Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is a tiny Spanish military fortress connected to the coast of Morocco by a narrow strip of sand, creating the shortest international land border in the world at just eighty-five meters long.

A closer look

Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is a tiny Spanish military fortress connected to the coast of Morocco by a narrow strip of sand, creating the shortest international land border in the world at just eighty-five meters long. You could literally throw a tennis ball from North Africa directly into European territory without even pulling a muscle, making the concept of heavily guarded national sovereignty seem absolutely ridiculous. Spain aggressively maintains a small garrison of soldiers on this glorified rock entirely out of historical pride, refusing to abandon a tiny speck of dirt they conquered centuries ago. It serves as a hilarious geographical anomaly where two massive geopolitical entities stare each other down across a beach that is barely wide enough to host a decent game of beach volleyball without accidentally triggering a diplomatic crisis