Latvia to Lithuania

Monday, 3/31/25 - Most of the day was spent driving, but the views were nice.  Simona was accurate when she told us these 3 Baltic countries are "flat as a pancake". The highest point in the country is a 965 foot hill, no mountains, though they do have lots of lakes, forests, and rivers.

We saw many storks in nests up on telephone poles or in very tall trees. Storks are beloved by Latvians and they sometimes build areas that might encourage the storks to build a nest; much as we do in the U.S., Latvians believe storks bring babies.  Before crossing into Lithuania we visited the delightful Rundāle Palace (roon-dah-leh) designed in the Baroque & Rococo styles.  Built by the Duke of Courland, Ernst Johan von Biron, in the 1700s (when the Duchy of Courland & Semigallia were still independent), it survived Napoleon and both World Wars mostly intact!

The architect was the Italian, Bartolimeo Rastrelli (he also helped design the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg Palace). After the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795, Catherine the Great presented the palace to Count Valerian Zubov, the youngest brother of her lover, Prince Platon Zubov.

 

They used it for many things over the years (besides a palace), but it is now fully restored in the 18th Century style.  Spectacular and spacious, colorful as well.  Seeing how Baroque isn't my favorite, the variety of parquet floors was one of the things I loved most, along with the huge windows and tall ceilings.

We stopped for a quick lunch in Girelė and then were on to Šiauliai (show-lay) to see the Hill of Crosses.  Although the exact origin is uncertain, its roots are related to the 1831 uprising, and when it began it was more of a memorial.  The Hill of Crosses is a difficult place to describe, so I'll do my best through photos and videos.

 Today the site is more of a pilgrimage for Lithuanian Catholics.  I had never seen any photos and didn't know what to expect.  It's quite astounding - there are easily 300,000 crosses, some as small as 3 inches and some over 15 feet tall, and they're all over the place.  Intricate, simple. small, large, wood, stone, metal, plastic, you name it!  "Over the generations, not only crosses and crucifixes, but statues of the Virgin Mary, carvings of Lithuanian patriots and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. Due to the symbolism of cross-crafting during the Soviet occupation, UNESCO named Lithuanian cross-crafting in the lists of good safeguarding practices and intangible cultural heritage."

 Back on the bus we soon arrived at our next Radisson Blu, in the capital city Vilnius.  To Simona's credit she did give us a lot of good information on the ride. 
A very brief history (that doesn't start at the beginning): In 1569, established by the Lublan Union, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, joined forces.  Sometimes known as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was among the most populated and largest countries in 16th-18th century Europe.  Because of this, other European powers wanted to split them.  In 1795, after successive partitions by their neighbouring powers, Prussia, Russia and Austria, the commonwealth permanently ceased to exist. Even between the world wars the Baltic nations were still fighting off Russia.  Thus, Latvia became the first Baltic country to declare independence from Soviets ( on March 13, 1989), and in 2004 they joined the EU.