Your mental travel life continues to surprise. I was absolutely convinced that the town of Siauliai would be coming down with backpackers. I was ready for the onslaught and sharing 2 litre bottles of cider on quiet street corners. Not so. Siauliai is 12 kilometres from Kryziu Kalnas and makes a decent stop over on route…
Read MoreMy backpacking in Lithuania adventures continued north towards the Latvia border. After exploring the bars and sights of Kaunas, the crazy self proclaimed Republic of Uzupis and the capital city Vilnius, I got a bus up to Siauliai. Siauliai is pronounced “Shough Lay” (use the “ough” sounds from the word “bough” or “Slough”). Siauliai is…
Read MoreWhile backpacking in Lithuania I decided to concentrate on just seeing five main places in my week in the country – Kaunas, Vilnius, Uzupis, Kryziu Kalnas and Siauliai. Kryziu Kalnas is known in English as the Hill of Crosses and is a stunning place in the middle of Lithuanian countryside about 12 kilometres outside the town of…
Read MoreBelieve it or not, this journey was my first ever land border crossing in the Baltics. I had crossed other ex-Soviet nations by land of course (Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia and Azerbaijan) but having explored Lithuania, it was time to head north into Latvia, where I had previously been back in 2007. My final stop…
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