Tykocin, Podlasie, Poland.

Tickling Tykocin. Tykocin (pronounced ti-ko-chin) is a village/town in Podlasie on the lovely Narew river. It was once a thriving town of around 4,000 people and half of this was a Jewish shtetel (the West side of town). You can read more about them here. After the war, as one can imagine, this town had lost a great many of its population. The Baroque style synagogue is one of the best preserved in Poland and is from the mid 17th Century. It has a tragic history, like much of Poland, but today the town is growing back into a tourism location based on Jewish past as well as the surrounding nature.

The second building with a low roof was a typical shape of a Jewish merchant house in Poland around the 18th/19th Century. You can see these buildings all over Poland, especially in the towns of Podlaskie

The view from the window of our restaurant Galeria Sztuki i Smaku "Opowieści z Narwi "

A podpiwek (pre-beer, meaning a non-alcoholic fermented drink) it is often made as part of the beer making process.

Fried river white bait

Pike with a herb sauce and buckwheat

Perch on spinach

Amazing fresh water lobster pasta!

The bridge over the Narew

The "fake" castle as some locals call it. A re-built castle run as a hotel and function centre based on an original castle that once stood there.

A symbol of the area, the white stork migrates to Podlaskie every year to have babies and then return southwards.

The aforementioned synagogue 

It still needs a little love.

The fields around the area were full of hay bales. Always a fun photograph.