Here we are in Šiauliai, spending our last night in Lithuania and therefore also our last night in the Baltics.
The drive up from Kaunas was very easy, primarily due to the first half of the journey being along the dual-carriageway A1, where we savoured being able to drive at motorway speed.
We drove straight through Šiauliai on the way in, so that we could go to Kryžių kalnas, the Hill of Crosses, while it was still dry. This is by far the biggest tourist attraction in the area and is probably the only reason a tourist would stay the night in Šiauliai (although most don’t). For us, it’s once again a question of breaking up the journey.
Depending on the source you consult, more than 50,000, 100,000 or even 200,000 crosses have been placed on this hill, that lies about 12 km north of Šiauliai.
There aren’t just crosses there, though. Crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and countless tiny effigies and rosaries also adorn the site. It really is an amazing thing to behold and forms a grand, unspoken testament to the faith and will of the Lithuanian people, whose resilience in the face of foreign oppression allowed the site to survive until the present day.
Just as we were finishing up at the Hill of Crosses, the heavens finally opened and gave us a jolly good dousing. The temperature suddenly fell to about 16°C, which is pretty low, even for our taste.
Šiauliai itself has little to offer the tourist, bar a few curious museums, such as the Museum of Radio and Television. I’d hoped to go to that one for a couple of hours, but there was barely enough time and the rest of the family was restless.
Just as we were giving up on finding anything very interesting here, we chanced upon a small concert taking place in a tiny amphitheatre just off Vilniaus gatvé. A choir of about a dozen older men and women were singing folk songs to the accompaniment of an accordion.
Lucas and Eloïse loved it and clapped their hands with joy, drawing quite a few looks of their own from the attending locals. Sarah and I, too, found it a relaxing, unexpected way to wile away the minutes until dinner.
When the concert finished, we wandered down Vilnaius gatvé to Brodvėjaus Pica for some surprisingly good pizza.
Tomorrow, we pack up the bags one last time and head west. We’re not yet sure exactly where we’ll stop off on the way, but at some point in the afternoon we’ll eventually reach Klaipėda, which is where we arrived in the Baltic countries almost six weeks ago. Those weeks feel more like months now.
Our ferry doesn’t haul anchoir until 23:00, so it’s going to be a long day for the children, one we’ll just have to play by ear after dinner, while we’re waiting to board. However, there’s a children’s room on the boat this time, so that will hopefully keep them amused for a few hours on Saturday, at least.
We’ll dock in Kiel at 19:00 Saturday evening, have dinner and then stay the night about 45 km along the A21, shaving a few kilometres off Sunday’s drive back to Amsterdam.
We should arrive home some time in the afternoon on Sunday. At this point in time, however, Amsterdam still feels half the world away.
I can’t believe our Baltic holiday is drawing to a close. We’ve been on trips as long as this before, but this one somehow feels longer. Perhaps it’s because I’ve written more about it, which has helped my mind’s retention of the events; I don’t know.
As usual, as I look at our well-thumbed Lonely Planet guidebook, I’m left with familiar, dichotomous feelings about the end of this, our latest adventure: glad to be going home, but sad to be abandoning the itinerant lifestyle. It’s bittersweet.
I am definitely not looking forward to opening six weeks’ worth of post and the administration that will doubtless ensue, doing grocery shopping, etc. Getting back into the rhythm of mundane life is always the hardest part of returning.
On the other hand, I am looking forward to getting back on the crosstrainer and the Wii Fit in an attempt to undo some of the damage incurred at the mercy of the hearty Baltic diet.
Oh, and let’s hope there are no fucking brown stains on the ceiling this time!
Hi, as you’re still in Lithuania, apart from Cepelinai which seem quite an obvious choice for visitors, you should also go try the so-called Blynai (sometimes referred to as Blitz) and the beverage labeled Kvass (a bread drink) – assuming you haven’t had it yet – as they’re all very ‘typisch’ Lithuanian treats.
The last day of your stay though, try to find some decent cake shop, grab a big Šakotis – which looks exactly like shown in the picture below:
http://www.gogelmogel.lt/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sprogimas.jpg
and despite its tempting looks try not to eat it right after it’s freshly bought, but carry it home instead and let it dry in there for a couple of days, preferably unwrapped (so no plastic wrap, no paper or any sort of lid placed over), until all of its moist evaporates and the cake itself becomes crunchy. I promise you’ll all love it! It’s super delicious 🙂 …especially when nibbled mindlessly every time you’re passing by the kitchen countertop.
Hope that you’ve had a good time in there and enjoyed your trip so far!
Well, just hope I didn’t post it too late though, as I honesty didn’t manage to look carefully through the text above yet.
We had plenty of blynai on this trip, too. We also had kvass in Rīga and a few other places.
I saw šakotis everywhere, but I didn’t know what they were, so we didn’t buy one, even though they looked like large, spiral waffles. I regret that now, as they did, indeed, look delicious. I should have just bought one.
We’re back home in Amsterdam now, but we had a fantastic time in the Baltic countries. It really was a phenomenal trip.