The Most Underrated Country In Europe
I’ve been travelling to this underrated country in Europe for the last 6 years and I keep learning new things all the time. I still can’t believe people don’t know much about this country. I wanted to write about it so hopefully more people discover it.
If you only have 30 seconds, then I give you the answer: Lithuania. However, if you’re interested in knowing more about this country and why I think is the most underrated one, please stay with me and keep reading.
Before I forget, this is the video in case you prefer to watch a more complete version:
PART I: ONCE THE LARGEST COUNTRY
Let’s get down to the most important fact about Lithuania. This was once the largest place in Europe. Going back to the 15th century, we can see the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was indeed the largest kingdom in Europe which was led by the duke Vytautas the Great to the country’s peak.
This once expansive empire slowed down after joining forces with Poland to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 and finally being overtaken by the Russian Empire some centuries later. Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. Their language was banned.
Then the Germans occupied Lithuania in 1915 and offered Lithuanians the choice of being with them or Russia. Lithuania said no to both options and they signed their Act of Independence in Feb 16, 1918.
But then the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania again triggering a genocide (1940), then the Nazi German occupied it with their own genocide and 3 years later the Soviets occupied Lithuania one more time sentencing Lithuania to 46 more years of occupation.
But something magical was about to happen. On August 23, 1989, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia formed a peaceful protest against the Soviet Union, approximately 2 million people formed a 600 km human chain across all the 3 countries. This led to Lithuania’s independence on March 11, 1990. The first of the Soviet republics to do so.
By the way, when I travel a post a lot of stories here, in case you want to connect.
PART II: THE SECRET WEAPON
When we think of basketball, we usually think of the NBA legends: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant. However, I think for somebody who doesn’t follow basketball it’s not so obvious that Lithuania is actually a very strong basketball team with legends like Pranas Lubinas (the grandfather of Lithuanian basketball), Arvydas Sabonis or perhaps for younger generations Sarunas Jasikevicius.
In the 1930s, Lithuania won 2 EuroBasket tournaments (with American born players of Lithuanian heritage) and since then basketball became more and more popular. I remember watching this documentary “The Other Dream Team” about the inspirational story of the 1992 Lithuania national basketball team and their journey to the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Don’t get it wrong, basketball is much more than sports in Lithuania and there’s a lot of history to support this statement. In fact, I asked a local person about that film and basketball in Lithuania in this video.
PART III: DID YOU KNOW…?
Lithuanians are known for being superstitious due to the country’s long pagan history and rich folklife. They have a wealth of superstitions that are still active today. To name a few:
- Don’t whistle indoors – as you might be calling the devil to appear!
- Don’t sit at the corner of a table – otherwise you won’t get married for 7 years!
- If you are walking beside a friend and you split to bypass the post, then you will soon have a fight!
Besides the superstitions, Lithuanians have a number of traditions for the iconic events and this certainly deserves a completely separate post as some of those things are mind blowing.
There’s a lot more to cover about The Most Underrated Country in Europe but hopefully the video can complement it.
