On our way to the North of Poland I wanted to visit a special place, nearby a village called Ateny (Athens :-), where I spent several summer holidays camping in a tent with my parents when I was small. Very small…
Unfortunately the place has changed and my memories are very faded so the landscape did not ring any bell…
Anyway, the area still looks very attractive for spending summer there.
Our camp was set up nearby a big campsite of scouts.Looking for memories from Mum’s childhood…
Afterwards we had several stops at viewpoint on Wigierski National Park. This natural reserve must be gorgeous when seen from the water level.
August贸w definatelly is not our cup of tea… Too loud, too crowded and full of entertainments…
After a long walk in the city centre and along the lake, we decided to go back to the nature and stay for the night at the shore of Bia艂e lake. The place was pretty empty until the sunset when 3 other cars arrived within on hour. Anyway the night was quiet and peaceful 馃榾
Tykocin should be very beautiful and full of history but to us it occured very touristic and disappointing… Visiting the castle was tempting but it is only possible with a guided tour of about 1h which is not doable with our kids right now. The boat trip was fully booked for the next hours and the church was full of people. Or maybe it was simply too hot and we were not in a mood for explorations 馃槈
Castle in Tykocin
The hidden beauty of that day, or even the whole region, was the European Stork Village in Tykocin. Lovely old houses surrounded with peaceful and gorgeous nature. And by the storks, of course…
Our friends (few days after our visit) were wise enough to ask there if they could stay overnight. There was no problem and the price was 1/3 of a campsite price.
In the end of our visit there we discovered a tick in Julia’s forehead. It already was very deep inside so we left the storks in a hurry to find a doctor in Tykociny. We were lucky to get help easily and quickly which should not be taken for granted in the Covid times…
Once the tick was removed we grabbed some food (Bistro Krypno: delicious and at reasonable prices!) and ice-cream and drove North to the Tsar’s road (Carska droga) with high hopes to spot a moose!
Rafa艂 drove very slow and carefully but we did not spot neither a moose/any other animal nor the police/national park rangers…
For that night we ended up in a camping in Rajgrod. Because we arrived very late, we were standing almost outside, just at the gate, but in a quiet and empty field. But the campsite was full, veeery much full. And seeing that nonexisting level of privacy and the crowd of people in the Covid times, I suddenly realised again how lucky we are to be able to do wild camping 馃榾
Kruszyniany – although the place is very touristic, it is worth a visit. In just 20min long guided tour to the mosque one can learn a lot of history and interesting stories about the Tatars from the village and in Poland. The guide is a very interesting person as such! Do not miss the cemetery!
Mosque in Kruszyniany Cemetery in Kruszyniany
We had a late lunch in the local restaurant serving Tatar’s traditional food. Everything was tasty and of good quality but our kids did not share our enthusiasm towards the new tastes 馃槈
Few kilometres North from Kruszyniany, there are Krynki with a roundabout connecting 12 streets (unique in Poland!).
When driving towards Supra艣l we knew that we will get some rain at last. But we were lucky to reach the town right after the heavy rain was over.
Driving into the rain…Supra艣lAfter rain in Supra艣lThe deeper the better!
Lovely small town with lots of history and several picturesque places. It is definitely worth a longer walk, but we were running pretty late and hungry.
We spent a quiet night at Kopna G贸ra, a recreational area prepared and managed by the State Forest Authority.
When travelling slow, you have the luxury of stopping just for fun. Yours or your kids. Combining the two is even better and sometimes it’s pretty easy 馃檪 A stop to prepare coffee and play in the sand is a good choice 馃榾
Visiting Skit in Odrynki was a very relaxing experience. The walk on a wooden sidewalk surrounded by the grass, water and birds… I have to admit that the choice of location for this hermitage was excellent!!!
On our way to the hermitage…
After buying honey and having a friendly and very informative talk to one of the four hermitage custodians, we drove a little bit further to a free campsite in Bondary, on the shore of the聽 Siemian贸wka reservoir. We stayed there for 3 nights and would not mind to stay longer. In the weekdays it becomes more quiet after 6 but the nights were very peaceful. The playground, sandy beach, a possibility to swim and the free shower made the time very easy for all of us.
