Niedzica - Pleasant picture postcard castle on a lake with Inca stories! (Niedzica (Poland))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Niedzica (Poland)
Date:	20/08/08 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cool place

Disadvantages: food is quickly thrown together and not a great example of cuisine

Niedzica is located in the south of Poland in Nowy Targ county, a small resort town that gets busy on weekends and national holidays, it's a few kilometres north of the Slovakian border up a hill. Niedzica is a picture postcard setting, a pleasant little town with a castle on the top of the hill (Niedzica Castle also known as Dunajec Castle) that guards Czorstyn reservoir below. The reservoir itself dams the river Dunajec and is a good place to go for a little swim during the summer months.

I didn't stay in Niedzica but there is bound to be several people renting out rooms and it shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere. There are a number of bars and restaurants located next to and below the castle by the lake. They offer basic food - fish and chips, burgers, grilled sausage and of course a healthy supply of beer. Of course if you intend to stay there for a long time, you are best off popping over to Slovakia to stock up on cheaper booze.

There is plenty in the way of cycling, ride along the quiet road to Cerveny Klastor and then follow the hiking/cycling path that goes a long the Dunajec river to Szczawnica or you can circumnavigate the reservoir itself. There is a camp site in near by Slovakia at Cerveny Klastor and this looked a very pleasant place to stay.

Sitting by the lake, you have a view of not just Niedzica Castle but also Czorstyn castle on the other side. Czorstyn is more ran down than Niedzica Castle which was built in 1326 by Rodric of Tirol and was a dominant place to hold Hungarian-Polish business affairs and acted as a border. The fortress changed hands over the years many time and was renovated several times a century, it was owned by rich families from Hungary, Slovakia and Poland over the years and is rich in legends.

Some of these include brutal stories of jesters and counts stabbing and torturing local priests and village folk but perhaps the most intriguing stories of all revolve around the former owner Sebastian Berzeviczy who travelled to Central and Southern America and married an Inca princess and had a daughter with her, she then married the nephew of Tupac Amaru II (an insurrection leader who was eventually killed by the Spaniards), Umina with her husband, son and Sebastian Berzevicy (father) fled to Italy supposedly with important Inca scrolls, her husband then died in suspicious circumstances and Umina fled to the castle in Poland where the documents along with some maps of hidden treasure in Lake Titicata were supposedly passed down through family members and people say it was discovered in a leaden case with Quipu writing in the 1940's only to get lost in Krakow during WW2. How true it is, we'll never know but there is evidence supporting the people existed that's for sure and it makes a good story. The town also has a museum but it's hiking that you'll want to be doing here in the surrounding Pieniny Mountains.

Summary: A must visit place