Zagorez Monastery and Lesko

29/08/2023

Having been told by two sets of people that we’d skipped the prettiest part of Poland. And that we would be fine in most of it with dogs. We back tracked along the road to Samok and then south into the Bieszczady area.

*A booze store … alkoholes are everywhere, so to speak! A lovely young lady helped us to select vodkas for sampling.*

We are really not seeing tourists and their coaches now … relief. The large carpark at Zagorez was empty. An intetesting walk to the Monastery. Alongside a railway track. Overgrown, so I said to J that I didn’t think it was in use. Then we heard the train horn! Corrie was back onto the lead, and we got out of the way as a works engine slowly trundled past. Three small children were playing at the level crossing … The Railway Children? A gentle climb up to the Monastery, passing first the Ten Commandments in stone and then the very beautiful and floral 12 stations of the cross. With increasingly lovely views. If the monastery was a waste of time, it wouldn’t have mattered as the walk was so lovely.

The cashier didn’t speak English and called a colleague who had limited English who offered a choice of tours. We opted for the full package. Initially, there was a film placing the monastery historically in context, with English sub titles. Then, a virtual reality tour of how the monastery would have looked before it crumbled and how the monks lived and worked. Our guide showed us a scale model, artefacts, and a mock-up of a cell… using the excellent translation services of a fellow visitor. I did ask if the Barefoot Carmelite order were, in fact, barefoot? No, they wore shoes, but no socks.

*Perhaps Corrie would have liked her own VR experience*

*EU funding has helped restore and build the visitor centre. More fundin*g *needed* *to protect the frescoes and excavate the cellars. All wor*k *done very sympathetically*. *And* *a tower for views.*

Lesko was not far. I left J napping whilst I set off to explore, armed with a map from the handsome Tourist Information chap.

*Lesko’s Jewish population was a third of the town. The synagogue tower was used by the Germans as a prison to inter Jews.* *Badly destroyed by the Germans. It was rebuilt inside, but just as a gallery for local artists.*

The most interesting part of Lesko is the Jewish cemetary. It had not been reclaimed by nature but did seem uncared for. The grass at least was cut. However, all the headstones were either listing or fallen. There are over 2000 headstones, making it one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Poland.

*Covered in* *moss,* *but* *I could still* *make out* *some* *ornate* *carving*s

*A few modem tombstones. This one was erected by the family of a Rabbi who knew an ancestor was buried here, but they* *couldn’t* *find his grave.*

The World War I cemetery was much smaller. A real mix of nationalities had been buried here in 1915: Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Slavs, Austrians, Czechs, Croatian, Bosnian etc. And with different religions.

We moved to a fabulous riverside parking. The River San again, but much narrower than at Sanok and Przemysl. We watched families picnicking and paddling. A few cars forded the river. We BBQd and just got the meat cooked before the storm chased us inside. The heatwave is over. Much lower temperatures and rain on the long-range forecast.