Each time we move to the next accommodation it is a surprise to find out exactly what we have booked. We left our little bedsit in Vilnius (newly decorated but in an old building) and are now in a totally wooden ‘sauna’ house.   I had booked a room in the motel associated with a restaurant in an old mill, but they decided we would be better in this house, as it will be noisy in the main hotel because of a function. We must look old, as we have been twice been told ‘we might be better in a first floor apartment than a higher one ’. Which actually suits us fine. Who wants to carry luggage up stairs?
 
   
 
We are in Seduva for our last 2 nights in Lithuania before we are back in Latvia. On our way here we detoured through a number of townships. The first was Suderve, a village of wooden houses and a massive circular church. It seemed so out of place here. It had statues in niches around the walls, but also some serious looking cracks in the walls. As we walked in the gate, we were looked on by a figure behind glass. Seemed a bit unnerving. We are getting used to massive churches in towns where it seems impossible for the population to have built or be able to support such a structure.

Next was Kernave, given UNESCO World Heritage listing because of the four large mounds that make it the most significant archaeological site in Lithuania. The site was inhabited as far back as 9000 BC and many artifacts from times past have been found. There is a good view to the mounds and the Neris River from the higher ground near the Church. Access to the site was free but won't be for long, as a ticket office was being installed while we were there.
 
 
 
Further north, Kedainiai also goes back a long way, with written records back to the 14th century. The Town Square with its gabled buildings looked as though it could be in the Netherlands. The Town Hall is also here, and while we were there three different bridal parties entered the building, to emerge again not many minutes later. One bride emerged with family from a stretch Hummer. In a strapless gown. It was no weather for that!

We had dinner that night in the mill restaurant 'Seduvos Malunas' and slept the night in the wooden Sauna House. It was cosy, but the next day was our first cold day in these parts. 

 
 
We travelled to Siaulliai to see the Hill of Crosses. Catholicism is very significant to the Lithuanian people, and this site is testament to that. There are thousands upon thousands of crosses, crucifixes and rosaries on a knoll in the countryside. Crosses started appearing in the 1800s, and gradually grew in number. Regardless of the fact that the crosses have been hacked down and bull-dozed a number of times by those who saw them as unnecessary, they have kept reappearing. They have now been left alone. There is also a Franciscan Monastery on the hill nearby, apparently at the suggestion of Pope John Paul II after his visit. It is all quite a sight, and the number of crosses will keep growing, as a shop at the car park sells various versions.

It turned out to be a day of visiting religious sites, as we also drove through Siluva, a town famous as a pilgrimage place. The weeping Virgin Mary is said to have appeared here in 1610, some time after a priest had buried church artifacts and a painting of the Virgin Mary just as Calvinism was taking hold. After the apparition people started to travel to Siluva to visit the site. We had no idea the shrine to this painting would be so huge. There is a church here but also a huge obelisk type building that is the Chapel to Our Lady of Siluva. It is tall, white and decorated with gold. Just out in the countryside in a small village. Amazing.