Staying at the Siauliai Hotel in Siauliai, Lithuania

My 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…

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Visiting Kryziu Kalnas (The Hill of Crosses) Near Siauliai, Lithuania

While 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…

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World Borders: How to Get from Lithuania to Latvia (Bus from Siauliai to Riga)

Believe 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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