Godoy
in Poland. Hajnowka
The third email, Fran
<<Wednesday, 3rd October 2018
It´s
a greyish day. It´s raining. It´s common at this season of year.
I arrive
early at the station and I see there is a bus which departs a 9:25. It´s 9:00,
so I buy the ticket. Excellent panoramic view from Białystok to Hajnowka by
9PLN.
Because
there are works on the road, the journey takes longer than usual.
This time
I'm sure, I just saw a deer near Trześcianka. We passed by a green Orthodox church that
catches my attention. According to the "tourist recommendations" this
area belongs to the Narew Decanate and these villages are known for their
wooden houses painted in bright colors. There is even a 16 km route that leads
to Narew and Trześcianka going through Ancuty, Soce and Puchły. According to
the information in my possession
The Land located in the Narew valley on the rivers
Rudnia and Malynka is a gem of the architecture of Podlasie countryside. In
this unique place tradition wins unequal struggle with modernity. These
villages preserved their historic spatial order and traditional architecture;
wooden houses are characterised by rich ornaments referring to the
ornamentation used in Russian folk architecture.
We crossed the train
track near Nowosady and passed a cemetery with another Orthodox church this
time blue and white. A building that seems to be painted with watercolor on the
horizon.
Already in Hajnowka.
Terrible day. No matter.
 |
| Wooden house. Hajnowka |
After the checking I
look for a restaurant to eat. I enter Leśny Dworek. Pleasant
music, Ukrainian, according to Dorota, the waitress. The głośność is low. I could have a nice conversation if I had
someone with whom.
I order a
plate of kopytka (dumplings), but
before that they served me a starter and a local beer. Everything is very good.
After
lunch I go out in search of an Orthodox church that has very particular roofs
and that I had seen in photos before going on the trip (Holy Trinity Church); but
I was wrong. These cloudy! It rains harder. Weathering the storm, I enter a Biedronka and buy some fruit for dinner
and some bread for tomorrow.
 |
| Holy Trinity Church. Hajnowka |
I locate
the church. I take some pictures before entering. There is worship and I stay
in it until they say goodbye and turn off the lights. The faithful place
themselves where they want. There are not many, maybe thirty people, most of
them are older. There are no pews like in our churches and they pray a kind of
repetitive litany that they accompany with signs of crosses on the chest and in
the air towards the ground. At certain moments they kneel and lean forward
until they touch the ground with their heads. This is a sign of reverence
common to many religions. The women, when they leave, take off the handkerchief
they have had covering their heads during the service. In Spain this was done
until recently.
I have
tried not to have bothered with my presence and I have kept the respect that I
deserve all beliefs.
When I
leave, I seize the moment of last rays of the sun for some snapshots. Back to
the hotel. As I had a good downpour, I take a shower with very hot water to
avoid a cold. >>
<<Thursday, 4th October 2018
It's only 22 km from Hajnowka to Białowieża,
but the bus is sounding like it complains every meter and I'm afraid it will
leave us halfway.
I leave Białowieża
towards Pogorzelce because today I want to reach the Lutownia river. The
landscape is impressive. I warn you that I come to this park with the idea of
not seeing any bison, which are the stars of this forest. I have gone many times
to the field with the camera on my shoulder and I have returned many times
without having seen what I expected, however other times you go in the car you
have opportunities and you do not have the instruments, so enjoy the road.
 |
| Bird watching. Bialowieza |
The
woodpeckers, Mary, send you memories in Morse.
Halfway,
between Pogorzelce and Teremiski, there is a rest area and a path that crosses some hundred-year-old
oaks
The path
is located in the wilderness Stara Białowieża, it goes among the oaks which are
150-500 years old and are called after Polish and Lithuanian monarchs, who used
to hunt in Białowieża woods.
So I walk
the wooden path built on purpose and go saluting the "kings":
Good morning, Y M Kazimierz Wielki
Good
morning, Y M Helena
Good
morning, Y M Aleksander Jagiellonczyk
Good morning, Great Duke of Lithuania Giedymin
Good morning, King of
Lithuania Mindowe
…
 |
| Lutownia river. Teremiski |
Smell of
rotten wood. Many mushrooms.
