Kliczkow Castle

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend Karen on a Polish pottery shopping trip.  On the way, she pointed out Kliczkow Castle, an old castle-turned-hotel in the middle of Polish nowhere.  Karen had been there for a weekend with her family and recommended that we give it a try.

Well, who doesn't want to to stay in an old Polish castle?  I thought it sounded really cool, so we got reservations for our family to stay for a couple of nights the week after Christmas.  On Monday, we arrived at Kliczkow just in time for dinner, which was served by candlelight in a fancy pink dining room.  Since it was already dark, we didn't see much of the castle that night, so the first thing we did the next day was take a walk around.

Before we left for Poland, I spent some time reading up on the castle on the internet.  I learned that it was originally built in 1297, and if you look closely on the yellow wall behind Adam, you will see the iron letters "1297".  There is also "1881", which is when a major reconstruction was done.

Clearly, the castle was built in stages.  This part looks like it is the oldest.  Surely, at least one Damsel in Distress has looked woefully for her knight from those upper windows...(is my romanticism showing?)

This is the entrance at the back to the reception desk.  There is an indoor pool inside the Tudor-style addition on the right.  The kids loved the indoor pool.

Here is Pepper by what looks to have been a moat.  I just love a good moat - it seems so authentic somehow.

Behind the castle, we found this catapult-looking device.  We don't really know why it was there or what it is used for, but it was the source of much speculation on our part. 

This is the fancy pink dining room.  Sitting there eating with my family, I had a Holy-Cow!-I'm-Eating-in-a-Castle-Dining-room-Moment.  And for the record, Polish food is not my favorite.  It seems to be a heavier version of heavy German food.

Eating in another dining room at breakfast.  Again, not a fan of the food.

On our way to breakfast, I made the family stop so I could take a picture of this hallway.  I love all the woodwork, and the armoire and trunk here seemed perfect.

This is the staircase near the dining room.  I could just imagine Cinderella losing her glass slipper on this staircase.  (Yes, I know Cinderella isn't real, but still...!)

Another cool hallway.  You can see the "secret passageway" on the right.

Here is another view of the "secret passageway."  We passed it several times, and finally Brad got up the courage to go down into it.  It was a very cramped, cob-webby staircase that we guess used to be a servants' entrance from outside.

On the last morning we were there, we woke up to a dusting of snow outside.  This is a view of the castle courtyard from an upstairs window near our rooms.