Winter Drive to Mazury by Paul van Arkel
On January 27, climatic disaster struck. The unseasonably warm weather meant
that there was in fact not enough ice-thickness on the Masuria lakes, and hence
our grand plan of “Dancing on Ice with Cars” had no chance. We will have to
accept this as cosmic justice, a sort of Wiedergutmachung for the fumes our
classic cars produce I guess
So instead, the most committed CCC members decided to venture into Masuria by
normal road. A nice mix of modern cars (Jaguar, BMW, Aston, the fabulous Viper
of Paul Blackman) undertook a 12-hour journey over two days.
Coffee prior to Departure....
Visiting the former FSO factory...
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| Jaguar X-Type 3 litre, Aston Rapide, Dodge Viper at the off |
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| Amazing sight of thousands of Veturilo City Bikes stored for winter |
The journey kicked off in the old FSO factory in Targowek, with a tour of the
building that included a Bitcoin Farm (less spectacular than you might think),
the Autlet car dealership (with a very nice Mercedes youngtimer for sale) and
the new loft-sized workshop of the van Arkels (promptly baptized the CCC Clubhouse)
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| Land Rover restoration work-space promptly renamed the CCC Clubhouse |
But of course we were here for the driving. So, we took a straight shot towards
Bialystok for a smooth, fast drive on a perfect highway. It was glamorous until
it wasn’t. There are of course those pesky roadworks. So we turned off onto
country roads into Masuria for an adventurous journey of an hour’s worth of
slippery white country roads. They were challenging for all of us, but
especially impressive for the Viper with its summer tires, mighty V10, and
complete lack of traction control or other electronics.
After a lunch-stop in Galkowo, the Potocki country house that nowadays hosts
the Polo tournament and a lovely restaurant (where one of the waitresses
delighted us with her fluent use of at least 8 languages - Dutch/Flemish
included!), we went on to a tour of 3 Palac’s that could not be more different
in renovation approach.
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| Galkowo |
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| A friendly Dog at Potocki Galkowo |
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| Colourful Winter in Galkowo |
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| Henryk, Blazej, Tola, Paul and Maja at Potocki Galkowo |
The owners of Palac Nakomiady, Joanna and Piotr Ciszek, clearly focused on
retaining originality. Each room has the original 6-meter ceilings, and
bedrooms are huge. As a result, there are only 9 guest rooms in the Palac,
which led to a fair amount of debate on the financial viability of this
particular bed & breakfast. Similarly, the ceramic manufaktura produces a
batch only every few days, and hand-paints maybe 20 mini-stoves designed to
host tea light candles per day. We concluded it must be more of a hobby than a
business. However, for charm, originality, and passion, this Palac and its
owners are unbeatable.
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Nakomiady Palace
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| Ceramic Factory Nakomiady |
Zamek St Bruno - the hotel where we spent the night - was the opposite end of
the spectrum. Although the historic walls of this old Teutonic Knights
stronghold are still standing, the interior has been completely renewed. Rooms
are “modern” in size, style and comforts. The hotel has a spa (the smell of
chlorine dominates it's halls and corridors, unfortunately), bowling alley,
discotheque, and other too-modern comforts. That said, the quality of the
dinner was excellent, and the guys concluded that bowling in a Bar/Disco is
fun.
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| Frozen Lake Gizycko |
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| The former Teutonic Knight's Castle at Gizycko now the St. Bruno Hotel |
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Paul Blackman's Darth Vader Dodge Viper appropriately parked at the St. Bruno Hotel, a former Teutonic Knights Castle
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Dinner at the St. Bruno Hotel
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| Bowling after dinner |
Palac Pacoltowo - in fact more of an equestrian Centre with attached Palac -
was yet again different. The Palac itself is quite small, a lovely size for a
country house. It has been renovated to a very high quality. Great materials
used, no expenses spared, nice large rooms ... but historically largely
incorrect. Personally, I found the end result very successful, but any student
of architectural history will point out that the decors are from the wrong era
etc. Worth another good debate. And what’s with the badly copied Rembrandt’s
that adorn it’s walls… travesty!
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| The extensive grounds of Pacoltowo Palace |
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| Entrance Drive to Palac Pacoltowo |
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| Grand Piano in the Salon at Pacoltowo- there was a Chopin recital that evening |
Billiards in the Palace
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| Tola enjoying an Orange in the Pacoltowo Drawing Room |
On the Sunday, after a long night, that included a venture into town, a narrow
escape from a bar brawl, and some other episodes unfit for printing, we made
our way past the XXX hospital of the Maltese Knights and the lovely city center
of Olsztyn, before heading home. No substitute for Ice Driving, but still a fun
weekend!
Paul van Arkel
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| Maltese Knights' Hospital in Barczwewo |
Around Olsztyn....
