Amber museum in Palanga and on the “mountain” of crosses
On the third day of the civic trip of the town twinning association to the twin town of Trakai in Lithuania, we went to Palanga. First there was a walk through the park of Palanga.
In the amber museum amber was explained to the visitors. From its processing to its use as medicine.
The Mountain of Crosses, which was visited afterwards, is a Catholic and tourist place of pilgrimage.
The mountain is located about 12 km north of Šiauliai 1.5 km east of the A12 trunk road leading from Šiauliai to Riga via Joniškis. The name Hill of Crosses is commonly used in German, but due to its low height of ten meters, the name Hill is closer. A narrow staircase made of wooden planks leads over the saddle-shaped double hill. Pilgrims used to place crosses on this hill, often connected with a wish or thanksgiving. At the hill of the cross, tour guide Wolfgang Nehus explained where the legends, or rather the history of the hill of the cross, comes from. A few years ago, Nehus had taken altar boys from the St. Elisabeth parish to Lithuania to hand over donations to the children’s home in Trakai. On that occasion, they also visited the Hill of Crosses and set up a cross.
Punctually at 7:00 p.m. the travel group arrived at the hotel in Vilnius and ended the day with a genuine Lithuanian vodka and a glass of beer.