The Little Beskids

19-23.06.2023, 1100 km

Already warm, yet not a season, hence little tourists. Our first vacation this year, long awaited.

 

19.06, 350 km

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set off in the morning and ate breakfast in McDonald's. I don't like it, but it opens at 6:00.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made a stop in Sielpia Mała. It's a typical touristic place, I wouldn't want to come back there in high season. But the water was nicely clear.

 

Next stop was the Dutch windmill in Krasocin. It was closed. We just made a short stop to straighten our legs.

The next stop was Ogrodzieniec. We ate in the nice restaurant "Little Prince" and after that we saw the museum with a lot of interesting bikes. There were a lot of old Polish bikes, but also German bikes, war bikes and a BMW with exposed valve springs - there was only one model like that - 1931 R2.

Then we drove to Błędowska desert. I wanted to see it before. It wasn't easy to get there though, there were no signs. We circled for a while until we made it there. The view was nice, but it was very hot.

 

 

And finally, we arrived in our accommodation, located at the one of many road curves.

 

20.06, 100 km and 11 km walk

Today we drove to the Żar mountain and planned on exploring the area on foot. The weather was supposed to be spotless, while for the rest of the weak, the forecast wasn't so optimistic.

Miedzybrodzie Zywieckie was one big construction site. I swear, eight times we had to wait on red light.

We chose the parking right next to the lift station. Of course it was a paid parking, but we drove past the gate without taking a ticket. Some lady came to us and showed her disapproval for that and asked if we could at least park better. We did that and then we took a lift up.

 

On the top of the mountain, there is a water reservoir. It's a hydroelectric power plant. My boyfriend visited this place earlier with his friends and they didn't even notice back then that there was a power plant.

We walked to the viewing point from which we could see the mountain from the distance.

We walked to the Kocierz mountain. Oh boy, was it exhausting. I didn't take enough liquids with me.

 

We hiked back to the lift station and ate a little something. And of course, drunk something cool.

 

Then we drove to Szczyrk for a short visit. 

I look a little mad, because my partner dropped my helmet... So I carried everything myself. Usually I leave all the stuff on the bike, but it was just a very short stop. We ate a little sushi.

In the evening, we visited a colleague who bought a BMW F800ST and needed help with changing miles to kilometres etc. I coded his bike with Motoscan. My partner seemed to really like him, they chatted a lot and he took him for a ride to teach him changing gears without clutch. I relaxed in a hammock.

21.06 164 km and 6 km walk

 

 

The weather was hazy, but we decided to drive to Cieszyn. I've been wanting to see this city for a long time. It seems nice and it's interestingly located on the border with Czechia. 

We drove through Istebna and made a short stop before it to admire the views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove to the dam at Czernianskie lake. The road leading there was curvy, but bad. On the hill you can see the presidential residence.

 

In Wisla, we saw the little waterfall. It was a pleasant place.

 

 

 

Finally, we arrived in Cieszyn. On the castle hill, we enjoyed the magical panorama of the city and the Czech mountains.

 

My partner had to take the same picture as everybody takes. The 20 PLN bill and the rotunda pictured on it.

 

Then we walked to Czechia, through the so called Bridge of Friendship.

 

It started to rain, so we hid in the tea house Dobrá Čajovna. They had a wide selection of tea and even a few tasty things to eat. It was pleasant and the time passed slowly there. 

The card terminal asked for a tip and you could put yourself an amount you wanted to pay. I never saw something like that before. Of course we gave a tip, the price overall wasn't high. The lady was probably aware that the Poles aren't accustomed to giving tips this way because she explained us everything and told us the exchange rate.

 

The weather got better, it got very hot actually. We visited the Venice of Cieszyn. I felt like one part of it was neglected and inhabited by the margin of society or abandoned. The other part was representative, nice and modern.

 

 

The Three Brothers Well was under renovation.

 

So was the market square... Bad luck. 

 

Still, we took a stroll and visited the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia. The tour guide didn't have much time for us, sadly, because she was very engaged and treated us very personally. 

 

We ate right around the corner in "Winowajcy". It was recommended to me. And it was very nice indeed. Great food and home-made lemonade, exactly what I need on such a hot day. 

 

The only tram left in Cieszyn.

In the evening, the colleague visited us with his BMW F800ST because somehow, after Motoscan coding, his speedometer stopped working. It turned out, it was because I changed the status of "ABS installed" to "activated". Weird. I changed it back and it solved the problem.

Luckily, the weather was bad only at night.

 

22.06, 180 km

 

We took a curvy road to Bielsko-Biala. It was amazing! No cars, we could train turning. 

We visited the Museum of Fauna and Flora in Jaworze. It was one of the greatest museums I've ever been to. I didn't want to leave. All the animals you could connect with and the tour guide who loved animals and told us a lot about them.

 

Then we drove to the mountain Rownica next to Ustron. There was a nice curvy road leading up there. The last meters were really steep, but we made it. We ate in the restaurant Dwor Skibowki, with a pleasant view.

 

Then we drove to the Museum of Magic Realism in Wisla. A lot of modern art there. I didn't take any pictures though, because we got invited for a photo session by our BMW colleague. His girl is a photographer. We drove to the village Zagorze, with a nice view on the Mucharskie lake. They had a few ideas for pictures with motorbikes. It was very nice to meet these people during our vacation. And the pictures turned out great, too!

23.06, 300 km

We took a fast route home, because the weather could change any hour. Luckily, the storm somehow went aside and didn't affect us.

My partner ignored the lady who was flashing her lights at him yesterday and as it turned out today, she had a good reason to do that, because his tail light wasn't working. I gave him a spare bulb and it solved the problem. We didn't have any other issues. We also got away scott-free when it comes to weather. Overall, it was a very good vacation.

