May-Day Trip.

It's a long May weekend in Poland! We celebrate a series of national holidays over May 1st to 3rd.

And since the weather  got sunny all of a sudden we decided to go for a small trip outside of town.
We visited the Post-Cysterian Monastery and Palace Complex in Rudy just 25 km from were we live.

When I was a kid I often visited this place with my parents. Lately whole abbey underwent a thorough renovation.. and now it looks simply amazing!

There's a beautiful gothic basilica (at least the interior is still gothic... exterior was "modernised" in  a different style), monastery and a vast park with old oak alleys and complicated system of canals. They are all connected to nearby river - Rudka, and their history goes back to XIIIth century.
You can read more on the official website: here (in English).

The park surrounding the complex is now full of vibrant shades of green. There is a beautiful composition of rhododendrons on one of the clearings, but they will not bloom until June.

The river that flows through the center of it is broad and lazy and has clear water, so you can see the rusty sand on the bottom. That is where the name came from - "rudy" means "rusty/ginger" in Polish. Local soil is rich in iron ore... and "ore" is what Polish word "ruda" means.
Yup, my first language can be tricky :)

Picking flowers is strictly forbidden in the park and surrounding forest, so we could only look and admire. Most of undergrowth is now covered with wild garlic, know here more as bear's garlic. You can make delicious pesto from it's leaves! 

Last but not least. The biggest and oldest oak in the park: Cysters Oak. It's approx 450 years old, 32 meters tall and 720cm in diameter. It also has a big opening at the bottom of the trunk. I can easily fit inside :)

Refreshed and relaxed I can get back to work. I started a new secret knitting project and joined Winwick Mum's Sockalong which begins tomorrow.

Aaalso there are 8 exams ahead but right now I feel rather optimistic!

Have a nice evening!

Gosia.