Burrito West Blog

So we were going down our list of things-to-do-before-we-leave-Poland, and item #2 was: "look at some old castles". Being so high on the list (or was the list upside down??), we decided we should get with it and at least spend a weekend looking at castles (Now a short contest… who here thinks there was actually a list … guess correctly and you get a free picture of a cat !). So we powered up our ancient laptops, stopped thinking about how much cooler brand new tablets would be, and started planning.

Stop 1: Panków

The ‘castle’ in Panków underwent a rather thorough reno in 1699 to turn it into a roomy and stylish Baroque residence, with a fragment of the medieval wall and tower incorporated into the landscaping. By the time we got there WW2 had made substantial changes to the exterior (i.e. destroyed it). 

Still very cool, totally abandoned and the horse stables next door where we parked had 4 very friendly dogs, and 1 grumpy dog.

Stop 2: Swidnica & The Church of Peace

After the 30 years war, the losing side was granted permission to build three churches in the Silesia region, with a few minor restrictions. They had to be built of wood, clay, and straw, outside the city walls, not look like churches, and they had to be constructed in 1 year.  The Church of Peace in Swidnica was one of the resulting churches. It's now a UNESCO site and must be a maintenance nightmare (wood + straw and clay from 1655?).

Touring inside in winter is by appointment only - which we found out when we arrived; fortunately, another group of people showed up and there were enough of us for the guy to take the trouble to let us in. Which was good because it's pretty amazing inside.

Stop 3: Zamek (Castle) Ksiaz

The 3^rd biggest castle in Poland. It has a lot of rooms, and comes with underground tunnels for your own Nazi weapons factory.

The castle was originally a medieval keep on a rock from which its lord went out and did such knightly things like ummm…. rob people (seriously - banditry was the main gig). It was gradually expanded until in 1921 one of the later heirs to the family that had owned this castle for 300 years added a wing which was so awesome and shiny that his family went bankrupt and the gov’mint took over the property. They were cool back then though, cause they let his ex-wife (Princess Daisy) stay in the (foreclosed ?) castle. When the Nazis came to power she was finally asked to leave and Hitler wanted to stay here, but 1945 came along before Hitler’s renos were complete and the Russians cancelled his reservation. Then they took everything inside that hadn't already been removed by the nazis, including the marble on walls.

The castle is grand on the outside but basically looks like an office building with fireplaces on the inside. However, were greeted by 5 well-fed cats at the entrance way, so we give the place two thumbs up.

Stop 4: Szczawno-Zdroj – Hotel Maria Helena

We needed a cheap place to stay for the night somewhere in the area so we got this =). When we went downstairs to the restaurant to have dinner, we found a group of older Polish men were having a private party which consisted of one of them picking up the accordion every 5 minutes and all of them singing. Our waiter joined in and nobody held back. They were actually quite good ! They would have made great Gondoliers! In the morning we walked around the town and realized were in what was once a spa resort town! We didn't partake in the 'most agreeable mineral water, as effervescent as love itself' (I think that’s a quote from a plaque on the water drinkery). Then we worked out!

Stop 5: A Muddy Road to Castle Cisy

I actually skipped our visit to the Ksiaz Castle Palmery - it was a large greenhouse with a great Bonsai tree collection. Did you know that we know nothing about Bonsai trees ? Learned a little; if you want to learn more check wiki.

Anyway, after some minor disagreements with our map app, we found a muddy road and parked on it after only minor impacts to the underbody of our rental Fiat Punta. We then walked through trees for a bit and found a perfectly wild ruin of castle Cisy. It was built in the 1200’s, conquered in the Hussite wars, expanded, then conquered and largely destroyed in the 30 years war. Since then its basically been a ruin.

Stop 6: Castle Bolkow

This castle survived the Hussite wars, and 2 out of 3 attacks during the 30 years war. The 3^rd one got it though, and that was bad for it. Unlike the other ruined castles, it was largely rebuilt and remained a castle in good standing until the death of its owners and its acquisition by the Prussian state. The Prussians then let it stand unoccupied from 1810 till 1850 during which it deteriorated substantially; however, some conservation works were completed in 1850, 1893 and some other times, so that now the castle is in pretty good nick (for walls without floors, windows, or a roof, that is).

Stop 7: Swiny Castle

Totally by fluke we saw a castle on a hill drove up to it, walked around it once, then also by fluke bumped into a dude with keys to the castle who let us inside the walls. The original fortifications located here were wooded, and there are records of them in the 1100s, the first stone castle (with 2.5m thick walls !!) got built in the 1350s. There is no mention of it being conquered in the Hussite wars. In 1614-1620 the castle gets a major upgrade to deal better with cannon. Again, no mention of it being conquered in the 30 years war (very unusual). In 1769 the ruling family abandons the place and since then the castle has been slowly deteriorating. Most of the damage to the castle was done by hurricanes it the early-mid 1800. Some conservation work was done in 1931. Currently, the castle is private property, but like I said, dude let us in and we got walk through it (quickly) on our own while the sun set which was awesome.

Stop 8: Home

Many more photos of our explorations are here (scroll down), including an amazing abandoned hospital from 1910!!