The Baltic cities – Siauliai (Lithuania)

Visiting Latvia was not enough for us, so we decided to continue our trip to Lithuania. One place you should visit when being in Lithuania is the hill of crosses, which is situated in Siauliai. “Siauliai is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Siauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Šiauliai, 23.3.15)

There is a bus from the market hall in Riga which goes directly to the “city centre” of Siauliai. In Siauliai there is another bus which goes near the hill of crosses place. The bus drivers all know when to get off as it is a quite touristic place. Having arrived at the bus stop there is about a 10-15 minutes’ walk to the hill of crosses.

It was overwhelming to see the hill with all those crosses on it. There had been both, huge and massive and also tiny and delicate crosses. The hill have had some tracks to walk through and marvel at all the crosses. The atmosphere of this place and with it the silence was astonishing. It felt quite spiritual because the sky was dark and cloudy and at this time not a lot of visitors came there as it was during the week and a stormy and cold weather.

After this day, marked with lots of new impressions and spirits we took the 2 hours bus ride back to Riga and went for dinner afterwards. I tried the traditional potato pancakes which are a typical Lithuanian food but for my taste they had been too greasy. In Lithuania they would serve different kinds of potato pancakes for example with herbs, salt or sugar.

impressions of the hill of crosses

walking towards the hill