Ever seen a map of Europe in 1400? Check out the blue part! Things were quite different back then. A country that is now only referred to in the "Oddly Enough" section of Reuters spanned from the Baltic to the Black Sea to the gates of Moscow. That was Lithuania then.
Lithuania is a small country about the size of West Virginia located north of Poland on the Baltic Sea. Lithuania has often come and gone on the face of world maps but it was founded in 1253 by King Mindaugas, and in the early 1500's, Lithuania was the largest country in Europe, spanning from the Baltic to the Black Seas.
Lithuania was the first country to declare independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, and on May 1, 2004, Lithuania joined the EU with one of the highest GDP growth rates in Europe at around 7%.
Basketball
Lithuania is also a legendary basketball powerhouse. Many Lithuanians play in the NBA, and the Lithuanian national team won 3 bronze and took 4th in the olympics twice. Lithuanian giant Arvydas Sabonis is arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time (YouTube him if you have a couple hours to spare watching awesome highlight reels).
Food
Lithuanian food is also legendary. My favorite dish is cepelinai, enormous potato dumplings with a meatball in the middle. I used to own the "cepelinas.com" domain and had a great recipe on there, but I lost it. D'oh! Luckily my friend Aras posted one, and I have a t-shirt with the recipe on it. I'll haveto translate it out of grams and get it up in here. Here's another good cepelinas shirt too.
Beets are good too. Lithuanian's make a great cold soup called saltibarsciai. MMM...mmmm...good. We served this at our wedding. It's made of beets, cream, and cucumbers, and is perfect for a summertime snack or a hangover.
I speak fluent Lithuanian (or so I think) and have been there several times. I am always interested in Lithuanian history and politics, so please feel free to share any ideas or thoughts!
Valdas Adamkus- home page for President Valdas Adamkus. (EN, LT)
Lithuanian Countryside- a very popular activity now for tourists is to go vacation in rural Lithuanian towns. (EN, LT, RU, DE)
Bendruomenių portalas- Community portal, a project of Atviros Lietuvos Fondas (Open Society Institute - Lithuania) to bring knowledge of the internet of communities all over Lithuania. (LT)
