The Greetings from Podlasie

Podlasie is one of the most authentic regions in Poland – there you can feel a foretaste of the East – mosques, churches, original cuisine, nature (4 national parks). Below you will find information about what’s new and interesting in the capital of Podlasie and a proposal of short trips to unusual places located near Białystok.

1. Bonvenon al Bjalistoko

The most recognizable place in Białystok is, of course, the Branicki Palace, also known as the Polish Versailles, with a renovated French-style park. The Palace houses the Medical University and the small Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Medical University (the so-called second route – tickets PLN 14 for adults and PLN 8 for children, including visiting the Palace).

However, Białystok is not only the Branicki Palace, Kościuszko Market Square or churches of various denominations (the Church of St. Nicholas or the Basilica of St. Roch) but also less known places characteristic only for the capital of Podlasie.

Ludwik Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, was born in Białystok at 6 Zielona Street (the house has not survived, now a mural with people who contributed to the dissemination of Esperanto in a tenement house). The Center of Ludwik Zamenhofa in Białystok (entrance PLN 8 for adults and PLN 4 for children) presents the times when Zamenhof lived and the way in which the Esperanto language came about. The exhibition is small and focuses solely on the period when Zamenhof lived in Białystok (Białystok of the young Zamenhof). However, after visiting this place, we will know that in Esperanto, for example, a book is libro and man is viro.

Hardly anyone knows, but Białystok is the capital of street art. It is worth taking a walk along the specially prepared Trail of Bialystok Murals and visiting the most famous ones, such as “Send a postcard to Grandma” (on Marii Skłodowskiej Curie 14 street – it shows an authentic inhabitant of Podlasie 90-year-old Mrs. Eugenia, “The girl with a watering can” shows a girl in a folk costume watering a real tree, “Zenek Martyniuk” (Hallera 25 street- a huge and colorful mural) or “House of cards” (Swobodna 60 street, many details).

Being in Białystok, you should try a boza, a drink made with millet yeast and raisins and lemon (in “Cafe Esperanto” near the City Hall – about 6 zlotys and 8 zlotys with halva). The drink was brought to Białystok by the Macedonian settlers and it is similar to the drink from the Balkan countries or Turkey. Boza has a sour aftertaste, so it is best to order it with sweet halva.

In Białystok, it is worth going to the Epi-Science Center (the Main Exhibition, family ticket PLN 66-78, and the Little Explorers’ Zone, family ticket PLN 48-60) – a modern and interactive place similar to the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw. The Little Explorer Zone is intended for children from 3 to 10 years old. At the Main Exhibition there are about 100 test stands on energy, the functioning of the human body, telecommunications, and you can even learn about the disaster of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. You can spend 3 hours in this place, and the staff will bring you closer and tell you how each station works.

In the evening, it is worth going to the Białystok Puppet Theater – performances for both children and adults – in the Piwnica Lalek you can see unused dolls from various performances. Another interesting place is the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic – the Stanisław Moniuszko European Art Center – a modern glass building with terraces with vegetation on the roof, operating since 2012.

2. The Land of Open Shutters

The Land of Open Shutters is actually 3 villages located in the valley of the Narew River: Trześcianka, Soce and Puchły. Due to the fact that these places are inhabited by people of Belarusian origin, the dominant religion is Orthodoxy and each of them is characterized by colorful wooden churches – the church in Trześcianka is intensely green (green in Orthodoxy symbolizes the Holy Spirit), and the church in Puchły is intensely blue (blue stands for the sky).

Orthodox church of St. Michael the Archangel in Trześcianka is older than the church in Puchły, but it is the one in Puchły is more famous for the miraculous icon of the Guardian Mother of God. Orthodox believers make pilgrimages to the church in Puchły to pray in the place where the Mother of God appeared and healed a man with swollen legs (the name of the place is derived from this event).

The most interesting and authentic is the village of Soce – to which a gravel road leads, and in it wooden cottages with richly decorated, colorful shutters await us. Each house differs from each other – not only in colors, but also in individual details carved in wood. Soce resembles a place cut off from the world at the end of Poland – as if nothing has changed over the past several dozen years.

