Jim's Monday Tour from Vilnius To Riga (One Way)｜Latvia

Begin your journey in Vilnius and travel to Riga in a comfortable minivan. Stop at Kėdainiai, a town on the Nevėžis River, and walk through its four medieval market squares. Learn how the Radvila dukes opened the town to Scottish merchants in 1627, creating one of the largest Scots communities in the Baltic.

Next, visit the Hill of Crosses, a site that was never commissioned but grew organically after the 1831 uprising. Families planted crosses on an old hillfort, and every visitor since has added one. Despite being bulldozed by the Soviets three times, the site always came back, and now there are over a hundred thousand crosses.

Continue to a field where the Samogitians and Semigallians defeated the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1236, marking the end of the order within a year. The survivors were absorbed into the Teutonic Order and returned, staying for six hundred years.

Cross into Latvia and visit Rundāle Palace, designed by Italian architect Rastrelli and built with Russian money. Spend eighty minutes exploring the state rooms of this grand palace, which was completed by the duke after his return from Siberia.

Finally, stop at Bauska Castle, a Livonian Order fortress from the 1440s with a Renaissance ducal palace added in the 1590s. Climb the tower for views of Zemgale, the flattest and richest farmland in Latvia. Finish your journey in Riga, a city with a rich history of German, Polish, Swedish, Russian, and Latvian influences.