Top Ten Tuesday! Ten Unusual Countries (with one thing in common)

These ten countries are unusual in that many people haven’t heard of them and the one thing that they have in common is that my blog occasionally gets visits from them. By writing this you and I both get to learn a little bit more about the world.

10. Faroe Islands: The Faroe Islands is a group of  eighteen islands off the coast of Denmark. The capital is Torshavn. The people there speak Danish and Faroese. I wonder if they use Google translate so they can read The Phil Factor in Faroese. The most famous person from the Faroe Islands is Gunnar Nielsen, a footballer who plays for a Scottish club.

9. Kyrgyzstan: Yikes! This country needs to buy a vowel. It’s a country of 6 million people wedged between China and a couple other small countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union. The capital is Bishkek. The most famous person from here is boxer Vitali Klitschko, pictured above.

8. Jersey: No, it’s not New Jersey, it just Jersey. That’s their country motto. It’s the largest of the channel islands between England and France and as such, it’s residents speak both English and French. Click the name at the beginning of this paragraph. They’ve got a really nice website. One of their most famous natives is actor Henry Cavill who is currently Superman in the Justice League movie.

7. St. Kitts & Nevis: SK&N is a two island nation in the Caribbean. It is the smallest sovereign state in the western hemisphere and Donald Trump plans to build moat around it to keep them from immigrating to the States. The most famous person from SK&N is old singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading. SK&N sounds like a like a fashion brand for the cool kids, doesn’t it?

6. Guernsey: The people in Guernsey get really pissed if you confuse them with Jersey. This is another island in the English channel. Look, I know all you Brits reading this know all the channel islands, but here in the States most of us never knew they existed. Somebody back me up in the comments on this.

5. Isle of Man: Another small island nation, but this time it’s on the other side of England. I have heard of this, but included it because it’s one of the coolest named countries out there. Man, back in the day, England loved conquering tiny islands didn’t they?

4. Sao Tome’ & Principe: This is an island nation off the west coast of central Africa. It is one of Africa’s most stable and democratic countries. It was originally discovered by Portugal in the 15th century. Nobody was living there at the time so they just planted a flag. Now the islands have about 200,000 residents, some of whom read my blog.

3. Reunion: One of the cooler named countries, Reunion is a French island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. How cool is that? If someone from Reunion is giving you directions to come to a party at their house they just say, “…and when you get to Madagascar, turn left.” Famous people from Reunion include footballers that I’ve never heard of.

2. Malawi: This small southeastern African nation is best know for having one of the worlds largest inselbergs and for Madonna adopting kids from there. What’s an inselberg? It’s like a a mountain/stalagmite, but outdoors.

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1. Seychelles: is a small group of islands off the east coast of Africa, a little northeast of Madagascar. I have no idea if they have penguins, but it looks like a beautiful place to vacation.

Ten obscure nations that visit my blog. If you’re from one of these countries please say so in the comments. If anyone from any of these nations tourism boards wants to fly me there for a vacation so that I’ll write more great things about your country, feel free to contact me. Have a great Tuesday! ~Phil

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