There was quite a bit of rain overnight and it was still quite cold and cloudy. We had to wait for the owner to let us out and refund our deposit. 

We went to check out the town of Augustov. 

When we parked we saw a lonely looking dog in an unusual position.

Augustov is famous for its old canals that join up the lakes to allow transport to get through. We found the main area and plaques about its building in the years  1823-1839.

Next we found a coffee shop with reviews of very good coffee so we went to try it out. It was indeed very good with excellent cakes too. 

We then went to the main square with its large statue of King Augustowa who is acknowledged as having set up the town in 1557. 

We walked back to the carpark finding a monument to soldiers killed by the Soviets.

I found out more about this and it’s another shocking story of Poles being killed around WWII. 

‘In July 1945, the Soviets carried out the so-called Augustów manhunt in order to catch the independent, armed underground soldiers who hid in the Augustów Forest. As a result, approximately 2 thousand people were arrested, of whom approximately 600 were selected after brutal interrogation and taken in an unknown direction. These people were killed in circumstances that still remain unknown. It was the biggest post-war crime committed against Poles after World War II.’

We then drove on to Mikoladjki in the middle of the Masurian Lakes. We parked in a carpark near the centre as we didn’t need any services. There are toilets and showers on the marina 100 metres away so that’s all we needed. It’s near a big church where the bells go off every hour.

We walked down to the marina and along the shore past all the boats and the many shops and restaurants.

It’s a bit of a ghost town now as there are very few tourists. Everyone is shutting up shop. We went to the tourist information to find out about cycle routes and kayaking in the area. This was in the main square nearby.

The coat of arms is a crowned fish – and we saw a few of them.

We then went back to the van and Lisa and I worked hard on planning our  itinerary until we leave Poland. We have a lot to pack in now so we are going to be busy!

We went out for dinner finding very few restaurants open.
U Hamera on the marina very close to our van was open and had lots of fish dishes on the menu. 

Myself Lisa and Sean chose the Polish fish zander and chanterelle sauce which was excellent. Glenn had pike which was a bit bony but had sweet flesh. 

Glenn and I shared crepes with hot Polish cottage cheese in them. They are very nice – but sound disgusting.

Glenn and Sean had their customary cherry vodka as a digestif. It tasted a bit like cough mixture. 

We walked the short distance up the hill to our vans and had a quiet night.