Middle of nowhere
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
1
5
100
Trip End
Sep 08, 2008
Belk,
Poland
Thursday, September 21, 2006
There was only problem though. Getting there. I knew I had to get to 17.33 train to Wodislaw Slaskie, and jump off at the station called 'Orzesz Jaskowice' sometime around 8pm. In theory that sounded fine, but in reality I would be jumping off a train at a tiny station in the countryside, in darkness, with all my belongings. To make matters worse, I forgot to charge my phone in Krakow, which meant in ran out of battery on the train. If I wasn't met at Orzesz Jaskowice, I was going to be in real trouble!
I kept in the back of my mind something on of the girls in Krakow told me. She was also from Belk, and she told me Orzesz Jaskowice was first station after Orzesz. Polish train stations are poorly marked, and I kept my eyes peeled for the sign marking Orzesz. The train whizzed by, and the next time it stopped I jumped off, not knowing if it was the right station or now. Before the train doors shut and it started moving, I glanced up at a decrepit building with the words 'Orzesz Jaskowice' painted on the side. "Bingo" I said aloud! It was a poorly lit slab of concrete, but ahead I could see a couple standing by the road. I must, I was very glad when they introduced themselves as Agnes and Michael, Karola's friends!
I was driven around to Agnes' parents house, where I was fed a fantastic dinner. It was great to be out of the city and meeting the locals, and on the flipside, I think Agnes and Michael were quite interested to see what the story was behind the weird Tasmanian who came to visit their tiny village! After an hour or so I met Karola and her partner Rob, and we went around to Karola's house where I settled in for the night.
Unable to secure a car for a drive to the mountains, Karola had some other plans in store for the following few days. Agnes joined us the next morning for a tour in a mine in the town of Zabrze, about 30 minutes drive from Belk. I was under the impression we would be visiting some mountains, however Karola wasn't able to secure her parents car for the lengthy drive. The thought of visiting my second mine in two days wasn't appealing at first, but it turned out to be a very interesting morning. This wasn't a major tourist attraction like Wieliczka near Krakow, but a genuine, lower Silesian environment damaging mine. I'd never been in one like it, and whilst I saw some remarkable things, I could happily say I'll never visit one again. Our small groups guide spoke in Polish; however Agnes and Karola managed to translate the important parts for me.
Glad to breathe in some fresh air after more than an hour underground, the three of us paid a short visit to Chudow Castle. I can't remember the age of it, but it was a least a few centuries old, and it was the first genuine 'ruin' I visited in Poland. We only spent a few minutes here as the doors were locked, but there were some strange statues of characters from Polish folklore in the area which gave us something to laugh at.
Agnes partner Michael joined us after lunch (known in Poland as dinner) for a few hours cycling in the nearby countryside. While this was probably a boring run of the mill cycle for my three hosts, I found it really fantastic. Over nearly three hours we cycled through beautiful pine forests, large pristine lakes teeming with birdlife and small villages. Whilst we hadn't made it to the mountains, this was exactly what I as looking for during my short break out of the cities. I was a little disappointed once the sun set, but had a few quiet beers to chill out with my new friends in the small town of Rybnik's rynek, which was just 15km from Belk.
The next morning Agnes again joined Karola and I for a trip to the town of Pszczyna, about 30km from Belk. It was another nice drive through small villages and wooded forests, and when we arrived we parked on the outskirts of the small town. After a short walk through a small park we came across the town's main attraction, the Castle museum. It was built by the Opole dukes in the 12th century (strangely enough, Opole was the region I was to be based in) and it really was a magnificent structure. We spent about an hour and a half inside looking at the galleries and were transported back in time a few hundred years before we were ready for some fresh air. Taking advantage of the blue skies and sunshine, we went for a longer walk through the large park around a number of small lakes before heading to the town's small Rynek for an ice-cream.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing back in Belk before we got a small crew together for a nights clubbing in Rybnik. It was a small club, but we had a fun night, and I even managed to get a few nights sleep in before Karola and Rob drove me to Katowice the following morning.
Unfortunately, my holiday was over as my next stop was to be Opole, where I would begin working as an English Teacher at International House. I'd certainly had a great time with my Hospitality Club hosts in Warsaw, Krakow and Belk, and was glad that I'd made such good friends so close to my new home. Also, I'd seen enough of Poland to know I'd enjoy living there for eight months.
