Although much of 750-year-old Siauliai was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1872, some nice areas remain. Visitors can stroll around Clock Tower Square and the pedestrian-only section of Vilniaus Street, a pretty boulevard adorned with potted plants and small fountains.
Siauliai, which is 115 mi/185 km northwest of Vilnius, is regionally famous for the manufacture of bicycles. This town even has a bicycle museum. The Photography Museum is great to visit, too. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul has a white plaster interior and a high spire.
Although the city itself is charming, most people visit Siauliai to climb the Hill of Crosses, 6 mi/10 km north of town. For the last 700 years, visitors have climbed the hill to leave a cross and say a prayer. No one knows how the tradition began, but it is a point of local pride that every time the Soviets tore out the crosses with bulldozers, Lithuanians returned and replaced them until they numbered nearly 40,000.
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