Beaver munching and cell phone banning, who could ask for more!?

“OK, OK I heard it!

Still, it surprised the heck out of me! In one of my first trips to Lithuania, a couple of years ago, I went to a great local restaurant that specializes in traditional Lithuanian food, Loky’s.

To view the menu is like being transported back in time to some sort of medieval feast.

Whether you want to enjoy the Beaver stew, or eat some bear (yes as in wee grizzly bugger), sausages, washed down with local schnapps, the staff are fantastic, and the experience memorable.

Fun fact: The Grand Dukes of Lithuania used to eat beaver on a Friday, as being a Christian country, most people don’t eat meat on Fridays… so as all great leaders before, and after them, to get around the rules us peasants get stuck with, the Grand Dukes decided that Beaver was a fish!

It’s not widely enjoyed by the locals today, but can still be found in specialty meat restaurants, and butchers… and whilst it might not be a popular thing to say to our Green readers, it’s delicious! Sort of a red meat, with a subtle flavour and very tender. Great with good friends, and two or three bottles of burgundy! (a head if you’re feasting).

Now, the word seems to be spreading. I recently learned that organised hunting trips from around Europe, come to Lithuania for the privilege of shoots to cull all sorts of animals that have been re-introduced to the wildlife, and who are now becoming an issue for locals (wolves, bears and yes.. even the wee Beaver).”

“Given the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) are considered to be the Silicon Valley of Europe, banning technology in school seems to be counterintuitive.

Nevertheless, something I have learned personally spending some years now in the Baltic states is that person-to-person communication, face-to-face, as opposed to device-based, is still a prized cultural tradition.

Combining the deep cultural values these countries have, with emerging evidence internationally that cell phone (over)use by school children can be extremely detrimental, especially in a classroom environment, and Lithuania’s move towards banning the devices seems more cutting edge in fact, than backward.

Lithuania has left the decision of whether to ban cell phones in class up to each school and is monitoring the situation closely.

Both Estonia and Lithuania continue to make tech subjects like coding compulsory at various levels of primary and secondary education, as the region pushes forward into the next century. Perhaps children in this region have enough technology in their lives already, without staring at a cell phone in class. The attitude here seems to be ‘there is a time and a place’.

The Baltic states were amongst the first in the European Union to make learning English compulsory at school level, years ago, and to this day teach several degree courses at university (engineering and medicine, for example) in English to accommodate a broad cultural mix of population within the country and students from around Europe (and the world), who come to Lithuania to obtain highly regarded degrees in the medical and technological fields.

The cell phone ban seems to be a continuation of that journey, and one I fully support.”

“Keeping in theme with Lithuanian traditions, for those of you thinking of visiting us next month, try and time your trip to enjoy this amazing street festival.

There are literally hundreds of stalls with local Lithuanian cuisine, hand crafts, textiles, artwork, and more on display.

The atmosphere is true carnival, with live music and wonderful street performances.

My family and I absolutely love it, and attend each and every day of the festival.

Last year in fact, I created the inaugural ‘festival crawl’, stopping at every mead stand down main street. And crawling to the last.

A fantastic day for all the family, young and old alike, and a wonderful way for our international guests to sample local culture at its best.”

“In more news from the startup/tech community, the opposite article recently came across my desk, going someway to explain the significant growth within Europe of online gaming, since it embraced the industry in recent years.

What it doesn’t explain very clearly, is the huge amount of money these online gaming startups are making being based here, with a global audience.

In most jurisdictions, online gaming is heavily regulated, though several opportunities exist for low entry points into establishing online gaming companies in countries like Estonia, Lithuania, the Isle of Man and Malta.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of online gaming applications and licenses within those jurisdictions alone.

Driving around the tech hubs in both Lithuania and Estonia, familiar gaming names can be seen in rather small lettering on very quiet little buildings, representing several billion euros in betting each year.

As yet, we have not assisted anybody with a gaming license, though our new in-house council Deivedas, will soon be exploring how we can help expedite applications for some of the inquiry we have received lately.

If you would like to know more about this exciting new industry, feel free to get in touch.”

“Sometimes I just have to pinch myself!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen property this good, with so much development potential, so close to town in a first world country, no crime and packed with healthy living, good looking locals… And under a hundred k!

What more could you want!?

What’s shocking still to me, is this is just one of a selection I had to choose from, all within 30 minutes of the CBD, well presented, and with significant upside to gain from the rapidly expanding economy, and buzzing local tech scene.

I have to say, it feels great to live in a place where a 20-year-old can still buy a house, on a five year mortgage, without the bank of mum and dad stepping in!

Location, location, location.. The best part?…for a change of pace on the weekend, within two hours you could be having pizza in Rome, or fish and chips in London.”