scandinavia 8 [eng]
hello dear friends
after what feels like an eternity, i finally manage to write this last post about my trip to scandinavia. in these last days of the roadtrip, i drove through poland and also visited auschwitz...
21.8. - 25.8.
after this last night of partying i walk backto the bulli on sunday morning. the way is relatively long and takes me right through the old town of vilnius. i buy some croissants and other goodies in a kiosk, which i eat while walking through the surprisingly quiet streets. suddenly a strong ringing of bells starts in a side street and i realize that i am in a country which churches are about 77% roman catholic and accordingly the people are in church on sunday mornings. my path leads me past many other chapels and churches, all are full of people. in a few of these temples i look over the threshold and marvel at the singing and praying people. i myself grew up without a defined belief and have little contact with religions in my everyday life, so it was all the more exciting to look in for a few minutes and see what people do here to worship their god.
but nonetheless it also has a sectarian character for me and sometimes all that dogmatically religious, in the form of this church institution, triggers deep aversion in me.
when i got to the bulli in the morning i was very happy to have found my way out of the hustle and bustle of the night and the slight spiritual overdose of the morning and quickly made myself some tea before i cover myself and snooze for a few hours.
unfortunately my location is not particularly idyllic and especially in the early afternoon the cars on the street behind me are making a lot of noise, so that a really relaxing rest is no longer possible. a quick look at the map tells me that there is a nice little lake with a bathing area about an hour's drive from here... i quickly clear away everything that is not non-slip in the car and then cruise out of the city and over the country roads to a place on the edge of a forest in which the lake lies. it's nice and shady here and after refreshing myself in the water and having a bite to eat, i can leave the bulli doors open and doze off for the rest of the day.
in the evening the mosquitoes wake me up and i fight another little war before i can close my eyes in peace.
today i wake up still a bit tired from the party at the lake and the sun is shining while i swim a little lap. the morning porridge breakfast is quickly prepared and i read while eating in the camping chair. I quickly make another cup of coffee and then drive south for a while to a small village called Musteika, there is an interesting museum here, the theme is traditional beekeeping.
here in the region there used to be the technique of hollowing out tree trunks and then closing the opening with a board, the resulting cavity was expanded by the bees as a beehive. over the course of a season, the bees fill the combs with honey, which can then be harvested. an old technique that is hardly used today because the yield is not as high as with the classic form of keeping in bee boxes and the colonies cannot be moved so easily. the museum is a small outdoor exhibition with different variants of these beehives. when i arrive the sun is shining and it's buzzing all around me. after a few photos and a short tour through this “bee garden” i set off again and continue in the direction of poland.
my further path leads me to grabarka, a small community in the deep polish east. there is a place here known as the hill of crosses. on august 18th and 19th, just before i visit this place, the days of the transfiguration festival of the orthodox church, more than 10,000 pilgrims make their way to this small hill, where they climb the steps to pray and hold night-long vigils. those wishing to be healed carry crosses which are blessed by priests and then stuck into the ground surrounding the small chapel at the top of the hill.
because this is an ancient ritual, the various crosses gather in masses and surround the chapel like a small forest. an exciting sight, i also learn on site that the nearby brook is revered by pilgrims for its cleansing and healing water. so i allow myself a large mug and fill a drinking bottle. maybe it's also good for the bulli as cooling water...
from here i drive a little further to near lublin, where the search for a place to sleep in the dark presents itself as a challenge. I just can't find a nice spot on the course of the river marked on my map and finally change sides again to park in a small willow clearing. after a leisurely snack i climb into bed and fall asleep.
today looks like a lot of driving again and so i stretch out the morning for a long time by cleaning out the bulli from front to back after breakfast and a delicious coffee, sweeping it through and sorting everything properly. a lot of rubbish comes to light and i create a lot of space because the four boxes with the food are no longer half full, but only two clearly filled.
