Vacation in Poland: Comfortable Agritourism in Cieplice Dolne

[Moonbear]

At least 6 agricultural machines in one yard. I recall turbo doesn't have agricultural machines, instead he has several rusty cars in his forest

What's in the open barn (or lean-to or whatever that thing with the blue roof is)? Looks like something hung to dry, but I can't tell what.

Life after life. I wonder if that's only Polish invention, or if tractor tires are used this way in other countries as well. They mark the entrance to the yard, I suppose they also stop gravel from falling into the ditch.

If you like that, you'd love visiting West Virginia; there are used tires and used vehicles without tires adorning plenty of yards. That looks like a good way to see where the ditch is when backing a vehicle in. My grandparents' home had ditches like that on either side of the driveway, and my grandfather felt obligated at the end of every visit to holler out, "Watch out for the ditch!" as we'd back out of the driveway. He'd probably have loved that idea to make the ditch easier to see and give you something to bump into if you didn't see it before you went into the ditch.

 

[Borek]

Reminds me of my visit there many years ago. Every place we visited was so pretty, though I was mostly fascinated with the places we didn't visit...the countryside we passed while traveling between cities. While a lot looked rather "run down" with age, everything had a really cute charm to it.

You've been to Poland? When? And do you remember which part of Poland it was?

 

[Borek]

What's in the open barn (or lean-to or whatever that thing with the blue roof is)? Looks like something hung to dry, but I can't tell what.

Tobacco leaves.

Tobacco alley:

And that's what tobacco plant shows to all those "No smoking" signs

 

[Moonbear]

You've been to Poland? When? And do you remember which part of Poland it was?

I was there in 1990 as a trip with my college choir. We visited Warszawa, Czestochowa, and Krakow. (Sorry, I can't make the letters with little tails on my computer.) There was also a stop along the way, I think between Warszawa and Czestochowa, where there was a salt mine we visited which was amazing! I've signed the Book of Kings at the monastery in Czestochowa because our choir sang an Ave Maria while visiting...that was really an amazing experience. We traveled the whole way on a tour bus, so got to see a lot of the countryside in between. It was also funny how the residents of both Warszawa and Krakow seem to compete and each will go to great lengths to explain why their city is better than the other.

 

[Borek]

I was there in 1990 as a trip with my college choir.

A lot has changed since then. These were very intense years. And it is not over yet.

We visited Warszawa, Czestochowa, and Krakow. (Sorry, I can't make the letters with little tails on my computer.) There was also a stop along the way, I think between Warszawa and Czestochowa, where there was a salt mine we visited which was amazing!

This salt mine is in Wieliczka, on the outskirts of Kraków.

It was also funny how the residents of both Warszawa and Krakow seem to compete and each will go to great lengths to explain why their city is better than the other.

Well, that's one of those things that have not changed since

 

[turbo]

At least 6 agricultural machines in one yard. I recall turbo doesn't have agricultural machines, instead he has several rusty cars in his forest

My agricultural "machines" include a couple of gas-powered tillers that date back to the 70's and 80's. The rusty vehicles in the forest date back to the late 40's and early 50's. I also have a nice old English square-pointed garden shovel with a wooden D-handle. The top metal tang is marked "cast steel" and I would not be surprised if it is 100 years old. Nothing to match the age of the log cabins in your country. My log cabin was built in the 70's, as was my sister's, and we don't have windowless animal quarters attached. Unless you count the times when squirrels invaded our cellar.

 

[Moonbear]

A lot has changed since then. These were very intense years. And it is not over yet.

I can imagine it must be quite different. That was a really interesting time to visit. I stayed with a family for a few days while in Warszawa, and it was interesting, though sad, to hear of the difficulties they were having adjusting to the changes.

This salt mine is in Wieliczka, on the outskirts of Kraków.

Have you visited it? Especially the ballroom inside is amazing! I remember the chandelier carved entirely from salt. Very impressive the artistry and craftsmanship.

Well, that's one of those things that have not changed since

It's nice though, that people are so proud of the city they live in.

 

[Borek]

I can imagine it must be quite different. That was a really interesting time to visit. I stayed with a family for a few days while in Warszawa, and it was interesting, though sad, to hear of the difficulties they were having adjusting to the changes.

