Lithuania has the proud and noble distinction along with at least six other places of being smack in the middle of Europe. The Lithuanian claim stems from a 1989 ruling by Jean-George Affholder of France’s Institut Géographique National who announced that the site lies at Bernotai, close to the village of Purnuškės some 26km north of Vilnius. The exact point, which can be reached by driving out of the city on the A14 in the direction of Molėtai and looking for the signs, has been commemorated with the construction of an expensive monument, a fact that may go a long way to explaining why a recent recalculation placing the centre of Europe six kilometres closer to Vilnius is being more or less ignored by the cash-strapped nation. Ultimately one should remember that Europe is a concept and not actually a continent at all, making the whole affair slightly ridiculous in the first place.