Grotto, Castle, and Tower (Oh My!)

Friday, July 25, 2008
I’m a little behind in my writing! Last weekend, we traveled to two small towns, Pulawy and Kazimierz Dolny. At Pulawy, we visited a palace that was once a home but now houses government offices. The grounds around it are open for exploration and we wandered around looking at the “Gothic House” and the “Sybil House”. Then we followed the trail to the Grotto, where, for 2 zloty each, we were handed a flashlight and sent into the Grotto. I’m not sure of the original purpose of the grotto but it was interesting to walk through and give Elizabeth a hard time (she’s not fond of caves!) We saw a small chapel and an area that could have been a cell for a prisoner but the most unique feature was the passage way we saw that was ten feet or more above the floor where we stood. Seeing something like that always gets my mind going; wondering where it leads and why it was built that way.

We ate the picnic lunch we’d packed and went on to Kazimierz Dolny. When we got there, a festival of some sort was going on and we decided to park in the first place we found. We were right beside the levee along the Vistula and since there were stairs to the top and a nice walkway, we climbed up and strolled along the river. We then saw a dock and boats where you could pay to spend an hour on the river so we did! On a Viking ship—OK, not a real one but it had the basic shape and a dragon head on the front and 50 or so benches. From the river, we had a great view of the town and as we sailed (motored) along, we saw two windmills and a huge castle we hope to visit on another trip. The windmills were the type I’ve always associated with Holland and neither was moving when we saw them. After we returned from our hour on the river, we walked into the town of Kazimierz Dolny. Because of the crowd (and the loud music from the stage) in the square, we just walked through the square and up the hill to the castle and tower overlooking the town. I suspect I will have the same feeling often as we travel through Poland and wherever else we may go, but I was awestruck by the antiquity of the castle and the tower. The tower was built at the end of the 13th Century and is 20 meters tall (almost 66 feet), on top of a hill, overlooking the Vistula and the entrance is 6 meters above the ground. Easel and I climbed to the top where the views are spectacular but I kept thinking about the men who built it. What was their technology like? How did they build this thing that has stood for over 700 years? The castle remnants were also impressive. The castle was built in the middle of the 14th century and rebuilt several times until it was destroyed by the Swedes in 1712. What was left remained until some restoration was done after World War II. But think about it, this castle had a history and was left in ruins before anyone was sure the Colonies in the New World were going to be a worthwhile endeavor!

As we returned to Warsaw after a (very, very) long day, Elizabeth and I looked for stork nests in the farms along the highway. We saw several, some with storks in them, and she tried to get some pictures as we drove. Sometime when we aren’t tired and trying to get home, we’ll have to stop and get some good pictures that are a little closer and not done at highway speeds.