Podlasie – fabulous Eastern Poland, Day 2 – Girl on a Trail

Gosia — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:56:31 +0000

Heading from Bialowieza to northern Podlasie, it is worth visiting the ruins of the church of St. Anthony in the village of Jalowka. Arc vaults, high columns and huge windows, give the idea of the former glow of this place. The temple was ruined at the end of the war in 1944. At that time, the German army, for fear that this place was an excellent observation point, blew it up. In front of the ruins there’s a special altar where mass is celebrated every year on St. Anthony’s Day. Just 12 kilometers from the ruins of the church there’s a closed border crossing with Belarus, Zubki Bialystok – Brestowica. It’s close to the gravel road leading through villages located along the border with Belarus, and in some places such as the Mostowlany village, Belarus is literally at hand. Zubki Bialystok-Brestowica border is actually a closed railway crossing, hidden among the fields and hills. Although the passage no longer works, watch out for the green booth, which is located exactly in the place of the border. It is equipped with a laser sensor informing the Belarusian border guards about the illegal crossing of the border. Personally, I admit that I stayed away because my last trip to Belarus almost ended in deportation, but I’ll write about it another time 😉 However, if someone looks for excitement, violating this space may be an interesting experience 😉 Following further northward, it’s worth vsiting Tatars’ village – Kruszyniany. In the 17th century, this village was given the Tatars’ community as a gift from Jan III Sobieski – Polish king. Currently, you can see here the oldest green wooden mosque in Poland and a Muslim cemetery where all gravestones according to tradition are turned towards Mecca. My culmination point in Kruszyniany was a visit to the Tatarska Yurta restaurant, which specializes in Tatar cuisine. You can try here kryszonka – beef with stewed vegetables and potatoes, and cheburek – baked dumpling, stuffed with cabbage, plums and honey, it’s a real discovery! It’s worth visiting the restaurant at the full hour from 12 to 15, then you can try an excellent pierekaczewnik – multi-layer cake with perfectly seasoned turkey meat with onion. I also recommend homemade sea buckthorn compote, which is a rich source of vitamin C. An interesting place of a religious character is the Skit of Saint Anthony and Theodosius Pieczerski in Ordynki village. This place is unique as it used to be a hermitage. What’s more, is the only Orthodox hermitage in Poland. This is an atmospheric place, far from civilization, in the middle of meadows. During heavy rainfall, when the level of the river Narew rises, this place seems to be an isolated island. Another interesting place related to Orthodox religion is a church in Narwia which has characteristic blue colour. The Church in Narwia is actually a gateway to the so-called Land of Open Shutters. The Land of Open Shutters is a fairytale place located mainly in three tiny villages: Trzescianka, Soce and Puchly. The unique atmosphere of this area is created by an original colorful architecture, which resembels former Russian settlement. The main motive are obviously richly decorated shutters, but the facades of buildings have many more interesting details. Many houses use old wells. There’re also a lot of old shrines and crosses and stork nests. First of the towns – Trzescianka. It owes its characteristic layout, to Polish queen Bona, who decided to bring architectural order here. It is also worth visiting the green church of St. Michael the Archangel. On the other hand, in the next town – Puchly you can see beautiful blue church. Beautiful, decorated houses and well-groomed farms can be seen in Soce. Its architectural layout is quite surprising because this village extends along two parallel streets. Entrance to the village can be recognized by roadside crosses. As a farewell to the Land of Open Shutters and Podlasie it’s worth visiting two additional towns: Wojszki and Plutycze. They are officially not included in the Land of Open Shutters, but the colours and decorations of buildings are as fabulous as in the previous places.

