Poland in photo riddles - part 3

Me too, I didn't even know there were opals in Poland! lol
They were mined, but not anymore - the mine was closed in the 80's or 90's, I think. Now that mine and that area is a tourist attraction for geology enthusiasts, because it's a pretty rare place in Europe apparently (that area has 81 types of minerals).


I don't, that's not my footage :)

There is still a semi-precious stones industry around Skarska Poręba as I recall.

Is there anything like Blue John in Poland? That one is my favourite.

@jon357, I don't know, I'm not an expert on this stuff. 🤔 I only know that my region is apparently the only place on Earth where striped flint can be found:

enchanting-earth.com/collections/polish-flint

I wouldn't mind a trip there :)


I like the rings in your link although most of them are sold out. Guess Polish flint's quite popular.


It's a lovely colour. I saw a couple of Blue John pendants in an Edinburgh gem and jewellery shop. It's only found somewhere in Derbyshire if I remember rightly.

I wouldn't mind either :) There are also geological workshops during which you can find minerals for yourself under the supervision of an educator :):

geopasja389390672.wordpress.com/wyprawy-geoturystyczne-i-warsztaty-geologiczne/


There are Polish sites with available jewelry made of striped flint.

I was on a guided tour of the flint mines in Paulina's region. It was interesting and very worth a visit.


Round Castleton however I think there are a few places around the world with it, certainly a mine in Pakistan and a very similar mineral in Iran. There are 4 or five caverns in Castleton that you can visit, a couple of them with Blue John. A big new seam has just been discovered. There's a museum too and a few shops selling it.

I'll be in Whitby and Scarborough in a fortnight and may buy two matching rings with a band of Jet in if the shops have some good ones and if the other party likes them. Not cheap but lovely (and cheaper and less obvious than gold bands!) You can sometimes pick pieces up on the beach like Amber in Poland.

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Gagat in Polish.

There is some In Poland near Ostrów Świętokrzyskie which used to be mined commercially.

pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagat

Those look really interesting. I would definitely like to go on 3 or 4 of those! Plus, you get to keep the minerals! What's not to like :)


Cool. As with the tours in Paulina's link, I'm guessing the tours are all in Polish language though? Not sure how much I would follow when it comes to discussing minerals and rock formation. I'd be interested in visiting the Blue John cavern too. It's just up the road from Edale where I was planning to start a hike from, so guess I will be making a small diversion :)


Hope you find something nice.

Edale is lovely; the whole Hope Valley is a treat, even the view from the Sheffield-Manchester railway.

As I recall, a very famous and very long walk starts in Edale.


I think so, however it's mostly just walking through and looking at the exhibits in the mine. It's not like a coal mine (the one you can visit in Poland is excellent) where you have to stay in a close group for safety.

You rang, Sir?

It certainly does but that would require more free time than I currently have. Bet it would be an amazing walk though.


Ok, thanks for the info.

it was not opals that were mined in Szklary, but nickel ores - from what I read recently a Canadian company is interested in restarting the mining of nickel ores there

@gumishu, this is the site of the former mine - it literally says "Nickel, chrysoprase and opal mine in Szklary":

kopalniaszklary.pl/

Btw, chrysoprase has a pretty colour too :)

showcaves.com/english/pl/mines/SzklaryHuta.html

"The underground tour show quite exceptional bands of opal and chrysoprase in situ in the walls. That's the reason why it was declared a geotope. There is also an underground mineral exhibition with unique specimens of chrysoprase, you will probably see nowhere else. The shop sells jewelry which was created form the chrysoprase and opal from the mine."


I don't know to be honest. I did read in some article that foreign tourists interested in geology visit it too, so if they don't have tours in English that's a pretty big mistake, imho. Also, I didn't even know this place exists so they could do some better marketing too. 🤔

What is this?:

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I would say so given that it's so widely spoken but then Szklary is a bit off the beaten track. The sort of place that geologists are more likely to know about than the public generally.

The photos in the gallery from the first link are great.


When I first looked at it I thought it was some vegetarian food but looking at it closely I think the dark piece in the top left hand corner is some chocolate? Or I could be going in the wrong direction.....

Szklarska Poręba has a traditional semi-precious stone industry. A nice place to visit too.


Bigos that's been reheated for too long in a hot oven?

Seriously, some sort of resin?

@jon357

indeed nice train line :) youtube.com/watch?v=Bm2zL4MRjZs

I've not been but I've seen lots of photos of the area from someone who used to live there. Very scenic.

The middle bit definitely looks like some sort of filling.

To me it looks like a sandwich (dark bread) with some kind of salad... I see carrot, cabbage, not sure what the white strips are. It looks like it's been cooked.

It doesn't look appealing but each to their own.

I saw a giant rat last night (the fuller-figured fluffy kind not the scrawny long ones) while lost in a dark hotel car park in Manchester last night. He looked a bit hungry and came up to me but sadly ran away when I said "here kitty kitty kitty".

He (or she) would definitely have eaten that.

It's not reheated bigos, resin nor a sandwich with dark bread.


Nope, no veggies there!


From what I understand the strips are traditionally either baked or fried (?).


Yes!


Yup, it's a filling and it's all about the filling with this one!

Tip: it isn't Polish, but can be bought in Poland.

I haven't tried it but is it that Dubai chocolate that's become really popular? Think the filling includes some kind of pastry and pistachios?

Looks a lot like it. Some have the pastry in, some have pistachio cream.

A nicer one I've found (in the mena region, never in Europe) is a Turkish one (by Damak, a popular brand) that is dark chocolate with tiny bits of the pistachio pastry in and tiny bits of Turkish delight in.

Yes, bingo and bravo!!! :))) 🥳

It's a Dubai style chocolate with a filling made of pistachios and kadayif pastry (those strips ranging in colour from white through yellow to orange). When I saw the filling I figured it could make a confusing riddle :)))


I've also tried it only now to see what's all the rage about lol It's OK, but nothing to die for (szału nie ma), imho. I actually love pistachios, but somehow pistachio flavoured fillings aren't my favourite. I ate some time ago a meringue with a lot of pistachio cream on it with some marmalade inside from a local bakery and I did like that cream a lot though - it was sooo soft and light, just perfection ;O 🧁👌✨

As for that Dubai style filling - even though the flavour didn't "wow" me, I've got to admit it's a bit addictive for some reason lol 👀 and the one I tried is soft and I'd say pleasant to eat.

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I meant that the whole chocolate is soft, it falls apart almost :) The ingredient list says there's 32% pistachios, Kadayif 9%, but also some hazelnut and peanut paste added. 🥜

Kadayif is nicer on its own, drizzled with honey or palm syrup.

It's fun seeing it made, being pressed into little molds.

Yeah, it's okay but dvpy nie urywa....

Kadayif in the Greek form of kataïfi is a favorite of mine, they wrap it up in little egg shapes with walnuts and honey and orange..

I prefer chocolate with whole hazelnuts.

It did look a lot like cooked veg, onions, carrots etc. It was a good riddle!


If I see it I'll buy a bar to try. There's been a lot of hype about it, mainly because of the price.


That sounds good, I love Turkish delight!