Kuršių Nerija National Park, Lithuania by fintlandia

Kuršių Nerija National Park has now become a popular tourist site and holiday resort, which is also one of the largest deposits of amber in the world.

Kuršių Nerija National Park contains of a range of pine forests and sand dunes, through which is sometimes referred to as the Baltic Sahara. The unique character of the landscape brought Curonian Spit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The larger part of the Curonian Spit in Lithuania is a part of Kuršių Nerija National Park covering an area of 265 km2 (98km2 are covered by land, and 167km2 by water). The park has been established in 1991 but the first steps to protect this area were undertaken already in 1960, when Curonian Spit became a Nature Reserve.

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Lithuania is the most populous of the three Baltic States. Lithuania’s surface is mostly flat except for a few small hills on the western plateau and the eastern highlands. The highest point is at the Aukštasis top in 294 meters. Lithuania has 758 rivers within its territory, more than 2,800 lakes and 99 km long coast of the Baltic Sea, which is mainly used for recreation and is the subject of conservation. Forest area covers just over 30% of the country.

Approximately 84% of the population are ethnic Lithuanians. The two largest minorities are Poles, with more than 6%, and Russians with more than 5%. The Lithuanian language belongs to the Indo-European languages.

Capital of Lithuania – Vilnius is a picturesque port on the banks of the rivers Neris and Vilna with one of the architecturally most impressive old towns in Eastern Europe. University of Vilnius, founded in 1579, is the Renaissance complex with countless inner courtyards, which are like city within a city.

Lithuanian cuisine is known abroad mainly for its cold beet soup. Regular part of meals are potatoes, which are the most popular cakes and Cepelinai – potato dumplings stuffed with meat, cream cheese and mushrooms.

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