Godoy in Poland. Białystok

Dear Fran,

The second email that my friend sent me…

<<Monday 1^st  October 2018

I'm at the Central Station in Warsaw. I have two hours to catch the train to Białystok, and the same doubt that some people have about the arrival of man comes to my mind, were men, right? to the moon. Were they really there? Is this really Warsaw? Because I have not seen what is in between, between Seville and this place, although here close there is a monolith that says that Madrid is two thousand two hundred and eighty-seven kms. Who assures me that this is Warsaw and is not a virtual farce or is it only in my mind?

Mary, do not take me seriously. Everything can be the result of the powerful soy I took last night!

Białystok

Barely twenty or thirty kilometres from the station, the train makes its way through forests. Forests and lagoons. The river between Treblinka (painful memory) and Malkinia advances majestically. I thought I saw a deer between the towns of Czyzen and Szepietowo. This promises!

As we  are  in the  land of Zamenhof   —it is a pity that his desire does not fully jelled. Today some two million people around the world speak Esperanto— I write you some words that I found in some panels scattered around the city:

                            Bonan tagon

                            Bonan nokton

                            Saluton

                            Dankon

                            Jes

                            Ne

                            Kafo

While I was in Bialystok, this is how I greeted my family. In the morning, bonan tagon. Saluton. If I had to thank them for something, dankon. If I had to answer yes, jes. Ne, if it was the opposite case. And when I went to bed I said goodbye with bonan nokton and kisoj.

Birthplace of Zamenhof

Thanks is usually the first word I learn when I travel to any country and the one I repeat most times.

Only one abandoned site and a photo of the house from 1935 remain in the house of the creator of Esperanto.

Sunset. Surroundings of St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church. I smell chimney for the first time this autumn. >>

<<Tuesday, 2^nd October 2018

Some buildings have real works of art sgraffito on the walls.

Since I am on Polish soil, the history of these people during the Second World War has not gone out of my mind. Also in Białystok there was a ghetto where many people were confined and they ended up sending Treblinka for the Final Solution. Abominable can be the human mind at certain times.

Orthodox Church of St. Nicolas

But let's think about more pleasant things, for example, I have learned that this city is twinned with Córdoba and it is my wish that our Andalusian sister transmit warmth and joy to these latitudes.

In addition to many players  —as in Holland and Spain— in this city have been born singers, actresses, cineastes (Boris Kaufman) or the aforementioned Dr. Sabin (key figure in the vaccine against polio).

I enter the church... and I meet a group of schoolchildren and a woman praying in the Chapel of the Sacrament, but not a single  tourist.

It is a cloudy day and colder than the previous two. This is for me travelling. Sensation of walking without an exact destination and sitting anywhere watching people go by; it´s my particular luxury and, although it may seem a bit selfish, you can only do it if you travel alone. Small doses of this that I am saying I try to do in Seville when I can.

City Centre and Podlachia Museum

As I am nearby, I arrive at the Bus Station to see the schedule for Hajnowka; because I still have not told you, Mary, the reason for this trip to this part of Poland has been to walk through the forest of Białowieża. This last year I have been informing myself and taking notes of this ancient forest, its flora and its fauna.

The buses are a relic.

Once I confirm the departures to Hajnowka I look for Młynowa Street to see some of the wooden houses that still stand. I'm walking through an old Jewish neighbourhood with yellow brick houses.

Gen. von Driesen Villa

In the direction of the hotel, I take a tomato soup with noodles, eggs and fennel. Very delicious.  Also a potato sausage and a Polish piwo. I go back to the hotel, I eat a fruit and I brush my teeth. The half-litre of beer gives me a dream sleep. Drowsiness of forty minutes and I leave in the direction of Branicki Palace.

Before arriving at the palace gardens I enter the Cathedral and stop to read in one of the panels the curious history of this church.

The Cathedral

Already in the gardens of the palace I dedicate to take some photos and to wander through the innumerable roads to get to the Faculty of Medicine. This faculty enjoys a reputed reputation in the field of the training of doctors. I enter into one of its buildings and ask the first student who is waiting in a cloakroom for Albert Sabin. He doesn´t know him, but he tells me that the faculty is made up of many buildings scattered around the gardens and that some are older than others. I see the department of Anatomy, the small Pharmacy garden... I cross the Park Planty and go to the Gen. von Driesen Villa, today the Alfons Karny Sculpture Museum, and the Former Becker's factory and Palace.

Branicki Palace

Closing the circle, I find the Church St. Adalbert Bishop and Martyr, the Cytron's Palace and the Ludwik Zamenhof Center.

I finish at the Trying Family Palace which is in full restoration, but still retains a splendid architectural beauty.

Trylling Family Palace

Tomorrow I walk Hajnowka.>>

     Y. a.

     Mary