I took a tour from Krakow in Poland to Zakopane. On the way to Zakopane, the tour bus drove through the wooden village of Chocholow. We were told that we would normally stop here and then look inside the church, but we did not get to stop as the day was the Saturday before Easter, and this is actually a special day in Poland where people go into the churches to have their food for Easter blessed. Luckily, I was at the front of the bus, so I was able to get some drive-by photographs.
We were told about the history of the village, which is unique in that it is filled with log cabins or wooden houses. Each wooden house is scrubbed clean at least once a year, and we were told that the women did this to find suitors back in the older days. A clean house was a mark of pride and of a good woman.
We drove by the church but did not stop, but we saw many people entering it with small baskets of food and chocolates.
It is a pity that we did not get to stop to have a wander around.
After the village, we stopped off at a little shepherd hut where we had some nice views of mountains and snow.
The hut is a small tourist stop, and they sell different food items, such as the smoked sheep's cheese - oscypek. This is served with cranberry sauce, and I enjoyed it. It seems to be a common food staple here and was also popular at the Easter market.
We also tried two different types of flavourd liqueur. One was apricot, and the other on was a cherry.
Keep coming back to read more about my time in Poland and the stop down the road to the thermal spa here at Chocholow. You can also see my post on Zakopane here: http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/05/an-afternoon-at-zakopane-polan.html
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