More than 100,000 crosses rise from a low hillside 12 kilometres north of Šiauliai, planted by pilgrims who began arriving in the 14th century after a wooden fortress collapsed nearby. The site became a silent act of defiance during Soviet occupation: authorities bulldozed the crosses three times between 1961 and 1973, but each clearance prompted thousands of replacements. By 1990, the Hill of Crosses — Kryžių Kalnas in Lithuanian — held an estimated 55,000 monuments, a number that doubled after independence. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass here in 1993, declaring the hill a place for hope, peace, and love. Pope Francis returned in 2015, leaving a Franciscan monastery at the foot of the site that now offers lodging to pilgrims walking the Baltic Way. The journey from Riga to Hill of Crosses to Vilnius traces a 340-kilometre arc across the Latvian-Lithuanian border, threading through Jelgava's ducal palace district and the Rundale estate — Bartolomeo Rastrelli's last completed commission before Catherine the Great summoned him to Saint Petersburg. Most visitors treat the Hill of Crosses as a stopover rather than a destination: the site holds no formal hours, no ticket booth, and no interpretive centre, only a gravel car park and a wooden boardwalk that winds 150 metres uphill through a forest of crucifixes, rosaries, and carved saints. Crosses arrive in every material — wrought iron, birch, stainless steel, ceramic tile — inscribed with names, dates, prayers in Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, and Latin. The tallest monuments reach four metres; the smallest hang from larger crosses like ornaments. The hill sits within sight of the Šiauliai radio telescope and a Soviet-era industrial belt, yet the landscape reads as pastoral: flat fields broken by birch stands and farmsteads with painted wooden shutters. Riga to Hill of Crosses to Vilnius tours typically allocate 45 to 90 minutes at the site, enough time to walk the perimeter, photograph the central cluster, and descend to the monastery café. One-way transfers pause longer, allowing travellers to attend a service or explore the Jurgaičiai village cemetery, where older stone crosses predate the hill itself. The route continues southeast through Kaunas or directly along the A1 motorway, entering Vilnius from the northwest past the Verkiai Regional Park. The entire passage takes six to eight hours with stops, a traverse that connects two UNESCO-listed Old Towns through a landscape still marked by the memory of occupation and the persistence of faith.