The Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian, Lietuva) is a republic in Northeastern Europe . One of the three Baltic States along the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with fellow Baltic State Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland to the south, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the southwest. Lithuania owes much to the rich cultural currents of central Europe: it once shared an empire with neighboring Poland that stretched from the Baltic Sea almost to the Black Sea . Its capital Vilnius boasts a Baroque Old Town that is the largest in Eastern Europe and praised as the 'New Prague'.

Lithuania has a long history behind itself as a proud kingdom and once stretched to the Black Sea , some 2000 kilometers further to the south. Since then the country has shrunk a lot. But what's left is certainly worth exploring. A good starting point is Vilnius , the Jerusalem of Europe as it was called at the turn of the century. Other places of interest include the cities of Kaunas and Klaipeda .