Something to Declare

Post No. 4. South to Częstochowa, Zakopane, and Kraków.

May 8, 2023.

Forgot to mention one item from Sunday. Before heading to Chocolate Land, we attended a piano recital in the Old Town. A Bolivian-Polish pianist named Mauricio Silva played some Chopin waltzes, mazurkas, and a polonaise. Very good; he played much better than I do. The recital was followed by an offering of miód pitny, otherwise known as “mead” (a drink made from fermented honey).

Monday morning, up and out for the ride south. First stop Częstochowa, to visit the monastery of Jasna Góra, and the famed Black Madonna (Obraz Matki Buskiej Częstochowskiej). The icon is in dark colors (hence the sobriquet), depicting Madonna and Christ child, dates back to 14th century, reported to have been created in the Byzantine Empire.

It’s credited with several miracles, including the outnumbered Poles’ victory over the invading Swedes in 1655. Our tour guide for the monastery itself was an earnest young Polish American from Pennsylvania. He made sure to mention the tragic extermination of observant Polish Catholics in Auschwitz.

Continuing south, we had lunch in the town of Olsztyn (sounds like “Austin”). The restaurant was called Spichler,

where we were introduced to a soup called zurek, made from fermented rye bread. The fermentation gave it a pleasing sour taste: Yummy.

On to Zakopane, right on the Slovakian border, in the Tatras Mountains (part of the Carpathians):

May 9, 2023.

Anna, our tour guide, noted that breakfast at the hotel restaurant included a Polish speciality, kiszka, which is definitely not the “kishka” (stuffed derma) that we know at home. It’s a form of sausage that I won’t describe in detail for fear of offending my vegan readers. It was also recommended that we try the local cheese, oscypek, which has a nice, salty flavor, but the consistency of rubber.

Zakopane has a Alpine flavor and is the name of a local architectural style that involves buildings made of wood and which resemble Swiss chalets, like the famous Kaplica na Jaszczuróce (Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus):

After a trip up the funicular to the top of Mount Gubałowka (great views of the Tatras), a walk in downtown Zakopane (something of a disappointment, consisting mainly of street vendors of souvenir chotchkes), we went down to the river Dunajec (“Doon-ah-yetz”), which constitutes part of the Polish-Slovakian border, for a ride in a raft piloted by men in characteristic embroidered vests and brimmed hats, who poled us through the rapids. We took turns being photographed in the boatmens’ uniform (fetching, no?):

After the boat ride, resumed the bus ride to Kraków, through the Pieneny Mountains. Noted that some of the telephone poles had stork nests at the top. Arrived in Kraków in time for a buffet dinner (complementary vodka), and we bedded down for the night.