We all think we know about the Mediterranean and all the glamour and holiday spots glittering along the shores. Most of us have travelled to France or Italy and experienced the best that Europe has to offer. So, there are no prizes for guessing which locations have the most visitors each year and the most loyal followers. So how do we dare to compare the Greek Islands to the Balearic Islands of Spain or to the islands such as Sardinia, Malta, or Corsica
Just recently, I was sharing a glass or two of Australian wine with a few mates when this subject came up and it quickly became a challenge to name all of the Mediterranean shoreline countries in the correct order. Rules were quickly introduced for discussion. This soon became a challenge to name all the countries along the shoreline of the Mediterranean and they had to be named in correct sequence going either clockwise or anti-clockwise. The major rule was that the countries had to be listed or nominated in order. If a country was overlooked or named incorrectly then that person was out of the competition. Another rule was that you could commence with any country of choice.
Geoff C was the first ‘know-all’ to start and he immediately started with “I know there are fourteen countries with Mediterranean shoreline, and I’ll start with Italy going anti clockwise”. Full of confidence, off he went. 1- Italy, 2-France, 3- Spain… but then to his horror, he was stopped as he had overlooked Monte Carlo!
Very quickly and confidently, Daniel took up the challenge and he started at Italy as well, then 2- France, 3- Monte Carlo, 5- Spain… and he paused with “Is Gibraltar to be included?” “No! It’s a rock, not a country” and so Danny continued at 6- Morocco, 7- Algeria, 8- Tunisia. Brimming with confidence, he raced on. 9- Libya, 10- Egypt, 11- Gaza, 12- Israel, and at this point, mayhem broke out! No-one was certain if Gaza should be counted and finally it was agreed to include it. So, he continued at 13- Lebanon, 14- Syria, 15- Turkey, 16- Greece, and as though we were in a traffic jam, we suddenly stopped him on this pedantic question. Should the countries along the Adriatic Coast be counted? A noisy debate ensued. The Adriatic countries cannot be on the Adriatic coast as well as being on the Mediterranean coast. You can’t have it both ways. The end of debate. So, we opened another bottle of Australian Red and we were all quietly relieved we didn’t start a brawl! (Of course, Croatia, Albania and Herzegovina etc. are not in the Mediterranean!)
So now I’m challenging anyone to list all the countries on the African continent shoreline. The same rules apply, they must be in order etc. Does anyone know where Spanish Sahara is? Where is Nigeria? Where is Côte d'Ivoire? Does Ethiopia have a shoreline? What is north of Namibia? On the Atlantic coast? Where is Togo situated? Is Liberia on the coast? Are Guinea and Ghana also on the coast? Good Luck!
John A Wilson, Gold Coast, January 2021
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