Malbork Castle to Zakopane - and a Surprise Stop

We woke up to the most beautiful sky of our trip so far. It was incredibly deceiving of the weather we had in store. "I don't know what kind of rain you're talking about," commented Scott. I was being a nervous Nelly. Duped by the blue sky, we were convinced the forecast from the Meteorological Forecast Center in Warsaw couldn't possibly be accurate.

Planned months before the weather forecast, today we picked up a car to drive eight hours to Zakopane, Poland's premier ski destination at the southern border above Slovakia. An hour into our drive, we stopped at Malbork Castle - built in 1274 as the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights, a military religious order of German knights supporting the spread of Christianity through the Holy Land. Though originally invited to protect Poland, the Teutonic knights turned and began conquering Poland. The Polish people believed the knights were ruthless fighters and symbols of war and destruction.

The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork is the largest brick castle in the world

The Malbork Castle complex is divided into three distinct sections: the High Castle, the Middle Castle, and the Lower Castle

Over the dry moat to the High Castle

The High Castle was primarily a monastic residence

The Middle Castle's Great Refectory - for lavish banquets - was closed. This hall in the High Castle, a fraction of the size, was still impressive.

The Historic Weapon Collection in the Middle Castle is worth a visit for those interested in military history

A dansker is a medieval toilet housed in a tower built over a stream or river, unique to castles built by the Teutonic Order

At Malbork, the dansker is connected to the High Castle by a long enclosed bridge

"It's huge," concluded Jeannette, summing it up well. Malbork Castle is one of the most interesting castles I have visited. So many of the world's castles are barren, leaving much to the imagination. At Malbork Castle, the drawbridges, towers, halls and decor are in very good condition and transport you back to medieval times. All the doors are closed but you're free to open and enter any of them to explore the labyrinth to your heart's content.

You'll need 3 1/2 hours to follow the audio guide. While interesting and descriptive, the downfall of the audio guide is that you're forced to explicitly follow it or risk missing a fascinating tidbit and where to go next. In a rush to get ahead of the looming storm, I shortened our tour by visiting highlights, but there is no way to fast-forward the audio guide. (It tracks which room you are in with GPS so knows when to say what.) When you visit, either go on a guided tour or follow the audio guide; unless you know the place, don't skip around like we did. More importantly, don't miss a visit here!

Five hours later and just a bit outside of Krakow, we came to our surprise stop of the day. When we heard about it, we unanimously agreed we had to go there. Our sister-in-law Kim is of Polish ancestry, and her family is from a town named Rabsztyn - and that's where her last name is derived from.

Rabsztyn, Poland

(We are on our way to Zakopane, the bottom tip of the map)

What is particularly cool is that the town of Rabsztyn has a castle!

Rabsztyn Castle 

Built in the 13th century, Rabsztyn Castle protected the mining center in Olkuszu. Its name comes from the German word 'Rabenstein', meaning Raven's Rock. Burned and robbed by the Swedes in 1657, it never recovered to its former splendor.

We knocked on the door but no one was home

This is the house where Kim's family lived. (I'm kidding, just some Kim humor.)

For dinner we stopped at a random roadside stand and had the best ever gyros! For reference, Kebab u Pajdy is in Pcim, on the road between Krakow and Zakopane.

Kebab servets and kebab ciasto z frytkami

Now that we have arrived safely to our next destination, I can tell you the weather forecast for our drive today - and why we cheated Malbork Castle of the time it deserved, and how Kim knows we love her extra much for making a detour:

TAKE ACTION to protect yourself and act on advice given by authorities. Widespread flooding of properties with significant risk to life and evacuations are possible. Severe travel disruption and loss of power, communications and water supplies is likely. Dangerous driving conditions due to reduced visibility and aquaplaning. Protect yourself!

That's why I was being a nervous Nelly. Scary! And fortunately nothing like the forecast.