Riga to Vilnius

Saturday can be characterized as a day-long road trip. Our 1st stop was Rundale Palace which was built by the Duke of Courland in mid-18C. When Russia took over Latvia in 1795, Catherine the Great gave the palace to her lover's younger brother.
Parts of the palace found other uses over time (hospital, school, grain storehouse) but it is now owned by the nation with most of the art works (and there are a lot) owned by the Latvian National Museum.
We toured the building and gardens and they are fabulous.
A later stop was the "Hill of Crosses" in Lithuania. While the exact origin is of the site is shrouded in folklore, it has been a focal point of popular culture for over two centuries.
Today, there are 200,000 crosses of all kinds. It is less a place to memorialize the dead than plant a token of hope.
To an outsider, it is a bit bizarre but the locals are quite fond of it and fiercely contested several Soviet attempts to eradicate it.
We have now arrived in Vilnius and we are looking forward to our touring Sunday.Read more