Here, the day begins by listening to a bird radio broadcast from the nearby Mirabelle Mountain. Maybe we could start the day by checking the news from the country and the world - but what's the point when the kitchen smells of freshly brewed coffee and when you cut bread you can hear the characteristic crunch of the crust. Here, the slices are cut thick and covered with a solid layer of homemade jam, and in the other hand you grab a pancake with blueberries. All this to have the strength to explore the area. And here's what.
In the upper right corner of Poland, at the junction of the Polish and Lithuanian borders, there is a unique, yet underestimated land. The hospitable inhabitants are descendants of Yotvingians, Masovians, Lithuanians, Jews and Old Believers, here called Old Believers. The local kitchens smell of potato cakes, kartakach and kindziuks. Beavers, spotted eagles, lynxes and wolves hide in the foggy wilderness and behind the trees of the Augustów Forest. You can hide too.
Olzoja is divided into two parts. We live in the first floor, there is a common living room with a dining room and a kitchen where we prepare meals for you. In the second one, connected to the first covered veranda, there are rooms and another kitchen, this time entirely yours.
A few steps from the main house, we built the so-called fireplace room - an independent building with a sauna, kitchenette, fireplace, glass wall and relaxation/integration area. This is where we organize intimate parties.
In our Agrotourism we have 4 high-standard air-conditioned rooms, a comfortable kitchen with a dining area and a cozy sitting corner with a comfortable sofa upstairs. Outside there is a veranda with a place to drink coffee or wine with a view of the forest and sunsets. We have free wifi, but at your request we can turn it off and pretend we have never heard of it.
If you are interested in sleeping, you sleep great here. When deciding to purchase mattresses, we decided that good and comfortable sleep is one of the most important things in our agritourism, we know that the quality of sleep will have a significant impact on your satisfaction. Additionally, the ordered filling between the beds increases sleeping comfort because the joint is imperceptible (there is no way someone could get their elbow or foot stuck between the mattresses). Thanks to the connectors in the Polne and Leśne rooms, you can connect the beds and create a huge space of 200x200 cm, where families of four have often slept. We have mosquito nets on the windows so that any buzzing noises do not disturb your rest.
Our largest - Family room has a spacious bathroom, hall and, most importantly, a huge wardrobe. The view from the room overlooks the paddocks and the mirabelle trees (we don't encourage you to do so, but you can reach for them with your hand). The room has: a large double bed 160x200 cm, a smaller one 90x200 cm and a fold-out spring sofa 120x190 cm. A table based on the structure of an old sewing machine is a place where you can drink coffee or listen to the morning songs of Mirabelle residents. We called the room family because it can accommodate even a 5-6-person family with small children.
The attic room - Łąka, with a bathroom (with the largest shower in the area) can comfortably accommodate 3 people (on a double bed and a single bed). And an interesting fact: the table, which was made from renovated sewing machine legs found in my Grandma's barn, is a beautiful and useful detail.
The Leśny and Polny rooms have a shared bathroom, and their windows overlook the forest, a mirabelle and pear orchard and a cultivated field. Both rooms have two single beds 90×200 cm and a fold-out sofa 120×190 cm. Thanks to the special filling between the beds, which is imperceptible while sleeping, the joined beds create a huge bed measuring 200 × 200 cm. This is a comfortable solution for families with small children or for people who like to sleep across the bed.
At your request, we serve breakfast and dinner. We love to go crazy in the kitchen, so you have the opportunity to try freshly baked bread, homemade jams, ketchup and granola. In addition, Lithuanian toasts, frittata and blueberry pancakes often appear on the table. It happens that we will serve you a smoothie with nettle, blueberries or strawberries. Our meals also go to non-edible bellies - we have children ourselves and we know how to feed little explorers.
Dinners consist of soup, main course and dessert. We serve regional dishes: lentils, grapeshot, potato cake, but also pork chops in chanterelle sauce, roasted turkey with root vegetables from our garden and a whole lot of other delicacies. We cook seasonally: dishes made of tomatoes, dill, spinach, blueberries, chard and fresh herbs land on the table. Desserts are the icing on the cake for us - they are supposed to complement dinners beautifully and tasty. In this topic, we charm fruit cakes, peanut butter brownies, lemon curd cheesecake and fruit sorbets.
