What's up everybody I'm Alex aka Alex The Vagabond you're watching
Vagabrothers and right now I am in Poland in Warmia and Masuria
a beautiful Lake District in the northern part of the county.
I'm here exploring with the polish tourism organization and I am extremely excited to explore this
country that I've never been to.
Marko has taken a vacation back in California
so I'm bringing my fiance Carrie Rad along for the ride. Let's go!
All right everybody well welcome to Lidzbark Warminski
This city was once the capital of the region of Warmia
It was founded in the mid-1300s and this is the castle of the Bishop.
It was ruled by a Bishop, the Bishop of Warmia for over 500 years until the mid-1800s
The castle was built in the Gothic style but this was the
private chapel for the Bishop and the people who lived in the castle and it
was redecorated in the mid 1700s in the Rococo style which is just ostentatious
and elaborate and luxurious and to be honest I have never been in a house of
worship as beautifully decorated as this.
Also, fun fact if you're coming to Poland
and you want to get married you can rent this place
This is the most stunning Catholic Church I have ever been in in my life
it's definitely a nostalgic feeling being in here I grew up
In Catholic school so I went to Mass every single Friday when I was young
and it's just beyond anything I have ever seen before it is so decadent and just stunning gold
trimming on absolutely everything and it just feels really a peaceful in here I
think my mom would really love this place
So we've left the town of Lidzbark Warminski and we have come here
to the palace of Galiny which is not only a palace, it's also a farm it's also
a restaurant which has won some awards for their cuisine
We're starting things off with some polish dumplings and a nice spring salad most of which grown
here on the property but we didn't just come here to eat we're here to learn how
to ride horses now it's not the first time that we've ridden horses but let's
be honest how often do you get the chance to polish up your equestrian
skills probably not that often so we're gonna ride some horses
but first, it's time to eat.
How do I say cheers in Polish?
Riding horses is by no means a simple thing these beautiful beasts are
sentient they know what we're doing they know what we're not doing and when you
do not have equestrian skills like myself it can become quite a challenge
The trot, especially difficult but once you figure it out once you get your
practice going and you have a great horse it starts to flow a little bit
let's go
I'm not gonna lie it has been quite a long time since I was last on a horse
when I was growing up I loved horses so thank you to Palac Galiny for allowing
me to kind of relive that thank you to Alabama for being such a good girl and
and teaching me the ropes again quite literally.
In this modern world that we live in, we lose connection with natural pace
you know everybody talks about how
many horsepower are in their cars or in a motorcycle but this is the original
horsepower it's only one but it's great and trust me it is the most powerful
experience in the natural world I think that these animals along with dogs
Two the best most loyal creatures
As much as I would love to ride Alabama to the next
destination unfortunately that's not quite possible so I'm gonna take you
back to the barn all right babe let's go come on let's go Alabama.
well it doesn't get much more quintessentially rural than this we are
on a horse-drawn carriage going through the Polish countryside here at
Palace Galiny, they have over 350 hectares of land
there are farms there's rolling grass you can ride horses you can hike you can
ride bikes you can also stay here you could stay at the palace which was built
in the 16th century or over at the newer accommodation they have over 60 horses
honestly this is really really nice I think that as people and society
continues to urbanize part of a part of our soul is begging to be back in the
countryside it feels a million miles away from the city and the hectic city
life that most of us live so I'm loving it and I highly recommend if you get a
chance you come out and try for yourself
Alright well we have made it to a new town it's called the Mikolajki and
it's also on a lake but we are hopping on a boat to do things a little bit
different it's lunchtime and we're gonna switch it up
we're gonna take a boat to a restaurant in the middle of the lake renowned for
its fresh fish each day fishermen bring their catches to the restaurant and then
you eat it on the water it's gonna be super rad let's check it out
Once again we are going from one Lake to another via canal I love how the forest
just comes like right up to the lakes edge and many of the islands in these
lakes are actually nature preserves.
