Medyka

After coming back from Paris I have found in my mailbox an invitation from one of my Postcrossing friends, Edyta. She promissed to show me South-Eastern part of Poland. I have never been there so I was really excited to go. Today we start with Medyka. When I was asking my friends what they know about Medyka, all of them were only able to mention the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine. It will be then my pleasure to prove to them and to all of you that Medyka has much more to offer.

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Medyka has around 2,800 inhabitants and is the seat of a commune (gmina) so the lowest level of local government in Poland. The building of the commune management is pretty big.

 

Medyka includes only one parish, the parish of saints Peter and Paul. But to my surprise it is located in two churches. The old one is made out of wood.

I could not get inside since the fence was closed.

 

The new church is made of bricks and seems much more spacious.

Before World War II this region was multicultural. You can see it for example by this old synagogue. It was built at the beginning of the twentieth century and turned into ruins by the nazis. Nowadays, like many others, it is closed.
 

But the biggest attraction in town is the park and the manor house of the local noble family – Pawlikowski. The park is guarded by a very old fence.

It does not seem to be a real defense line anymore.

The park is full of interesting trees since one of the previous owners was a dendrologist. He is even commemorated in the park. 

Personally I belive it is cool to have a monument actually made out of a real stone. Though the trees are to me a living proof of what Horatius described as "Exegi monumentum aere perennius ...".

Here you can see the manor house, it is located on a little island. I could not figure out if this is an artificial or a natural one.

The lake is quite big and in many parts covered by green duckweed, similar to the one that I have shown you in the Biebrza national Park (though obviously both places are pretty distant).

Luckily we will not have to swim in the duckweed - here comes the bridge.

The manor house is right on the other side.

Here you can see it in its full shape.  Today it is a bad shape unfortunately. Edyta told me that the building is empty and waits for somebody who would like to take care of it. Personally I believe that it would make a great hotel. The surroundings are really magnificent and so calm.

On top, I have discovered that in the park they have a special place prepared to have campfire!

Let’s have a little break then and enjoy the sun and the grilled sausages my friends!