Lost in the middle of nowhere

Last time I described our trip to Kashubian Miniature Park in Strysza Buda and mentioned that I’d describe what we visited next.

At first, we were only planning to visit Strysza Buda. Just that. As I already wrote, on the way there we were already looking for other interesting places to see. And we found two such places. However, we also went further than to Strysza Buda. Why? Here it goes…

In Strysza Buda you feel like in the middle of nowhere. The place is rather flat, no hills around. No valleys either. Fields all around. Not even that many forests as on the way there. Only a few houses around. That’s it. I honestly felt like In the middle of nowhere. And when I fund out that only 12 km from that nowhere is one of the Sanctuaries In Kaszuby, I decided that we have to go there. And so we did.

In Sianowo there’s a Holy Mary Sanctuary. A really old building. Reminded me of Hel (single “l”) somehow, don’t really know why. A really old church. Rather small one. And an altar with that painting, with that figure of Holy Mary. Above the entrance there’s a painting showing the first appearance of Holy Mary of Sianowo. And the outside of the church… Graves from the nineteenth century. But you can see that somebody is taking very good care of them. The bells that my child fell in love with.

And something I really enjoyed… Behind the church, behind the altar, there’s a huge square. An outside altar. A way of the cross. A place where pilgrims have their mess when they meet in Sianowo. I didn’t feel like walking all the way to that altar. My boys did go there, though. I decided to stay put and enjoy that idyllic view. The view that was so peaceful, so quiet, so magical. So green, so idyllic. So out of this world. This „fast-forward” world. Everything In there seemed sooo… standing put, just like I felt there. When I think of it, I can still feel what I felt exactly, what it reminded me of. Just that. I didn’t need anything else.

When my boys got back to me, we went back to the car and got back on the road to Kniewo. We still wanted to stop at those two places that we saw on the way up there. So we started looking for the first one of them. And the first one was, again, in the middle of nowhere ;) Well, kinda kiddin’, but not totally. If you look pretty closely, most of the things in Kashuby seem to be in the middle of nowhere. Kniewo feels the same. At least for me. It’s probably because of the many lakes, forests and fields. You know, they’re somehow creating a barrier separating you from the world, from other people. That’s why I love it. You’re not alone but you feel like it. And you’re definitely not lonely!

Anyway, this time the object that we were looking for was supposed to be set in the middle of nowhere. Well, in the middle of fields to be exact. The church of St. Joseph is actually situated in the middle of fields so that no member of the flock feels priviledged compared to others that the church is so close to them. Everybody had to walk a distance to get there. Besides, it looked pretty nice. All

made of brick. Situated on a little hill. Overlooking the neighbourhood. Looks very proud.

Finally, we made one more stop on the way. As we were passing by the Gate of Kashuby, we simply had to stop there to take  closer look! First, it's easy to miss if you're looking for a real gate. I mean a brick object with two pillars and a ceiling. No such thing! Kashuby is a magical region, so their gate also has to be magical. Logical, right? Yup. Kashuby is also famous for... That's right, lakes! The Gate of Kashuby is created by lakes! Two lakes being connected by a culvert under the road.

At least that's what it looks like nowadays. Previously, it was one lake. Radunskie Lake. (Now one of them is called Upper Radunskie Lake and the other Lower Radunskie Lake). The road was in a totally different place. There was a piece on the road on which it was heading down opening the view of the lake. Like a gate. That's where the name comes from. But now the view there is also totally different due to forests that totally hide the lake. That's probably why the name was taken by that narrow pass on the road. But wasn't my story about the magical gate better? I think it was ;)

Now a few pictures. And next time we're going to travel in time!

The Sanctuary in Sianowo

 The altar outside

 St Joseph's Church in Wygoda Łączyńska

The Gate to Kashuby

 See the year? It's 1868.