Page 213 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

A POR T AIT OF LITHU ANIA  211

farms have been turned into
attractive countryside farmsteads
pro viding tourist activities
and accommodation.

Modern Life
The countless art galleries
in the cities and towns reveal
the importance of art and
culture to Lithuania. The walls of
most households are adorned with
real paintings and graphics rather
Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė at a meeting in Vilnius than framed reproductions.
Cultural figures, such as M K
revealing how politicians have lobbied Čiurlionis and adored novelist and
on behalf of business int erests in painter Jurga Ivanauskaitė, have
exchange for money have created apportioned their skills to more than
the feeling that moral leader ship in one medium. Symphonies, cham ber
Lithuania is waning. Some politicians, concerts, classical ballet and opera
however, including current, two-time are performed regularly throughout
president Dalia Grybauskaitė, remain the country. On the stage, the dark,
untainted by scandal. post-industrial version of Hamlet, by
acclaimed theatre director Eimuntas
Economy Nekrošius, is one of the most popular
The Lithuanian economy is one of theatrical pieces.
the fastest-growing in Europe. A In sport, Lithuania has produced
dynamic private sector feeds strongly achievers such as the discus-thrower
on niche industries including laser Virgilijus Alekna and ice-dancer
optics and biotechnology, as well as Margarita Drobiazko, but basket ball
core indus tries such as construction remains its national obsession. While the
and energy. Lithuanian laser and Kaunas-based Žalgiris team and Vilnius-
biotech compa nies are among the based Lietuvos Rytas team dominate the
strongest in Europe. Lithuania’s largest domestic scene, the Lithuanian Olympic
company by turnover is the Mažeikių basketball team has put the country on
Nafta oil refinery near Mažeikiai. The the world sporting map.
Soviet-era Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
has been decommissioned, but a new
nuclear power plant is likely to be
constructed to reduce reliance on
Russian energy.
Agriculture was rapidly privatized
following independence, and then
heavily subsidized once Lithuania
joined the European Union. Although
this has made much of the land more
productive, negative results include large
swathes of abandoned land and wide-
spread rural poverty. However, ways are
being found to invest in sustainable
industries such as tourism. Many small High-energy Euroleague basketball match

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