On our way back, we made a stop in Checiny, but only to eat in a Japanese restaurant. Then we had a coffee in Bialobrzegi. And then we got pulled over by the police. Without a reason. They checked our IDs. The lady said her daughter had the same name as me. 

This ride back home really exhausted me, my knees were killing me. 

Before getting home, we took our bikes for a car wash. They were really dirty. And they deserved a little maintanance, they did well!

Suwalki Region and Lithuania on motorbikes

03.09.2022-08.09.2022, 1220 km

The beginning of September, the last sunny days. My partner and I decided to use them.

03.09 Sat, 236 km

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took off in the morning. The first stop was a nice restaurant "Spokojna" in Lomza.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next stop was the memorial in Jedwabne. It memorializes the Jews burnt in a barn during the World War II.

Then we took a stop in Rajgrod. My partner has a sentiment because he used to spend his vacation here.

Then we arrived in Suwalki. 

Our accommodation was in the village Wychodne. They breed their own fallow deer. The owner was worried that they might fight our bikes, but they didn't care much about them.

 

The accommodation was very pleasant. We had a little house with a porch to ourselves, next to a lake. And, of course, these little fallow fellows running around... Fabulous.

Before we went to sleep, we had a chat with the family running this place. I especially enjoyed talking to an older man with crutches. He was a kind of person you don't meet often. He was smart, talked just the right amount, shared, but also listened and knew when to say exactly the right thing. We talked about the deer, motorcyclists and how fragile we all are.

04.09 Sun, 205 km

First thing in the morning, we enjoyed the enchanting acommodation. 

Some chicks were hitting on my man.

Then we took off to visit a few places in the area. The first two were the viewing points.

 

This place could be seen in the movie "Pan Tadeusz". A unique lookout on three lakes.

The tri-border area. Of course, the Russian side is heavily guarded and you better not put a foot on it. Seriously, it could get ugly. You can get a ticket or even a night in jail.

Another viewing point. From here we can see our next destination.

And here we are, the famous bridges in Stanczyki. Honestly, I thought it would be less commercial. 

But they sure are lovely. Beautiful colors.

No standing unter the bridges? Then how the hell are people supposed to meet? (That's how I met my man and a few other people.)

Then we visited Goldap. We saw the graduation tower. And then sat there a little longer and enjoyed the weather. It was getting late though and I still wanted to see the pyramid in Rapa. 

When we got there, the parking was already closing and we had to park outside of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was around 19:00, when it started getting dark and we headed back home. It was rather unpleasant, because the roades we took were in terrible shape. Bad roades, cold, darkness... the worst combination. We should've watched time better or taken better roades home at this hour.

05.09, 222 km

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first stop today was the Post-Camaldolese Monastery in Wigry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cult of John Paul II. HE was standing here!! OMG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 But the monastery was indeed beautiful.

 And the surroundings too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A short stop to grab a bite to eat before we drive to expensive Lithuania.

And there it is, the Neman. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glass pyramide, Merkinės Piramidė. Interesting accoustic.

Then we went straight to our accommodation in Vilnius. The hosts were nice and could speak Polish. We had a little seperate home, not far away from the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The prices are indeed high and the language is really weird.

06.09, 24 km walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we were exploring Vilnius by foot.

I wish we had something like that in Warsaw so that we could wash hands or get some water.

The old town is really huge in Vilnius.

The basilica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The bastille

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three crosses

 

 

 

The view of the city was nice. You could see how big the old town is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Užupis district, known for its bohemian and laissez-faire atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lithuanian garlic bread with cheese. Tasty, fatty and filling, but so unhealthy.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The museum of Adam Mickiewicz was closed due to some meeting. Bad luck. 

The Gate of Dawn. The entrance is a little hidden and pictures are not allowed. We were closely observed by some lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old prison that serves as a place for events. Cool.

Nothing like a good beer at the end of the day. The place was called "Beer library". The service was nice, but it was very loud there.

 

07.09, 228 km 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning we went to see the Naugarduko g. 31a, the place with many interesting murals. 

The hill of angels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby was Uzutrakio dvaro sodybos rumai - the beautiful royal garden.

From the shore, we could see the Trakai island castle. We didn't crave to visit Trakai, since it was too commercial, crowded, expensive and nothing interesting. 

The water was so clear. The nature there was very pleasing.

I could really spend a lot more time there, but we had to keep on moving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate in the Navas tavern, where once again I delighted myself with fried garlic bread.

In Alytus, we visited the Holocaust memorial.

"Memorial ensemble is composed of the symbolic "Star of David", 9 pyramids, indicating the burial-grounds, an obelisk and a stela. In the highest hill of the memorial stands a monument of pain, a broken 'Star of David', symbolizing broken destinies and lives of humans."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Meteliai observation tower, we once again enjoyed the beautiful nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was our lost stop in Lithuania. We smuggled some Lithuanian kvass (gira) back with us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed for Augustow, to our accommodation. Studzieniczna is a little village next to it. It's a sanctuarium, where John Paul II stepped his foot and immediately got a monument erected to his honor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Augustow, my man was hitting on another chick. Maybe I'm too pale for him?

 

We ate in Szuflada Bistro, since it was the only open restaurant in this town. It was really good though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

08.09, 255 km

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our accommodation "eMka" was very pleasant. Not only the appartment, but also the host, who we had a very nice chat with. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went for a stroll, sipping the kvass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the museum of the Augustow canal, where we learned the history of the canal. The lady working there invited us to ask her any question. It was very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home, we bought some tree cake in Piatnica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trip ended with another visit in "Spokojna" restaurant in Lomza. They changed their menu in the meantime. But it was still nice.

It was a very successful trip, overall. The last bigger one in that season.