Country-guessing the Baltics

Country-guessing the Baltics

The Baltics in Europe, consisting of πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania, πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia and πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia, come up quite often on Geoguessr and are hence important to recognize. There are a few easy metas that will help you quickly identify the country you are in.

Warning & speed signs

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania

Lithuanian warning signs have a thin red border with a thin white outline.

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia

Warning signs in Latvia have a much thicker red border than those found in Estonia and Lithuania.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia

Estonian warning signs have a thin red border without any additional outline.

Bollards

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania

Lithuania has wedge-style bollards, similar to many other European countries, with orange rectangular reflectors on the front and white ones on the back.

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia

Latvian bollards are thin with a white rectangle on the front and two white circles on the back.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia

Estonian bollards are cylindrical with a rectangular reflector in the front and two circular ones in the back.

Kilometer milestone signs

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania

Kilometer markers in Lithuania have two sides, arranged at a 45Β° angle towards the road, forming a V-shape.

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia

Latvian kilometer markers are parallel to the road.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia

Kilometer markers in Estonia are perpendicular to the road.

Pedestrian crossing sign

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania

Pedestrian crossing signs in Lithuania have 3 stripes. The person has a detached head.

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia

The pedestrian crossing sign in Latvia has 5 stripes.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia

In Estonia, pedestrian crossing signs have 3 stripes. The person's head is attached and rather detailed, for instance with visible shoes.

Guardrail reflectors

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania

Lithuania's guardrail reflectors are orange. They are not present on all guardrails though.

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia

In Latvia, guardrail reflectors are white or red.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia doesn't use any guardrail reflectors. Note that πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia and πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuania don't always use reflectors, so the lack of reflectors is not a reliable indicator.

Language

πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή Lithuanian & πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvian

Lithuanian (this one) and Latvian are Baltic languages. They look very similar and have special characters such as ő, ž, and č.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonian

Estonian is similar to Finnish. Compared to the Baltic languages, the Γ• and Γ„ characters are unique.

Unique metas

White-on-red chevrons

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia chevrons have red background with white arrows.

Blue-wrapped signposts

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia signposts are sometimes wrapped in blue/white wrappers on the base.

Dirtroad guess

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺ Estonia tends to be a good bet when you're on a dirt road in an open European-style field and you have no other clues.

Bus sign with 5 windows

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia bus stop signs have 5 windows.

Stylized direction arrow

πŸ‡±πŸ‡» Latvia direction signs have arrows that look slightly more stylzed than the straight arrows in Lithuania and Estonia.