Vilnius-Siauliai-Klapedia
After a long conference with myself (how clever) I decided on not bothering with exploring the country too much, seeing as I had already spent too much time in Vilnius and was supposed to be in Latvia within the week to keep on 'schedule'. The convienient thing was that a train leaving at 6.30am in the morning would get to Siauliai, where the Hill of Crosses was located at about 9am and I would be able to spend a day there instead of having to stay over night and be in Klapedia by that night. Well it was a good idea at the beginning...but as my new motto on the trip is: 'Nothing goes to plan, so prepare for the worst' I was probably a bit too optimistic than I should have been.
Seeing I had to be up at such an early time to get the train, I slept most of the journey to Siauliai and arrived to find it was raining heavily and extremly cold...in the range of about 1 degree or so...when wind and rain are added to that it feels like it is about minus 3. The direction of where to go off the train was confusing too as I had no map of the city but I just randomly walked and found myself at the tourist centre. They were extremely helpful and gave me all the information I need to know to see the Hill of Crosses...the only annoying part was that the next train to Klapedia was not till that night, so I had seven bloody hours to waste, which the dismal little town was not going to fill and neither was the hill.
I was directed to get a bus to the Hill but then I had the problem of having to be there for about an hour and half before being able to get a bus back. Ahh but I had come this far to see the crosses so it 'had' to be done (nothing HAS to be done, I chose to do it).
The Hill of Crosses itself was an extremely eerie sight. The sight, is just a hill covered in thousands of crosses placed there over the time the Soviets occupied Lithuania by people who risked there lives to place a cross on the hill. Most of the earlier ones are terribly weathered so it is difficult to see any date on them and the very new ones have been placed as early as last year. I am glad I saw it but it really was not something that could keep you occupied for longer than half an hour at the maximum...and I had an hour and half there....in the terrible cold with pouring down SLEET. Not fun at all.
I got stuck in the rain at the bus stop and couldn't do anything except stand there hoping either the bus would come early or some nice person would stop and give me a lift. It was my lucky day because the latter actually happened. A Lithuanian in a mini-van stopped and said he would drive me to town. Well technically he was correct...he dropped me in town but it was terribly far from the centre. So I still had to walk a very long way. At least I saved some money on a bus fare.
The rest of my time in Siauliai was wasted away in a pizza restaurant where I read my book and waited for my train to Klapedia.
Klapedia
When I finally arrived in Klapedia it was about 10.30pm at night but at least the rain had stopped...Thankfully the hostel was extremely close to the station so it was not very far to get there.
While I could go into a long blah blah about nothing I will not. My reason for coming to Klapedia was to go to an abandoned Soviet Missle Base and to see the coast. The Missle Base was closed and the weather was way too cold to be exploring any seaside coast, especially after my stranding at Siauliai...instead I decided to head to Riga in time for Latvian Independance Day.
Seeing I had to be up at such an early time to get the train, I slept most of the journey to Siauliai and arrived to find it was raining heavily and extremly cold...in the range of about 1 degree or so...when wind and rain are added to that it feels like it is about minus 3. The direction of where to go off the train was confusing too as I had no map of the city but I just randomly walked and found myself at the tourist centre. They were extremely helpful and gave me all the information I need to know to see the Hill of Crosses...the only annoying part was that the next train to Klapedia was not till that night, so I had seven bloody hours to waste, which the dismal little town was not going to fill and neither was the hill.
I was directed to get a bus to the Hill but then I had the problem of having to be there for about an hour and half before being able to get a bus back. Ahh but I had come this far to see the crosses so it 'had' to be done (nothing HAS to be done, I chose to do it).
The Hill of Crosses itself was an extremely eerie sight. The sight, is just a hill covered in thousands of crosses placed there over the time the Soviets occupied Lithuania by people who risked there lives to place a cross on the hill. Most of the earlier ones are terribly weathered so it is difficult to see any date on them and the very new ones have been placed as early as last year. I am glad I saw it but it really was not something that could keep you occupied for longer than half an hour at the maximum...and I had an hour and half there....in the terrible cold with pouring down SLEET. Not fun at all.
I got stuck in the rain at the bus stop and couldn't do anything except stand there hoping either the bus would come early or some nice person would stop and give me a lift. It was my lucky day because the latter actually happened. A Lithuanian in a mini-van stopped and said he would drive me to town. Well technically he was correct...he dropped me in town but it was terribly far from the centre. So I still had to walk a very long way. At least I saved some money on a bus fare.
The rest of my time in Siauliai was wasted away in a pizza restaurant where I read my book and waited for my train to Klapedia.
Klapedia
When I finally arrived in Klapedia it was about 10.30pm at night but at least the rain had stopped...Thankfully the hostel was extremely close to the station so it was not very far to get there.
While I could go into a long blah blah about nothing I will not. My reason for coming to Klapedia was to go to an abandoned Soviet Missle Base and to see the coast. The Missle Base was closed and the weather was way too cold to be exploring any seaside coast, especially after my stranding at Siauliai...instead I decided to head to Riga in time for Latvian Independance Day.