Our trip into Poland was spent in three distinctly different regions - Zakopane, Krokov, and Silesia.  Zakopane is a craftsman town at the base of the Tatras Mountains. The town is well-known for its wooden chalets and its unusual cheese called Oscypek (smoked salted sheep milk).

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Krakov or Krakow, is a wonderful city.  It's old town is completely surrounded by the original wall fortification. Every hour a trumpeter plays a shortened melody from St. Mary's tower in the town square. The melody always stops short because, as the story goes, in 1241 the original trumpeter, who was sounding a warning of invading Mongol troops, was shot in the throat by an arrow.

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Lower Silesia is in the South Western region of Poland. The landscape is peppered with medieval fortified castles, extravagant Baroque palaces and manors. Apparently, members of the Prussian aristocracy took a fancy to the region and tried to out-impress each their with their Summer residences.  We've never seen so many abandoned mansions.  We even considered buying one for the same price as a small 3 bed house in outer Brisbane.  We spent a 5 fantastic nights in one such castle (Pałac Warmątowice Sienkiewiczowskie).  As the only guests, we had the place to ourselves.  The kids could pick ripe fruits from the orchard, row the boat in the moat, walk the nearby forests, play snooker in the billiards room, etc,...  It was awesome!