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Podlasie – fabulous Eastern Poland, Day 1 – Girl on a Trail

Gosia — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 13:07:29 +0000

I have to admit, I made a cardinal mistake about my past travels. I had been planning a trip to Podlasie in Poland for a long time, but cheap flight steered me away from visiting this place. Only recently I managed to go there. What I can say, I am disappointed that Podlasie is such an underrated tourist region, although looking objectively I contributed a bit to it myself. This place surprised me with a homely atmosphere, rich history, culture and excellent cuisine. So far I’ve imagined Podlasie as a gray and gloomy place, somewhere on the border with Belarus, meanwhile I’m impressed with the amazing number of colours and atmospheric villages that maintained rustic character. So in order to clear myself of a charge, I decided to write this post 😉 It takes only 2 hours by car from Warsaw to reach the Herbal Corner in Koryciny. This is an atmospheric place which main theme is herbal tradition, cultivated for generations in Podlasie. In the Herbal Corner you can visit the Botanical Garden where you can see healing plants and the ones used in local cuisine, as well as read the history of herbal medicine. Smells and colors on site are insane. The amazing atmosphere of the place is created by a traditional architecture of homesteads where goats, chickens, sheep, geese and Scottish cows are bred. Organic vegetables are cultivated in the vegetable garden, which then are served in the local tavern. The tavern also uses herbs grown in the Herbal Corner and eggs and milk from the pen. Thanks to the natural ingredients, the food is incredibly aromatic. Here you can try potato cake, nettle soup or delicious lavender lemonade. At the local shop you can purchase interesting tea mixtures, spices and various preserves. Anyway, from here a company Dary Natury originates, which has been constantly operating right next to the Herbal Corner for 30 years. If someone likes this place, they can spend the night here in a traditional, cosy country house. Another point – a castle, called “the Crown of Podlasie”. It’s located on the edge of the forest surrounded by green fields. Perhaps there wouldn’t be anything unusual in this place if it wasn’t for the fact that it was built by Mr Jerzy himself. The builder can be met on the spot and he is happy to share interesting information about his work. At the top of the castle there’s a viewing terrace that looks like a crown. “The Crown of Podlasie “also has its own coat of arms, which is a mirror reflection of the one of the nearby town – Siemiatycze. Going just 8 kilometers from “The Crown of Podlasie ” you can visit the Holy Mountain of Grabarka – the main point of pilgrimage of Orthodox followers living in Poland. Every year on August 18th and 19th, thousands of pilgrims leave intentional or thanksgiving crosses on the hill. For this reason, the road to the Church of the Lord’s Transformation, located at the top of the hill, leads through the forest of crosses. There are also two other churches on Mount Grabarka, but they are not available for sightseeing. At the foot of the mountain there’s a spring from which water supposedly has healing properties. Another interesting spot on the way to Białowieża is Witch’s cottage. Although this place is mainly intended for children, it is worth visiting while being in the area of the town Hajnowka. The colorful cottage resembles one big, iced gingerbread, straight form fairy tales heard in childhood. For sure children can have great fun there. The highlight of the itinerary is the European Bison Show Reserve, located near Bialowieza. It was founded in 1929 in order to restore the bison population in Poland. The reserve did a great job considering that the last bison living naturally in the Bialowieza forest was killed in 1919. Systematic reintroduction has led to significant increase of wild living bison in Poland. After over 100 years, nowadays we have around 800 wild bison living in their natural habitat – Puszcza Bialowieska. Puszcza Bialowieska regularly appears in National Geographic publications (more information can be found here) as one of the most interesting places to see in Europe. No wonder, after all, the bison is the biggest land mammal on the old continent. If we add the wild nature of the Bialowieza Forest, it all makes a pretty interesting plan for the weekend 😉 Animals in the reserve are kept in large pens in semi-natural conditions, so even people who are not fans of this type of places will not feel guilty. In addition to bison you can also see here: elk, deer, wolves and lynx. An interesting place in Bialowieza is also a railway station built in the beginning of the 20th century. Interesting building, old wagons and locomotives, aren’t the only attraction of this place. You can also ride a special handcar or a rail bike here. To be continued…

Artykuł Podlasie – fabulous Eastern Poland, Day 1 – Girl on a Trail pochodzi z serwisu .

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Podlasie – fabulous Eastern Poland, Day 2 – Girl on a Trail

Podlasie – fabulous Eastern Poland, Day 1 – Girl on a Trail