Well school is out finally for the summer here and the husband is working some crazy hours at work so the kids and I will be doing a few day trips to get out and explore our backyard in Poland.

First up is Swiecie, Poland.  The little town is about 35 minute drive from our house.  The town was originally founded by the Teutonic knights so I thought with would be neat to see with old buildings and a castle.  While it is neat town to see if you have never seen another old european town but compared to most it was disappointing.  It is a small town that was founded about 1200 and has about 26,000 people.  The city center was small and had a couple of restaurants and an open area where the girls could run and cool off for a bit.   We walked about the town for about 30 minutes and we pretty much saw the whole town.  There were a few buildings with some neat architecture.

Here is the town of Swiecie….

150 year old pharmacy

Where you go to for a civil marriage

The city center

A wall with a tree growing behind it,  I thought it was interesting

 A view up the street

Then we found a church that was AMAZING!!!  To be honest it was one of the nicest ones I have seen in Europe.

Here is the church…..

The front view

The hallways surrounding the church

A monument to Pope John Paul II

Inside, BREATHTAKING!

Entrance to the crypt, we think.  It was completely black so we could not see anything.

Amazing artwork

Oh the history this must have

One of the murals

More artwork

Then we drove about 3 minutes out of town to see the Teutonic castle.  Now is once again compared to most European castle’s this one is on the small side.  My 19 year old son described it as more of a outlook castle and he is right as there was not much to it but for my 5 & 7 year old they loved it.  There was 3 of us adults and 2 children but they gave us the family pass(2 adults & 2 children) for 12 zlotys($4).  It took us about 30 minutes to walk around the castle.  The view on top was GREAT!!!  Which gave us an idea for another pit stop, a neat looking old church just down the road.

Here is the castle…..

Ticket office

Outside view

The only room in the castle

History of the castle

Old guns and other finds from the castle grounds.

The other end of the castle with some interesting artwork

The artwork was made out of old computer parts, so my computer geek son was in HEAVEN!

Time to go up to the top

1/3 of the way up and the view looking down into the castle

We made it to the top and the GREAT view and by the looks of it another old church we need to find

View of Swiecie

Back down to the bottom and time for a 4 leaf clover finding contest, who ever finds one gets 2 scoops of ice cream.

So then from the castle we had to go find that neat looking church!  Just a 3 minute drive we were at the church.  I am not sure how old the church is but you can tell it is old.  It is a very plain church but still pretty.  The surrounding courtyard was very beautiful and had some neat prayer rocks on the walking path.

Here is the church #2….

A view from the backside

A side view

Inside view

Walking path around the church with prayer rocks

Before we left to go back home, we had to stop for some ice cream!!  On the menu was Americano ice cream, so of course we had to order one to see what is was.  Basically it was a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone dipped in chocolate and then sprinkled with nuts.  Oh my DQ childhood memories are coming back!!

So that was our 4 hour adventure of Swience, Poland!  Not sure we will visit the town again but it was neat to see at least once.

For more information about Swience and to see what is happening visit the city website HERE.

So what little town close to you would make for a good day trip?

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Kelley Kagele