Lithuanians find new vacation destination

VILNIUS - Many Lithuanian vacationers have discovered the seaside
resorts of Russian enclave Kaliningrad where prices are from two to
three times lower than in Lithuania. Locals welcome Lithuanians,
because they are considered rich tourists where wages are several
times lower than in Lithuania.

"It is not so clean and not so commercial and civilized like in
Palanga and Nida [Lithuanian sea-resorts]. But I was feeling as
Americans were feeling when they visited the Soviet Union some 10
years ago. I could buy everything there," said Rita. She, her husband
and their schoolboy son had returned from Zelenogradsk, a seaside
resort in the Kaliningrad region.

She said more than half of the residents in the hotel where they
stayed were Lithuanians.

"A room in a good hotel costs 60 litas ($15), although you can find a
room for 15 litas. A bottle of beer in the street costs less than 1
litas. It is paradise on earth," Rita said.

She mentioned more prices. A liter of gasoline - just 1 litas. Half a
liter of good Moldavian brandy (called "cognac" by Russians) in a
restaurant - just 10 litas.

"It is expensive for them [Russians]. I spoke to lifeguards. They got
just 30 litas per month and not always on time," Rita said.

Rita, 34, compared her Kaliningrad excursion to a return to youth.
"All statues of Lenin stand in the center squares of their towns.
They are not destroyed like in Lithuania. It is funny, but
Kaliningrad was like a trip back in time, and it made me sentimental.
Even flies in the restaurant and the taste of bad coffee reminded me
of my early youth," Rita said.

While Lithuanian citizens need visas for countries in the
Commonwealth of Independent States, Russian Kaliningrad enclave is an
exception. They do not need to buy expensive visas to go there.

It is difficult to say how many Lithuanians are going for vacations
in Kaliningrad, because Lithuanian vacationers go there mostly on
their own, not through tourism firms.

According to Jonas Ignatonis, president of the Lithuanian Tourism
Association, trips to Mediterranean resorts in Turkey are still the
most popular in Lithuania, followed by travels to Greece, Spain, and
Switzerland.

This year 5.6 percent of Lithuanian residents will spend their
vacations abroad, according to a poll conducted by social research
firm Spinter.