Sopot to Malbork
Today we drive to Malbork Castle. Allowing 3 hours for the tour, we ended up taking 5 hours and still had almost a 4 hour drive to Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) in Ketrzyn.
Malbork is the oldest brick castle in Europe and was built by the Teutonic Knights (full name:
Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem) in the 13th Century after being given land by Polish Prince Conrad for ridding his kingdom of the Prussian pagans. In doing so, they moved their Venice headquarters to Malbork and began construction. It went into disrepair and was renovated in the 19th and 20th Century until World War II saw it bombed. With the donations of the Polish people, the castle began reconstruction in 1947 and continues today.
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| 1945 after World War II |
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| Middle Castle |
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| Amber is plentiful in this area of Poland |
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| appetizer of prune with goat cheese served on a fall leaf plate |
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| Pork chop with braised cabbage and potatoes underneath. But just look at the beautiful plating by the chef! |
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| Old glass |
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| Early glass with bubble deformities |
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| The Armory |
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| Comin' at ya! |
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| The High Castle courtyard with well in center. |
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| Meeting room of the Knights |
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White storks summer in the Masuria section of Poland north of Warsaw. Mom and two chicks. We saw nests everywhere and also watched the adults foraging in the fields of harvested grains. These birds were fascinating as we made the 4 hour drive to Ketrzyn (KENT-chin) and Wolf's Lair.
Used to be 120 inhabitants and 20 storks, now its the opposite. The locals state,
“We harvest hay, dig ponds, put up new platforms for their nests, fix the old platforms, insulate the electric lines for the birds’ safety,” said farm manager Adam Lopuszynski. “We bought these aerial lifts firemen use, which help us reach and repair the big nests up high.” A stork’s nest generally weighs 500 kg but can reach up to quadruple that.
Reached Wolf's Lair before dark...around 9:15pm
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