Winter time - return to Kashubia

         During summer, I felt in love in Kashubia, and I promised myself then, that I will return here one day. Finally, I did it. It is January now. I’ve got my winter holidays and my uncle and aunt invited me (with my friend Lama) for one week.

         Winter is very frosty this year. It is well visible in the village: all the fields and trees are snow-covered. If the sun were shining, landscape would be really cute and rural! But sky is milk-white. We go for a walk to the forest. It looks like some fairy-tale land, with icicles glittering on the branches. Snow scrunches under ours foots, and it is the only sound around us.

         We gets to the edge of wood. Behind the trees is a lake. ,,Look, it has all frozen!” – claims Lama. She put cautiously one foot on the ice, covered by snow… ,,Be careful!” – I warn her, but one minute later, I walk on the ice too, seeing some fisherman sitting in the middle of the lake with fishing rod. ,,In the evening we can tip here some water, to obtain a little skating rink tomorrow” – I hit up on an idea. Ice is indeed very thick, on 15 centimeters, as I read in the local newspaper.

         When we come back home for a dinner, we’ve got blushing cheeks and we are really famished. Winter air whetted truly our appetites.

         This evening, uncle kindles wood in the fireplace. I feel blissful warmth, watching flames – it is something hypnotizing in them…

         I know one now: here, in Kashubia is my second home. And I will always coming back here…

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photos comes from my own

         

The end of the holidays - regional dishes

        Our wonderful holiday time on Kashubia is going to end. I cannot come to terms with it. ,,Let’s put the brake on moaning, and do something creative!” – says Lama. And I find an old cookbook by chance, glancing through the book collection in a bedroom. It has got semi-torn off front cover, but I still can read the title: ,,Kashubian cuisine”.  I page through it; yellowed pages are full of recipes for all kind of meals.

         Fishes are typical for kashubian kitchen: herrings with onion or braised, fish soup, smoky trout. It’s of course related to the site of this region, with plenitude of lakes. Very popular here is also goose meat (for example stuffed goose) and dishes made from mushrooms (they add it even to scrambled eggs!). I hit on a recipe for  a cooked tongue of cow – it sounds creepy, but tastes delicious! Leavened cakes seems to preponderate in relation to other baking – yeast cakes, drop scones… They are fluffy, tender and very tasty.

         I showed the book to Lama. ,,But why don’t we use red currants from the garden? Bushes are full… Maybe some cake with it?” – proposes Lama. I hit on another idea: we will cook jams! We buy 3 kilos of sugar (just in case!) and turn to picking up fruits. They are ripened and full of juice. In the midday, we are ready to cook – I wash currants precisely and Lama puts it to the pot. We braise it and after 15 minutes we add sugar delicately. Boiling jam starts to smell wonderful.

         Next day, I open one of jars, standing upside down on a counter. We sit together in front of a house and celebrate our last day in Kashubia. Jam is acidulous and tasty, sun shines, but by now not as strongly as 2,3 weeks ago… Holidays peters out… But I’m sure, we will come back here in the close future…

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photos comes from my own

A horse-riding trip

         We still profit from sunny weather. Today we are going to visit a stable. This is a perfect day for a trip to the woodland . ,,Like every other day, for real horse – addicts” – adds Lama. We both adore horse ridding, especially on the bosom of nature.

         We get through to the closest stable, which is situated in the edge of forest. There are a lot of people today – campers, vacationers. A lot of little children are in ours way. ,,Everybody from the hors camp! Come here!” – counselor summons his youngests. In one moment, the mews is empty. We pay in advance and go to the stalls, where stay two horses, which were assigned for us. ,,Hello, little boy!” – I welcome with mine. It is a chestnut gelding, with a cute white star between its eyes. It looks at me and snorts. ,,Come here, don’t be afraid” – I say to it calmly. It stays politely and lets me clean itself.

         After few whiles horses are saddled. We horse, and leave the stable, slowly walking. Tapping of hooves is suppressed by sand. Ponytails don’t stop flapping. It is really hot today, warm air allures swarms of flies.

         ,,Now, we can go crazy a little bit!” – claims Lama, when our horses are loosened up. We are in the middle of a meadow… ,,Try to catch me!” – I chivvy my chestnut, but Lama doesn’t lag behind. We gallop across the field…

         Then, a wild rabbit traverses our way, completely out of the blue. It stampedes. My horse jumps asides. It starts to escape, completely out of my control. I try not to panic, catching its mane to keep the balance. Gregariousness had an effect, and Lama’s horse run together with mine. She is better rider than me and after a while, she takes up the reins and brings her animal under control. Luckily, mine follows its example.

