The Hill of Three Crosses and the Altana Hill

The Hill of Three Crosses was one the places that I found about at the beginning of my Erasmus there so I gave it a go. When I arrived there with my friends we were surprised because it was a long way up but we were highly motivated to get there. We have even had the courage to count how many stairs there are and we aproximated that there are up to 400-450.

I can say that it is a refreshing journey and the best part is that there are several ways to get up there.

1. Besides taking the super long stairs, you can go from the bridge on Kosciuskos. If you come with your car you can leave it at the bottom of the hill in a parking lot or you can go by bike because there is a road up there as well. 
2. The other way is a little bit tricky because you have to climb but not so long and it is somewhat dangerous but the cardio is good during summer, of course.

But usually when I talked to people or tourists were asking for directions they would prefer to take the stairs evne though I presented them with all the ways to get up there. 

During winter, however, it can be pretty dangerous to get up there by the stairs because it is slippery, but that didn't stop my friends at the time and also didn't stop other tourist. At the time, it was me and my friends and another group of Erasmus students from Germany if I recall corectly and we got along and talked about this experience.

It is truly satisfying when you are finally up there and you can enojoy the view over the whole city of Vilnius, that landscape, is the most astonishing... doesn't matter if you catch the sunrise or sunset .. the part of the day when you are there is not that important because it is breathtaking either way. Of course, I forgot to mention that the sun is not really an important factor because even at night it still is like being in a fairytale. 

And not so far from the Crosses was another place that I still do not know exactly what it was. I just assumed that it was used for events and concerts during summer but I was in Vilnius from February till July and I didn't see any events there, just people going there to enjoy themselves.

Also, when you climb down, no matter which way you take, you find yourself near a river and during the day it is not that impressive, but during night you can feel some kind of magic in that place.

Well, as everybody seems to know about this hill, this is all I am going to say about it. Now let's move to the other part of this natural beauty, the Altana Hill. 

This Hill is on the opposite side but it is not so known to tourists. Not even to locals. I got up there by accident and then I went there a lot of times because it more peaceful than the Hill of Crosses - you can understand why - and the thing that I loved about that hill was the swing. 

Yes, you heard right. Up there, there is a swing. You can just swing above and look at the other part of Vilnius. Is it risky? Just a bit. But it seemed pretty good, I mean me and my friends swinged for a little bit more and not one of us fell so you can give it a go.

Well the way up and down from there is not like the from the Hill of Crosses. There are no stairs, but the way up is also not risky. It is just a good walk into the woods.

Yes, also in this picture, into the distance there is a mother with her baby. The first time I went up there and discovered this unbeaten path was in April between courses as I had a 50 minutes break. The weather outside was good, it was shiny and the temperature was above 20 degrees Celsius.

The last pair of toursits that asked me about the Three Crosses Hill were lucky, to say so, because at that time I had also already discovered the Altana Hill and was able to point them to it on a map and there were more than happy as they were looking for adventure.

So when you choose to see the Hill of Three Crosses, I say that Altana Hill is also a good choice. Not during winter, but starting with spring you can definitely go and enjoy this place.

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