A panel
comes up to me in a place known as Hajduki Range… In autumn 1959, an ossuary was found during gravel extraction… The
analysis of the remains and objects found showed that the bones had belonged to
an 8 year-old child… The clasps were dated to the Late Roman period from the 3rd
century AD on.
Many
birds, but no mammals. This whole area is being worked on —you can see that the elections are coming
soon— and the trucks are moving at great speed. How will I even see a deer or a
fox? Yes, I have seen traces of wild boars, but only that; although the superb
size of the "noble oaks" makes up for it.
Back on
the Białowieża road - this time walking - I head to Narodowy Park and see how
they are restoring the Manor House of the Grodno Governor... In the World War I it served as a hospital
and later on as a casino for officers.
 |
| Manor House. Bialowieza |
Another
note: Tsar Alexander II stayed here
during his first hunting in Białowieża Forest from 5th to 7th
October 1860.
I still
have time to touch, to caress, one European Larch (Larix decidua) that is
characterized because in Poland this is
the only coniferous species to lose leaves for winter.>>
 |
| Lake. Bialowieza |
<<Friday, 5th October 2018
Today is
my second path through this primeval forest. They are kilometres and kilometres
without a soul; only the noise of the branches of the trees and the song of the
birds.
In the
middle of this forest mass I find the Narrow-Gauge Railway
On the territory of the Białowieża Forest is located a net of
narrow-gauge railways which was built by Germans exploiting the forest during
the World War I. These railways were used till the end of 1980s for
transporting of wood out of the forest.
Nowadays
about 17 km of the railways are used. One of the route rides by on an 11 km to
the forest settlement Topilo.
Mary,
little greyish birds that go up and down the trunks of the trees are nuthatch, right? Well
there is a lot. They accompany me all the way.
 |
| Painting in the dining room of Zajazd Barnik. Hajnowka |
For my family to stay calm, I respect the notices
of the signs: ZAKAZ WSTEPU, that with my "basic" polish I cannot
translate, but that with the silhouette of the tree and the person crossed out
with a red X, they clarify it to me. I also look at the boundary stones that
appear here and there to guide me
330B/
331A
11:00. Ten thousand steps. Health goal of the day
fulfilled!
Hajnowka 12º. Partly cloudy.
Amazing. I did not know these functions of my
mobile!
At a certain moment a cloud of insects corners me,
makes me uncomfortable. They look like ticks with wings. We call them moscas cojoneras —for obvious reasons— and I think you call
them flat fly. I wonder what these flies do here.
 |
| 52.752539/23.692455 |
Next to the road there is a hollow that seems to
have been made by the hand of man. It is full of small fir trees.
He just passed a guard in a car. I do not know but
the people of this region —the only one I know— are serious, they seem
resigned, a little sad...
REZERWAT PRZYRODY
LASY NATURALNE
PUSZCZY BIALOWIESKIEJ
332B/332D
359B/360A
…
I don´t find the crossing of Budy Lesne, nor the
road 689 that was where I wanted to go, so I go back where I came from. Also, a
heel is hurting me.
Pass the guard of the Fiat Punto red.
 |
| Natural Reserve. Bialowieza |
I carry the camera in Sport mode, just in case.
Mary, if you were here, you could tell me which
bird is the one who is screaming like he has a trumpet in his throat: kiioo, kiioo ...
When I passed by here, a few hours ago, I did not
find an Orthodox church (of the Maccabean Brothers) but now it is and the
reason is that it appears marked as Krynoczka.
It´s closed. It seems that they only open on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:00.
A belief in the miraculous power of the water from
Krynoczka has long tradition. It refers to the Middle Ages and links the
discovery of the miraculous spring with a stay of monks from Pechersk Lavra in
Kiev (male orthodox monastery) in the Bialowieza Forest in the 13th
century. The monks sought there refuge from the Tatars. Their prayers were
supposed to bring God´s blessing to the spring and since then its water have
had healing power.
 |
| 52.726646/23.694867 |
As I liked the manner at Lesny Dworek, I eat there
again. Goulash soup, Swiezynka and piwo Zubr (250 years ago from its
foundation), 6%.
While I'm eating, a song sounds that has the same
musical notes of a song by Rocío Jurado... que
no sé quién te daría... Tienes la
línea de los labios fría... Will it be the same story?>>
Y. a.
Mary
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