This past Thursday we visited my uncle Andrew who lives at the foot of the closest mountain to Wrocław, Ślęża, in Sobótka Górka. It’s always fun visiting my family there; we take long walks in the forest that literally starts where his property ends, we chat with my cousin Monika, and my aunt Bożena, who’s a great chef, always cooks us something extraordinary that otherwise I could only read about in fancy cooking books.

It’s not easy getting there, however, especially in the winter time. Most difficult for me are the last 100 yards on a snow filled forest access road that could be quite a challenge to my BMW. But we’re experiencing a few days of above freezing temperatures and snow and ice are slowly beginning to thaw away.

Soon after getting there in the morning, but not before we had breakfast, we wandered off for a walk. We first dropped off some leftovers for deer in one of many feeding pits we saw along the trail. The smell around the pits was really intense, well…it really really stank. From there we wandered a bit in the woods and eventually got to the castle seen on the photos.

Originally built as a chapel in year 1121, it was expended four hundred years later with an addition of living quarters in 1553 and then expended further in 1585. The entire castle was rebuilt completely in 1885-1891 giving it the current look. Until 1945, this part of Sobótka carried a German name of Zobten-Gorkau. There was an empty swimming pool near by, but it must have been decades since it was last filled. It all belongs to private investors now who are gradually rebuilding and renovating the property.

From then we walked over to the Gorkauer brewery I wrote about in an earlier post, before heading home just in time for a delicious dinner. It was a well spent day away from the city. Seen on photos is also my uncles huge dog Harnaś that loves snow like no dog I’ve ever seen before, and his very nicely decorated house.