Polish Spisz for everyone [#05] - Dursztyn

Dursztyn is one of the least known villages in the Polish Spisz region. Few people have heard of it. After all, what is there to impress? Less than 500 residents, no monuments. Even the church is relatively new, dating back to the 1990s. However, there is something that makes it worth visiting Dursztyn while speeding from Krakow to the Tatras. It's Wichrówka. A wooden villa located on the edge of the village, practically outside its borders.

When Krakow notary Bogusław Pajor dreamed of a house in the mountains and bought a plot in Dursztyn, at the top of Mount Honaj, he was surrounded only by forests and fields. He quickly fell in love with the place and built a villa in the Podhale style in 1935, from which the Tatra panorama could be admired from the terrace. The owners did not have the chance to enjoy their new home for long. The outbreak of war caused Dursztyn, along with Wichrówka, to cease being administratively Polish. However, the villa played an important role in Polish history. It was one of the courier and transit points during World War II. Here, couriers carrying messages from occupied Poland to the West would meet (it is possible that Jan Karski was here), and in the last year, a Jewish family was hiding there.

Today, the villa is a retreat house. It cannot be visited. However, it is worth reaching it to see the building at least from the outside, and above all, to enjoy the panorama of the Tatras, Beskids, and Pieniny, which so captivated the villa's builder. It makes an amazing impression. You can reach the top of the hill by car, but it is worth taking a bicycle and getting there via the "Trail Around the Tatras," a 250-kilometre historical, cultural, and natural loop around one of Poland's most famous mountain ranges.

Author of the text - Bogusława Bandyk

Author of the photos - Krzysztof Bandyk