Lithuania is a little country wedged into a corner of the Baltic Sea. It is the largest of the Baltic States, but has the shortest Baltic coastline. Both its land mass (65,303 square kilometres) and population (3.4 million) are similar to those of Ireland. Actually, some of its population is shared with Ireland. For Americans, we can say that Lithuania has about as many people as Iowa in about the same space as West Virginia. For antipodeans, Lithuania is smaller than Tasmania but has a lot more heads in it – even if you do count all the Tasmanian ones twice.
Lithuania is a proud little country. It was one of the last countries to adopt Christianity, the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence (on March 11, 1990) and the first country to sing “We Are The Winners of Eurovision” at the Eurovision Song Content in 2006 despite the fact that they hadn’t won anything ( 6 place). Lithuania is a member of the European Union and NATO (since April 2, 2004).
It is a flat place, with lots of lakes and rivers. It will be one of the first countries to disappear when all the world’s ice melts. There are no nasty snakes or crocodiles or grizzly bears or things that want to kill you. But, the world’s most deadly venomous creature—the honey bee—does take pride of place in Lithuania: it is worshiped, and people make beer from its vomit.
There are lots of forests and dainty little villages in Lithuania – the people have a strong sense of connection with nature.