Zalipie- The Painted Village

The Painted Village today!

One of many of the painted houses in the village of Zalipie. 

As we continue to travel eastward in Poland we are intrigued as to the beauty of the villages and the level of civic pride as demonstrated by the building and development activity going on. 

The village we stayed in overnight, Nowy Wisnicz, is incredibly beautiful, well cared for and very people friendly. Commercial activity, through a market and retailers,was evident early, and many people were out and about. Every where we look we see development, building sites and people with disposable incomes. It is s far cry from the picture that is often painted of Poland in the Anglo-based press. 

Lovely open green spaces in The village of Nowy Wisnicz. 

Nowy Wisnicz with traditional carvings and ceramics to decorate the village. 

As we drive through other villages new town squares were providing people spaces for the community. This one in Olesnica.

And most villages had new houses with well laid out gardens - and many more being built. 

We stopped off in Bochnia to resupply the fridge and cupboards before heading north-east to the village of Zalipie, famous for the painted houses and the competition that is held there each year. This tradition started over a hundred years ago when the women of the village wanted to coverup blemishes in their wooden houses - so painting floral patterns on the buildings seemed a sensible and creative way of doing this. The tradition has made Zalipie one of the unusual places to visit. 

Even the church has got into the spirit of the village. 

We are still coming across railway crossings on major roads where every motorist has to stop - there are no lights or boom gates!

It works!

When we arrived at our overnight stop we met up with a Catholic youth rally about national sobriety! From what we gathered pilgrimages are being held all over Poland this week in regards to this. 

Google Translator is marvellous in determining text - on the left is the card given to us by a participant, and on the right is our best Google Camera translation.