Fairy Tales Garden, Międzygórze, Poland

We started our holiday trip quite late, at 9am. Usually, we try to leave home earlier to avoid traffic on the roads. This time, we let the children sleep longer, and we had a chance to finish packing. One of our rules for this trip was that we would not be in a hurry. After all, we are on holiday and we don’t have to rush anywhere.

The route from Poznań to Wrocław went very smoothly. On the way, we saw a lot of ongoing work related to the construction of a new section of the S5 express road. When it is completed, it will shorten travel time to the south. In Wrocław, we decided to take a short break. After about an hour we went back on our way to Międzygórze, where the first attraction of our trip was waiting for us.

Garden of Fairy Tales in Międzygórze

We decided to visit the Garden of Fairy Tales in Międzygórze. We (the parents) had been there a dozen years ago and we wanted to show this place to our children. This garden is located in the forest, about half an hour from Międzygórze. A specially marked hiking trail leads there. The older children managed to walk the route themselves, and for Iwona, we provided a ride up in the stroller. Pushing the stroller up was quite exhausting, especially on the last stretch, where the path passes over bumpy stones and the stroller had to be carried.

Fun fact: the Fairy Tales Garden was created in the 1920s by a forester, Izydor Kriesten. For more than 20 years he made fairy-tale figures from roots, branches and bark. Since the 1980s the garden has been looked after by the local branch of PTTK, the Polish tourist society.

In the end, we were at the Garden of Tales. It looked the same as in our memories. It seems that time has stood still here. We bought tickets and entered the garden to admire sculptures of fairy-tale characters.

The garden can be explored on foot by walking along paths leading among the sculptures made of wood. The paths are very steep at times, so we left our stroller at the entrance. Every now and then we passed fairy-tale character sculptures and wooden houses, e.g., a gingerbread house, Baba Yaga's house, a youth house. You can enter some of the exhibits and put your head out through the window so that someone outside can take a picture of you.

While walking, we tried to recognize the characters we saw. Unfortunately, most of the exhibits did not have any labels and we weren't sure who the characters were. On the way we met fairy-tale characters like Koziołek Matołek (yes, the one from Pacanów), Hansel and Gretel with Baba Yaga, the Smurfs, Little Mole, Pinocchio, Bolek and Lolek, Pszczółka Maja, Shrek and Fiona, as well as less popular ones.

When we were walking by the companions of Winnie the Pooh, the children were worried that Piglet was in prison. Actually, Piglet was being repaired and nothing bad happened to him.

We got the impression that the garden hadn't been renovated. It seemed that no new figures had appeared there. No wonder that children do not know the characters of some fairy tales. I think the only breath of fresh air is the sculpture of SpongeBob, and that’s not much.

Going down to Międzygórze

With the Garden of Fairy Tales visited, we headed down to the town. This time, knowing the route thoroughly, we decided to take a shortcut and we took a steeper path down. As always in the mountains, going down is faster and easier than going up. On the way we stopped by a forest spring. We knew there was a trail to the waterfalls, but unfortunately this route was under renovation. We had no choice and we had to go down the same path we had come up.

Good to know: the best-known waterfall in Międzygórze, Wilczki, is 22 metres high and the second highest in the Polish Sudetes. Until 1997 it was 5 metres higher, but a flood that year destroyed an artificial ledge built in the 19th century.

In Międzygórze, we decided to have dinner at a restaurant. We chose one of those that are at the end of the trail.

To the Czech Republic

Once our bellies were full, we had to fill up the car. On our way to the border, we stopped at a gas station and then drove to the Czech Republic. We were driving on slightly mountainous roads, and got to our campsite. The route headed due south, and there was no expressway or highway. We could, therefore, admire the beauty of the Czech villages.

Interestingly, when we passed the border, we noticed that traffic was much lighter. You could tell the Czechs obeyed speed limits, especially in built-up areas.

We chose Camping Hana for the night. When we arrived, we were greeted by a sign reading 'no vacancies'. Fortunately, we had previously sent an email to make a reservation. As it turned out, the place was waiting for us. We set up a tent, took a bath, ate supper and went to bed. During supper we looked at the sky. The sky over the campsite was covered with thousands of stars. We remembered the saying: “How many stars does your hotel have?” We sleep under a million stars.

We came back to Międzygórze in April 2023 to climb Śnieżnik on the red trail from the village.