🌍 Lesson 4: Europe: 44 Countries

France, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Belgium — the economic powerhouses. France is the most visited country on Earth (90M+ tourists/year). Germany alone has a bigger economy than all of Africa combined.

Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal — ancient ruins, amazing food, beaches. Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any country. Greece has 6,000 islands (only 227 are inhabited).

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland — consistently ranked happiest countries on Earth. Norway's coastline with its fjords is 25,000 km long. Iceland has no army and runs almost entirely on geothermal energy.

Poland, Czech Republic (great beer!), Romania (Dracula's castle), Hungary (Budapest's thermal baths). Massively underrated for travel — half the price of Western Europe, twice the charm.

Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia — beautiful, complex, recovering from 1990s wars. Croatia's coastline rivals Greece. Montenegro's Bay of Kotor is called Europe's southernmost fjord.

Europe has 44 countries in an area smaller than China. Vatican City (population ~800) is the smallest country. You can drive through 7 countries in a single day. There are 24 official EU languages. Monaco is smaller than Central Park.