The last Thursday of July. This was the very last meeting of this group. The remaining volunteers will go back home no later than the middle of August. We had the chance to spend the morning together as a group, and even Krakow’s weather was sunny. We all know that this is not always the case here in Poland, not even in the summertime! We went together to the Benedectine Abbey in Tyniec. We just took a bus and in around half an hour we were in this quiet place near Wisła river. It was like being and not being in the city at the same time.

The first monks arrived in this area in the middle of the 11th century. The abbey was built on a promontory, and its position was strategically important. For this reason, it was used as a fortress as well. It was burnt when the Tatars invaded Poland in the 13th century, and it was rebuilt. Its history is tied to Polish national history. When Poland was partitioned among Prussia, Russia and Habsburg Empire, Austrians dissolved Benedictine Order and forced monks to leave the abbey. Only in 1939, the Archbishop of Krakow restored the Order. The abbey was a fortress one more time in 1945. It was great to discover another corner of Krakow.

The landscape is very beautiful there and we had a walk by the river. Then, we found a shadowy place and we sat on blankets. We had an interesting talk on well-being, which is the focus of the project of many volunteers in our group. We talked about which behaviours could be useful for ourselves. It is good to set some goals, but at the same time it is good to appreciate ourselves as we are. We also had some activities to think about our project, to understand what we achieved, what we liked, what we didn’t like and the challenges we faced.

We had a very good day together, and we are all grateful for all the time we spent together!