Shaking ears, full bellies and grunts of satisfaction fill our kitchen - because we cook from the heart, with taste and from products from local breeders and suppliers. We serve what we eat ourselves and consider to be the best - that's why everything is homemade: my mother charms the world's best pork knuckle, my mother-in-law's finger-licking roulades, and I specialize in cold meats, pates (also vegetable). Amazing cheeses are made by Ala's neighbor, whose cows are probably the happiest cows in the district (they graze in the meadow near the forest) and I must say that what Ala charms with their milk is insane, for example her ricotta with raisins. We get our breakfast eggs from my mother-in-law's hens, and our 5-year-old son hunts for them. We also like to make preserves and experiment with combining flavors (the queen of the last season was pear and blackberry). Our mirabelles are used to make tinctures, jams, preserves and juices - no fruit will be wasted (my daughter Zosia will see to it). Other fruits and vegetables for preserves come from our or neighboring gardens.
In addition, we will invite you to the evening tasting of our liqueurs. We talk, get to know each other, have fun and guess the ingredients from which a given tincture was made - we promise it will be delicious.
As guests, you have access to your own kitchen - we prepare food in the second one, so that no one has to push their elbows at the counter.
It looks like this: we are in the historical lands of the Yotvingians, hidden behind the trees of the Augustów Forest and the Pomorze Reserve. There are plenty of rivers and lakes around us (there are several of them within a radius of 5 km) - you can go to different ones every day. Go on a bike tour (we have bikes on site) or take a leisurely walk after a hearty breakfast. Just in time you will get hungry for dinner, and you will eat dessert without the slightest remorse.
Our Podlasie can also be explored from the level of kayaks and horse-drawn carriages. Our Silesian mares are great guides who gracefully show the area (and in winter we invite you for a sleigh ride). Marycha flows at your fingertips, and Czarna Hańcza a little further. Water sports enthusiasts - we are waiting for you. And in a forest clearing, by the woods, very close to our house, there is a hot barrel where you can take hot, relaxing baths under a sky full of stars.
In Augustów, in July, the Polska Tastes Fair takes place - it's worth trying all the culinary wonders. In August, in Puńsk (the Polish capital of the Lithuanian minority in Poland, 30 km from us) there is a holiday - Zielna. Both Lithuanians and Poles exhibit their handicrafts there - it is worth looking for pearls that were made by human hands. A similar feast of Our Lady of Herbs takes place in the Wigry monastery.
In mid-August, an important point on the map of Polish literary festivals was the Rural Literary Festival Looking at the East in Buda Ruska (10 km from us). For a few days, this small village turns into the center of the literary world. It's worth a visit.
A little contrary to the name, but in the summer there is a festival called "Oj Spring, you Spring" organized by the friendly Krusznia Association. The festival is a multidimensional cultural event - meeting, getting to know and understanding tradition. Through various means of expression - music, dance, singing, film and photography, affecting all the senses, the organizers want to connect generations and bring old songs, melodies and customs closer. The quintessence of this festival is the evening and night dance party accompanied by wonderful and often unknown instruments.
It is impossible not to mention the summer offer of the Borderland of Cultures of the Arts of Nations Center in Sejny - concerts of the Klezmer Orchestra, in the Synagogue in Sejny or on the shore of the lake in Krasnogruda; the spectacle of the Sejny Chronicles (our daughter is part of the 5th generation of Sejny chroniclers), which tells the story of Sejny: Polish, Lithuanian and Jewish families in the 1930s, 40s and 50s; or Thursday concerts at the Sejny Jazz Cooperative.
What’s there for children?
Our kids beat their buttocks with their heels, sometimes they disappear for days and only come back for dinner. They fly kites, jump on a trampoline, or sleep on it watching the stars, track animals, and afterwards rest in a hammock. However, the day does not end with sunset, because in the evenings we make a fire.
There is a large playground in the garden, and our cats are lazy and allow for long stroking. It is worth going with the kids on bicycles or kayaking - it will provide many emotions that they will remember for a long time.