When traveling through these areas, it is worth going to the village of Narew – where we will see the renovated and painted blue Orthodox Church of the Exaltation of the Lord’s Cross. The first church was erected on this site in the 16th century. It is often closed, but it still makes the greatest impression from the outside – it looks like churches in Belarus.

3. The mysterious hermitage

The skit of Saints Antoni and Teodozjusz Pieczerski in Odrynki is a unique place – cut off from the world, access is possible only by a gravel road or you should leave your car in the village of Odrynki and walk through wooden footbridges along the Narew river backwaters.
Skit is a kind of hermitage – in Poland there are only 2 skits – one for men in Odrynki, and the other one for women in Holeszów in the Lublin province.

The initiator of the skit was father Gabriel and from 2009 he was the first monk in this place. When he died in 2018, it seemed that the place was slowly declining and would not be inhabited. Currently, however, 3 monks reside in the hermitage and services are held at the church on weekends.

This place was not lucky, because in 2011 it was devastated by unknown perpetrators, and in 2016 the church and its furnishings were completely burnt down.

The skit is surrounded by swamps and arms of the Narew river – peace and quiet. Being there, a monk will certainly talk to you and show you around the whole area (2 churches), and also tell you interesting facts about Orthodoxy.

4. Kruszyniany

Kruszyniany is one of 2 towns associated with the Polish Tatars (the latter is Bohoniki). In each of these places there is a mosque and a Muslim cemetery or mizar.

The wooden mosque in Kruszyniany (entrance PLN 5 / adult and PLN 3 / child) is the oldest mosque in Poland – it dates back to the 18th century, but from the outside it resembles the surrounding churches.

Only inside we can feel like in a real mosque – before entering, take off your shoes and go to the appropriate part – the larger one for men and a separate, smaller one for women (the division does not apply to visitors). The walls of the mosque are covered with paneling and inscriptions from the Koran, and the floors are carpeted. You should pay attention to the mihrab pointing to Mecca and the decorated minbar (pulpit).

Nearby, located in the forest, there is the Mizar, a Muslim cemetery with tombstones in the form of simple slabs or more impressive graves. The names on the tombstones are similar to the Polish ones, only the names of Ibrahim, Mustafa or Amina indicate the followers of Islam.

In Kruszyniany, it is worth visiting the “Tatarska Jurta” – Dżenneta and Mirosław Bogdanowicz run agritourism and a restaurant. On the night of April 30 and May 1, 2018, the “Tatarska Jurta” burned down completely and it was only after a year that the building was rebuilt. While there, it is worth trying typical Tatar dishes: Bielusz (a type of yeast dough with meat and pumpkin, about PLN 27), manta or dumplings (PLN 27), kartoflaniki (dumplings with potatoes, PLN 25) or shavla (a type of stew, PLN 42). In the same building there is a small museum (for free) showing the history of Tatars in Poland.

5. Narew National Park

Being in the vicinity of Białystok, it is worth going to Kurów, where the headquarters of the Narew National Park is located (entrance PLN 6 / adult and PLN 3 / reduced) with a small exhibition on the fauna occurring in the Park (the Park’s symbol is marsh harrier) and wooden footbridges over the swamps and backwaters of the Narew River.

The most interesting place, however, is Waniewo, where an educational path was led to the village of Śliwno via footbridges – in several places, to reach the other side, special platforms (something like bridges) have to be pulled by ropes – this was done in order to allow kayaks or push boats to pass through. There is an observation tower in Waniewo, from which you can observe birds and even spot beavers or muskrats.

Practical information

It is best to rent an apartment in Białystok through booking.com (price for 4 people PLN 130-150). For breakfast in Białystok, it is best to go (or order it to take away) to “Bułka z masłem” (bagels, breakfast sets) or to “Maison du Cafe” (shakshouka, scrambled eggs).

You can try regional cuisine in Białystok in the restaurant “Babka” (potato cake) or in “Gospoda Podlaska”. In the vicinity of Białystok, the best place for regional cuisine is “Tatarska Jurta” in Kruszyniany or in Supraśl, the “Tatarynka” restaurant and the “Jarzębinka” bar (potato dumplings or sausage for PLN 25, Marcinek cake for dessert, i.e. a multi-layer cake with whipped cream).