Šiauliai, Lithuania’s Hill of Crosses and Iron Fox

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In the western Lithuanian countryside is a famous site called the Hill of Crosses. We managed to get to it today and it was pretty spectacular, but we didn’t expect the giant silver fox statue on the shore of a lake under a big white moon in the evening. It was quite a spectacular day in Šiauliai, and while my blood sugars were rather high, I did have a long stretch of much better readings in the afternoon and evening.

It was Day 20 of the trip. When Masayo and I awoke at 9:30, my BG was 253. It’s been mostly high lately, so I was annoyed but not surprised. Bad way to start a day though.

We went to a local mall and a restaurant called La Crêpe for breakfast. Mine was good — omelette with small pieces of bread, and coffee. It wasn’t too high in carbs, I imagined. I took a Humalog shot, thinking I’d probably end up pretty good afterwards.

We hung around the room after breakfast for a couple hours, then decided to head out to do some sightseeing. My pre-lunch BG was not the good reading I hoped for: 278 at 1 pm. I took some Humalog.

We found a local bus up to the Hill Of Crosses area, which is a few kilometers north of the town of Šiauliai. The stop we were looking for was called Domantai; we have been known to miss stops on these local buses before (like in the Åland Islands and in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia, for example). But we got some local help.

Arriving at a stop, an older woman on the bus turned around and motioned for us to get off. I had actually seen that this was our stop myself, but she seemed to know that we tourists would be going there and helpfully pointed it out for us. How nice; we smilingly thanked her and disembarked; the bus motored off and we found ourselves all alone on a two-lane country highway with no Hill of Crosses in sight.

It was a 2-kilometer walk down a little side road from the stop – we saw the sign for the site in its Lithuanian name, Kryžių Kalnas. But it was a great November day for walking — not hot and not cold, and the land around us was just quiet farms and fields. There were no other people and hardly any cars on the road we walked.

Soon we saw the Hill Of Crosses up ahead. It consists of a small mound plus part of the surrounding flat land onto which people have erected thousands and thousands of crosses. Devotees travel from all over the world to add their own, and the crosses come in all different types. Some are huge and ornate and made of metal, with statues of Jesus stuck to them and signs indicating where they are from. Others are simply two tiny old pieces of wood nailed together, maybe with a simple message scrawled on them. And everything in between.

Little paths lead up and around the crosses. Masayo and I walked around, looking at the clusters of crucifixes and admiring the dedication of the people who made and brought them. I also checked my BG while on top of the hill — 180. Getting better!

One of the stranger moments was when I heard voices. Yes, right about the very top of the hill I distinctly heard an echoey voice intoning something that sounded weighty and important. I thought I was going crazy. Finally I realized that someone must have put a small speaker or something under one of the piles of crosses. I got as close as I could but could still barely make out the voice, and couldn’t figure out how someone got a speaker down there. It sounded like a distant and indistinct message bubbling up from the center of the Earth. Certainly weird.

We went to the little tourist center which was open despite almost no other tourists being around, and Masayo got a souvenir crushed coin. Then we had to 2 km back down the road to wait for the bus back to town. We knew the schedule, and if we missed the next bus we’d have to walk 10 km back to town, on the shoulder of the two-lane highway at dusk. We strode briskly to the stop – and made the bus. Whew!

Back in Šiauliai we went to a downstairs cafe called Varpas 154. I liked the name; maybe my diabetes would be inspired to be in the mid-100s. In fact it was; I was 132 and happy about it. I had got it back down from its morning highness with insulin and walking.

So I celebrated with cake and water. I took a smallish shot and ate the big thick cake, and wondered if my BG luck today was running out — surely this wasn’t enough insulin. Had I underestimated food yet again? Well if so I’d find out soon enough, but with all the walking and activity I just didn’t think I needed more insulin.

After our snack we went walking around Šiauliai and ended up at a big sundial statue – a proud golden archer on a large pole. (I didn’t really understand how it was a sundial. I didn’t see hour markers anywhere.)

But even more interesting was the old cemetery hidden in a large grove of trees next to the sundial. It was getting dark, there was a big bright nearly-full moon overhead, and the cemetery was full of old stone graves, statues of Mary, and lit candles. Almost nobody was around; we wondered who had lit the candles, and when. Maybe that ghostly voice from the Hill of Crosses.

We strode through the cemetery and eventually emerged to the shore of a large lake. I’d read about it but thought it was further outside of town – but here it was, a bonus site for us on this jam-packed day. Next to the lake, with the moon overhead, was a big iron fox statue, mouth open and tail extended. It was quite a sight. I checked my BG for the fox; it was 82.

Normally, I’d think that 82 was too low, what with all this walking around, and I’d panic and drink some juice. This time, however, I didn’t do anything. We just kept walking, slowly winding our way back to town. It was a little diabetes experiment; would the BG hold steady or would it drop low?

While next to the lake, I walked through the Energy Labyrinth, which is a long winding spiral-like path marked with stones. You start at the entrance and walk around and around, taking left and right turns, and end up at the center where you continue and finally exit where you entered. The Energy Labyrinth is meant to clear your head and improve your health. I pondered my recent high BGs while I walked it — maybe all this mystical mumbo jumbo would in fact keep them in line!

We went to Rimi supermarket again for dinner; why waste the chance to use our own kitchen? Masayo cooked fish for us. We even bought foil to cook the fish with, and also had instant soup and some kind of mystery salad, plus I had a carton of chocolate milk. My BG before all this? 76 — it hadn’t moved at all. Lesson learned: sometimes good BG is steady and can be left alone!

The dinner was great, except after drinking about a quarter of my chocolate milk I realized it tasted funny. Masayo tasted it and made a face. We threw the rest out but looked at each other nervously — are we going to get sick, having both drunk bad milk?

Despite the strange highnesses, today was an especially nice day. The Hill of Crosses, the cemetery, the fox statue and Energy Labyrinth and moon over the lake, the excellent dinner (minus the milk), the farmland walks, and the string of good blood sugars in the afternoon. Tomorrow we’re saying goodbye to Šiauliai, off to a town called Kaunas.

And I consider my blood sugar adventures a learning experience: accept the good BGs and quit worrying too much about lows. Just because I’m walking a lot doesn’t necessarily mean that my BG is dropping. I should let it be, and check it later if I’m not sure. Fear of low BG can make you take less insulin and end up high a lot. Not cool.

Have you ever taken insulin but ended up higher afterwards?

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