Snider's Europe Puzzle

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Across
  1. 2. This transcontinental Eurasian country is the largest in the world. It was previously under communist control, known as the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991.
  2. 4. This tiny but rich country famous for alpine villages and great skiing slopes is located between Switzerland and Austria.
  3. 6. Home to Amsterdam, Europe’s other famous canal city, where diarist Anne Frank once hid during WWII. Half of this country lies below sea level thanks to their genius engineering. It is also home to the world’s tallest population, and is Europe’s most densely populated country, even though there are more bicycles than people! Germany is a border.
  4. 9. This tiny nation sandwiched between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania is known for Europe’s deepest river rafting tourist attraction, Tara River Canyon.
  5. 10. This rooster shaped country borders Italy and Hungary.
  6. 11. This 1st global empire led the 1st circumnavigation of the earth from 1519-21 seeking new trade routes to East Asia. This country also boasts the birthplace of the first novel, Don Quixote (1605), and one of the oldest restaurants, which opened in 1725. It’s the closest European country to the continent Africa.
  7. 17. This Celtic “Emerald Isle” (think leprechauns and shamrocks) is where Halloween was invented. It boasts literary icons such as Oscar Wilde and James Joyce. It also has a history of emigration (migrating out) to the US as it suffered a potato famine in 1845. It is located west of the UK.
  8. 18. This landlocked country has the only European capital (Bratislava) that borders two countries—Austria and Hungary.
  9. 19. This tiny nation of islands nicknamed “honey” is south of Sicily and has been occupied by the Phoenicians, Romans, Muslims, the French, and the British. Its capital Valletta is Europe’s first planned city and smallest.
  10. 21. Home to the European-North American military alliance, NATO (in Brussels), this country is also famous for chocolate and the comic Tintin. Luxembourg is one of its 9 borders.
  11. 23. This Scandinavian country is home to breathtaking landscapes of glaciers and fjords (sea channels between high cliffs) where skiing was invented. It is not powered by oil, but instead hydroelectric dams. Upon a closer look, one border appears to include Finland.
  12. 25. This southernmost Scandinavian country is home to The Little Mermaid statue and the hygge (or cozy) way of life.
  13. 27. Made up of 80% mountains and 6,000 islands in the Mediterranean Sea, this country is the birthplace of theater, the Olympics, cartography (map making), and our Western Civilization—where ideas like democracy (when people have power by voting), trail by jury, and philosophy (the search for wisdom and truth)—emerged.
  14. 29. This Mediterranean island south of Turkey has 300,000 more cats than people!
  15. 31. This remote Nordic island of “fire and ice” has many active volcanoes. Its a misnomer (incorrectly named) as it is covered in green.
  16. 33. boasts a rich history with many Greek and Roman ruins, but is now politically split as Turkey occupies the north, and Greece its south.
  17. 34. Homeland of yogurt and the oldest gold treasure ever found, this country is also the biggest exporter of rose oil (great for your face). Its inhabitants confusingly shake their heads to say “yes,” and nod when they mean “no.” It shares a border with the Black Sea and is separated from Romania by the Danube River.
  18. 35. This island country’s name is a misnomer (incorrectly named) as it is very icy. It’s physically in N. America but politically in Europe.
  19. 38. This smallest country in the world is located inside the Italian city, Rome, and is home to the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope.
  20. 40. The majority population of this European country is Muslim as it was previously under Ottoman rule. Lake Ohrid, Europe’s oldest, unspoiled lake, lies on the border it shares with North Macedonia.
  21. 42. This landlocked “land of Magyars” boasts the world’s most thermal springs in its capital Budapest.
  22. 43. Once part of Yugoslavia along with Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. It’s bordered to the south by Greece.
  23. 44. Mostly forest and marshland, this landlocked country lies between Russia and Poland.
  24. 46. North of Slovenia and south of Czechia.
