Šiauliai is Lithuania's fourth-largest city, set in the north of the country on the flat plains of the Žemaitija highland. It is an industrial and trading centre rather than a tourist destination, but it serves as the gateway to one of Lithuania's most unusual sights: the Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas), a few kilometres north of the city.
The Hill of Crosses is a pilgrimage site where hundreds of thousands of crosses, crucifixes, and religious carvings have been placed over the centuries. It became an act of defiance during the Soviet era, when the authorities repeatedly bulldozed the crosses and Lithuanians kept returning to plant new ones. Today the hill is a striking and moving place. Visiting it is the main reason to stop in Šiauliai.
In the centre, a half-day is enough for the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Aušros Square, the bronze archer at Sundial Square, and the eccentric trio of museums — the Bicycle Museum, the Cat Museum, and the Photography Museum — that punctuate the Vilniaus pedestrian street.