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Summer of Adventure: City Facts!

Top up your city-based trivia by reading these 10 blam facts!

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Beano Facts Team
Last Updated:  December 12th 2023

So, you've arrived at Stink City, the final stop on your Summer of Adventure travels. Cities are thriving, bustling places that never seem to have moments of peace and quiet. There's always someone beeping their horn or someone shouting to their friend on the other side of the street.

How much do you know about cities and their capital cities in general? Want to load up on some more sweet trivia?

Read on!

1. The biggest Lego city on earth is in Italy!

They say all roads lead to Rome, which is the home of the biggest Lego city in the world. Over 7 million pieces were used to recreate the Italian capital and a lot of patience, putting each plastic brick in place.

A Lego house

2. The New York Subway uses lots of track!

The entire system uses almost 850 miles of track to carry its passengers around the Big Apple. If you picked up the track – don't do this – and put each piece end-to-end, it would reach Chicago, Illinois!

A New York subway entrance

3. Reykjavík is Iceland's biggest city and it's the capital too...

But do you know what Reykjavík means in Icelandic? Reyk-javík loosely translates to Smoky Bay, due to the steam that rises from the area's hot springs.

There aren't any dinosaurs in Iceland, as far as we know. They're probably keeping warm indoors, if there are.

4. Melbourne almost had the most awesome name of any city, ever!

In the 1800s, the city had a few names before settling on Melbourne: Batmania (which is the best name) Bearbrass, Bareport, Bareheep, Barehurp and Bareberp!

5. There are more bicycles in Holland than residents!

The Dutch love to cycle – it's flat and it's a very pleasant way to get around. There are 17.4 million people who live in Holland, and 23 million bikes. Maybe some people have an extra special bike to ride around at the weekend. Or a number of bikes could be rented out to tourists to get a taste of two-wheeled life.

Yes, it's probably that, thinking about it.

6. The O2 Dome in London is massive!

Located in Greenwich, South London, the O2 Dome is so big, it could house 18,000 buses. But it doesn't – it has two music venues, a cinema, restaurants and coffee shop instead. That's a better use of space, really.

7. Hollywood used to be known as something else!

The world famous sign was placed in the Los Angeles hills in 1949. Before that, a sign read Hollywoodland, which was used to sell new houses built in the area!

8. Bangkok's official name is really long!

Are you ready? It is... Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit.

That translates as City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest.

Locals call it 'Krung Thep' for short, saving them valuable time!

Bangkok

9. The hottest city in the world is in Iran

The city of Ahvaz is located in the south west part of the country and has 1,300,000 residents. In 2017, the temperature reached a sweltering 50 °C (or 122 °F), which is enough to make you reach for an ice lolly.

You won't bet surprised to learn that it doesn't snow in Ahvaz.

A hot city

10. The coldest city is in Russia!

The city of Yakutsk is 280 miles south of the Arctic Circle and has an average temperature of −8.8 °C (or 16.2 °F), which is far cooler than Ahvaz. Here's a picture of a mammoth in a Santa hat to illustrate how cold that could be.

A mammoth in an icy environment