Overall I think the most surprising thing
about Poland to me is that the people are really all about enjoying
life because we're in an area that is filled with lakes filled with things to
do in the outdoors the locals are all out sailing taking boats around to have
lunch and just enjoying the sunshine we've just been really lucky this trip
and I'm loving going from boat to boat and there's really no better place to be
with the Sun is out shining like this so I'm enjoying it.
We have arrived here to Barca restaurant
and it's absolutely beautiful it's a floating restaurant that you can only
get to by boat specializing in freshwater fish caught from the lake every
morning the fishermen bring the fish here this place is the perfect cherry on
top of a nice Polish summer afternoon we have two different types of Lake fish in
front of us with Zander and a Burbot we've got some french fries and some
coleslaw / like pickled cucumbers ice-cold beer right on the water.
I don't think you could ask for much more, cheers.
Well it's been an awesome afternoon on the water but it's time to hop off the
boat and head to our hotel which just so happens to be right there
Wow!
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are putting the cherry on top of an incredible day
we're at the Hotel Mikolajki, a five-star hotel right on the lake
incredible views right out in front of us the city of Mikolajki behind us
illuminated by the sunset and I'm just feeling really happy I'm feeling a ton
of gratitude right now coming to a part of Europe that I never even knew existed
to a country I had never visited before and getting to do it with my fiancee Carrie
this has just been such an incredible
experience and I feel even happier that I get to share it with all of you back
home so I think it's time for me to put the camera down
be present enjoy this sunset enjoy this moment and check in with you all
tomorrow so have a good night
Alright ladies and gentlemen welcome to Kosova Gorne, we are at a research
facility for the Polish Academy of Sciences dedicated to researching the Cervid family.
The servant family you may better know as the deer family.
There are five different species of Cervids here in Poland and this beautiful place
is dedicated to better understanding those animals so there are over 500
animals on a hundred hectares of land here and we are going to meet some of
the scientists who are dedicating their lives to better understanding these
creatures and if we're lucky maybe get some good Instagram photos. Let's go!
So welcome on the research station of Polish Academy of Sciences this is also
a deer farm when you can observe how these animals behave.
This is not typical deer, Gabby, she's a Red Deer hind.
She was hand-raised because of the human activity who stole her from the forest.
If I raised her I've also become her mother and I have a responsibility for her whole life.
How are you feeling Carrie?
Can I live here with you?
It's hard work.
I don't care.
It's a beautiful thing that you have a connection to her like that
What to learn from these animals?
They are social and if they are social
they are close to us we are also social species they are very sad when
they are alone they cannot be alone
Pretty incredible this is it first for me I've never been this close nor
touched a deer but Gabbi super nice.
I think that coming here and being able to
walk with the deer and hang out with a deer there's a whole new understanding
of these animals and I think that that in itself also just shows how close of a
connection we can have with animals and how we actually are animals as well I
think in this modern-day and age with technology and cars and airplanes we
kind of forget that we are a part of the world not apart from the world so coming
here is just a nice little reminder of that
To be honest I'm pretty sad that this trip is ending it's kind of a
bittersweet ending it's been so fun it's been such an eye-opening
experience exploring this corner of Europe one that I had never visited
before I had never visited Poland before and Warmia- Masuria, in particular, has
just blown me away I didn't know that this nature existed here I didn't know
that these lakes existed the forests the people the culture it's all been such a
pleasant surprise and one that quite honestly I'll never forget I've had such
a great time exploring Poland with Carrie and getting to share it all with you has
just made it that much more meaningful so if you're looking for your next
European vacation an off the beaten path destination then I highly recommend you
come and visit Poland and if you can make it to Warmia and Masuria
and follow some of the recommendations that we gave you in this video
So huge thank you to the Polish Tourism Organization for making this trip possible it's been
such a great experience if you need more information for planning your visit to
Poland check out their website in the
description box of this video if you enjoyed the video you know what to do
give it a big thumbs up share it with your travel buddies hit that subscribe
with notifications enabled make sure you check out Carrie's channel check out my
personal channel as well and as we always say stay curious keep exploring
and we will see you on the road. Peace