Kryžių kalnas, hill of the crosses

0630hrs: Woke up with the buzz of my alarm in my pocket. Jurgita was already preparing to get to work. Made me feel slightly bad from the "not enough sleep" look on her face after the late night. I said bye to her with toothpaste still in my mouth as she left for work whilst I was still brushing my teeth in the bathtub. Got all ready at 7am to take the trolleybus to the bus station before Jurgita's friend offered to drive me there instead.

"Next bus to Siauliai?" I asked the lady behind the counter at the bus station. I squint towards the tiny numbers which she pointed on her screen. "Tie-eep, 7.50, Ta-eep, ahh-choo (this is really how thank you sounds locally)", I replied before handing over 47Lt that she has indicated to me using a calculator. "25", as she circled the number on my bus ticket indicating the platform of my coach.

3 hours into my journey, over mostly flat plains covered in white, with the occasion rolling mounds of hill, I was reaching my destination Šiauliai, northwestern part of Lithuania, close to the borders with Latvia (It is actually easier to travel to Šiauliai from Riga if you are coming from the north, before continuing your journey onwards to Vilnius). From the bus station, transfer to another bus that goes to Joniskis costing 2.70Lt each way and drop off at Domantai (tell the driver when you board so that he will remind you to stop). It was another 2km walk from the main road to the hill of the crosses; and if you are going there in winter like me, don't be surprise to find no other living soul if you are going off peak in the winter. Do remember to check the bus schedule to plan your return without having to wait too long for the bus.



The awe of the sight quickly change to a very surreal feeling when you start to walk between the crosses - there are literally hundreds of thousands of them, on 2 hill moulds. Legend says that Lithuanians started putting up symbolic crosses here during their uprising against the Soviets during the 1800s, in memory of loved ones whose bodies were never found. After the 2nd World War, the Soviets tried to bulldoze the site thrice, but each time Lithuanians continued to find a way to creep up behind the guards at night to plant the crosses again.

It is amazing that religion can play such a big part during those tough times to give any little hope which one might be able to cling on to. Even the Pope visited the site in 1993 and declared it as a place for hope, peace, love and sacrifice.

I also bought a small wooden cross for 2Lt and wrote "may there be peace to this world, dennis tang, 陈友祥, 9 mar 09, singapore" just behind the virgin mary statue. Let me know if anyone chanced upon it when you do have a chance to visit this amazing site.

Another 4hrs later, I arrived back at Vinus bus station and took the trolley bus for the first time back to Jurgita's flat. "Let's go Krakai for dinner!", suggested Jurgita when Vytatos came through the door. Krakai is 28km west of the capital and is the perfect day trip out of the city during the summer with its beautiful lakes and ancient castles. The sect that lives there are called Karaities and are so 'endangered' that there are only less than 300 left in Lithuania! We headed for the restaurant straight and was recommended to order a cumin drink (which taste funny but was nice enough to finish), kibinai - meat stuff pastries that looks exactly like Singapore's curry puffs, and cepelinai (non-fried version this time round). Took a very unromantic stroll (I was the odd one out) around the Island castle under falling snow flakes on our heads, which felt really magical!

Got back home for a nice cup of green tea with lemon, ensuring that my road trip doesn't end prematurely with illness.