Sunday, Aug 18 — Bialystok
From Mockava Station, in southern Lithuania, I board PKP Intercity Train ec 143, and we rail off south through the Suwałki Gap. Also called the Suwałki corridor, it is a sparsely populated area around the border between Lithuania and Poland, and centres on the shortest path between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast. For this region, the area is militaristically sensitive, but I see no signs of an army anywhere. Our train crosses the invisible boarder, and into the Polish countryside.
At our first stop, my car fills with scores of young kids. Worried about germs, I get up and head to the dining car and notice someone eating a kotlet schabowy or Polish breaded pork chop with boiled potatos. It looks perfect, so I too order one. As the chef is preparing the dish, the entire dining car smells wonderful, and this sets off a chain reaction of everyone else ordering the same dish. The dining car chef is busy. On the visual advise of another passenger, I order an ice-cold Łomża pilsner, which ends up being an all-time top drink, on this occassion!
We pull into Białystok station (pronounced Bee-ow-eh-stock.) I check into room 317 of the Best Western Hotel Cristal, with a nice view across the street of the Square of Saint Constantine the Great park and behind that, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Archbishop of Myria in Lycia, with its nice dome. I take a walk to the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s a massive brick church. It is open so I briefly visit inside. Then I find a sculpture, with two large stone faces, facing each other, with metalic tails attached. There is space enough for one person to squeeze betwen the two faces, so I have selfie session, trying to capture the best shot.
Monday, Aug 19 — Warsaw
I have the hotel breakfast. After, I walk over to the Branicki Palace, and walk inside. It is now a university of some sort, so I am able act like a student and give myself a brief self tour. After, I visit the lovely gardens out back.
Tuesday, Aug 20 — Warsaw
Here
Wednesday, Aug 21 — Warsaw
Lunch at the Soul Kitchen, Nowogrodzka 18A, 00-511 Warszawa, Poland. I had a beef tartare, seafood soup, and a main. I paired with The Pale, Rosé by Sacha Lichine (from the team that brought you Whispering Angel." Then walked to the Stalinist-era Palace of Culture and Science building, took the elevator up to Taras Widokowy na 30. piętrze or the Terrace on the 30th Floor. The views in all direction were fantastic. I go back down, exit, and walk by some very old-school buses.
I return to my hotel, check out a bike and go on an epic bike ride.
Here
Thursday, Aug 22 — Montenegro
Flight to Podgorica, Montenegro