Tag: Poland

Włóczykij Trip Extreme 2017

My second attempt in Włóczykij Trip Extreme (have a look HERE if you don’t remember my first one) took place this year. It’s a 50k orienteering march (or run) conducted at night close to Szczecin.
During this attempt we had lovely spring weather and were full of optimism. We walked through Puszcza Bukowa, a beautiful forest full of hills. With height difference between hills and valleys up to 80m we did a bit of hiking but we also were able to see beautiful views, at least till sunset.

After 12 hours of walk we gathered all requested points and reached the finish line. This year result was better then previous and gave us spot in the first half of the ranking. We’ll see the next year 🙂

Winter at last! (Gubałówka)

I love winter, I really do. I think I like it better than all the other seasons. But I mean real winter, with snow, snowmen, sledging, warm coats with fur over the hood, wearing hiking shoes all the time, drinking tea with lemon, ginger and honey… I could go on like that for long but I guess there’s no need. Anyway, Szczecin is a fussy place when it comes to winter. Some years you’ll see one, others not particularly. Some years it will last from Christmas till April (2010 – that’s you I’m talking about!) and others it will take like a few days somewhere in January. It may give us -20 dg Celsius or no frost whatsoever. So it’s always a guess what’s it gonna be like this year and how long it will last. That’s why when winter comes to us it’s a must to take advantage of it!

We went with Dorota and Bartek (my sibling-in-law) to Gubałówka. Not many people know you can actually ski in Szczecin and Gubałówka is the place for that. We never tried that (maybe this winter will be our first time?) but it is kind of a big deal to be able to go skiing in the plains that our city is situated in. There are 2 skiing routes, both around 250-300m long. And the surrounding is good for other winter activities, like sledging, cross-country skiing (off piste) or walking. We chose the last option for the day 🙂

There is not much to write about this walk. The paths are great and as you will see in the photos, I took a pram out there and managed not to knock it down from the hill. I mean, maybe it wasn’t like the place was adapted to wheels but we made it and most of the time it was just fine. The views were great, lots of virgin snow, not many people, super fun for Wojtek. I’m pretty sure we’ll do more of these walks.

Discovering in autumn

This autumn was a good one for us for many reasons. First of all, it was the first autumn of our little Kamila and she made it special for us. Secondly, we went to see Bohemian Switzerland and the weather was great! Also, I started jogging again and I walk with Kamila in the forest almost every day. So lots of time and possibilities for exploration of the beauty of this season.

Czech:

Walking/jogging in Szczecin:

Getting into the mood of Christmas

I love Christmas markets so much I actually should have a separate tag for this kind of posts. There is no single winter without me visiting at least one of such venues (2013 was an exception because my son was born in November). Have a look yourself:
– 2015
– 2014
– 2012 and 2012

This year we went to see our local Christmas Markets in Szczecin and maybe we will go again for a one day Berlin trip. We’ll see if we manage to squeeze this one in. Anyway, the one in Szczecin is quite cool although there were really a lot of people this year. It seems like every year there are more and more. Nevertheless, Wojtek enjoyed the carousel ride, we bought a nice piece of bio cheese with garlic (felt like in France for a moment) and did a couple of sparkling photos. Oh yeah, how could I forget… The reindeers are always fun!

Discovering Poland and Germany in summer

This summer was a special one for many reasons. The end of my pregnancy and birth of our precious daughter were by no means the highlights but other than that you can see a couple of shots from Radek’s sailing adventures, his work trips to Berlin, our weekend at Wiejce Palace and a couple of other snapshots. Enjoy.

Wiejce Palace

We’re having such a wonderful autumn this year it would be a sin not to take advantage of it. After a rough maternity start now I feel at ease with the new situation and am ready to explore the beauty of life with my family. So when my husband announced they’re having an off-site integration trip for his company workers and their families, we decided to go all four of us.
The place was Wiejce Palace, a 2-hour drive from Szczecin, situated in a lovely little village in the middle of nowhere. The place was so lovely that in the end we stayed there all time instead of doing exploration trips as I planned.

We arrived on Friday evening and had a walk around the premises. There were a couple of houses scattered around the main palace, everything was renovated and very stylish. There was also a series of ponds, horse barn and other animals around. Since we were off the beaten track really, we enjoyed the peace and quiet of this place, especially at dusk and dawn. The next day the integration party started. There were around 200 guests but it didn’t feel like so many. After an official opening, a series of team building activities started. That was real fun and ended in a huge water balloon fight. Splash splash everywhere 🙂 That seemed like a real fun.

The weather for such a water activity couldn’t be better. The end of September can be very cold in Poland but not this year. Actually, when the sun shined it was hot enough to get sun burnt. At least the clothes dried fast. Splash, splash!

And the team building…

The whole thing ended up with a barbecue till late hours. I can’t write anything about it as I didn’t participate (someone had to stay with the kids) but all I know was that helium tank was the highlight of it 🙂 We left on Sunday, relaxed, integrated and willing to come back again.

Sailing: Dąbie Lake

So the time has come for me to sail for the first time without an instructor. I rented the same boat that I had used for training and with a couple of friends I went to explore Dąbie lake again. We had the perfect weather. Unfortunately it was the perfect weather for swimming not for sailing. So for the most of our tip we needed to use engine. But nevertheless it was lots of fun on water and I did not sink 😉

Ahoy, sailing adventures!

A new chapter in our adventure book has started – sailing. This year for my birthday instead of a physical gift I got a new skill (course of sailing). After 4 weekends on boat and one exam later I became a sailor ;-).  Now I can say that this was one of the best gifts ever.

After getting back to Poland we miss hiking a lot. But living close to see, ravers and lakes gives other opportunities for adventures. Some say that the best way to discover our city is from water. This is especially true during „Days of the Sea”, a yearly celebration when lots of polish sailing ships come to Szczecin to celebrate. Also stay tuned in the next year when Szczecin will host the Tall Ship Races and when the biggest sailing ships from around the world will come to our city.