Europe's top right-hand corner is worth a visit

I meet Mio, a Lithuanian student from Trakai on an excursion to Siauliai, one of the world's weirder places. She is placing her tiny cross in a semi-spare spot amongst hundreds of others.

"It is a worship for me," she says in halting English when I ask her why she is doing this. Around us the throng of crosses clatter and clink in the wind, their cheerless bony sound at odds with the sunshine.

This arresting Hill of Crosses is north-west of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, the world's 124th largest country. Unique and haunting these small knolls have been the site of crosses for many years. Three times the Soviet authorities bulldozed the hillocks, I am told, and within weeks they sprouted again as if by divine intent.

A forest of crosses, here huge crosses support smaller crosses. Tiny plastic ones swing from others slightly larger, a multitude of them – and then there are rosaries, holy pictures, badges and medals as well.

Attempts have been made to count them, but all failed. One person reached a million, they say, then gave up, still far short of the total.

+++

Two countries away, in Tartu, a thriving university town in Estonia, we round a corner and step back a century. The sunny cobbled place outside the town hall vibrates with brightness and movement, colour and music, as dozens of brilliantly costumed couples whirl to a beckoning beat.

A folk festival is in full swing. Literally. Yet I am one of just a handful of tourists caught up in the thrill of discovery. This is not the usual cultural display, a show-and-tell parade of professional dancers. The costumes have obviously been crafted painstakingly at night, by lamplight, using remnants of other clothes and the skills of an almost forgotten generation. 

The dancers are not all lithe and adolescent either. Middle aged couples swirl amongst younger ones, and silver hair peeps from under a few embroidered bonnets. There are no sideshows and cheap souvenir stalls, no picture postcards or Tartu badges and stickers. This is a celebration of life and freedom after fifty years of Soviet occupation.

Huge stone towers such as the quaintly named 'Fat Margaret' squat around the walls of Estonia's capital, Tallinn, (pop.415,000) and from Toompea Hill, site of 13C fortifications and the bright Alexander Nevsky cathedral, you see this city that has one of the best preserved collections of medieval buildings in Europe.

The cramped tile and stone buildings, have looked this way for centuries, along with the web of narrow twisting streets with shiny ankle-twisting cobbles (an orthopaedic surgeon's delight, you imagine), spires and gargoyles. Look closer though and you'll see patched plaster, repairs and scaffolding, for Tallinn is having a major facelift, fifty-plus years overdue.

On the edges of town, tall hotels have been recently built, yet on the footpath beside one we encounter a line-up of ladies selling thick hand-knitted socks and jumpers, berries and flowers , while a couple of metres away, blue and white and red and yellow trolley buses lumber noisily past, jammed with commuters.

A man in folk costume passes and we trail him into the old town to discover more folk-dancing here in front of the outdoor cafes and babushka sellers. Behind the square, Short Leg, the quickest - but also steepest - way to Toompea Hill, is a jumble of artisan's galleries and small shops jammed with lace and dolls, real amber rescued from the Baltic, and paintings.

We travelled as most tourists do on a coach tour that connects all three countries, but the differences are noticeable, even as they merge into the EU.

Riga, (population 605,000) and capital of Latvia, #125 by size in the world, is an absolute delight, forecast by some to become Europe's 'next Prague'. "Latvia is the key to the Baltics," one person assured us.

A mix of architectural styles, cobbled streets, the onion-shaped domes and spires of cathedrals and churches which were often commandeered for military uses during the lengthy Russian occupation are a timeline you can follow as you wander the narrow streets. It's a streetscape of contrasts: trams, flower sellers, buskers and people selling hand knitted socks an caps, for this northern city becomes bitterly cold in mid-winter.

The countryside and its life progresses as it always has with family groups harvesting crops from fields dotted by red poppies.

Lithuania, the most southern of the three countries, and predominantly Catholic, has its own character. Vilnius, (pop. 573,000) its capital, is a sedate city brooding over the River Neris. Nearby Trakai though, has a beautiful lake and a castle that was undergoing a less than sympathetic restoration when we last saw it.

Over the centuries these countries have been overtaken by the Danes, battled crusaders, Sweden and Russia, as well as Germany and both white and red Russians. Their borders have merged and morphed continuously. Lithuania once one of the largest countries in Europe, is now about the size of the Republic of Ireland, with a population of 3.7 million.

These three countries, each with their own personalities, are now emerging, blinking a little in the bright light of the 21st-century.The hotels may be new, the border checks a little quicker now, but if you listen carefully you may still hear music too. Songs from another time.

FACTFILE:

Who: For more details and bookings: Nordic Travel, phone: +612 9904 5424, https://nordictravel.com.au

What: The International Song Festival takes place in various Baltic countries each summer.

Where: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are located on the Baltic Sea. Regular modern ferries connect Tallinn, Estonia, with Helsinki. The 85-kilometre trip takes about two hours.

Words: ©Sally Hammond

Pictures: ©Gordon Hammond