Weekend Trip to Northeast Poland: From Latvia Through Lithuania to a Three-Country Border Point
A writer for the Latvian regional outlet Zemgales Ziņas has described a two-day road trip from Latvia to northeastern Poland, with lodging in the town of Olecko. Along the way, the travellers faced heavy rain and rough tracks, visiting a tripoint border site near Vištytis and the Pobłędzie observation tower.
An author at the Latvian regional publication Zemgales Ziņas has recounted a weekend trip from Latvia to northeastern Poland. There had been no holiday time over the summer, so she and her companion chose a destination that could be explored in a single Saturday and Sunday. They rented an apartment in the Polish town of Olecko, roughly halfway between Goldap and Elk.
A few days before the trip, forecasters in Latvia predicted a severe storm, while Polish forecasts showed nothing comparable. The cyclone also affected Lithuania and Poland, but the travellers kept their plans. They set off at five in the morning. Rain began as they entered Lithuania from the Eleja side, and the heaviest downpour lasted until the town of Jurbarkas in western Lithuania.
The three-country border point
Instead of major highways, the route ran along the Russian border towards Vištytis. There the travellers stopped at the spot where the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Russia (the Kaliningrad region) meet. It lies in northeastern Poland, in the Wiżajny commune near the village of Bolcie, a few kilometres south of Lake Vištytis.
The author has visited several times before, but this time she could no longer walk right up to the granite border post. She assumes that the site has been wrapped in barbed wire since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Country tracks to an observation tower
Another goal was the Pobłędzie observation tower, which the author had never visited. Navigation guided them towards it, but they missed the needed turn, and the rerouted path ran along local country roads that at times resembled no road at all. Herds of cows grazed on both sides, and the final stretch descended into a ravine along a muddy track that seemed to have been used mainly by heavy machinery. Their relatively tall car got them through. The author adds that she was glad she was not the one driving at that moment.
