Rydno,spoons and more of Rydno

Do you know this feeling when something finishes and all the excitement is over? Yes? That's what I'm experiencing right now having waved good bye to my dear sibling. Anyway, it was fantastic to spend some time together and I'm looking forward to more of that asap.

Here are a a few pictures from the Rydno area in The Kamienna River valley:

A strange dog at a bike shop in Niepodleglosci Street

We had lunch at a restaurant called Stary Kredens (The Old Cupboard) in Moniuszki Street. I took a picture of the owner's spoon collection accumulated during her numerous travels:

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These are pictures from my afternoon biking to the venue of annual Archaeological Festival at Rydno, between Łyżwy and Posadaj.

Beware of speed limits in Spółdzielcza Street

In Kamienna:

Staszica Street 

Somewhere here stood 'The Vatican'

A friend who spent his childhood in the district of Kamienna told me about a multi-family house there. Local Polish people called it 'The Vatican', because among other Jewish inhabitants, a rabbi used to dwell there. The Nazi Germans took all the Kamienna Jews they could catch on their one-way journey to a concentration camp in Treblinka in 1942 and since then the house was inhabited by local people. In the 1950s children from the neighbourhood would test their courage there. Adults didn't want them to go into the building. To discourage them, they made up stories about the Jews kidnapping the children and ritually killing them in order to make matzo (Jewish bread) with their blood. Children were very frightened, but still wanted to prove their courage and impress the friends. What was the challenge? To quietly enter the top floor of The Vatican and run through the corridor without being caught. Otherwise, they believed, the Jews supposedly  living in the basement, would catch and kill them in their secret subterranean  matzo bakery... Of course, these stories were untrue and told to children to keep them out of trouble. Obviously, running through the corridor in the old house would disturb the people who lived there.

I heard many other stories about the bygone days of Kamienna and the owners of the townhouses that survived their owners. Very few were lucky to escape the holocaust. One Jewish entrepreneur rescued his daughter. On learning about the growing Nazi persecutions, he sent his daughter to America before the Germans attacked Poland. She boarded a ship to safety in Hamburg and avoided the tragic fate.
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Posadaj was once another separate village that forms the contemporary Skarzysko-Kamienna. The roadside cross on the corner watches the roadworks on Trzeciego Maja Street where Kamienna meets Posadaj.

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Our route to Rydno Archeofest site led past The Sewage Treatment Plant. Surprisingly, the nose would not guess that, which was jolly nice to discover! Even in severe winter the round structure always maintains above zero Celsius temperatures and the ducks enjoy it when the snow covers the surrounding grounds.

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After some more biking through the meadows and tree-covered area, we reached the destination.  The sun was a bit too low to get better pictures, but here is what I could achieve:

Please see the next picture.This big stone block rests on some birch trunks not without reason. It is to demonstrate how such huge blocks were transported thousands of years ago.

I'm really glad I finally got to this place! :-)