Though rare, landlocked countries do exist. In fact, there are 45 landlocked countries in the world, which means they do not have territory connected to an ocean.
These countries are in the middle of another piece of land. Among these included Kazhakstan, Ethiopia and Uzbekistan. However, there is one country which is the smallest of them in the world.
Not only is it tiny, it’s also just a three hour flight away for Brits to visit. Vatican City has one of the most striking sites on the planet, it has a total area of 0.17 square miles and is surrounded by Rome, Italy.
It is a sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave. Vatican City is a Unesco World Heritage Site, the only one to encompass a country. It is 110 acres, about the size of a golf course. Interestingly it even has a dress code which means many a tourist has been turned away for showing too much flesh.
The Vatican has its own post office and stamps. Locals often use its mail system because it is better than the Italian state’s service. It has its own currency, a form of the euro, and mints coins with the Pope’s head – sought after by collectors.
Though it is a separate state, you do not actually need a passport to visit. Those holidaying in Rome can enter if they have the right to visit Italy.
You do need to buy tickets, however, to visit the sites as well as a form of ID. In terms of its demographic, it’s been described as one of the world’s most exclusive places to live, with only 800 people calling it home.
In fact, you can only live there if you fit the following categories:
- A Cardinal
- A diplomat of the Holy See
- A service worker to the church
Every citizen in the city-state is Roman Catholic and deemed to be influential or significant in some way within Catholicism.
While Vatican City’s population is numbered only in the hundreds, thousands of people commute into the country on a daily basis to work at its museums, churches and attractions.
But because Vatican City has no hospital, citizens can’t be born in the country, with citizenship conferred on those with authority.