2015 - plans vs. reality

Year 2015 was full of exciting adventures. It was also a year when we changed our travel plans more than we usually do. We visited new countries, new places, learnt a lot and had a lot of fun doing what we did.

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a post about our travel plans for 2015. How did we do with it? Which of the places did we actually manage to visit? Here's a quick summary:

1. Spain. We wanted to spend a week in Fuerteventura. We were almost packed ok, just kidding, but we already had a detailed plan of what, when and in which order we wanted to see there, when we found out that our flight back got cancelled. So, sadly, we said bye bye to Fuerteventura and decided to go to... Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. We no longer had any sightseeing in mind, though we still managed to see bits and pieces of the town itself.

2. Germany. We wanted to spend a long weekend in our neghbouring country. First, a night or two in the Tropical Islands and then a few more days in Berlin itself. Yes, we managed to do that. One night in Tropical Islands and two more nights in Berlin meant a lot of fun and a lot of sightseeing. And, on the way back home, we managed to see the Crooked Trees Forest as well!

3. Poland. Our main summer holidays. A hundred per cent successful. We did more than we wanted to do. We visited every single place we planned to visit: Czestochowa, Ojcowski National Park, Terma Bialka, Sokolica, the Three Crowns, Czorsztyn, the castles in Niedzica and Czorsztyn, Homole Gorge, rafting down Dunajec River, and also, on top of that, we managed to see the turn of Bialka (and get in its freakishly cold waters), climb to the top of Wdzar and get back down through the rock gorge, and hop over the border to see Slovakian Red Monastery. On the way back home we discovered the new land of Solilandia, hidden deep below the earth level, in the magnificent Wieliczka Salt Mine. I hope I haven't forgotten about anything.

4. Egypt. We wanted to cruise down the Nile River, see Cairo and spend two-three days at the coast. No, we didn't do that. We got informed a month before our trip that there's no chance for the cruise. That was our second attempt to cruise the Nile. We rebooked our flights and ended up exploring wonderful Thailand. Which was truly amazing. Despite the occassional rain. And despite the smog shadowing the beautiful sun (due to the controlled forest fires in Indonesia! I can't believe people do that :/).

So, all in all, two out of four turned out the way we planned them. The other two were more spontaneous. And it absolutely doesn't mean they were worse! Both Fuerteventura and cruise on the Nile are not cancelled, though. They are postponed.

On top of that, we managed to visit a few more local places, as well. Traditionally, we went to Bliziny to get lost in a corn maze. 

And we finally managed to go to a Railway Museum in Koscierzyna, which we've been meaning to visit for over three years now.

These are some of our adventures of 2015. And how was your 2015?

May 2016 be full of many more travels and adventures. 

Have an amazing year!

Crooked Trees Forest

We've been meaning to visit this place for years now. Seriosuly. We were on our way there three years ago, but due to road works we had to make a detour that led us straight home, so we never got back... ok, how many excuses can you come up with? The thing is that we never got there. And, truth be told, we rarely get in that direction by car, which is the easiest way to get there.

This year, on our way back from Berlin, we simply had to make a little detour and visit the place finally. Kind of felt like a deadline. It's not a place that you might be dying to see, but it's so... strange and extraordinary that once we got a chance, we took it. And we were not disappointed. For various reasons.

The main important one was that... this place truly is weird. I mean... crooked trees? And so many of them in one place (that's over a hundred crooked trees in one place!)? Looking almost identical in their shape? There must be something mysterious to it. Right?

We might never know.

The forest is not that old (its estimated age is around 80 years). There surely are people who are still alive and could remember why these trees are crooked. But most likely they were kids back then.

There are a few theories trying to explain this phenomenon. I'll share with you just the two most believable ones (I'm skipping the ones about aliens and so on). The first one states that the trees might be crooked, cause in 1945 some tanks were parked on them. The second one, which is most likely the real explanation, is a deliberate doing of human beings. The trees were probably bent to serve as perfect planks for carpentery (for making chairs and stuff). As you can see in one of the pictures below, they could serve as quite comfy chairs, so it truly seems to be... true ;)

And it's so quiet around...

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 Planowaliśmy odwiedzić to miejsce już od kilku lat. Serio. Trzy lata temu już tam zmierzaliśmy, ale z powodu prac drogowych, musieliśmy jechać objazdem, który de facto doprowadził nas do drogi prowadzącej do domu, więc już nie wróciliśmy... ok, ile wymówek jesteście w stanie wymyślić? Chodzi o to, że tam nie dotarliśmy. A, szczerze mówiąc, rzadko tamtą trasą podróżujemy samochodem, a to najłatwiejszy sposób, by się tam dostać.

W tym roku, wracając z Berlina, po prostu musieliśmy zjechać z drogi i w końcu odwiedzić to miejsce. Cos a'la deadline. Nie jest to rodzaj miejsca, za które warto dać się pokroić, ale jest tak... dziwne i niezwykłe, że jak już się ma okazję, to warto z niej skorzystać. My się nie zawiedliśmy. Z kilku różnych powodów.

Najważniejszym było to, że... to miejsce naprawdę jest dziwne. To znaczy... krzywe drzewa? I to aż tyle w jednym miejscu (to ponad sto krzywych drzew w jednym miejscu!)? Prawie identycznych w kształcie? To musi być coś tajemniczego. Prawda?

Możemy się nigdy nie dowiedzieć.
Las nie jest aż tak stary (jego wiek szacuje się na około 80 lat). Z pewnością żyją jeszcze ludzie, którzy mogą pamiętać, dlaczego drzewa te są tak pokrzywione. Choć zapewne byli wtedy dziećmi.

Jest kilka teorii próbujących wytłumaczyć to zjawisko. Podzielę się z Wami jedynie dwiema najbardziej prawdopodobnymi (pomijam wszelkie związane z ufo i zjawiskami paranormalnymi). Pierwsza głosi, że drzewa mogą być pokrzywione na skutek stacjonujących w tej okolicy czołgów w 1945 roku. Druga, bardziej prawdopodobna, mówi o celowym działaniu człowieka. Prawdopodobnie drzewa te zostały wykrzywione na potrzeby stolarskie (jakiś desek do robienia krzeseł czy czegoś). Jak widać na jednym ze zdjęć, mogłyby służyć jako wygodne krzesła, więc ta teoria wydaje się być prawdziwa ;)

A wokół jest tak cicho...

Cleaning hands after having contact with resin / Czyszczenie rąk z żywicy

Have you visited any weird or mysterious place?

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A może Wy również odwiedziliście jakieś dziwne lub tajemnicze miejsce?