Mazury Favorite Tips by evaanna

Forest giants

Favorite thing: The inscrutable Mazurian forests are famous in Poland and abroad. Just from Krutyn you can follow at least three trails in the forest where you will encounter huge ancient trees. There are many of them but let me mention just a few. Of course some places are inaccessible to tourists, especially within nature reserves. The dirt road that starts at the bridge at Krutyn will soon lead you to the first of the trees presented in the pictures - a three-hundred-year-old oak tree, which you will see on your left as you walk from Krutyn. A little further up the road and on your right you will come across 'The Lovers' - a pine 'embracing' an oak tree. Along the Zakret (Bend) trail there is another ancient tree - Dab Bartny - an old oak tree which for centuries, until 1994, had been the home to wild forest bees. Explore the forest paths and you will find more, some marked as natural wonders. And they are all awesome, real forest giants.

Mazury - a stork country

Favorite thing: under construction

Can you send a kayak, please?

Fondest memory: The weather was lovely that day and we were standing on the bridge between Wojnowo and Ukta watching the kayaks pass, when a group of three foreign tourists appeared on the nearby path. They must have got lost hiking so were pleased to see a road and one of them, who spoke some Polish, asked some local children where they were. They were supposed to leave Mazury the same day and were in a bit of a hurry. But it turned out they couldn't count on a bus or any other form of public transport from that place.
We thought we might perhaps give them a lift, even though we were not thinking of leaving the place yet, but the man had a bright idea. He stopped a passing kayak and asked the people for a phone number of the nearest kayak hire service. In a moment we could hear him make a phone call, asking for two kayaks to be brought to the bridge, which they were later going to leave at Ukta or even further down the river. An agreement must have been reached because they later sat down on the bank, waiting for the delivery.
I don't know how much this service cost but I thought it was ingenious, just like calling a taxi, even though without the driver.

Poppy carpets near Ryn

Favorite thing: When you are approaching Ryn from the direction of Mikolajki, don't read a book or consult a map if you are the passenger or you will miss the wonderful red carpets in the fields along the road. I am not sure if the farmers like them as the poppies are just weeds in their fields of rye or barley but they do look stunning, stretching as far as the eye can see. As the road is narrow and flanked by trees on both sides, we only managed to stop once to take some pictures and I had to hurry doing that, but I stared and stared at them all the way. A gorgeous spectacle of colour, a real pleasure for the eyes!
But don't take too long to see them - they won't last. In July, after the harvest, they will be gone.

Happy in the rain

Fondest memory: It was a warm sunny day in June. School holidays had not started yet and there was not a soul to be seen on the Krutynia as we went kayaking to Lake Gant. It was a wonderful trip as usual, the lush greenery around us, the dragonflies riding on our oars and the birds cheerfully making all kinds of noises in the rushes.
We didn't see it coming - the dark cloud took us by surprise, but we did manage to reach the bridge and hide from the downpour underneath. Our 'roof' leaked a little but it did not matter - we were happy to have escaped from the rain. In the end, it stopped and we set off for the campsite. No more than ten minutes had passed when down came the rain again. Another downpour and nowhere to hide this time. Suddenly, there was complete silence, except for the sound of the rain. Within just a minute we were both soaked through and had to stop rowing but could do nothing but sit in the kayak, holding on to an overhanging branch, waiting for the rain to stop. My husband - always a gentleman - kept his oar over my head, not that it helped much. We got completely drenched, but it did not matter - we were not wearing much anyway. Yet, the experience was unforgettable - being alone there, part of the wild nature in the pouring rain.