Chapel of Skulls, KUDOWA-ZDROJ, Poland . . . and Polish EGG NOODLES with POPPY SEED

Bryan's Journal continues:

Saturday, September 8

 Our taxi (pre-arranged by the rentor) arrived on time to take us to the bus station for the 145 km journey to Kudowa-Zdroj, one of the oldest spa towns in Europe located very near the Czech border. The purpose of our visit was to see the Chapel of Skulls (Kaplica Czaszek).

The Wroclaw bus station, located in a posh new shopping mall is quite modern. Poland certainly has benefited from joining the European Union.

Our bus, which was full, plodded along through the countryside stopping occasionally to drop off and pick up passengers. After 2.75 hours, we finally reached our destination. It took us about 15 minutes walking with suitcases and carrying a small child to reach our hotel, Willa Sanssouci. The big yellow hotel, which was built in 1894, has spacious rooms. Bryan and Nestor had a room literally in the attic with a second story loft.

We had lunch at a pub that served Czech food and beer. 

Eleanor's lunch was very unusual and . . . delicious!

It was very hot that day but we made the long journey by foot  to a unique ossuary chapel built in the late 18^th century with the bones of people who had died during the period of the Black Plague.

The little village of  Czermna is 1 km north of Kudowa.

 It was the main reason for coming to Kudowa-Zdroj and it was top of Eleanor’s list of “must see” places.  

This is the little Chapel of Skulls.

It was very busy so unobstructed photos were not possible.

Pictures are not allowed inside.    

This was not Bryan’s big desire but there are things we do for love.  Thousands of skulls and skeletal remains adorn the interior walls, floor, ceiling and foundations. The bones of over 20 thousand people are interred in the basement.

After our evening meal at the Restauracja Sjesta we walked up the main street to locate the stop where we were to take the bus back to Wroclaw. On the way back to the hotel we strolled through a 
park

 where an all-night music concert was taking place. Even Nestor enjoyed the performances. 

The contemporary accordion music was stunning!   

Two hip young couples, who looked like gypsies, danced to it.  

This amazing cheese stall was next to the stage area.             

Walking back to the hotel . . .

 That night we were serenaded with music from the park as well as from a raucous wedding in the hotel.

KUDOWA-ZDROJ was absolutely a HIGHLIGHT of my trip!


The Willa Sanssouci was a wonderful place to stay.  

Sunday September 9

We ate breakfast at the hotel where we competed at the buffet with wedding guests (some of whom picked up fistfuls of buns for their trip home). Needless to say no one starved. It was a sunny day so we could walk into the centre of the town (ca 10-15 minutes) to catch our 10:45 am bus to Wroclaw. We nearly missed it due to a slight misunderstanding (Our Polish was not that proficient.) but friendly passengers saved the day. 

 So we were soon on our way west across the county-side in a crowded bus.

We arrived around 2 pm and picked up a taxi at the bus station to take us to the Hotel Dwor Polski. He was a fussy driver who fretted about our possibly scratching up his car. After the taxi dropped us off we quickly realized that one of Nestor’s small bags was still in the back seat of the taxi. Bryan ran for dear life after the departing taxi and fortunately was able to catch it when it was forced to stop for a vehicle backing out onto the street. Whew!

When we walked around the Rynek that evening we noticed a short silhouette drama unfolding in a series of second- story windows.

KLUSKI z MAKIEM

            From page 131 of the cookbook by the Culinary Arts Institute: 1001 GREAT RECIPES FROM AROUND THE WORLD  

I served the noodles with a Ukrainian Beet Salad and fried Cod.