WHY LITHUANIAN COUNTRYSIDE?

Land of Kings. From the historic splendor of Trakai castle to the World Heritage Site on the Curonian Spit—a breathtaking sand/sea/sky triptych.

As Czeslaw Milosz said, when accepting his Nobel Prize: "It was good to be born in a small country where Nature is on a human scale, where various languages and religions cohabited for centuries. I have in mind Lithuania, a country of myths and of poetry." A country of myths and poetry that is proud of its long history and the role it has played on the European stage.

The people of Lithuania have a rich heritage that is intertwined with the history of its neighbours. The borders of Lithuania have expanded and contracted a number of times over the centuries. Because of the various guises that political and strategic advantage has taken, the Lithuanian people have been presented with new neighbours and allies time and time again. Although ethnic tensions are certainly not unknown here, the general Lithuanian response has been to weave a fabric of interactions where the various communities of ethnic and religious groups can negotiate their own way of fitting in.

Today Lithuania is divided into four plus one ethnographic regions, although these regions are not official administrative units. They are characterized by their dialects, traditional lifestyles, and folk culture. Aukstaitija to the northeast—the Lithuanian Highlands, Dzukija in the south—forests and wetlands, Samagotia—the lowlands to the west, Suvalkija—fertile agricultural land in the southwest, and a small section of Lithuania Minor, historically a part of Prussia that today lies mostly in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.

The Lithuanian countryside offers great beauty for nature lovers and many intricately intertwined stories for history buffs. Although the geographical center of Europe is located within the territory of Lithuania, along the coastal bays and lagoons one has the feeling of being at the edge of the world. The Curonian Spit, a long slash of sand dunes and pine forests rising from the Baltic Sea, is considered to be a World Heritage Monuent by UNESCO. The view of the Island Castle of Trakai transports the visitor to the Middle Ages, and taking the waters and submitting oneself to the curative powers of sea mud at one of Druskininkai’s many SPA’s is sure to enhance your quality of life.