The Ogrodzieniec Castle

Yowza, yowza, yowza. The Ogrodzieniec Castle ruins are one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. Outlined starkly against the sky the castle stands atop a huge Carst rock outcropping in the Silesian village of Podzamcze. First mentioned in documents in 1386, archiological explorations in the 20th century verify that the castle sits atop an earlier fortified structure dating from the 11th century. The castle was occupied by human beings until 1810. The castle withstood assaults from several invaders from the 1500's onward but in 1702 Swedish King Carl XII's army was successful in sacking and burning the castle. Evidence of that horrendous fire remains everywhere you look on the castle walls, the surrounding rock outcroppings and the castle towers. It must have been a beautiful thing to behold in its glory days during the Renaissance but that period of its history was apparently very short lived. The castle occupied an area of 32,000 meters, keeping in mind that there are 1.09 meters to a yard, this is over 32,000 yards of area.

Fot: Ogrodzieniec Castle, Kasia

Well the bad news is that the castle was closed to tourists as of the end of October and won't reopen until May but I nosed around in the courtyard, looked inside through metal grates and we walked the entire castle compound inside the fortified walls and then continued down a wooded path through a small forest to the fields spreading out in the valley below the castle. There were German bunkers in the ground at the edge of the woods facing the fields that the sign said were placed there to ward off the advancing Red Army of the Soviet during World War II. This castle has been the target of many a would be conquerer over the years.

I said to Aneta, "out of the many countries that have invaded Poland over the centuries, it seems to me as we travel around that the Swedish were pretty rough on your country."

"Who hasn't been?" was her tonally uninflected pragmatic response.

Fot: Ogrodzieniec Castle, Aneta

Anyway, this beautiful place was my Sunday Surprise this week. I had no idea were were going castle hoping again today. The neighbor girl, Kasia, went with us to keep little Ania company in the back seat as we drove but she fell asleep on the way back and wasn't much help on that leg of the journey. We were all pretty tired and very hungry when we got back to the car. We were looking for a restaurant when Aneta's cell phone rang and saved us. Alicja was calling to invite us to stop at her home on our way back and have a "light supper" with them. Sunday dinner at Aneta's parents has become a regular event not to be missed but we thought this week would be different because Alicja, who works for ING Bank, was on a team building retreat with her co-workers for the weekend.

Fot: Ogrodzieniec Castle, Linda

Anyway, we made haste to get there but it still took an hour and 40 minutes and I was weak from hunger by then. Alicja never fails to please with her food and tonight was no exception. We were treated to traditional Silesian noodle soup, Gyro's salad, the recipe for which will be on the blog later tonight, fresh bread and homemade Tiramisu that was to die for good. this salad was delicious with chicken fried in Gyro's seasoning, layered with onion, red beans and a dressing of mayonnaise and yogurt with seasonings. It was really, really good. We had a little fun trying to translate recipes for the blog converting a "handful" of this and "by the eye" of that ingredient list. No one in this family - maybe in this country - uses a measuring cup or measuring spoons. If you try the recipe let us know how it turns out and if we need to make adjustments as the test kitchen doesn't have measuring utensils either!

I spent the very late evening SKYPEing with my handsome son, beautiful daughter-in-law and their adorable non-twin, twin daughters and my two handsome and smart Green Belt Grandsons. I am blessed to have such a lovely family waiting for me at home. My beautiful daughter is currently in India on her dream of a lifetime vacation to visit her dear friends. She posts on her FB page that it is straight out of National Geographic. Aren't we just the world travelers here.

Linda