Where I am in Poland - szklarska poreba

Why Sklarska?

At the moment I live in a small but extremely beautiful mountain town called Szklarska Poreba (there are polish letters in this but i can't do them - i will try and learn, I should know already!) which is in the south-west and on the border with Czech Republic. The reason? My wonderful and beautiful girlfriend. I met Magda (not a common name for a Polish girl) in London which of course influenced which part of Eastern Europe I eventually ended up in.
This is a tourist town,mostly for Germans, which doubles in size for the ski season but an Englishman is still a rare sight.

I extremely like this place for the natural scenery alone. (http://www.tryzyg.pl/ - this site is by a photographer who is the father of one of my friends and there are hundreds of amazing photos at all times of the year. It is in Polish but I hope the pictures speak a thousand English words.)

However Magda's family are also a reason I love this place. The family home in which I live at the moment is a guesthouse, over a hundred years old and I just find this cool, I'm not sure why. I was worried most about meeting the family, with the culture clash a possible problem, however my worries were unfounded and was welcomed very warmly into the family.

The way to an Englishman's heart
One method of being made to feel at home are overwhelming feedings which Magda and myself are subjected to on a regular basis here. When we used to visit szklarska for just a weekend it would be refreshing because we gorged on traditional home-cooked meals. I met a French guy visiting Poland for the first time with his girlfriend. He studies in London with a lot of his mates because he says it's a lot easier there. Anyway we were at a party and one of the first things he commented on was how he had been force fed food when he went to his girlfriend's parents' home. We have just moved out of our home in Zielona Gora (another part of Poland about 4 hours away) and so I am enjoying the wonderful food here, Bigos being my present favourite in an ever changing cycle.


My first impression of Sklarska

Sklarska has an amazing snaking road which serves as the main entrance to the town and it runs along a stunning rocky river for a couple of miles with ancient mountain trees towering on either side, truly a spectacular way to arrive. However listening to the running water crashing over the rocks combined with a sudden drop in temperature as you increase in altitude alongside mountain water just causes my bladder to strain and I always just concentrate on holding it! The awe of the experience always turns to anxiety but I guess that's just me.