Central and Eastern European Capitals Quiz

Answer: Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary, where Hungarian, a member of the Finno-Ugric family is spoken. It's related to Finnish and Estonian.

Answer: Chisinău

The first historic record of the name Chisinău goes back to 1436. The name derives from a word meaning "spring, pump, or pipe." Moldova is noted for its wine production.

Answer: Republic of North Macedonia

Tiny North Macedonia has continued to flounder towards the bottom of Europe's economic ladder since independence in 1991. Unemployment at one-third of the workforce remains a critical problem.

Answer: Sofia

The Thracian Serdi tribe settled in Sofia 7,000 years ago and first named it Serdica. The Byzantines referred to it as Triaditsa and the Slavs first used the name Sredets. The modern capital of Bulgaria was named in the 1300's after the basilica St. Sofia. In Greek, word "sofia" means wisdom.

Answer: Prague

Prague was founded around 880 when Prague Castle was founded by Prince Bořivoj of the Premyslid dynasty. Shortly thereafter some members of the Premyslid dynasty embrace Christianity brought to the Czech lands by Cyril and Methodius, the "apostles of the Slavs".

Answer: Yerevan

While disputed by historians, many Armenians believe the nation was founded by Haig, or Haik, a descendant of Noah. Modern scholars believe that the Armenians crossed the Euphrates and came into the area around 700 BC. Armenia is believed to be the oldest Christian state in the world.

Answer: Warsaw

Polskie Linie Lotnicze (LOT) is the Polish National Airline and had it roots in 1921. That year, the Polish Aviation Association "Aerotarg" was established and in May and June it organized Poland's first regular airline between Poznan and Warszawa. By January 1, 1929, LOT had developed as the single state-operated airline from Aerotarg and began to expand.

In 2001, the network of regular LOT flights included 43 cities worldwide.

Answer: Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia. This tiny nation of two million is graced with 2000 hours of sunshine per year.

Answer: Tirana

Albanian has the two dialects, Gheg and Tosk, and is one of the oldest Indo-European languages in Europe. It is unrelated to other Central and Eastern European language groups.

Answer: Riga

AirBaltic is the national airline of Latvia, based in Riga, owned jointly by the Latvian state and Scandinavian Airlines/SAS. According to the airlines web site, airBaltic carried over 262,000 passengers and
flew over 5.5 million kilometers on scheduled flights in 2002.

Answer: Slovakia

Czechoslovakia divided in 1993 with Prague becoming the capital of the Czech Republic, while Bratislava became the seat of government in Slovakia.

Answer: Bucharest

Bucharest is the largest city by far in Romania (almost 2 million as opposed to Iasi with just over 300 thousand). In Romanian, the city is called Bucuresti. Romanian is closely related to Italian, by the way.

Answer: Tirana

Tirana is the capital of Albania, while the others are all capitals of former republics of Yugoslavia.

Answer: Sofia

Nevski Cathedral was completed in 1912 to honor the 200,000 + Russian casualties of the 1877-78 War of Liberation who freed Bulgaria from the Turkish Yoke.

Answer: Sarajevo

In 1984, the Winter Games took place in a Socialist country for the first and only time. The people of Sarajevo received high marks for their preparation and hospitality. Only a few years later would the region be affected by a brutal war whose effects are still being felt today.