I also discover some almost forgotten treats like e.g. a few bars of chocolate and a large glass of cashew butter, which i bought but stowed away squirrel-style so well that i overlooked them the whole time. glad that everything is back in order, i pack up everything else and stow it safely in the bulli. after a little reading and a little more coffee i finally drive off and spend the next hours driving on endless country roads through a lot of rain, i keep looking for places to swim and wash up, but unfortunately poland is not exactly rich in beautiful lakes or rivers, it's definitely also the drought, but there's a lot of mud and dirt in the water here. when i finally found a reasonably large reservoir, it still hadn't stopped raining and i quickly ran to the water with my dirty dishes.
i throw the dishes into the shallow water and took a little swim while the old porridge soaks. so the pots are quickly rinsed off and i walk back to the bulli just as soaked. after another hour of driving i reach a water reservoir in the north of krakow, my camp for the night.
on the way i listen to an audio book about auschwitz, my destination tomorrow. the book is called auschwitz, topography of an concentration camp and is extremely moving, it is not particularly long, but it offers a unique insight into the history of the origins, various important characters and everyday life in the largest concentration camp that the national socialists set up at the end of the second world war.
it's not raining in krakow anymore and i cook myself dinner while buying a 4pm visitor ticket on the website. the online presence of the memorial is very comprehensive and offers a lot of information to prepare for a visit to a place of this historical dimension.
I climb into bed with mixed feelings after the sun has set behind the trees surrounding the water reservoir.
today i wake up well rested in the sunshine at the water reservoir outside of krakow and give myself plenty of time for an extensive breakfast with coffee and eggs. then i drive into the city and find a parking space near the center, i would like to visit the church of st. Francis of Assisi, built in the 13th century. it is a beautiful sight, especially from the inside. the wonderfully colorful design of the windows and walls is very striking, this place almost seems a little psychedelic and magical.
I then went on a little stroll through the old town before I left again in the early afternoon and started my way to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. i signed up for a guided tour for around 4 p.m. and i am initially overwhelmed by the amount of tourists and visitors. Due to its history, the place feels like a gigantic memorial and despite the very elaborate presentation, one can hardly imagine what happened here. For me personally, the size of camp 2 is the most imressive thing. the walk from the entrance to the remains of the crematoria takes almost 40 minutes... past countless barracks and surrounded by deadly fences, the atmosphere is very depressing. the industrialized murder of millions of people was a planned and terribly perfect implemented crime, of which this place can hopefully be a testimony for many more generations to come. I think the aforementioned audio book makes this place terribly tangible.
after the tour is over, i walk around the area on my own. I see plants overgrowing the ruins of the buildings, the steel rusting and a few deer finding their way through the barbed wire and jumping about the vast plain. all this seems almost surreal in a place like this. towards evening it begins to rain, first cautiously and then heavily, the sun goes down behind gigantic thunderclouds and jagged lightning and i reach the bulli completely soaked... with a depressed mood and many thoughts, i drive the bulli for a while until i am a little behind gliwice discover a parking lot on a sandy road.
actually i had hoped to swim a lap in the nearby lake after waking up, but unfortunately it is completely algae and muddy and so i follow the streets west to near breslau. here i finally found what i was looking for after some searching and splashed around in a water hole on the outskirts of the city.
the rest of my day consists of a lot of driving and short pee breaks. i listen to a lot of music on the car radio and receive the first german stations in the early evening. close to the border i make another tank stop at a rest area and then i drive over a bridge of the neisse and i am back in germany. i find my sleeping place today in a forest near friedland. I was here a few years ago and know the area a bit. It feels great to be back home and I'm looking forward to everything that's to come.
Thank you for reading what I experienced and I'm looking forward to telling you about future trips and little adventures...
love
pauli
previous posts of the scandinavia trip:
scandinavia 1 ger
scandinavia 1 eng
scandinavia 2 ger
scandinavia 2 eng
scandinavia 3 ger
scandinavia 3 eng
scandinavia 4 ger
scandinavia 4 eng
scandinavia 5 ger
scandinavia 5 eng
scandinavia 6 ger
scandinavia 6 eng
scandinavia 7 ger
scandinavia 7 eng