Nerby Siemian贸wka lake, in Trzcianka and two other villages, you can find old wooden houses, some of them with beautifully painted windows:
And colourful eastern orthodox churches full of history and sometimes also people eager to share these stories with you!
After having voted in the presidential elections (we really hoped for changes…not yet though…) we were back on the road towards the East. We arrived to Bia艂owie偶a hungry and a local road closure made it difficult to reach the restaurant of our choice so we ended up dining at “u Pasibrzucha”. The service was slooooow but the food was all right. For the night we selected two parking lots in the National Park, but the parking in front of the bizon reserve was further from the road. And there were 3 other campervans staying overnight so we joined them. It was very nice to sit all together and talk about being on the road. Such random “meetings” with their friendly and cheerful holiday atmosphere can we truly inspirational!
In the morning we visited the Bizon reserve (with our fellows from the parking) and drove to Bia艂owie偶a to see the the museum in the Park.
In the Bizon reserve
On our way towards towards artificial lake Siemianowka we had several stops to observe the beautiful nature…
Our stay in Rafal’s Sister got far too long! We have a huge huge debt to pay for letting us stay, with 2 tempered kids, in her beautiful, cosy and completely newly furnished apartment for so long!!! Every scratch on the wall or furniture left by the kids (and there were some pretty deep ones!), that nearly caused a heart attack on our side, was just commented by her shortly: no worries, this can be cleaned/painted/glued easily….take it easy… She is a real Angel! Thank you so much!!!
Anyway, on the 12 of June we moved back to the van, mostly parked in the countryside, on Rafal’s parent’s land close to Sochaczew.
After driving like hell to pass the borders before they are closed, we arrived home last evening…
On our way we reached Andalusia in the evening, when the state of emergency was announced in Spain. After checking all the news coming from the EU Member States and the numbers of hospitalized people rocketing (when we were leaving Poland there was no cases of the virus in Portugal, one week later there were 220!), with broken hearts we decided to drive back home.
Before leaving we spent a couple of hours on a deserted beach, just playing with kids, enjoying ourselves and our mobile home… We would have loved such live, all of us!!!!
AndalusiaFew peacefull hours in Spain
And then we read the news that Catalunia will close its borders with France next morning. So we drove like hell to reach France.
And then we were notified by a Friend (thanks Katja!!!) that the German borders with France will be closed next morning. So we drove like hell to reach Germany…
And then we were queuing for 7h to reach the border of Poland. Lucky us! At some point the lane (actually 2 lanes) of cars waiting to pass the border was 47km long!!!
Finally yesterday we reached Rafal’s parent’s place to leave the van there and move for the next 2 weeks of home quarantine to Rafal’s sister place. Now we need to stay isolated for 14 days after crossing the border.
We are incredibly lucky to have such a supporting family! Rafal’s Sister appartment (new, she was about to move in) was waiting for us, stocked with food (for 2 months rather than the obligatory 2 weeks) and toys for kids. Amazing!!!
So we have to figure out now what to do next… What to do for work, where to look for a place to live… Interesting times coming!!!
The trip is definitely not how imagined it few months or weeks ago, but still smooth so far. We are close to B茅ziers and heading towards South Portugal. No sightseeing though, although passing some castles and monasteries on our way with having a closer look (or taking a photo) was difficult… We decided for a relatively fast transit to reach safely some warm and calm place near to a beach, where we could keep low profile and just enjoy the nature and ourselves…
And at last THE day has come and we are on our way (since Monday afternoon) heading slowly (90-100km/h) towards Portugal, the warmth and sunshine!!!
Although our feelings of being careless and completely free to go where we want to have been challenged by the Corona virus, we will try to enjoy the time together wherever we go, while making sure to minimize the risk of getting infected!
No, we are not going to wear the masks during all the trip 馃槈
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