INTO THE MOUNTAINS

At the end of the 14^th century monks from Hungary established a monastery at Częstochowa.  A Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary was taken there and the shrine of Jasna Gora established.  It rapidly became a major place of pilgrimage and today is visited by about five million pilgrims each year.  The icon is now at the heart of a complex of beautiful churches, museums and associated buildings.  Although also visited by thousands of tourists each year, Jasna Gora has maintained an air of reverence and worship.  And, to our surprise, access to all the public buildings is free.

Surrounding the park outside are some interesting modern sculptures representing the Stations of the Cross.

In Częstochowa itself, where there are eight universities, we found other interesting sculptures some of which are suspended on wires.

From Częstochowa we headed east and south towards the mountains and came to a lovely little town called Kazimierz Dolny on the Wisła river.

We were able to cycle along the river bank promenade to go to the farmers’ market and visit the town.

Many of the buildings have roofs with long, narrow interlocking wooden tiles.

Our next port of call was Zamość where the town walls and moat are being carefully restored.

On the Sunday morning the Market Place was filled with spectators and dance groups from all over Europe taking part in an International Folk Dance Festival

Continuing our journey we spent a night at Przeworsk (where there be elephants!) ...

... before reaching Ustrzyki Gόrne, a village in the densely forested Bieszczady National Park.  Road signs warn you to beware of bears but there are also wild boar, and lynx still living there.  From there we climbed 600 metres to the summit of Tarnica (1346m) on a hot, sunny day.

We had a great view from the top across the border with Ukraine ...

... and managed to get back to the camp site before a terrific thunder storm hit us.

We moved on to a very pleasant holiday resort beside a huge reservoir at Solina, spoilt only by the dozens of cheap souvenir stalls, fast food outlets and a fairground. 

But these were almost invisible from the site.