The Republic of Lithuania, on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, boldly became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence in 1990.

Relatively small, with only 62 miles (100km) of Baltic coastline, and hemmed in by Latvia, Belarus, Poland and part of the Russian Federation, Lithuania has a big heart and wide variety of offerings for visitors, including around 2,500 lakes, 18 sizeable meandering rivers, and forests covering a third of its territory. The country can also boast of being officially the centre of Europe: the National Geographic Institute of France proclaimed a point (now a popular tourist attraction) 15 miles (24km) northwest of the capital, Vilnius, as the geographic centre of the continent in 1989.