It's time to write something

First of all, the Lower Beskid ("Beskid Niski" in Polish):
(I was to write this about a month ago, but the permanent lack of time...)

In the mid of August I had a short vacation - something like 5 days. With my friend we went to The Lower Beskid Mountains (southern Poland), to the place called in Polish "Polany Surowiczne". I like this region a lot, I used to treat it as an asylum of silence and as a great place to escape to when I wanted to rest from the civilization.

Mountains are not high, but this makes them less attractive to all kind of hikers and tourists filling up every other region that has "mountains" in its name. Especially during summer holidays time. So in The Lower Beskid you can find the whole valleys without houses, without roads. And without tourists Only cows, sheeps or horses running almost free.


No tourist trails, no civilization

In one of such valleys lies Polany Surowiczne. There are only two houses in the area: in one lives the shepherd taking care of a huge herd of cows (and some horses). The other one is a student's hut - a small wooden building without electricity and with water only in the well

The region has also rich and tragic history; all around one can find reminds of the past. One of such episodes is related with Lemkos, highlanders and shepherds that used to live in this region. They had their culture, their language, their religion. Polany Surowiczne was one of their biggest villages. Now the only thing that's left is a stony tower of their "cerkiew" (Eastern Rite church) and overgrown, devastated graveyard with a few left standing beautiful crosses:


It always makes me sad when I walk through this abandoned area, attempt to read inscriptions on lying grave stones and try to imagine a full of life village that used to be here more than half a century ago.
More about Lemkos in Wikipedia: [link] .

I submited some photos from this short trip, have more, but I think now it's enough. Maybe later I'll submit something more

I have also some photos from the other journey I made lately.
In the beginning of September I had a short business trip to Lyon (France). I had two days to explore the city and surroundings, made some photos. They're still waiting to be processed, I hope I'll have some time and submit something soon