Every design for Szczytno

Szczytno is best known for its lakes: Domowe Małe and Długie, also called Domowe Duże, lie right inside the town, so the water is part of the everyday view rather than a weekend trip. A member of the Cittaslow network, it moves at the pace that suits a Masurian town.

Zamek w Szczytnie, on the shore between the two lakes, began as a wooden fort raised by Ortolf von Trier around 1360, was burned by Lithuanians under Kęstutis and rebuilt in stone, and later became a hunting lodge for Margrave George Frederick. The beekeepers who came from Masovia gave the settlement its Polish name. Nearby, the Muzeum Mazurskie and Chata Mazurska keep the region's past close at hand, and the town was overwhelmingly Polish-speaking for centuries.

Daily life runs between the station on the Olsztyn – Ełk line, the shops near the castle and the Plaża Miejska in summer. Music fans stop by the Dom rodzinny Krzysztofa Klenczona. Picture the old castle walls reflected in the still water of Domowe Małe on a calm evening – that is Szczytno.