Kryžių kalnas | the Hill of Crosses (~12 km from Šiauliai) is located on the site of a medieval hill fort that was destroyed in 1348 CE by the Livonians. Beginning in ~1847 people raised crosses on this remote site for uncertain reasons (perhaps while praying for the sick or for those killed in uprisings). It became a custom, which Soviet authorities attempted to erase with bulldozers several times from 1961 until raising crosses was no longer banned in 1988. Today the hill is a popular tourist attraction, covered with over 200,000 crosses, crucifixes, koplytstulpiai (pillar-shrines), statuettes, pictures and rosaries (📷1). Lithuanian cross-crafting is UNESCO listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (📷2). Site access is free, with paid parking (🚐🅿️ 5€/h) and 1€/ 🚾.
On to Žemaitijos nacionalinis parkas | Žemaitija National Park, where we took the 7km circular Šeirés pažintinis takas | Šeirė Educational Walking Trail; it runs beside Platelių ežeras | Lake Plateliai (📷3) to a modest bog pool (📷4).
🇱🇹 #europe #baltics #lithuania #lietuva 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife 🥾 #hiking #nature #nationalPark 🌍 #unesco