         ,,The most important is to not fall, you coped with it perfectly” – claims Lama. I pet my horse. I was as brave as it…

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photos comes from my own

         

Słowiński National Park

         August is often warm in Poland, and not as rainy as July. First whimsical month of holidays elapsed, hot weather returned, so we hit on an idea of going to the seaside. Just for one day, because lying down on the sand during days seems too boring for us, two young, active women. We chose as a destination Słowiński National Park, created in 1967. It is located on the coast of Baltic Sea, its territory includes forests, beaches, fragment of sea and littoral lakes (Łebsko , Gardno). It protects either characteristic sand dunes and of course all wildlife. This National Park is available for tourists, with some limitations. But we are contented, that there is no touristic infrastructure: no booth with pizza and ice creams, no shops with souvenirs, no discos, no loud music etc. We have too much all this stuff in Poznań, now we look for contact with nature.

         After 2hours trip northward from our village (first, we were traveling by bus and then we were hitchhiking, because there weren’t any direct connection), we become convinced, that it was a good choice. In the edge of a forest, on a provisional parking are only a few cars. A sign lead the way – quite wide path in the depth of the wood. A walk takes us twenty minutes until we finally feel sand under our foots and hear sea burble. The last obstacle – a big sand dune…

        ,,Wow, the beach is almost empty!” – notices Lama. That’s true – all the public beaches in Trójmiasto are full in a hot day like this. But here, on the unguarded beach it is so much space to lie and go for a walk.

         Water is nicely refreshing. Happily, we both swim excellent. We take advantage of the beautiful weather and walk alongshore, picking up shells and polished gewgaws. ,,The only thing I miss here is beach volleyball” – says Lama. I don’t care about it. For me it’s perfect.

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photos comes from my own

A bicycle trip

         After twelve days of raining, finally it brightened up. Dew is still glittering on the leafs, air is so clear and crispy. Smooth surface of the road simply encourages us to bestride a bicycle and go ahead. And so we do it.

         Three dusty bikes lie down in the shed. We aren’t familiar with chains, brakes and all its construction – pedals goes around, so we can start our trip. Traffic isn’t big, so we quickly leave the village and find ourselves on the straight road between the fields. Some single trees appears sometimes on the right or left side. There are a lot of different bicycle routes on Kashubia, but we didn’t thing about some concrete destination – we just ride. We simply want to discover places, where we haven’t been yet.

         About midday, we leave the main road and come into the forest. The path becomes bumpy and sandy – it’s not as easy to ride there. ,,Why don’t we eat our sandwiches?” – asks Lama. I litter down a blanket and we enjoy having a rest it the natural surroundings. We are full now, our eyes slowly close…

          Some buzzing mosquito wakes me up. I elbow Lama, we pack our stuff and start to continue our journey. Wood is huge and we are pretty tired of coming through all acclivities and dips, until we finally find ourselves on the road. And then… psss..! ,,Damn, my tire has been punched!” – I swore looking at my flat tire. - ,,What can we do now? 15km from home! I can’t ride!”. ,,Don’t panic” – she becalms me. - ,,Be happy, that it doesn’t rain!”.

         So we alight our bikes and wheel them till the village. ,,What an adventure!” – I claim, happy, that we arrived home. - ,,But the next time, I will check bikes properly”. ,,Yeeh, for sure… Let’s go swimming!” – shout Lama and we race each other until the lake.

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photos comes from my own

Wieżyca

         Do you know, which is the highest peak on Kashubia (and not only there, but also on all Pomerania)? It’s Wieżyca (Wieżëca). It has got 329 m.n.p.m.(about 1079 feet). The peak is all overgrown with beech forest – it is a nature reserve.

         Rain hasn’t stopped raining yet, but this morning we wear waterproof jackets and betake ourselves on the trek.

         We came to like walking across woods recently. There are just a few people on the hiking trail, around us. The path is uprising gently. In the winter, it is possible to do the cross – country skiing here, or just skiing, because there is a ski lift and a ski slope over here.

         Half an hour later, we reach the peak. Here, in 1997, was built a lookout tower . ,,It reminds those Japanese pagodas, doesn’t it?” – I say to Lama, looking on the light construction.

         The view from the highest floor is breathtaking. Whole surrounding area is outstretched under our foots.

         ,,Wow, don’t look down!” – I cry to Lama, sighting, that she became white as a sheet. I quickly catch her by the arm, and we come down.

         ,,It’s an acrophobia” – she say to me. - ,,Mountains are incredible, but I really prefer to stay on the ground!”

