Cultural: Kętrzyn, The Wolf's Lair and Mikolajki
On Friday, August 11 we took a road trip.
We planned to visit the Wolf's Lair - our ultimate goal, but we were open to seeing what else we could see along the way.
In order to get to this place, we had to take back roads - it's not freeway or autobahn all the way there and back. Hardly. I think we were on about 5 miles of freeway the whole day, in fact.
We got up after 5:30 am and were leaving our yard about 6:15 am-- on our way. The target was about 250 km away from our house. The GPS told us it would be about 4.5 hours to get there.
But just so you can get an idea of how much of Poland we covered in one day - (it's a rather large country in Europe) - here is the "step back a bit view" - The "red" is where we started and stopped. We spent at least 8.5 hours in the vehicle. I kind of chose that day to be a tourist, though because the prediction was for an incredibly hot day here in Józeów - and our Ford Maverick has air conditioning! :) It was pretty comfortable.
After getting a pretty early start, we did stop after a couple of hours to stretch our legs and visit a McDonald's in Ostroleka. It wasn't a tourist site, though and I didn't get any pictures.
The Castle and Church in Ketryn
As we were driving on our way to the final destination, we passed this really amazing looking old church and then a castle. So, we stopped to check it out in Ketrzyn.
The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt or at least "fixed" multiple times, but it is a "Teutonic" Castle.
The inner courtyard
Being funny!
They set up the inside of the castle as a museum s0 there were various pieces of art and statues on display.
My brother in law said, "Oh, here's Quilted Twin's studio!" I laughed. But this area of Poland apparently produced a lot of textiles.
Some typical clothing from this region of Poland. Each region has their own "look".
This church is what actually caught my husband's attention as he drove by. It used to be a Lutheran church but has since become a Roman Catholic church since there aren't many Lutherans in this part of Poland.
Another view of the back part of the church.
There was a small Protestant church right next to this former-Protestant-but-now-Catholic church. The poster is talking about the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The words says "only Christ, only faith, only grace, only the Bible".
Then we got back in our vehicle and drove on up to the Wolf's Lair. This is where Hitler met had strategy sessions with many of his military advisers. They had a headquarters here. There was an attempted assassination attempt here as well.
The Wolf's Lair
The rest of the pictures will be various bunkers, bombed out buildings and such from this place. When the Germans left this place, they tried to destroy it so that the Russians couldn't use it.
My brother in law carried two #HTR - Home Town Rocks - apparently a "thing" going on in the states right now where kids paint rocks with their home town on them. If you find them, you are supposed to post it on social media. I doubt anyone who knows will it is will find it, but he took a picture of himself with it so he could show the kids who painted it. We left it there. Maybe someone will find it.
Our #HTR in its new location.
Mikołajki
Then, after eating a dinner there, we went on to a town called Mikołajki - where there was a Museum of the Polish Reformation. Unfortunately for my sister and her husband, the 2 languages featured were Polish and Germany and occasionally Lithuanian.
The Museum of the Polish Reformation
I think the guy who worked there was pleasantly surprised that someone came through who knew what the Reformation was! There were many old song books and even Bibles in here.
It was full of cases filled with memorabilia and the history of the Lutherans in this area.
Another Lutheran church here. He said they had about 200 people who attend here. It was beautifully landscaped!
The inside of this statuesque church. The Catholics who visit here find it fascinating that there are no statues of Mary here. It is one of strangest things for the Polish Roman Catholics that visit (according to the man who runs the Reformation Museum next door.)
I was trying to get a close up without getting bitten!
After our stop in the beautiful Mikojaki, we drove on back home via a town called Minsk Mazowiecki and a store like a Walmart (Carrefour) and a store like Lowe's or Home Depot (Castorama) to get needed supplies for the church building project. We then filled up with fuel and came on back home. It was over 3 hours between the Museum and Carrefour. We saw lots of countryside - as we drove over 3 more hours back.