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.

trees and weeds and Tykocin

When the weather was lovely out East, we hit the road to see some of the surrounding Podlasie countryside. There are plenty of lovely little places if only you go out and look. We saw the River Biebrza recently and there has been plenty of Sokolka photo plantations on here too. Now we head to Tykocin, an old small town that once had a high percentage of Jewish inhabitants which depleted during WWII. Now it is full of pretty buildings and cobbled streets.

Tree on sky

Fluff in sun

Tykocin restaurant

Decor

Podpiwek is naturally fermented beer. Not unlike kwas chlebowy so if you like that, you'd like this too.

Podpiwek and an aperitif of cranberries and 21 different herbs (apparently)

The sides

My spatchcock

Here is some buckwheat and pork fillet in tomato and garlic sauce.

Some pearled barley and pork neck in creamy mushroom sauce.

A whole lotta cock

Sun that dial

Yeah she has her boobs out

But also a lot of pigeon poops on her too.

Easy life for these people on top of a building.

Reading books and resting

And an old cobbled street past the Hotel Alummat.

That was a quick trip to Tykocin.