Maybe it is because I keep moving to small countries, or maybe it is because I keep moving around the periphery of Europe, but sure enough my latest move has already led to the question: “Where is Lithuania?” being posed regularly.
After the dozens of times that I got a similar question when I moved to Malta, I was prepared for the worst. I have been positively surprised. More people seem to know where Lithuania is than where Malta is. Or maybe they have just learnt from my previous dismissive comments about people’s geographic knowledge that it’s better not to ask.
So, here is a map of Europe, indicating the location of Lithuania in the small square.
Lithuania is at the north-eastern periphery of the European Union of which it also is a member state since 2004. Lithuania is also a member of the Schengen Agreement which means you don’t need a visa and there are no border checks if you travel from any of the other Schengen countries.
Lithuania is one of the three Baltic countries, with the other two being Latvia and Estonia to the North of it.
Lithuania has 99 km of coastline with sandy beaches. The country is relatively flat and green with lots of forests and lakes.
According to one calculation, Lithuania is actually not at the periphery of the continent, but is home to the centre of the geographic gravity of Europe. In my view, Lithuania is however clearly in Eastern Europe.
Lithuania lies between latitudes 53° and 57° North. When I will go to the North of Lithuania, I will be as close to the North Pole as never before in my life (except in a plane), although I will get closer still on my planned visits to some of the neighbouring countries. (Previously, my walk along Hadrian’s Wall in Britain was my northernmost experience.) Because my southernmost trip was to Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia at around 35°50´ South, this is also the closest I have ever been to either of the two poles.
Now that you know exactly where I am, you are welcome to stop by if you are ever in Europe!
The Happy Hermit 
so, your adventures are mainly london, malta and lithuania. what a pussy! :P
I will visit Russia and Belarus from here.
And I am only 36, so I still have plenty of time to move to Africa or the Middle East.
But you are right, I used to be more adventurous when I wasn’t yet married. A lesson for everyone!
so i still have time then!
(p.s. – what do you call a 33 yr old man who still lives with mummy and daddy? call me that!)
Well, if Mom and Dad are cool and have enough space and don’t try to control your life, just because you life there, then I think that’s OK.
Also, Malta really doesn’t have space for all the houses that needed to be built if everybody wanted to move out.
Dear Andreas, I once have been to Estonia (in 1987), and I remember it was a cosy, small country with people very into folk music. But it was a bit provincial. But nice sea-side. The baltic sea is very similar to Caspian Sea.
You information reads a bit like a wikipedia article. Please tell us what was your personal motivation to go to Lithuiania. It must be the most extreme opposite to Iran. I expected you to prepare for a future in a free Iranian society, rather than in the cosy, stable baltic countries.
My personal motivation behind this move is outlined here.
And yes, I’d love to go to Iran again, especially once it will be free, liberal and democratic, but as long as Iranians themselves are not doing anything – unlike e.g. the people of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria – , the regime in Tehran is as stable as the Himalayas.
Lithuania, eh? Boy, that country is SOAKED in history, Pity so much of it has involved conflict with the Poles. Do take some time and check into some of that history, going back at least 800 years that I can remember – though the memory is as reliable as my current access to the net, so it might crash at any time. (Either one – my memory or my access. Or both! Too many days grilling in 100-degree temps with most folks deprived of electricity, though I managed to miss THAT fun somehow.)
Enjoy!
Lithuania will be the perfect country to learn a lot about European history indeed. Before I decided on moving here, I didn’t even know for example that there were not only crusades to the Holy Land, but also to here.
And then the 20th century alone. Lithuania is a prime example to study the emergence of new states, ethnic tensions, WW1 and 2, Nazi and Soviet occupation, the Holocaust and finally the break-up of the USSR and the enlargement of the EU. There will be many posts about history this upcoming year.
By the way, it’s also incredibly hot here a the moment!
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A new highlight: I received a message from a girl who pretended to do a PhD in International Relations & Politics in Russia. She asked: “i am more interested in politics and would be willing to be a diplomat after my program, first would have to return back to the states as soon as my program is over, where is Lithuana located is it part of the states have never come across it before,i was living in Tampa , u ever been there?”
To all the aspiring diplomats in Russia: Lithuania is one of your neighbours (via Kaliningrad).
Not sure if I should be laughing my butt off at the silliness, or sobbing my head off at … well, the silliness. Kinda like my one Ohio neighbor, with whom I was having an argument, who told me to “move back to Michigan, or wherever Chicago is”.
And people like him wonder why the world thinks rural Americans are ALL rednecks….
i thought lithuania is in poland or belarus O.o
At least you got the part of the world right. :-)
And the world still doesn’t seem to know enough. I received this question today from a woman in California: “Is English the predominant language there?”
The most stable and most perfect climate (+10C to +27C year round, even winter nights) in the world that is not too hot and not freezing cold is the AZORES.
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