Today we woke up at 4.30am! It’s sunrise and I heard a few cars coming in to go fishing. So we got up and drove to the other side of Lithuania.

We stopped off and looked at the Hill of Crosses. The first crosses were placed after an 1831 uprising against Russian rule, but it was during the Soviet occupation that the hill became something more. Religion was banned, the site was bulldozed multiple times, and yet people kept returning, often at night, to plant more crosses. It became a quiet act of resistance. No speeches, no protests, just symbols of faith rising again and again from the earth. But today it has over 100,000 crosses, statues and rosaries place by pilgrims around the world. It continues to grow and reminded me of the signpost forest on the Alaska highway, but with a much more sinister past.

After that we drove to a national park that has the deepest and cleanest lake in Lithuania. We found a fantastic spot right beside a lake. We pulled in on the grass next to a fire pit and had a nap. Then we got the knock. Okay, it was a daytime knock, but the ranger was telling us we couldn’t park there and that we had to be 25 metres from the water. Typical, I thought. The most perfect spot. But then he pointed to a spot a couple metres away on the gravel, and said we could park there. So problem solved and still a beautiful view.

Summer has finally arrived. The weather is stunning, although not warm enough to swim, but it seems like I will probably be moaning about the heat later in the week when it hits 30 degrees.

Tomorrow we’re going to explore the Cold War museum with involves actual underground bunkers from the cold war.