It’s
hard to believe that last year at this time I took a 4-day solo road trip in southwest
Poland – a place we had called home
for 27 months but would soon be leaving.
As
an expat, we do tend to move a lot –
at least more than the average person. Our life depends on where my husband’s
job takes us. Since hubby had already left to start his new job in Australia, I found myself with 5 weeks
to entertain myself and spend with friends.
In
my opinion, late spring is the best time to visit Poland. The winter months are
filled with many never-ending gray, dark days. Finally, when spring arrives,
you almost want to shout Hallelujah! The Polish countryside, especially in the Dolny
Sląsk (Lower Silesia) region, are filled with endless fields of
brilliant yellow rzepak (canola/rapeseed),
red poppies and other wild flowers. I loved being able to stop whenever I
wanted on my road trip and take photos of all the beautiful flowers!
Did
you know that Poland is one of the leading producers of rapeseed oil in the
European Union? Other top producers included Germany, France and the U.K.
Dolny
Sląsk, located in the south-western part of Poland, appealed to me basically for
the sheer number of castles it contains. I love exploring and I love road
trips! Win win!
Taking selfies in front of Polish castles. Thank goodness my dad taught me how to drive a manual car! |
Just me and the open roads in Lower Silesia, Poland! |
As
I drove through the Dolny Sląsk countryside, I found numerous abandoned great palaces
that were probably once owned by wealthy Germans. In fact, I later learned on
my trip that many Germans lately have been returning to this area to seek out
their ancestry. That’s something I can relate to because all I really know is
that my ancestry is German, but perhaps relatives once lived in the Prussia
region too.
I wonder who once lived here. This fancy house had a 2-meter tall iron fence surrounding it and the large property. |
Another
reason to visit Dolny Sląsk in the springtime is to see the annual migration of
the white storks. Each spring, Poland welcomes home roughly 25 percent of thenearly 325,000 white storks that breed across Europe. After wintering in
Africa, the storks return to Poland, mainly in the northeast provinces, to nest
and are attracted to tall trees or specially-constructed wooden poles. Fortunately, I saw several of
these gigantic white storks on my road trip.
In
my upcoming blog posts, I’ll talk about the Polish castles, historic churches and
other sites I saw on my road trip in Dolny Sląsk. I didn’t find a lot of
tourist information in English for this area, so hopefully I can provide some
travel tips. Stay tuned for more travel adventures!
Just another cute Polish village in the countryside. |
This is what a rural firehouse looks like in southwest Poland. Love the red! |
4 comments:
Looks like a great road trip, Joy. Lovely photos. I have only been to Gdansk and Sopot in Poland but liked both a lot. #WeekendWanderlust
Thanks so much Ahila! I think that Poland is really underrated with how much there is to see and do. :)
Looks like a great trip! Lucky for you that you know how to drive a manual car. I have still not learned that skill and it certainly becomes a problem when traveling abroad!
Beautiful shots of the flowers, the poppies are definitely my favourite. Do you know if the electricity commission put the frame on top of the poles especially to allow the storks to build nests? I am trying to think of the classic book I read in school about storks - I can visualise the book cover but not the name of it!! Love this post.. Annette
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