Vistula River Jaunt

Today we decided to mosey along the Vistula towards Warsaw. Some interesting experiences along the way - the closer we get to Warsaw the busier it becomes.

The stork is a subject of many European folklore and it is treated regally throughout Poland. Because industrialisation had caused a dramatic decline in stork numbers many European countries now provide nesting poles for the birds. In the picture on the right the power authorities provide an extra platform on their poles for the birds to nest - it also saves on electrical blackouts because of storks building nests on the wires. 

After the torrential rains again last night we were a little slow out of the blocks again this morning. But when we got under way we shopped at Deblin, housing a Polish Airforce base, before following the Vistula to Maciejowice. 

At Maciejowice we sought out the area where the Battle of Maciejowice took place in which the Polish hero 

Tadeusz Kościuszko was finally wounded and captured by the Russians. After this battle the final partition of Poland was enacted and Poland ceased to exist for the next 123 years. 

The now derelict manor house in the grounds where the Battle of Maciejowice took place, plus artefacts from the museum.  

A memorial to Kościuszko where the battle took place. The inscription reads: "Place of the last battle of the head of the Polish nation""

Having found this we then visited the Kościuszko museum in Maciejowice. Although all in Polish it visually told the story of his importance in Polish heritage as well as in American history. 

Kościuszko's bust in the museum. 

We followed the river road where we had some interesting detours because of new road reconstructions, on one detour I don't think I have ever been on a worse road! Finally we emerged at Marianskie Porzecze a little shaken and a little lost.

But you can get lucky: firstly we pulled over in front of this magnificent 18th century wooden church, and secondly a very helpful Pole could see we were questioning our GPS and stopped his car and came over to assist- fortunately he did because there was another detour which we could have missed and ended up goodness knows where.

St Mary's 18th century wooden church. 

The very colourful interior. 

This detour took us through vast estates of Apple orchards. We drive for over 15 km and all we could see were orchards. It appeared to be a fairly recent industry because there were many young trees mixed with older trees. At the end of the drive was one colossal packing shed. 

Some of the acreages of apple orchards. 

New plantings mixed with older trees. 

Along the way were  many heavily laden cherry trees, neither man nor bird seemed interested in them.

We drove on for a few kilometres to the village of Celestynow for our evening stop. 

A day that promised little but delivered an abundance.