26. Jul 2025

Duszinica - Wigry

Photo 1: Emilis and I spent the night at the monastery in Sejny and had breakfast with the priests. After they said their prayers to thank God for the breakfast, I said the one sentence that I know in Polish: "Jezus jest moim Panem!" ("Jesus is my Lord!") They liked that and it kind of broke the ice. Communication was otherwise very limited as they did not speak much English or German. They were happy to take this group picture with me... and the breakfast was great. Emilis quipped, "Maybe I should become a priest!" It was a good start for my first day in Poland. Back in the room, after I got my things packed, I said farewell to Emilis and prayed for him one last time. He was returning home and I was starting the Camino Polska.

Photo 2: The day started off quite nice. The fields looked much the same as they did in the Baltics. They were now Polish fields.

Photo 3: Rain did come and go throughout the day. I made it though to the Wigry monastery before a real heavy rain came through.

Photo 4: A very nice pilgrim room at the monastery...
The monastery gained fame in 1999 when Pope John Paul II did a 13 day pilgrimage in Poland and stayed the night of June 12th there. The room where he slept is now almost like a holy shrine and is just one floor below from where I stayed. When I leave on Monday morning, my room will remain a resting place for pilgrims.

Photo 5: One of the things I do every Saturday is wash my clothes, usually by hand.