Country-guessing Eastern Europe
Where to start
First, look around for at least one of the following clues: bollards, warning signs, directional signs, and language. It allows you to quickly reduce the number of possible countries to just a few.
Next, check if you can find any metas that allow you to find the right country: rifts in the sky, holey poles, a red Google car, milestone markers, or no antenna on the car.
This article will first list the broad meta categories you should look for first (step 1) and then list the most important metas to identify the specific country (second step).
Language
There are 3 relevant categories of countries depending on their use of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. You will find text on street signs and many other places and you should memorize which countries use which alphabet.
Latin only
Latin and Cyrillic
Cyrillic only
Bollards
There are a number of different bollard designs that you should memorize. It will let you narrow down the possible countries quickly.
North Macedonia also has a second type with round shape.
Ukraine's bollard looks similar but its red rectangle is wider.
Serbia's bollard looks similar but its red rectangle is on the left side, not centered.
Additionally, 🇵🇱 Poland has unique bollards with a single broad red stripe, 🇷🇴 Romania hardly uses bollards, 🇦🇱 Albania uses Italy-style bollards with a black section that goes all the way to the top, and 🇷🇺 Russia uses a variety of bollards.
Directional Signs
There are a number of different bollard designs that you should memorize. It will let you narrow down the possible countries quickly.
Blue
Czechia's signs have these large arrows forming the sign, as shown in this example. It's a great way to uniquely identify the country.
Yellow
Green
Yellow Street Signs
Some have some street signs with yellow background. When you see one, you can instantly limit the number of applicable countries.
Note that Poland has a thinner red border than the Serbian example shown here. The thinner red border is a great way to identify Poland right away.
Unique Metas
Many Eastern European countries have distinct metas that are easy to find and help to quickly identify the country.
Rifts in the sky
Holey pole
Red license plate strip
No Google Car Antenna
Road marker #1
Road marker #2
Road marker #3
Neon yellow sign outline
White painted tree or pole base
Eiffel-tower like poles
Red hydrant
