Places to Visit
Galkowo with its location in the middle of Pish
forests is a perfect startig point for hiking, biking, horse-back
riding, in a
horse-cart, kayak, boat. Below
please
find description of the closest villages we recommend exploring.
Kadzidłowo
(3 km) –Wild Animals Park – first in its kind,
established by Dr. Andrzej Krzywinski, where you can enjoy strolling
among wild
animals, feeding and patting them.
Museum of Mazurian culture
and a restaurant, located in a 19th century cabin, also a meeting place
for the
Association of Mazurian Culture Preservation (www.oberzapodpsem.com).
Krutyń (2 km) –A
village famous for its kayaking trips, lodging,
as well as its pottery, wicker baskets and folklore craft market, home
for
headquarters of the Mazurian National Park administration and a museum
of Pish
natural history. (www.krutyn.com.pl).
Wojnowo (1,5 km)
– A
village established by Russian Philipons close to the Dus Lake which
connects
with Wojnowianka and Krutynia rivers.
Nice swimming area is located close to the newly renovated
bridge over
the Krutynia river.
Ukta (2 km) - The
largest village of the area where you can find a health center,
post-office,
gas station, car repair shop, a bus stop and a number of stores, as
well as a
nice red- brick church (Evangelic in the past, Catholic at present) and
the
Zacisze restaurant on the coast of the Krutynia river.
Old weaver’s shop is another place worth
visiting in the area. Kayak-rental
available in Ukta.
GALKOWO,
village of Russian
Philipons
Galkowo
(Nikolaihorst/Galkowen)
is one of the most beautiful villages of Russian Phlipons in
the
area. Philipons is
a fraction of the Orthodox Church which
didn’t agree to the reforms introduced
by the Patriarch Nikon the 17th century. The Philipons were prosecuted
and they
had to emigrate. They settled in the east of Poland
and Prussia. In 1825, King
Friedriech Wilhelm III granted
the Philipons the right to settle on the Eckert Land
in the Pisz forests. Philipons
settlements in such villages like Galkowo, Wojnowo and Kadzidlowo
remained
small in nature and located on the edge of forests till our times.
During the First World War, a Russian pope ended in Wojonowo as a
war prisoner and settled there for good converting local Russian
Philipons into
the reformed orthodox faith. In
1923, a
wooden white orthodox church was built, which has been recently
renovated.
The tangible relicts of the Philipons are and
old graveyard in Galkowo and baths (one of such bath buildings is
located over
our pond), as well as an Orthodox Church, a convent and a graveyard for nuns in Wojnowo, 2km
from Galkowo
(currently owned by a Catholic family).
Before the Second World War, four Philipon families still
lived in the
area who by this time spoke German using Russian only during orthodox
rituals. As a
result of the Russian Army invasion,
young girls were sent to Siberia. Most of the Philipons
emigrated to Germany
and nowadays only a few elderly people live in the area.
