This is one of the day trips that is made possible due to the free travel agreement within the Schengen area. A day trip that takes you across the border. From Latvia to Lithuania. From Riga to Šiauliai. Šiauliai is located in the northern part of Lithuania and is about 220 km from the capital city of Vilnius. It is the fourth-largest city in the country and the sixth-largest in the Baltic states. While the Vilnius-Trakai-Kaunas axis might be the most popular tourist destination in Lithuania, Šiauliai has found a place due to a unique attraction just outside of the city called the Hill of Crosses. It is located on the highway from Šiauliai to Riga making it closer to Riga than Vilnius. In addition, it was the timing of the available public transport that made it feasible to visit the Hill of Crosses from Riga during my 20-hour stop-over at RIX (Riga International Airport) while flying with Air Baltic.
What is the Hill of Crosses?
The history of the Hill of Crosses is believed to date back to the Polish–Russian War of 1830-31 although its first mention could only be traced back to writings from 1850. The first cross was supposedly placed at what was earlier the Domantai hill fort by the relatives of the victims of the rebellion. The number of crosses is understood to have increased further during another rebellion in 1863. Over the next few decades, the site became a symbol of the peaceful endurance of the Lithuanian people. This was however seen as a sign of resistance against the totalitarian government for the years following the Second World War when Lithuania was under Soviet occupation. During this period, the crosses at the hill were destroyed several times in an attempt to suppress any uprisings. When Lithuania finally regained its independence in 1990 and following the visit of the Pope in 1993, the place became a world phenomenon and the number of crosses exploded. Today there are an estimated more than 100,000 crosses on the hill with more being added every day and some withering with time.
How to visit the Hill of Crosses?
As mentioned earlier, the Hill of Crosses is located along the European route E77 in the direction of Riga from Šiauliai. From Šiauliai, you can take the bus that goes towards Joniškis and get down at Domantai bus stop. The Hill of Crosses Information Centre is 1.5 km from the bus stop. The bus runs at roughly one-hour intervals with possibly fewer trips on weekends. You can check the updated schedule on the autobusubilietai.lt website. It is possible to purchase tickets for some trips online while for others you will have to buy them from the driver with cash only. It is also possible to cycle from the city to the Hill of Crosses. There is a separate cycle and pedestrian route to the Domantai bus stop. City bikes can be rented from the Šiauliai Tourism Information Center located at the Šiauliai Boulevard.
The best and cheapest way to reach Šiauliai from Riga would be to use the FlixBus. There are usually a couple of departures every day and takes about two and a half hours. I took the one that left Riga Airport at 12:10 and returned from Šiauliai on the 21:40 departure. An alternate way to reach Šiauliai from Riga is on the LTG Link train service. However, there is seemingly only one service per day and is an expensive option. The train can be a better option if you are visiting Šiauliai from Vilnius as it takes about an hour less compared to the bus which takes about three and a half hours. The schedules for the trains and busses are available on the LTG Link and autobusubilietai.lt websites respectively.
A note of caution. If you are required to cross your border during your trip, it might be a good idea to carry your passport or other identification documents as there might be a random check.
What to do in Šiauliai?
I visited Šiauliai on a Saturday and had a few odd hours between 18:00 and 21:30 to explore the city exclusively. This, as you might guess, is not the best time to go sightseeing in a small city. Yet there are two things I could suggest doing to spend the hours before hopping on the bus to Riga.
Walk along the boulevard: The website of the Šiauliai Tourism Information Center mentions Šiauliai as the third city in Europe after Rotterdam and Erfurt to reclaim a part of street from the vehicles and turn it into a pedestrian boulevard. A short walk from the bus station, this is the part of the town where you would expect to see most people on a weekend. The nearly 1.2 km stretch of the Šiauliai Vilniaus Street, built in the 18th century, is today a place of leisure, recreation, entertainment and trade. The street has several cosy cafes and restaurants to explore.
Eat traditional Lithuanian food: Straight up I would like to recommend Restaurant Žemaitis if you are looking to try traditional Lithuanian food. This was one of the few places that was recommended to me by Google search and was open during my visit. If I had to rate it, I would give it 10/10 on all three aspects — food, atmosphere and service. I tried their soup kharcho and apkepti cepelinai. Cepelinai is regarded as the national dish of Lithuania. It is a grated or riced potato dumpling filled with ground meat and is served boiled or fried. Either way, it is a must-try when visiting Lithuania.
Check out more pictures from this trip on Instagram.
DFickleMind 