Many people didn't adjust up to now. Adapting was very hard for most of those older then me. At the same time those younger adapted pretty fast. For Junior generation there was no problem, they grew in the new conditions from the very beginning.

Have you visited it? Especially the ballroom inside is amazing! I remember the chandelier carved entirely from salt. Very impressive the artistry and craftsmanship.

I have seen the mine back in seventies, as a kid. Not that I remember much, but it was impressive.

It's nice though, that people are so proud of the city they live in.

Hard to tell if they are proud of their city, or if they dislike those from the other one

 

[Borek]

Originally stripes were white. Void between logs was usually filled with hay and moss which are much less durable then wood, so they were each year additionally conserved with hydrated lime, hence white stripes. Most wood conserving paints are dark. From what I know wood was often conserved with used machine/engine oil. That gives brown/white stripes. I suppose blue stripes are just to make some cabins look prettier then the others.

We've meet yesterday to take a look at sorted pictures and Danka (she sits with my wife on one of the pictures) told me, that she knows from her aunt that bugs don't like ultramarine, that's why it was added to stripes paint.

You know, it is one of these things that "everybody knows about"

 

[waht]

This is from my trip in February 2007 in southern Poland. This particular town is called "Zakopane" roughly translated "buried." The name highlights its location deep in the foothills of the Tatra mountains (biggest mountain range in Poland). It is also home to "Gorale" who are Polish highlanders and have an extremely rich heritage.

The person in Gray hair and purple jacket passed away two weeks ago. He was someone close to my family. He lived in the mountain region his whole life. I'm posting some pics as a tribute to him.

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/9651/rszbtq3.jpg More Zakopane. Notice the horse buggy. They are common there. Believe it or not there actually was a new range rover parked nearby. Weather changes fast there, elevation is around 5000 ft.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9553/rszads6.jpg This is a "Czorsztyn" castle that endured centuries of warfare and siege. All that remains are a couple of walls. However, another castle was erected "Niedzica" to the right of it (not shown in pics because of poor visibility) in 1300s. That would make Czorsztyn even older.http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/5530/rszciz2.jpg

Here I stopped off road to check out "bialka" river, (translated white river). It begins high in the Tatra mountains and flows to now a man made reservoir around Czorsztyn castle, meets with another Dunajec river and this is a start of Wisla river (biggest river in Poland) which flows all the way north and into Baltic sea.

That particular rock formation was a heaven for paleontologists five years ago. It turns out that there is a hidden cave only accessible by diving in the river. They found some cool bones, like the boomerang made from mammoth tusks.

http://www.english.pan.pl/english/images/stories/pliki/publikacje/academia/2005/06/36-38%20madeyska.pdf http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1020/rszdqz1.jpg

 

[Borek]

This is from my trip in February 2007 in southern Poland. This particular town is called "Zakopane" roughly translated "buried."

Very well known place, I was there many times.

The person in Gray hair and purple jacket passed away two weeks ago. He was someone close to my family. He lived in the mountain region his whole life. I'm posting some pics as a tribute to him.

Sad that he passed, but it looks like he is well remembered. That counts.

Weather changes fast there, elevation is around 5000 ft.

More like 3000 ft. Mountains around go up to around 9000, but not on the Polish side of the border.

Here I stopped off road to check out "bialka" river, (translated white river). It begins high in the Tatra mountains and flows to now a man made reservoir around Czorsztyn castle, meets with another Dunajec river and this is a start of Wisla river (biggest river in Poland) which flows all the way north and into Baltic sea.

That's not entirely correct. When Dunajec flows into Wisła, Wisła is already a serious river; I think it is already about 200 kilometers long :) It starts at Barania Góra in Beskid Śląski.

 

[waht]

More like 3000 ft. Mountains around go up to around 9000, but not on the Polish side of the border.

That's not entirely correct. When Dunajec flows into Wisła, Wisła is already a serious river; I think it is already about 200 kilometers long :) It starts at Barania Góra in Beskid Śląski.

Yes I agree. I don't know where I got my stats from. Thanks for clarifying.