Down
  1. 1. Sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia, this country is famous for the Ottoman architecture in Mostar city, where divers come to jump 75 feet off the popular Stari Most bridge.
  2. 3. This Bavarian land of “poets and thinkers” where Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner emerged, is also home to Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disney Land. This engineering powerhouse was physically divided by the Berlin Wall during WWII until it reunited in 1989. It is separated from Austria and Italy by the Alps mountain range.
  3. 5. Its capital Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in the world. Hungary and Romania are 2 of its borders.
  4. 7. This small mountainous and landlocked country lies entirely inside Italy near its east coast.
  5. 8. With over 3,700 miles of coastline along the Adriatic Sea (part of the Mediterranean), this country also boasts the world’s smallest town, Hum. Here you will also find the birthplace of the Dalmatian dog breed, and the best sunset in the world (according to Alfred Hitchcock). Its beautiful historic city Dubrovnik is where Game of Thrones was filmed.
  6. 12. Prized for its warm water port, Sevastopol along the Black Sea, this “breadbasket” of Europe has been in the news a lot lately as it produces much of the grains we eat but is at war.
  7. 13. This Scandinavian country has twice the population of Norway and imports its garbage for fuel. Workers here observe Fika, a twice a day break to chat over coffee and cake! Some of its famous companies include H&M, IKEA, and Volvo.
  8. 14. This country is home to the historical Dracula and the inspiration for his fictional castle in the Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle. It also boasts the 2nd largest building, Parliament Palace, in its capital Bucharest, a city nicknamed “Little Paris.”
  9. 15. This world’s happiest country also drinks the most coffee. Its people enjoy a savory (salty or spicy rather than sweet) breakfast, saunas (cleansing hot air rooms), silence and keeping their distance in public. Norway is a border.
  10. 16. This country lies between Romania and Ukraine.
  11. 17. Home to a pair of famous fictional plumber brothers, and the Renaissance artist’s namesakes that inspired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this Mediterranean peninsula also provided the setting of Luca—and it really gives Sicily the boot!
  12. 18. Known as a center of banking and for its ski resorts in the Alps, this country is sandwiched between Germany and Italy.
  13. 20. Once called Gaul, this most visited country on earth is the center of “cafe culture” where artists and philosophers meet to chat or simply to people watch. A famous tower, once the world’s tallest building until 1929, sits in its capital “city of love,” and was built to represent how civil engineering could reshape our world. Also, its citizens eat an average of 500 snails every year! It’s bordered to the southwest by the Pyrenees Mountains, the English Channel to the northwest, and the Alps mountain range and Mediterranean Sea to the southeast.
  14. 22. One of the smallest but richest nations in Europe because of its banking and insurance industries. It is landlocked between France and Germany.
  15. 24. The “Golden Horn” where Europe meets Asia, is home to the Bosphorus where the Mediterranean and Black Seas connect. Its famous historical city, Constantinople (now Istanbul) is under Muslim rule.
  16. 26. This country only recently declared independence from its northern neighbor Serbia in 2008.
  17. 28. Famous for its royal family, red telephone booths, and double decker buses. This island nation consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
  18. 30. This country is famous for its Upside-Down House that symbolizes how communist rule flipped people’s lives when they were once allied with Russia in WWII. It is also home to the world’s biggest castle, Malbork Castle! The Carpathian Mountains separates this country from Slovakia to the south, and it is bordered by the Baltic Sea to the north.
  19. 32. This world’s wealthiest country and 2nd smallest has no income tax, and is known for its famous casino neighborhood, Monte Carlo. It sits on the Mediterranean Sea between France and Italy.
  20. 36. Two of this country’s borders are the Baltic Sea and Poland.
  21. 37. Located along the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Lithuania.
  22. 39. Tiny nation located high in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France.
  23. 41. Known for its medieval towns, castles, spas, and glassmaking, this country is bordered by Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria.
  24. 45. One of the northernmost countries along the Baltic Sea, south of Finland.