn is the oldest motorway network in the world (first section completed in 1932), as well as one of the densest (12,000 km for a country of 357,021 km²). It is also the only one in Europe to have no general speed limit.
Brazil
Brazil is the country that extends the longest longitudinally – spanning 2,965 miles from north to south.
At approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world, just slightly shorter than the Nile, and the largest river by volume. The Amazon has over 3,000 recogniseed species of fish.
Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the world. Brazil has the most number of species of mammals, plants, fresh water fishes, including the most number of species of monkeys in the world. It stands third with respect to the number of bird species and fifth with respect to the number of reptile species.
Brazil has 60% of the rainforests that make up the Amazon rainforests. It also constitutes the world’s 25% of the rain forests.
One of the great natural wonders of the world, Iguaçu Falls is situated on the border between Brazil and Argentina. The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along the Iguazu River. The most impressive of them all is the Devil’s Throat a U-shaped with a height of 82 meter (269 ft).
Argentina
In the early 1970s, an Argentinean scholar founded Dia del Amigo (Friend’s Day) after he felt connected to everyone on Earth when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Friend’s Day on 20 July is an official holiday in Buenos Aires, though not a national public holiday.
Argentina is home to Perito Moreno Glacier, the third-largest reserve of fresh water in the world and one of only three glaciers in Southern Patagonia that are growing and not shrinking.
Home to 57,000 residents, Ushuaia, Argentina is the southernmost city in the world.
It is customary to eat gnocchi (potato dumplings called ñoquis in Argentina) on the 29th of each month, a tradition introduced by Italian immigrants. Gnocchi – made of potato, flour and salt – were a cheap meal, ideal for the last days of the month before payday. Argentineans also have the custom of placing money under their plate of gnocchi, to attract good luck and fortune for the coming month. Many restaurants serve a special gnocchi menu on the 29th.
Valdes Peninsula is considered one of the best wildlife habitats in the world, listed as a World Heritage Site. As well as the towering cliffs and stunning reefs, here it is possible to see sea lions, penguins, whales, seals and many more.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands has more than 4,000 km of navigable canals, rivers and lakes.
Only 16 km from Rotterdam, Kinderdijk is home to the 19 polder draining windmills of dating back to the late Medieval Age is a UNESCO site. Time your visit around 2-7th September to coincide with “Mills in Floodlight” a popular and free event where the windmills are spectacularly light up at night.
Also known as the Garden of Europe, Keukenhof Gardens is the world’s largest flower garden and definitely one of the most beautiful places to visit in the Netherlands.
Tulips were imported from the Ottoman Empire and became very popular in Holland in the early 17th century. Nowadays, the Netherlands is the world's first producer and exporter of tulips.
Orange is the official colour of Netherlands because of the House of Orange, who led the Dutch revolt against Spain and later became the Dutch royal family.
