This little church was built entirely of wood in 1847. Not much information is available about this church (well not that I can find), but it is dedicated to Saint Klemens, and is often known as the “old church”. It is a lovely place to spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation, and to get away from the business of the shops and markets in Zakopane.
Zakopane has the most amazing handcrafted wooden good for sale, and the prices are amazing. From kitchenware (breadboards, spoons, salad servers etc) to the most intricately carved wooden toys you can imagine. The toys look like the old wooden toys you would expect your grandfather to have played with.
We bought ourself a chopping board (my sister got one as well for her birthday), and lots of spoons; yeah I know, spoons, but they are great spoons.
Much as I was temped to, we didn’t buy any of the wooden toys. Partly because we don’t have any children (ok I admit that was hardly an issue), but because they were far too big to bring all the way back to Cape Town. The toys that is – I wasn’t going to bring back any children.
The big toys for does bring up another aspect of Zakopane. There are many tourists and holiday-makers that visit the town, but they are mostly Polish visitors. There are very few tourists from other countries. A refreshing change (and yeah I am completely aware that by visiting Zakopane I am changing that).
An old wooden fencepost, slowly being worn away by the elements, looking out towards Strandfontein beach.
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