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photos comes from my own

A trip to the forest

        I wake up. I am lying for a while in bed and pricking up ears. Raindrops are still striking against the window sill. What are dreary sound! It has been raining for the last weekend – which means almost five days… Half an hour later, I meet Lama in the kitchen and we are preparing breakfast together. ,,Any idea, what we can do today? I don’t want to pass another day, watching those stupid videos about cats on YouTube!” – I moan. ,,What’s wrong with you, playing cats are so funny!” – claims Lama. - ,,But we are on Kashubia, hello! Why don’t we simply go to the forest?”. She’s right. We haven’t been there, since we arrived here – it was too hot, forest cover was very dry. But today… ,, Ok, I’m going to look for a basket, and we can pick up some mushrooms!” – I say.

         Luckily, one hour later, rain is backing down. Forests are surrounding our village almost on every hand, so after five minutes of walking, we stride into it. It is a mixed forest – but pines and spruces are in majority. Kashubia is full of woods, of all kinds – greenwoods and coniferous. They grow especially on the soils, which are too hard to cultivate, because of being not fertile enough.

         I breathe in crispy, humid air. A specific, forest smell is balmy for me. ,,Look, mushrooms! Little, yellow ones – are they edible?” – asks Lama, showing me her find, growing on the moss. Of course, it is! It’s name is chanterelle (kurka in polish). It is common on polish forests, and very tasty too – fried, with scrambled eggs…

         Before we come back home, we find a lot of another mushrooms – some chanterelles, some slippery jacks (which have specific, viscid caps) and even two king boletes!

         ,,To spring up like mushrooms – it’s  probably one of the most truthful proverbs” – I mutter to myself, looking at our plenty basket.

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photos comes from my own

Bëtowò

         It is not the end of our sightseeing trips! Today, we move to Bytów (Bëtowò). The biggest attraction of this small, charming town is Teutonic Castle. In 14 century, Teutonic Knights seized Bytów and started to build a fortified, Gothic castle - on a rectangular plan, with four towers, made from bricks. In 15 century it found its way into polish hands. It is not as huge as the one in Malbork, but it still impress. Nowadays, it is a seat of the West – Kashubian Museum. We want to visit it. ,,Two reduced tickets, please” – I bend over counter. We move into, waxed floor creaks under ours foots. There are a couple of halls, when we can see collection of objects which were used in daily life by Kashubians, in different areas: agricultural equipment, involving fishing, apiculture, hunting, smithing, woodwork etc. We also admire rural furnitures and home equipment, and then, we climb the stairs. Long time ago, it was a major part of castle. We contemplate history of Pomeranian princes, watching theirs portraits. Going along a narrow corridor, we drift into the Mill Tower. It’s a real deal for boys – an exhibition of harnesses, swords, helmets and all this medieval stuff! One of the swords is available to touching. ,,Wow, it’s so heavy!” – says Lama, trying to flick it. ,,How could they fighting with it?!”

        

        We pass rest of the day, walking along the market square - watching pretty tenement houses from 18 century and the Gothic tower, the only element of medieval church dedicated to saint Katarzyna, which survived. Surrounded by historical objects, we observe people all around, and try to imagine how looked live here, 500 years ago…

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photos comes from: my own/ bytow.com.pl

A trip through time

         Today we wake up earlier, pack the backbacks and go to catch a train. We aren’t fed up with swimming and sunbathing, it’s not like that (to be honest, it is not possible here)! But we plan to sightsee. Kashubia is plenty of small, charming small towns. Kościerzyna (Kòscérzna) is one of them. It is famous for the Museum of Old Railways – it is an old Engine House (it was founded in the 80s’ of 19 century). There are about 45 locomotives – internal combustion and electric, which comes from 19 century up to the 70s’ of 20 century. Tourists can see them and even walk into them. We scramble up one of locomotives - ,,Read the note, it was produced in the 50s’ in HCP, in Poznań!” – claims Lama.

         It’s afternoon, when we leave the museum, and go to see another attraction of this region. We head for the oldest open – air museum in Poland, which is called the Kashubian Etnographic Park. It is located by the lake Gołuń, in a small village – Wdzydze Kiszewskie (Wdzëdzé) – near Kościerzyna. It was established in 1906r. It consists of the rural buildings from 17 to 19 century, which were moved here from different parts of region. We walk by this quite big area, and we sightsee cottages, farms, a forge, a small, old church, a school, an inn and mills. They are wooden, with roofs made of straw or shingle. Most of them are equipped with antiques objects. Those buildings creates a sort of old, kashubian village.

Visit those places, is like go back in time. If you want to experience a journey like this, you have to go there. Discover a history of Kashubia!

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pictures comes from: Wikipedia.pl